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r/sysadmin•
subredditbrowser

Lenovo Ultra Dock Issues

We're approaching month number 4 of a Lenovo case where their engineers don't seem to know the cause of problem and won't admit to it being a known issue. A few dozen users that have T480s and X1 Carbons (20KH002JUS) with their respective Ultra Docks have intermittent issues where their screens briefly flicker or display cuts out. Sometimes it comes back on its own, other times it requires redocking. This can happen several times a day.

We have installed the last several iterations of updates for drivers, BIOS, thunderbolt and dock updates etc for the past few months and haven't been able to find anything that helps. Sleep/power management settings don't appear to have an effect. Connection type is Display and multiple monitor brands have been tried. The Kernel Power event log entry that appears each time is below. Has anyone else encountered this before?

Event Log: AcOnline false RemainingCapacity 53530 FullChargeCapacity 53570

AcOnline true RemainingCapacity 53520 FullChargeCapacity 53570

UPDATE: Support finally mentioned there being a known bug that when Lenovo Vantage or System Update scans your system it briefly causes a loss of connection to external devices. These programs both have scheduled tasks that periodically run in the background. So far this has been a fix for 100% of devices where we have either uninstalled the programs completely or disabled the tasks in the TVSU folder via Task Scheduler.

Posted Apr 9, 2019, 7:01 PM UTC · edited

617
HPNJN•

Yup. After reading countless stories of people in the same situation, installing some drivers, removing some drivers, swapping cables, this, that, and the other, I ultimately fixed it by disconnecting the video. Now it's a USB hub and I have one external monitor instead of two.

2
Backwoods_357Digital stimulation•

I had issues with those docks and IIRC there was a dock firmware update utility that ironed out the problems we were having.

2
Whitesp0t•

Had the same problem. Finally got an firmware update from Lenovo Vantage App after switcher USB C ports back and forth on the PC and docking. Seems like Vantage can't se the docking clearly if its not in the "right" port.

2
noelio1982•

We are seeing same issues in our environment as well. Haven’t found a permanent fix to date, however using the vga port does help although not ideal and doesn’t help when you have more than one monitor.

2
XDWigglesJack of All Trades•

Lenovo Support has been useless.

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We have about 30-50 users experiencing this. Happens on the USB-C Ultra Dock, the Older Pro docks (for P51s, p50s, w550s, t440p), the USB 3.0 Ultra dock, and the new Special USB C/weird dock connector dock. Same computers work fine with HP port replicators or Startech docks. I can take a computer that is experiencing it from one desk to another and never get it again. I can also take a computer that isn't experiencing it and place it on the dock that is having the cutouts and it never happens to that computer. Sometimes it goes away for days and then comes back and sometimes it is every 10 seconds.

The only one it doesn't happen on is a thunderbolt dock with 2 monitors connected. Happens with 1... Happens with 3... doesn't happen with 2.

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"Solutions" I've found:

Swapping both monitors to Displayport helped on a couple (HDMI -> Displayport for adapter).

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Jumping to 1809 helped for a few (No idea why and it broke a couple of other things... but hey their monitors work)

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Ticking the Graphics adapter to reset on startup helped a few. (Win + Shift + CTRL + B will reset it on the fly if you need to, usually gets the monitor to pop back up)

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Switching to a Mac and throwing the Lenovo dock away helped 100% of the time.

2
subredditbrowserOP•

Support finally mentioned there being a known bug that when Lenovo Vantage or System Update scans your system it briefly causes a loss of connection to external devices. These programs both have scheduled tasks that periodically run in the background. So far this has been a fix for 100% of devices where we have either uninstalled the programs completely or disabled the tasks in the TVSU folder via Task Scheduler.

2
XDWigglesJack of All Trades•

Those sneaky bastards

2
Vexxt•

From my experience, they are very power hungry and ride the line.

I've had issues with USB devices due to phones and fans plugging in, monitors not turning on, etc.

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Make sure its actually getting enough power, plug it into a UPS and see if that helps.

2
Silica1•

Not had the issue with that exact model but we have had it with multiple other Lenovo docks, symptoms sounds exactly the same as we experienced.

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We fixed it by using generic display link drivers. It's worth a try.

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https://www.displaylink.com/downloads/windows

2
subredditbrowserOP•

Thanks, I'll give that a shot.

1
noelio1982•

If you have any positive results please let me know.

2
subredditbrowserOP•

It unfortunately didn't seem to have any effect and the issues persist. I appreciate the suggestion though.

1
subredditbrowserOP•

Support finally mentioned there being a known bug that when Lenovo Vantage or System Update scans your system it briefly causes a loss of connection to external devices. These programs both have scheduled tasks that periodically run in the background. So far this has been a fix for 100% of devices where we have either uninstalled the programs completely or disabled the tasks in the TVSU folder via Task Scheduler.

1
noelio1982•

You don’t have a link to the known bug by any chance?

1
mattisgentle•

I ran into this issue today. I installed all of the latest updates but still had the same issue where the dock was not recognizing my USB ports.

The funny thing is, I have never used the Lenovo Vantage app but thought I would install it to see if it would maybe fix/detect any hardware issues or other hidden updates and once I installed the vantage app, my USB's on my dock magically started working again.....go figure.

1