Dock problems - maybe someone can recommend a new one?

[wfriedwald]

I have been using a Dell Universal Dock UD22 for about six months now, and it mostly works okay, but...

sometimes, once every day or two, there's what appears to be a short, wherein all my external drives flicker on and off. They come back and there's no harm done (not so far) but you see why this is NOT optimal!

And now one of the two additional external monitors is not connecting properly - so that's also a problem.

Not sure if I should figure this out or invest in a new, more powerful dock?

I'm running a 2020 (?) M1 MacBook Air, which mostly works great, though I am tempted to get one of the M3s when they are available.

thanks as always for any feedback!

w

 

[Bigwaff]

sometimes, once every day or two, there's what appears to be a short, wherein all my external drives flicker on and off.

Is the dock plugged into a surge protected outlet? If not, recommend you get a UPS battery backup unit.

And now one of the two additional external monitors is not connecting properly - so that's also a problem.

Even w/ the dock, how are you supporting more than one external monitor w/ 2020 M1 MBA? DisplayLink?

 

[wfriedwald]

Is the dock plugged into a surge protected outlet? If not, recommend you get a UPS battery backup unit.

Even w/ the dock, how are you supporting more than one external monitor w/ 2020 M1 MBA? DisplayLink?

thank you for your help!

surge protector - Okay: in my previous apartment, the wiring was old and I used a surge protector, which was very helpful. My current building is brand new, and I have found I didn't need a surge protector. In fact, it seemed to cause more problems than it cured. (Of course, maybe by then, the surge protector itself was old and I should buy a new one.). But in the current building, I have NOT had any problems with random electrical "blips" UNTIL I started using this dock. So what do you think?

External monitors - I have two connected, one via HDMI and the other via DISPLAYLINK. Until a day or so ago, they were both working. But now, for some reason, I can NOT get the one that's connected via DISPLAYLINK to receive the signal properly. I didn't change the wiring / connection or anything like that, although I have pulled the plug out on both ends and reconnected it several times to see if that might help. So far it hasn't.

Thanks again for the feedback!

w

 

[Bigwaff]

2020 M1 MBA only supports a single external display. To use more than one external display, you need to install DisplayLink software and use a compatible hub. Sounds like you have all of this. Perhaps the DisplayLink software may not be running?

 

[wfriedwald]

Hey, thanks! that may be it.

But why would it just stop running?

is there any way to check whether the DISPLAYLINK software is working? It is on my menu bar, so that must mean it's "on" - right?

thanks again for feedback!

w

w