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macbook pro works with dell docking station only in mirror mode

Hello,


For a few months I'm having trouble using my macbook pro 2019 13" with my dell docking station WD15 K17A (reg type no. K17A001). I can't figure out what has happened, I have the exact same operating system (macOS Catalina) on which it previously worked without any issues.

The problem is that when I connect it to my docking station, the two monitors are identified as one monitor in System Preferences and that they only work as mirrored screens. So in "Displays" I only see two monitors, the laptop's and the two which are identified as a single one.

I'm using the latest display link driver https://www.displaylink.com/downloads/macos.

I've also tried with a legacy version (just for the sake of it), but it didn't work.


Any ideas how I could solve this issue or where the problem might stem from?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Sep 14, 2020 7:38 AM

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Posted on Sep 16, 2020 9:04 AM

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

That Dock does not really support two displays over HD resolution each.

Indeed – one display at 4K, two displays at HD. From the specs:


support for multiple displays on a single ThunderBolt-3 cable is "quirky"

I've had no issues with two external displays (along with GigE, speakers and power) connected via a single TB3 cable from my Elgato TB3 dock. But the Dell WD15 dock the OP has is not a TB3 dock.

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16 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 16, 2020 9:04 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

That Dock does not really support two displays over HD resolution each.

Indeed – one display at 4K, two displays at HD. From the specs:


support for multiple displays on a single ThunderBolt-3 cable is "quirky"

I've had no issues with two external displays (along with GigE, speakers and power) connected via a single TB3 cable from my Elgato TB3 dock. But the Dell WD15 dock the OP has is not a TB3 dock.

Sep 27, 2020 2:00 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Ok, I just wanted to see to what extent your information is trustworthy, and I'm starting to confirm my suspicions:

https://www.dell.com/support/article/en-us/sln318179/dell-displaylink-docking-stations-and-macos-support?lang=en

Current DisplayLink universal Dell docking stations:


  • D1000
  • D3100
  • D6000


Now, I know what you're probably going to say, that on the D6000 website the specs show only Windows (but you've already mentioned even more OSes). But to my mind that's sure as **** (h e LL is censored! Quite amazing:) ) misleading.


And again, it's worked perfectly for a while and then not anymore because of some random changes to the operating system. And to that you're also going to say that the fact that it worked once it doesn't mean it's supported. This to my mind sounds like nobody is taking responsibility for their actions.


I've been using apple for quite some time now and I know how cynical they can be regarding compatibility and supporting stuff. So yes, I am still beating Apple up.


If anyone has any suggestions/hacks/updates/whatever, I'd be happy to hear them.

Sep 25, 2020 12:50 AM in response to lethargos

Update:

Yesterday I upgraded my operating system to 10.15.7.

The consequence: now the docking station works even worse than before: the laptop's monitor remains black, the two extra monitors are still mirrored and in Arrangement there is now only ONE monitor being showed.

To me that's a huge problem related to mac os, not to the docking stations (which, again, work fine with Windows 10/Ubuntu/Mint).

Sep 16, 2020 8:25 AM in response to lethargos

That Dock does not really support two displays over HD resolution each.


In general, the Mac does not support multiple displays on a single USB-C cable, and support for multiple displays on a single ThunderBolt-3 cable is "quirky".


You may have to directly connect one of your two external displays with its own adapter to get it working.

Sep 14, 2020 1:43 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

It doesn't say if it's early, mid or late, but it was bought, I think, in April last year, so it might be early.

2,4 Ghz quad-core i5

16GB RAM

Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655

Current version of OS: 10.15.6

4 Thunderbolt ports / with the horrid touchbar :-)


I already kind of know that no-one is going to come up with a proper solution, because they're going to say that we should contact Dell, Dell will say talk to Apple or to DisplayLink or whatever :-) Extremely disappointing. Ridiculously enough the docking station works perfectly on windows AND on Linux (Ubuntu and Mint!). That puts Apple a little bit to shame, to my mind.


An even weirder thing happens with DisplayLink D6000 - the screen flickers continously and there's no way of going about it.

Sep 15, 2020 8:42 AM in response to lethargos

I wanted to see a screen shot because the effect is very subtle and easy to miss.


Properly-functioning software Mirrored displays are shown in that pane as nearly-coincident, almost a "double-image" of the mirrored displays.


If that "double-image" is what your Arrangement pane shows, simply drag one of the doubled images away from the others to "undo" the Mirroring.

macbook pro works with dell docking station only in mirror mode

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