docking station thunderbolt 3 hp 150 watt no light

[triplemaya]

Hi. I bought a docking station thunderbolt 3 hp 150 watt. Does not work. Should there be a light in the power switch on the dock? My ultraslim docs have a light which operatates when the laptop is plugged in. If this dock should and it does not then it is clearly US and I can stop trying to get it to work. Thanks in advance. 🙂

[banhien]

@triplemaya 

Yes, it has a light which is near the power switch and it will light up when connected to a COMPATIBLE notebook. Is your machine compatible with the dock ?

Regards.

[triplemaya]

Thanks. Not sure we are talking about the same unit. It looks like this, except it is all black. It does not look as if there is anywhere for a light except inside the switch.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/images/images2500x2500/hp_p5q54aa_thunderbolt_docking_station_1217832.j...

[triplemaya]

ps I bought it with a HP Zbook Studio G3 which the seller has been using with this dock, apparently. Photo shows it plugged in!

[triplemaya]

The seller said it has a light under the on off symbol, just like earlier docks.

He also said the same as you, lights up when connected to a compatible laptop, and that this laptop is compatible. Also however admitted he had never used it!

I have tried every how to in the HP site, and downloaded the driver and diagnostic tool. Nothing works.

He also told me that the correct software has to be installed in order for the dock to light up.

Hope this helps someone.

[Huffer]

Got the exact same setup I am sending this response on. The only light on the dock is in the little power symbol in the on/off switch. Shut down the laptop. Plug in the dock. Start the laptop with the switch on the dock, not the switch on the laptop. 

[triplemaya]

Thanks.

Nothing

The seller said that the laptop had to be correctly set up for the dock to work. Presumably if it can be switched on by the switch on the dock this is not the case. So this would seem to confirm that the dock is US. Or something wrong with the laptop.

Hmm, four items on device manager have yellow flags and no details. I assume that is not the problem but if you know about these things your advice on what to try first would be very welcome. Different dock seems a good place as the basic unit without cord or psu very cheap on ebay these days.

[Huffer]

There are drivers for the dock and you need to have the latest Thunderbolt firmware. As I said I have a Zbook G3 and that dock. It also requires a very big and powerful power adapter. Mine is 150w and plugs into the back of the dock with a single barrel plug and then from the dock to the laptop is a double-headed USB-C and barrel plug that are right next to each other on the laptop. Your picture is consistent with what I have. Link to drivers:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-zbook-15-g3-mobile-workstation/8693763

There is a whole section of dock and firmware drivers. You also need Thunderbolt 3 secure connect and some other drivers. Go through the list and install all the drivers that will install on your system. 

[triplemaya]

Thanks again. I have gone through this again and again. And yes, it has the correct 150 watt brick. But anyway. Maybe I missed something.

It would be a huge help to get an answer to whether the dock should show some response once it is plugged in to the appropriate laptop, when it detects the suitable hardware, or whether it will only show a light if it is connected to a laptop with all the drivers correctly installed. The latter seems unlikely but this is what I have been told by the seller. Having spent many hours on this it would be wonderful to know if all I have to do is get another dock unit.

The information seems hard to get. At least one hour was spent trying to get this from HP!

[Huffer]

I can tell you my dock did not work until the drivers were installed on the laptop. And as I said, you cannot plug the dock into a laptop already running. You have to turn everything off and then start the laptop with the switch on the dock.