USB-C/Thunderbolt Dock Megathread

I have the 40B00135UK, it doesn’t appear to have 2.5gb. I didn’t have a switch to test it with in any case.

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If you’re using WIndows, you’ll be fine. TS4+2 external monitors on Linux is confirmed having issues with one of the monitors. If you’re on Linux, AMD, and TS4, and a SINGLE external monitor, you’ll be fine as well.

Right now its just more than 1 external monitors, AMD, and TS4 (and maybe other docks) that will have issues with one of the monitors being seen as “unknown” and stuck on 640c480 res.

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This is all very… overwhelming.

I have a Framework 13 (latest gen) and want to connect it to power, ethernet, USB keyboard + mouse, and two HDMI or Displayport monitors (both are 1920 x 1080). I use stock Ubuntu 24.04 with Wayland (and GNOME). What dock should I get? I’d love to hear from someone with direct experience.

There are WAY too many options here and many have minor issues (especially with Wayland). I’m looking at the VisionTek VT2000 based on what I’ve read here, but I’m not certain.

Also… I was considering setting up a KVM for when I want to switch over to my local desktop. If folks have familiarity with a good option with support for all my peripherals, let me know!

With Lenovo Universal TB4 dock the laptop won’t boot if the dock is connected. Have to connect it always after booting. This is clearly a BIOS issue - where to post a bug issue?

hey. Its a known (by community) regression introduced somewhere after 3.3 bios update
best way is to file a support ticket, and maybe FW team will finally address it
meanwhile, you can downgrade your bios to 3.3

Any idea is there is known working bios for FW16?
I submitted a request, hopefully it helps getting a fix.

Not sure if its only one BIOS version for 16" or archive is somewhere concealed. you can also look into available bioses with fwupd utility

This was on the 3.04 FW I think. I didn’t have 2.5Gbps anywhere in my network, so had no way to verify unfortunately.

The 1G adapter is USB, the 2.5G is PCIe. So you can just check what kind of ethernet adapter it is. In Windows by putting DevMgr into devices by connection view.

Sadly, Lenovo does not document when it will switch. There were some reports on reddit from an Apple user that they got a USB4 connection, but only the USB3 1G controller. Unclear if this only happens if PCIe tunneling somehow fails or if there is some proprietary negotiation with the host to decide etc. Similar with the TB-out/USB-c out of the dock.

No problems, everything has been fine.

I wanted to add a Dell Ultrasharp U3223QE Display with USB-C dock and 100W PD capability but it seems like we need a second table. It gave me an error that vthe maximum character count of 32000 is exceeded :frowning:.

Hi

I use a Kensington SD5700T TB4 dock (SD5700T Thunderbolt™ 4 Dual 4K Docking Station with 90W PD - Windows/macOS/Chrome | Universal Laptop & USB Docking Stations | Kensington)
The dock has to be connected to the USB3.2 USB C interface, otherwise the monitor connected to the dock doesn’t work.
I use 2 5120x1440 monitors, however only one is connected to the dock. The 2nd was is directly connected to a USB4 port on the FW13 AMD (running Ubuntu).

Cable Maters Triple Monitor USB-C Hub 201331, Framework 16 running windows 11

Two BenQ GW2480-T monitors work fine via DisplayPort. I could not get the USB charging passthrough to work though with the framework 16 180 watt charger (includes e-marker cable). This is consistent with what other users of this dock have said about using chargers over 100W and having troubles. Using Power-Z Cable Tester KM003C, it does show passing through charging protocol PD3.0 83W but at 0W. Via HWiNFO64 I could see occasional charge occurring but minor, like 1-3 watts every 10 seconds and the battery was definitely discharging. I tried an alternate charger (model YMS-868) that has a 100W rated charging port with an e-marker cable and I could see 12-14W charging (after powering the device; a Framework 16 is said to take 60W minimum). Using the Power-Z Cable Tester KM003C the 100W charger was showing passthrough power protocol of PD3.0 @ 93W, PPS and QC5. It also confirmed 93W was flowing through. So not a 100W but sufficient. The major downside of this dock is a 6" long fixed dock to laptop cable. The tester showed it is not an e-marker cable. I’d prefer no cable at all so I could change the length of the cable and use an e-marker cable.

I have the same dongle! Really nice writeup.

I also didn’t really like the length of the cable because I wanted to hide the dock under the table, so I tested two USB-C extension cables, both of them worked flawlessly (Two 4K60 monitors, 100W charging, several USB2 and 3 devices, using for work 8+ hours a day for a month now):

But I’d wager most quality extensions will work, even though they are a forbidden type of cable in a way :slight_smile:

Edit: For me, the network card in this adapter was overheatung during Teams calls and doing something weird where it lost connection, but not fully. Really weird - can handle 100 Mbit/s sustained just fine, but 2 Mbit/s teams call it craps out. I ended up plugging in a USB3 Ethernet adapter. And I also ended up pointing a fan at it under the table to make sure it doesn’t overheat.

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i have tested a BlitzWolf® BW-TH13 and every thing works on my framework 16 with the frame work 60w charger but it doesn’t work with the 180w that came with the laptop but that was expected because some compatibility problems with PD 3.1 i think they were busy on a fix trough the bios i will test with the frame work charger and update this post as soon as there is a bios fix

The mystery of the WD19TB. :thinking:
I see conflicting reports on this dock. I think I know why. Depends on what firmware is running when you get the dock.

I have the TBS model. I am running a Ryzen Framework 13.

This all started after I updated to the newest version available for this dock at the time of writing which was delivered by the firmware update tool (DellDockFirmwarePackage_WD19_WD22_Series_HD22_01.00.20)

This firmware made the dock go absolutely nuts. Especially and only when you had a monitor ( in my case through a kvm) going in via a “display over USB C” interface on the back. You could make it work by unplugging the usb C/ display cable and plugging it back in after the dock was powering the laptop. But, Screw that noise.

By rolling back to the firmware to the software delivered by (DellDockFirmwarePackage_WD19_WD22_HD22_Series_01.00.09)
suddenly I got reliable connections in both Fedora 40 and Windows 10.

Here is a tip. If you want to roll back firmware using the Dell updater in windows, you have to do the following:

  • Open the update software
  • Look in the upper right hand corner. To the left of the minimize/full-screen/close button set, you will see a cog wheel
  • click the cog wheel and you will see " command line settings". Here you want to type WITHOUT QUOTES “/f”. This will let you force the update and downgrade the firmware.
  • wait for finish and close the software.
  • unplug the dock from the laptop and reboot the laptop. While rebooting, unplug the dock from its power.
  • re-power the dock and attach to laptop. and Magic!

For bonus points I also tried (DellDockFirmwarePackage_WD19_WD22_Series_HD22_01.00.16). It works but reliability is bad.

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Thanks. Still too many issues on current (.36?) but I’ll keep this post in mind if FW doesn’t provide new drivers soon to refresh them since ~April 24. There are some known usb c issues with the beta version and your post might be the best method.