Docking Station is glitchy

Jimbodandy

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 31, 2006
11,356
around the way
Bought one of these to power two monitors from work laptop.

View: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X3KQZ94/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Chose this one because the one in my office (haven't been there in 2 years) is compatible with work laptop, and I have no authority to install drivers or software on work machine.

Works fantastic for work machine. Monitors solid, sound and cameras act a little weird once in a blue moon (ASUS monitors, nothing special), but a quick reboot of the docking station thing solves it for the rest of the day.

But when I'm done with work and switch over to my personal laptop (one USB switch from one machine to the other), the monitors drop from time to time. Everything will be groovy, and then they both go black, everything freezes, etc. It's a nightmare for anything interactive. I use the personal device for browsing, watching the Sox in one window while I'm doing other fun shit, and playing D&D. The D&D is no bueno, because we discord video and use Fantasy Grounds (and I have up my character sheet and other game aids). It kills the flow altogether.

Google tells me to consider firmware upgrade to the hub, but I don't want to kill the awesome flow that I have with my work box (more important). Tried default "update drivers" on personal box, and Windows thinks that my drivers are up to date. Google also said to turn off hardware acceleration, which I've done in everything that I could (Chrome was easy enough).

Any advice would be appreciated. A quick review of device manager seems to show way too many iterations of the device in various areas within DM. Not sure if that makes any difference.

Thanks.
 

Max Power

thai good. you like shirt?
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
7,838
Boston, MA
When you say "USB switch," do you mean an actual USB push button switch or manually switching the cable from one to the other? Because I'd eliminate the switch if possible.

The bad news is that some USB docks just don't work that well with certain computers. And there's no way to tell what will work with what until you start using them. Does the laptop have a USB-C port? You could try to use a C to A adapter to see if the connection is more stable on that one.
 

Jimbodandy

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 31, 2006
11,356
around the way
Manually moving the USB switch between the computers.

This is good info. Don't have a USB-C on the problem laptop. Oh well.

It does work great for the work computer, so I'll have to see by trial and error what works well and what doesn't in combination. Multiple browser windows seem to work ok, so it's not a total waste for some things.

Thanks for the feedback.