Problem with a weird USB gadget hanging out of my Dell laptop when I use it in the Dell dock.
Problem with a weird USB gadget hanging out of my Dell laptop when I use it in the Dell dock.
I had a weird problem with my Dell XPS13 running Windows 11. My Dell laptop is plugged into a Dell docking station using a USB-C cord. This dock connects to two monitors and has one USB-powered hub that supports up to 8 ports. All five of my USB devices are connected to this hub: a speaker phone, a camera, and two wireless headsets from Jabra, plus a USB storage drive.
The strange thing is that the speaker phone works perfectly on its own, but the other four do not show up at all. I tried fixing it by restarting everything many times without success. Then I unplugged and replugged every single device, did the same restarts again, and no help there either.
Next, I plugged in my older Dell XPS13 using the exact same setup (dock, two monitors, hub). Everything worked fine on that one laptop. That made me think maybe the cable was bad or something was intermittent causing a weird electrical issue. I also tried different USB-C adapters to plug into my new laptop's ports. Even then, only the speaker phone worked; the other four still didn't show up.
In Device Manager, I deleted all the entries for Root Hubs and Generic Hubs and restarted my computer. Now everything starts working again! But here is the problem: on a normal workday, after leaving my laptop on overnight, tomorrow morning when I go to the office to join a Teams meeting, those four devices suddenly disappear again.
So now it's back. The other four devices are not showing up in Device Manager anymore. This makes me think maybe I have a bad USB cable or some other weird electrical issue that causes intermittent problems sometimes but only shows up when things get turned on or off overnight. Even though the second laptop plugged into the same dock works fine, this third one has these issues. Anyone else ever had a similar problem? Thanks in advance!
Welcome to the forums, new friend! Your Dell 9315 XPS13 laptop is running what BIOS version? Check your Dell dock WD19TB at this link: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/...erid=cwcf9 and try it out.
Thanks to Lutfij. Both the Dell laptop and the dock are showing up with the newest firmware or BIOS updates because I run the Dell Update tool. I put this here: This is one of the weirdest bugs I've ever seen when using computers. **Update** I had to delete every USB root hub, generic hub, and other entry from my list again, then rebooted the PC so everything works fine. I keep watching this strange thing happen. Dell Laptop BIOS/Firmware Version: Dell XPS 9315 System BIOS AUTO INSTALLED BIOS 22 Jan 2024 Docking Station Version 01.00.36, 01.00.20 Release date 04 Jan 2024 Download Type Firmware Category Docks/Stands
Thanks for the note @Ralston18. The USB hub I have installed right now is a powered one. But I also got a new one from Amazon that's ready to use (different brand). Since this new one works fine with my other Dell XPS laptop, I think it's not the power or cables causing issues yet. I'm guessing maybe Windows has some bugs or the laptop itself is acting weird. Also, when I removed both the root hub and generic hub entries from Device Manager and restarted my computer, the problem disappeared. That gives me a clue to keep in mind.