Dell Precision 7550 and 7750 System BIOS - 1.24.0 Breaks Docking Station USB C

@danteoz​ Try - disconnect Dock from Laptop and remove its power supply.

Hold dock power button min 30 seconds and then release.

Re insert the dock power and wait till fans stop (10 sec)

Re connect the dock usb to Laptop.

Both LED will come on and the laptop will start.

Also check Dock FW and derivers LAN and usb

Relaying this to the team, will let you know what I hear back. 

@0ct0​ 

That did not change anything unfortunately. I did it again just to verify any differences with the new BIOS installed. 

At this point, power and both LEDs on the dock connections appear to be fine and lit up. Even just Ethernet plugged into the dock does not connect to the Precision laptop. If I plug a USB headset into the dock, it comes up fine. Video works fine plugged into the laptop directly, same for ethernet. The dock also works fine on a single connection to a different laptop (Latitude E7490), It's still an issue with this Precision 7550 laptop on the new BIOS.

All drivers installed and up to date. 

@danteoz​ 

You need to do the dock reset. Do you know how to do it? LAN port not working is one of those WD19DC features which just happens time to time.

1. shutdown PC and disconnect dock USB cable from PC.

2 . unplug dock power cable

3. keep dock power button down and connect dock power cable

4. count slowly to 10 and release the power button

5. connect dock USB cable to laptop

What is the firmware version of your dock?

@heikkuri​ 

I checked the dell website; latest Firmware is from May. Ran again to check and it's all up to date already. I've performed resets several times already but did again and still no change. 

The important piece here is that on another older laptop, all peripherals work over the single connection through the dock. It's the Precision that has an issue still and it all started with the 1.24.0 BIOS.

I can confirm I got the update to 1.25 via Dell Command Update and it resolved my issue.

Everything works, Both USB-C lights up, LAN/USB/monitors all work no problem.

@danteoz​ 

So you do not see Device Manager - Network adapters - Realtek USB GBE Ethernet Controller.

What if you activate Device Manager - View - Show hidden devices ?

Is it now visible in "gray mode"?

What are the two latest events?

How about remove the device and reinstall again the the driver Realtek-USB-GBE-Ethernet-Controller-Driver_YK00J_WIN_1153.10.20.1104_A29.EXE ?

Do you have IT support in your company?

Here is one possible case if your company has activated some security settings

Windows 11 22H2 Dell dock does not fully function until after logged - Microsoft Community

It's nice when Thunderbolt settings are under Bitlocker Drive Encryption policy.

Dell dock WD19DC is using USB Type-C but the ports in the laptop support Thunderbolt.

@heikkuri​ 

I appreciate your input and suggestions. At this point, I've wasted days of my time troubleshooting this. I checked the link, and I tried a few things in there. Local account, no difference, DMA group policy setting was not configured, I disabled anyway....no dice.

The Realtek Ethernet controller shows when hidden devices are shown. The thing that I haven't been able to locate is Thunderbolt. There is no thunderbolt controller, or any thunderbolt device listed in Device Manager. The Thunderbolt driver has been installed and reinstalled 10-15 times now and nothing works.

Thunderbolt is enabled in BIOS and all settings have been returned to factory defaults and then set up with the Dell recommendations. 

Something about the 1.24 BIOS update killed Thunderbolt on my laptop. 

@Dell-Brad L​ I have a 7550 and have installed the newly provided BIOS 1.25. It didn't work. Although both USB-C lights on the dock connector are lit up now, I am still unable to use my third monitor (HDMI). I have rebooted the computer and dock, and still nothing.

The 1.25 BIOS update fix does not allow more than 3 monitors attached to a dock to display.  Before the 1.24 issue, I have a 7550 that was able to use 3 monitors and the laptop display (4 monitors) now it will not allow more than 3.  It shows 4 monitors, but one is greyed out/disconnected.  When trying to connect that display, another monitor will disconnect.

I think Dell has given up helping anyone else here. Currently convincing management to switch to something else since Dell support has been at an all-time low. It's been 2 weeks with no Dell communications about continued problems not resolved by 1.25.0 caused by the 1.24.0 BIOS. It's been OVER 2 MONTHS with issues not resolved by Dell. This is crazy to me....

I have also noticed the same development. This was never the real good support channel but here you could share you own experience with other customers.

This portal is left as the customers' own mutual discussion forum. Dell folks have left.

To get support form Dell go to Dell Official support pages and create ticket if you need help.

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us

I am having this issue with a Precision 7550 on BIOS version 1.25 and have tried everything that I can think of to downgrade to an older version. I've attempted downgrades via the F12 boot menu BIOS utility and loading the .exe off of a flash drive and running the .exe from an elevated command prompt. I have the BIOS setting enabled to allow downgrades yet I am greeted with a 'BIOS update blocked due to unsupported downgrade'.

Attempted versions:

1.18.0

1.19.0

1.22.0

1.23.1

All fail with the same result. Rolling back the BIOS using the CTRL + ESC method also does not work for me.

I don't know what to try next besides calling support and having them tell me that my laptop needs to be reimaged. I have a brand new dock that I cannot use.

I have a coworker with a Precision 7540, BIOS version 1.18.1 who can plug into this dock and it works perfectly fine. I have the latest Thunderbolt drivers/firmware, dock firmware, etc.

Anyone have any tips on forcing this BIOS downgrade?

Click here for the latest bios version. Released Sept.7, 2023.