Thunderbolt G2 causes HP Zbook 17 crash if two external displayers connected!

[StevenWeng]

The notebook is connected to G2 with two thunderbolt cables, and the crash happens when ever I restart the HP notebook with dock station connected. If I start the notebook first then connect to the G2 no crash takes place. I tried to update the G2 driver, but there is no newer driver than that is already installed.

[TryToDoMybest]

Hello

which generation of Zbook 17 do you have : there are 5 generation from G1 to G5 ?

what do you mean with "connected to G2 with two thunderbolt cables" ? there should be a cable with two connectors, one for Power with a barrel connector and the second with USB-C connector for Thunderbold signals.

The Power supply of the docking must be 230 Watts.

Provide more information please, if you want somebody reply to your question.

bye

[StevenWeng]

It is ZBook G4. Two thunderbolt cables mean, one is the cable bundle with power supply, the other one the USB-C like thunderbolt port. Only with these two cables connected to the thunderbolt dock station G2, the two external displayers get the right signal. The external displayers are connected with G2 through two display ports of G2. This is my connection scenario. Without the second cabel, either thunderbolt or HDMI or USB3, there is no signal for the second displayer!

If I replace the G2 with any other third part monitor switch, connected with the notebook via HDMI and USB3 ports, no crash happens! 

In addition, the onboard key board is "disabled" if the second thunderbolt cable is plugged in while rebooting!

[TryToDoMybest]

Hello

first , the TB3 G2 must have a 230W Power Supply.

then the connection between Docking could be thjs:

or this

are you connection Zbook G4 to TB3 G2 with one of the cables shown in the pictures  above? is the Dock Power Supply 230W ?

About 2 external displays.

if they are Full HD display (1920x1080) they can be connected via DisplayPort cables , to the two DisplayPort ports available on the Dock:

which is the resolution of your external display ?

bye

[StevenWeng]

Thanks. The second thunderbolt connection is not necessary, just one cable from Notebook to G2, two display cables from G2 to monitors. My G2 ist 230V, since it is sold in Europe, in usa and japan is 120v. But the crash problem is still there while rebooting with the dock station. Workaround is that rebooting without G2, and connecting the G2 when I see the windows log. I think that is the firmware bug in HP. There is still an another bug in G2 that the screen refresh rate gets slow whenever the notebook connects the G2 if it has already been logged in windows. In that case, I have to log out, and log in again, in order to get the normal screen refresh rate. 

[TryToDoMybest]

Hello

don't confuse W (Watt) with V (Volt).

The TB3 G2 you are using has a 230Watts Power Supply. The power supply ia able to work with AC from 90 to 20 Volts. it's autoranging.

In any case going back to your crash issue. One thing you can do is to download HP Image Assistant and run it in your Zbook G4.

Image assistant compares your window s10 installation with a reference file got from HP site.

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/caps-softpaq/cmit/HPIA.html

It will help you on BIOS update, firmware update and drivers update if your sustem is not yet updated correctly. for Thunderbolt G2 docking I just updated the firmware last week using this softpaq: https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp95501-96000/sp95855.exe

bye

[StevenWeng]

Thanks!

After the the recommended firmware updates, it works now, no more crash, a big achievement!

But the performance of the HP dock station is still low, I do have the HP original 230w power supply.The low screen frame rate of about 2 fps is still there, workaround of logout and log in again is still needed. switch off and switch on again of external screens take long time, and the windows ordering is lost. A no-name usb dock station works much better, just I need to connect more cables.

HP still needs to improve the dock station. The performance is not acceptable.

Thanks again for your great helps! 

[TryToDoMybest]

Hello

which is the displays resolution ? Fullf HD , QHD , 4k ?

at which refresh rate at they working 30 Hz , 69 Hz ?

where do you read 2 frame per seconds ?

which vidoe card is integrated into  your Zbook G4 ?

it's a Zbook 15 or 17 ?

Which video card driver version are you using ?

Which Windows 10 verision are you using ? 1803 , 1809, 1709 , 1903 ?

[StevenWeng]

The monitors are full HD, 1920x1200, and work on 60Hz. The ZBook is G4 17 with Graphic card Nvidia Quadro P3000. My desktop has the graphic card Nvidia GTX 2080. The both are connected over a monitor switch to two external monitors I mentioned above, where the ZBook is connected over G2 to the monitor switch, so that the multiple PCs share the external monitors. Since I am doing deep learning training network, the graphic cards are the best. Just the G2 dock station has low performance. It takes long time to get the screen every time I switch the monitors from desktop back to zbook. From zbook to desktop, there is no delay. The G2 needs long time to "think over how to do it". The very low frame rate of ZBook occurs  only if I switch on the ZBook onboard displayer together with the two external monitors, and it keeps working with low frame rate even if I turn off the Zbook displayer. In that case, I need to log out, and log in again, then I get the normal refresh rate of 60 Hz again. I am not  alone has this problem, because it is a known problem of HP dock station. The work around came from HP support. They said they were working on the solution a half year ago. It seems to me that problem has not been solved, because I updated all the firmware today. The 2 fps is only the estimated value, if low refresh rate come up, there is no smooth operation possible, even the mouse movement is broken! The low frame rate issue could be easily reproduced by just connecting zbook to any external monitor over G2 while zbook is on. 

[TryToDoMybest]

Hello

now the worling environment is more clear.

Honestly I don't know if I can be able to reproduce what you see with oyur system, actually I don't have a Zbook 17 G4.  No problem to find 2 display Full HD , not sure about  2x 1920x1200.

I will try with other computers with Intel Graphics card what happens if I connect two displays connected to the two DisplayPort of the Docking with the system and docking already on. I don't have any monitor switch.

Then I see around my friend if someone has a Zbook with Nvidia card, but it could be difficult to find a P3000.

In theory should happens even with P2000 or P1000.

I'll let you know if I can replicate the issue and find a workaround.

which WIndows 10 version are you using ?

bye