New P73 trying to connect to external monitor via Thunderbolt

[Smeed]

I'm able to easily connect to an other monitor with an hdmi cable but I'm having no luck with the thunderbolt port using a usb-c to display port cable.
No signal, nothing. Might I have an incompatible cable or do I have to buy a docking station?? I hope not!

what is the easiest way to connect more than one external monitor to my P73?

New machine P73 with Quadro rtx 4000 (and integrated intel graphics).

Thank you!

S

[H-Atkinson]

1) Is the monitors input set correctly?

2) Is the adapter thunderbolt or USB 3 type C? If its thunderbolt, check the thunderbolt device viewer. If its not there and it should be, it isnt working.

3) Check the windows screen mirroring options.

4) Check device manager when you have it all connected. There may be a driver issue, or something else.

[Smeed]

Thank you for the response.

The monitors otherwise work fine. I can successfully connect using an hdmi cable. No problem.

The ports are Thunderbolt™ 3. Scroll down the page #10 https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/th ... 2WS2WPWP73

The only Thunderbolt reference in my device manager is under Software Components and System Devices. Related, there is also an NVIDIA USB Type-C Port Policy Controller and NVIDIA USB 3.1 extensible host controller under the Universal Serial Bus Controller category.

[Smeed]

My friend runs an external monitor from his laptop via a thunberbot port. I'm going to have him try to connect to my monitor to be sure it works via usb3 and thunberbolt.

[tfflivemb2]

Have you rebooted the laptop WITH the cable already connected to the monitor? Sometimes, it just needs to see it from boot.

Actually, I just saw this on another thread on the Lenovo Forums:
This was the guy's resolution:
Open lid of my T580 and login to Windows (fingerprint)
Connect Thunderbolt cable
Function F7 and go into Extend mode
Turn off each of my monitors and then turn them back on
They each come on with the extended screen
Close the lid on my 580

[Smeed]

Thank you for the tips. Unfortunately, it is still not working.

I'll try to connect it to a different monitor ad have a friend use my cables to check they aren't the problem.

Lenovo tech support won't discuss the issue unless I pay the fee for software support. I'm very disappointed with them to say the least.

[w0qj]

Which portable external monitor are you planning to use?

For ThinkVision M14 external monitor for example, the connecting cable it came with looks like a normal USB-C cable, but it is not!
The M-14 compatible USB-C cable supplied actually has specialized chipset inside it, supporting DP1.2 Alt Mode and PD2.0 through its USB Type-C connection.
[Edit: DP1.2 = Display Port 1.2 Alt Mode]
[Edit: PD2.0 = Power Delivery 2.0]

ie: not the typical cable you can find in the computer store!

Oh, and ThinkPad/Lenovo does not separately sell this USB Type-C cable that supports DP1.2 Alt Mode and PD2.0 as I've already asked them.

For details, you can refer to:
www.lenovo.com/hk/en/accessories-and-mo ... 61DDUAR6WW

- - - - - - - - - -
I've heard that a similar situation with the "ASUS" branded portable external monitor as well. (I don't have this monitor).
Something special/different about those supplied cable that looks like a normal USB-C cable but it is not.

[kitor]

I'll add to monitor issues in this model:

At one location I have Dell WD-15 dock - USB-C, max 2x 1920x1200. If I boot p73 with dock connected to any of three USB-C ports, everything is detected except displays. I need to reconnect it under OS to get displays working.

Of course there's no such problem with Thundebolt docks - 40AC, 40AN.

But with 40AC and HP HSTNN-CX01 that I used for a while, I had many issues with 2nd screen - it was either blinking, or not detected at all. Somehow works stable with 40AN.

I have currently 3 displays connected: 2x Dell U3014 (2560x1600 @ DP) and 2x Dell U2007 (1600x1200 @ HDMI-DVI, rotated 90 deg) and it works fine on QRTX3k. I have Optimus disabled in BIOS, otherwise displays would activate after OS booted.

[w0qj]

If ThinkPad is your main computing platform, it'll be simpler if you try to use only ThinkPad products.

Our X1E1 (X1 Extreme Gen 1) uses the 40AN series Docking Station for Workstation (40AN0230UK), and our ThinkVision M14 works with just 1 cable (power+signal) by connecting either to X1E1 directly, or by connecting M14 to the 40AN docking station's USB-C (+DP1.2 Alt Mode, +PD2.0) compatible connection!

***From what I've seen, the first stable/mature/usable generation of "USB-C like" plug-and-play external LCD monitors was mastered by ThinkPad in August 2018, in their:
~X1 Extreme (Gen 1), P1 (Gen 1), P52, P72
~40AN0230xx series Docking Station for Workstation (Note: Your 40AC series came *before* this 40AN series, so perhaps less stable as you've observed)
~ThinkVision M14 exernal monitor

---------------------------------------
[Edit]:
Future USB standards look even more confusing:
www.pcworld.com/article/3541811/display ... -2021.html
This same USB-C looking port to host DisplayPort 2.0 Alt Mode (DP2.0 Alt Mode) over 4k displays. Do you need updated PD3.0 or even PD4.0?
And do you need Thunderbolt3 or even Thunderbolt 4?
Or is this proposal be called USB-C called USB-C 4.0 in the future? (my guess).
==>Imagine trying to buy a replacement USB-C lookalike cable supporting above standards!
==>Oh, many manufacturers don't sell these OEM replacement USB-C lookalike cables; they prefer you to buy a new product instead.
[/Edit]

[kitor]

>If ThinkPad is your main computing platform, it'll be simpler if you try to use only ThinkPad products.

If you use Thunderbolt 3 / USB, you expect it to work, not to vendor-lock you.

I had those display blinking problems on every single laptop using Synaptic DP Hub inside docking station. So the same problem when I used x240/x250/t440, same on HP Probooks, same on those Thunderbolt and USB-C docks... Even my previous workstation (Dell M6700 upgraded to GTX980) had same issue - and also Synaptic DP Hub. Im starting to see a theme here.

[atagunov]

...yet another thing to try is to put a fresh Ubuntu installer on a USB stick and "Try Ubuntu" from it.
Then you'd be using a completely different set of drivers + a different kernel.

It will be interesting to know if putting a "dock" in between the Thinkpad and the monitor will help; it seems people were more or less happy with Cable Matter docks on reddit if we're talking on the cheaper side of things

[dol]

I have successfully used a Microsoft Surface USB-C to HDMI adapter to connect a P53 to 4k 60Hz Samsung TV.

[kitor]

...yet another thing to try is to put a fresh Ubuntu installer on a USB stick and "Try Ubuntu" from it.

Nope, I used Linux as my desktop OS for many years, and I refuse to do it anymore. 10 + WSL is currently perfect combo for me. Linux stays on all the servers I own, and dozens of containers/vms running on them Also, for something that costed me over about 2500 EUR, I shouldn't be the one debugging things...

Back on topic:
I decided to upgrade 40AN firmware recently. I had one of the earliest versions. Outcome: After some time singnal on HDMI port get's broken - something that roughly reassembles broken cable.
I downgraded only the DP hub (synaptic...) firmware by one step. Problem solved! But to find older FW version I had to use google dorks, as Lenovo won't allow you to download anything but the latest one.

Oh, by the way - I'm currently using 1.5M DeLock thunderbolt cable (20gbps), firmware update program went into infinite "detection" loop with that. Had to replace it with 40gbps one to get it working. Somehow downgrading DP Hub firmware went smooth with longer cable, but I called dp-hub-firwmare-update program directly from commandline, instead of running everything and downgrading all internal FWs. So pr0tip for future readers: if you can't update firmware in your dock, try other cable

I know my last posts looks like a rant on Lenovo, but if you add that latest BIOS (1.22) makes i7 models run fans all the time at max speed, and overheat at the same moment - user experience is quite different than on older models. There are tons of such reports on their forums, they still didn't pull down download. Fortunately this time downgrading is easy - just grab older version (it's in downloads). And don't forget about blocking Lenovo Vantage from updating again. But still, in "latest, greatest and the most expensive" mobile workstation that they offer right now is broken in so many ways...

Yes, after all most of frustration comes to Synaptic DP hub, but from customer PoV it's Lenovo who sold it packaged to me. And at the same time as IT professional I know that whatever else I buy on the market now, it will use Synaptic hub The only solution that always worked for me (for every manufacturer, not only Lenovo) is to use single-port adapters/one-screen-only USB-C hubs with ports directly located in laptop, as they don't use any DP hubs inside.

[e] For careful readers that noticed I use longer TB3 cable - all the problems persist on 0.6M one that was included with dock. The only difference I noticed so far was this firmware update stuck in a loop. All the ports (with previous DP hub firmware) works fine.

[atagunov]

Nope, I used Linux as my desktop OS for many years, and I refuse to do it anymore

To be fair the suggestion was to use Linux merely as a problem detection tool; "Try Ubuntu" only runs the OS directly from the USB stick. Of course I respect people's choice to use whichever OS is most useful to them.. I'm happy to hear that in summary your issue has been solved. To be honest your experiences are making me more and more nervous as to what expect from X2100 (USB-C but no Thunderbolt) + Cable Matters dock. I certainly hoped they'd drive my single display under Linux..

[gpetrowski]

Hello,

I am having the same / similar issues. I purchased the P73 and the thunderbolt 3 doc workstation dock and all it can do for me is turn on / off my P73 when connected.

When I use the HDMI cable to my monitor from the back of the P73, I have no trouble getting the display.
When I route the HDMI from the docking station to the monitor, no external display is found on the P73.

I have tried rebooting the system through the docking station. Still no display.
I have ensured multiple screens are enabled via Function Key + F7, still no display via the docking system.

So far, the only use of this expensive docking system for my P73 is to turn it on / off, and battery charger.

Please help! Thank you in advance.

Cheers,

Gale

[kitor]

It took a moment, and it's probably already solved, but:

> thunderbolt 3 doc workstation dock

Which station?

> When I route the HDMI from the docking station to the monitor, no external display is found on the P73.

Play with Thunderbolt settings on BIOS. Remember that unless you disabled switchable graphics (optimus) you won't get any output from dock until OS loads.
Do USB, LAN work? Is your dock visible in Thunderbolt Control Center and authorized there?

On the other topic:
Recently I got Dell WD19 USB-C dock. This one supports more than 2x1920x1200 displays (comparing to WD15 mentioned earlier) - I successfully connected my usual 2x 2560x1600 + 1200x1600 setup via it. And guess what? Same problems with monitors sometimes glitching / turning off and on

Thankfully 40AC with downgraded Synaptic firmware, on P73 with downgraded BIOS to 1.20 and locked from receiving any updates via Vantage (famous "fan at max speed, CPU thermal throttling" that they didn't solve still), it works stable

[Dos3.1]

Speaking of a Dell WD19 dock, does anyone have any experience connecting a Thinkpad X140E to it? There's 2 monitors and a 130 power supply with the dock. I'm not sure how to go about it, which connection to use, maybe I need an adapter. Thanks.