Thunderbolt Dock 3 display issues

[NickBb]

I have been checking SoftPAQ every couple of weeks for updates and applying them as they come along.  Two weeks ago BIOS and a few others were updated and the system has been fairly stable: mouse, keyboard, and Ethernet can remain plugged into the dock and work as expected after the laptop is attached to the dock and powered on.  This is a big improvement.

The video worked "just OK" but was livable.  What I mean by this is 30% of the time my dual monitor system would initialize correctly with the native resolution of both monitors (1680 x1050).  60% of the time the primary monitor would initalize at 1280x1024 and the secondary monitor would initalize to native resolution (1680x1050).  10% of the time the primary and secondary would be the same as the 60% but the primary monitor would toggle between the display and a black screen.

To solve the 10% scenario I go to display settings, change from "extend monitors" to "only on display 2", apply, then "extend monitors" again, apply.  Then I'd have to change the display resolution on monitor 1 back to 1680x1050.  All in all a big improvement from unplugging the dock then plugging it back in.

Today I ran the SoftPAQ again and got the updates from 10/11/16.  The nVidia drivers were updated.  Maybe this is it. One last update and the system is stable. Maybe the Great Pumpkin will come this time.

Nope, not this time. 

The drivers no longer recognize the native resolution of my monitors (1680x1050) and only support a maximum of 1280x1024.  So native aspect ratio is 1.6, 1280x1024 is 1.25 so I have a horizontally stretched screen.

While progress is being made and I appreciate the continued work to stablize the system as a whole, there is still some work to be done.

[NickBb]

So I poked around the new nVidia drivers and found that it has very few resolutions that it supports "out of the box" but there is an option to create a custom resolution.

Right click desktop

Select nVidia Control Panel

Expand Display and select Change Resolution

Press Customize...

Press Create Custom Resolution...

Test

OK

Then select the custom resolution.

With this change the system is behaving as I'd expect.  It seems stable:

Ethernet, USB Mouse & KB plugged into dock.

From a powered off laptop plug in the dock.

Power on from the dock power button.

System boots

Primary monitor shows the logon prompt

Logon

Primary monitor comes up

Secondary monitor flashes several times. I have not investigated this further but it seems to flash once for every resolution other than the custom resolution, like it's iterating through a list.

After 6 or 7 flashes secondary monitor settles on the 1680x1050 resolution.

Life is good.

[RCSteve]

NickBb,

Your posting great information.  Sure do appreciate you!

This dock is kind of a pain....

RCSteve

[MikeNZ]

I have to agree. I've just installed two of these docks. One at home, and one at work.

I much preferred the Advanced Docking Station I used with the 8570W. This new one, sitting on my desk looks great, except for all the cables.

And it took several reboots before it played nice with the two HP displays. Weird that it doesn't display the bios boot, and just comes up with the windows login, but I guess that is perhaps the Thundebolt driver kicking in?

[Appelvlaai]

NickBb,

thank you for this solution.

Updated everything as far as I know but without succes regarding the display issues.

Not using the native mode of my 2 external displays did the trick.

Now running like that for about a week without problems.

[RCSteve]

I agree, turn off the sleep function.  It does not like that at all.  It's not wholly crazy about the screen saver.

[NickBb]

After a couple of months of operation the only thing that is still troubling me is undocking and redocking like when I take the laptop to a meeting. I don't do this often so it's not a huge problem. But what's happening is reconnecting to the dock after the meeting usually doesn't work the first time. I have to unplug the dock, wait for the disconnect notification chime, then replug the dock.

[JStergakis]

We currently have several G3 ZBooks with Thunderbolt Dock 3 and have been plagued with issues such as connectivity and display issues. What the fix was for us was updated Nvidia drivers and I think what really did it was the firmware update for the Thunderbolt dock itself. Here is the link that HP support gave me to download the Thunderbolt firmware update.

  https://ftp.usa.hp.com/hprc

[RTVU]

My solution: replace DVI-monitors (I was connection via DisplayPort -> DVI-cable) with monitors that have DisplayPort input and use native DisplayPort cables. Now working like a charm!

[dangineer]

RTVU - Let's hope the DVI monitors are causing my issues today.

I made sure all drivers and firmware were updated per the latest HP instructions and docking at my office with 2 DisplayPort monitors was flawless.  At home, using DP to DVI cables, it is unusable due to frequent disconnects.

I'm going to try the home dock with at the office tomorrow (and vice-versa).  Plus, I've got DP to HDMI cables on order.  I really don't want to buy 2 new monitors, too.