Thunderbolt 3 and USB Type-C problems

Question

I have a Dell Dock WD15

http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-dock-wd15-with-180w-adapter/apd/450-aeuo/pc-accessories

connected through a USB Type-C port which supports USB 3.1 & Thunderbolt 3. My computer is an Alienware 13 R3. I am running Ubuntu 16.10.

I connect my monitor through the DisplayPort on the WD15. My keyboard and mouse is connect to the USB ports on the WD15. I also use the ethernet port on the WD15 for Internet.

I usually connect the laptop to the WD15 each morning. This functions intermittently. Sometimes it works all day with no problems. Other times it fails after a few minutes.

The problem is that I lose keyboard, mouse, and network through the Dock. The video through the DisplayPort continues to function. I have to continue with the Keyboard and mouse built into the laptop.

Unplugging the WD15 from the USB Type-C port usually does not fix the problem. Most of the time a reboot fixes the problem but not always. Sometimes I have to reboot a few times. But the problem can come back in a few minutes or 30 minutes later or sometimes I don't have a problem all day.

I dual boot with Windows 10. I have the same problem with Windows10. But I don't use Windows much and I have not installed the latest Thunderbolt 3 drivers from Dell for my computer. I did a fresh install of Windows 10 and so I far just use the default drivers.

It's possible my problem is a hardware one and I have a defective Thunderbolt port (I got this computer recently). But I would like to try and diagnosis the problem. My skills with debugging hardware are not strong. I would like to know how I can try and discover what the problem is. For example what log files to look at. I have looked at dmesg and it appears to show something about a USB dock failing but that's as far as I have gone.

Can you explain what my problem might be and/or how I can diagnosis the problem?

Solution

For sure you need to install the latest Alienware 13R3 drivers. Especially flashing the BIOS and Thunderbolt 3. I think there about 10 drivers in total that will be out-of-date from a fresh Windows 10 install.

Secondly, read this ArchLinux setup for Alienware 13 lights and what not.

Thirdly, read this ArchLinux setup for Dell XP13 (9350) which shares the same Thunderbolt technology with Alienware. There is good information for updating Thunderbolt 3.

Unfortunately the TBT3 hotplug fix available since Kernel 4.7 hasn't been compiled into Ubuntu Mainline Kernels (as of 4.14.4). You could compile your own kernel with CONFIG_PCI_HOTPLUG=y.

Dell is now allowing you to update Thunderbolt 3 NVM in Linux starting with Kernel 4.13 and getting even better in Kernel 4.15.

Lastly, I noticed many good comments that couldn't be posted as answers because your question has been protected by the community.

Comments

[Z boson]

Incidentally with Ubuntu 17.04 the WD15 causes my laptop to freeze after a short time (most of the time it does not even get past the login) requiring a hard reset.

[Piotr Kolaczkowski]

I'm running Ubuntu 17.04 on Dell Precision 5520 with WD15. If starting with a dock connected, in more than 50% of cases I got a kernel panic even before getting to the login screen. So I updated the kernel to mainline ppa 4.11.3 and later to 4.12-rc4. No kernel panics on these kernels, but sometimes (~20-30% cases) I get total freezes after logging into Unity. Funny, I don't get them after suspend/resume. Also, when docked, it often resumes immediately after suspend, so I have to try suspend a few times. However, the keyboard, mouse and external display work quite ok on these newer kernels.

[Piotr Kolaczkowski]

So my recommendation is - upgrade your laptop BIOS to the most recent one, then try a newer kernel. Then if it doesn't help, maybe you can try to upgrade WD15 firmware? I don't have a Windows with USB-C laptop available so I can't chek it (no way to do that from Ubuntu). But if someone confirms upgrading WD15 fixes some of these stability problems, I may even want to borrow a Windows laptop just to updgrade WD15. ;)

[Piotr Kolaczkowski]

Oh, and one more thing - instead of unplugging WD15 from the laptop everytime you lose keyboard, you may try to unplug WD15 from the power supply when still connected to the laptop. Just today I had an issue when my Ethernet connection didn't come up initially after boot, and repowering WD15 fixed it without rebooting Ubuntu. Hotplugging WD15 after boot seems to be much more reliable than booting with WD15 already connected in my case.

[Misha M]

Can't post an answer, so posting a comment instead. I'm having a similar issue with Ubuntu 16.04 but I've tried kernels 4.11.12 and 4.12.4. My issue is that the computer freezes completely if I plug in WD15 with the monitor connected through Thunderbolt. BIOS and WD15 firmware at the latest version. No idea how to debug this

[WinEunuuchs2Unix]

@Zboson any progress on this?

[Z boson]

@WinEunuuchs2Unix, I have not looked into it again.