HP Zbook 17 G5 and Thunderbolt 240W dock station and 3 monitors

[George-Houston]

I've been running this setup (HP zbook 17 G5 Mobile Workstation w/2TB PCIe NVMe TLC SSD and 1TB SATA SSD) and a Thunderbolt G2 240w docking station using 2 HP Z27 monitors. The dock has two DisplayPort outputs and a USB-C video output. I keep the laptop closed and use a wireless keyboard and mouse. (working from home since Covid-19). I was using a couple of my personal 27" monitors fine since March but brought my two Z27 monitors home from the office, 3 days ago. The graphics card is a NVIDIA Quadro P2000 4GB Graphics.

The HP Z27's have a USB-C input (actually 2) but 1 is labeled with the DP logo. I bought a USB-C to USB-C video cable and plugged it from the dock to one of the Z27's and the monitor says no signal. The other 2 monitors (the other Z297and a ASUS 27) both work fine.

So my goal (after this long description) is to drive 3 screens off the Dock and keep the laptop closed. Is this possible?

The other sad fact, I work for a large company and do not have Admin rights to this laptop. When I open the Thunderbolt software up the Approve Devices is grayed out. I don't think I have Admin rights to install drivers.

Can I get 3 screens going?  IIRC, other users with the same Dock but less powerful laptops are running 3 screens.

[banhien]

@George-Houston 

Please use table on page 5 of the following document

            https://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/c04168358

Regards.

[George-Houston]

I don't have the Dock from Page 5.  I believe I have the 230W version of HP Thunderbolt™ Dock G2– Left View (120W/230W) from P14

The Z27's are at 2560x1440. Can I get 3 displays? if so how do I connect them to the Dock?

[banhien · Accepted solution]

@George-Houston 

Your machine has

Left side

(1) RJ-45/Ethernet

(2) USB 3.0

(1) USB 3.0 (charging)

(1) Security lock slot

Right side

(2) Thunderbolt 3 (supports DP 1.3, USB 3.1 Gen2, and PCIe Gen 3 devices)

(1) HDMI 2.0

(1) Stereo microphone in/headphone-out combo jack

(1) Mini DP 1.3

(1) Power connector

Therefore it supports DP 1.3 host. You should be able to use the second yellow part on your image

Regards.

[George-Houston]

I was able to get all three 27" Monitors running off the docking station. After trying a few wiring swaps the full size display port connections went to the left and right monitors and the USB-C port went to the middle monitor. Maybe it was the reboot after the cable swaps but all 3 started working.

My home PC desktop is also connected to 2 of the 3 monitors so I can switch from my work laptop to my home desktop.