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Mark_Wallace wrote: Eleven blokes found in a local pub can play better than the England team*.
I'm not a cricket fan and I don't know who played whom, but my guess is that both winners and losers can now be found in a local pub.
I'm retired. There's a nap for that...
- Harvey
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Hello all,
I've been used to have a desktop and a laptop, it is wonderful for some things and a "nightmare" for other things.
Now I've changed my desktop and I'll have only a powerful Lenovo laptop and no desktop. the laptop is connected to a USB 3.0 Lenovo docking station.
I hope now I'll be able to find everything at the first attempt as no more sync folders will be needed... Only the laptop, the server and subversion.
Note:
I've chosen that USB based docking station because usually when I'm on the move the laptop lies in dirt tables and the bottom connector could become dirt.
In the docking station I've plugged:
1. USB mouse.
2. USB keyboard.
3. USB 3.0 HDD.
4. USB 3.0 DVD burner.
5. DVI 24" display.
6. DVI 24" display.
7. Audio speakers.
All in all I can see it working, but it is not as smooth as I would like to: mouse seems responsive, some keys are missed (but I'm not sure if the keyboard change is the reason for that, not me of course), ... but the thing that is not as smooth as it should be is when I move any window in the 24" displays: it is a little bit "jumpy".
I've downloaded:
- the latest DisplayLink drivers for Windows 7.
- the latest USB 3.0 host controller driver.
I've set the performance options in the laptop to be at full while on power.
Both things have improved a lot the behavior (before doing that the mouse was also jumping!).
Anyone here has faced this kind of thing and got a completely responsive device? if so... how have you done it?
And in case none of you have been here, what would you try?
As always thank you in advance! 
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Are you saying that your displays are driven via USB?
USB 3 is 5Gb/s
DVI 4.95 Gb/s
You have 2 x dvi plus the rest - so there's no surprise performance is an issue!
Even assuming USB 3.1 (10Gb/s i) it's an obvious issue!
Of course, you're not necessarily using the full bandwidth (depends on screen resolution etc.) but still .. pushing it to the limits!
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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_Maxxx_ wrote: Are you saying that your displays are driven via USB?
Yes, the device is this one: http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/pd023761[^]
And it is designed to connect two DVI displays onto it through USB 3.0...
Seeing your post I've just disabled one of the external DVI displays and no change has been noticed... 
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I guess depending on the resolution of the monitor (and the refresh rate) you can calculate the bandwidth required for the display
You can estimate the bandwidth required for the network if its in use.
I've read reviews of other USB docking stations having display lag issues - I guess because of bandwidth problems; personally I'd try connecting the monitor straight to the laptop and make sure there's no issue there, then disconnect everything but the monitor and on the docking station and see what that runs like.
But it certainly looks to me like it's an ambitious concept to shove more data down a pipe than it has room for - only one way to do that is to slow down!
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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Yep... what you say seems more than logic...
But see those[^] guys (yes I know they are salesmen...).
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There are loads of people having similar problems to you - and loads of suggestions for solutions, with no definitive answer that I could see after a quick google 
The technology, if I understand it, involves rendering the screen in software, compressing it, sending down through USB to the device which then displays it via a USB Video card - so there's a bit of processing at both ends which is likely to be the cause of lag.
My only suggestion is to keep googling and trying suggestions to see what works for you and, if there's no luck, take it back.
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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Yes, that's what I'll do... but as you say there are lot's of suggestions and I've tried a few of them without luck...
One of the worst things is the capability of my new keyboard to forget a key press sometime... 
I probably should have chosen the normal docking station which moreover would have plugged my laptop at the same time...
Thank you for your posts! 
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At 1080p you're using ~3Gbps/monitor[^]. The jank itself is probably more due to the nature of USB itself. Unlike Thunderbolt (or FireWire before it), USB was designed to be as cheap as possible to implement; not to maintain the maximum possible QoS levels. I saw claims that USB3 was supposed to be better in that regard; but it appears that they were just elephant droppings. Or it could just be that Joan's dock has an elephanting bad design I suppose. 
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Yep - uncompressed that takes it over USB 3.0 speeds with jus the monitors. My guess is the compression / decompression allows it to work, but is the cause of jerkiness and/or artefacts.
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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And the laptop has USB 3.0 ports as well, right? How many?
Although I read your reply that disabling one of the monitors didn't affect the jumpiness of moving a window around, I can't help but wonder what would happen if, say, you connected one or more of the devices that's hanging off the hub directly to a USB port on your laptop? Of course, I think the laptop just implements a hub anyways, but this way you're taking (maybe) some of the workload off the external hub. Who knows. I guess it's something I'd try.
What's the USB-DVI adapter you're using? I've got an old Kingston DisplayLink device that I've never had problems with!
Marc
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Hi Marc!
The "docking station" is a Lenovo USB 3.0 docking station[^].
The docking station itself has two DVI ports. the laptop has three USB 3.0 ports (it is a Lenovo T450s[^]).
It was chosen as I wanted to keep it working even a port would become dirty... It's obvious I failed deciding...
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Joan Murt wrote: 1. USB mouse.
2. USB keyboard.
7. Audio speakers.
Those three will do fine with USB 1, let alone 2 or 3.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Can't say where your slowdown is, but I use a first-gen Surface Pro with a Plugable UD-3000 USB 3 dock. I have a 1920x1080 monitor hooked up directly to the tablet (via a Mini Display Port to HDMI cable), one monitor (1920x1200) hooked up to the dock's DVI port, and a third one (also 1920x1200) via a VGA-to-USB3 adapter (also going through the dock). In other words, I have two 1920x1200 monitors (indirectly) connected through the tablet's USB 3 port.
With this setup, I've run 1080p videos fullscreen on two monitors simultaneously without a hiccup. I can only speculate that maybe your setup somehow thinks your devices are USB 2 only and slows everything down to that speed--in that case, slowdowns will be noticeable (for the heck of it, I once hooked up the dock to a laptop that can only do USB2--the monitors were usable, but there was noticeable lag).
In short: I wouldn't blame the bus--it should be more than capable to accommodate your two monitors without slowdown.
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That's what DisplayLink people say and also Lenovo... so I guess there must be something else involved...
I'll keep searching... thank you for your post!
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Do post a follow up if you find a solution, or at least the cause. I'm probably more curious than you are.
I wonder if a USB traffic analyzer would reveal anything useful.
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I think I've found one "solution"...
I've went into the BIOs and changed the way USB ports are handled and changed from AUTO to USB3.0 only.
After doing that windows are moving much smoother, but, there's always a but... now my keyboard an mouse are not working at all...
So... as I've ought that laptop as a desktop replacement and I do need the keyboard and mouse and I do not plan to connect and disconnect every single day 4 cables to my laptop... I'll have to live with that stupid behavior until:
A) I get a proper docking station (ThinkPad Ultra or similar).
B) Someone is pushing a firmware update that makes it capable for the USB dock to separate the USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 flow and make both to work correctly.
PS: curiously videos are working perfectly (no lag...)
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That's interesting.
So now that your display's working better, I'd suggest trying to switch it from USB3 and back to Auto to try to get your mouse/keyboard working again (and see if the original problem comes back). The theory being, the switch to USB3 may have triggered a configuration change that wasn't being done, and switching it back to Auto (where you'd think it should be) could now start working properly...?
Just speculation from my part, but it's worth a shot. Also, try changing ports for your mouse/keyboard. It sounds like one of those trial and error situations, with little else to go on with...
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No luck with that...
Now Lenovo has pushed a new firmware/driver set and it has improved a little bit the behavior, but not as much as it should... it still lags, but it seems it depends on the content of the window being dragged... i.e. outlook 2013 is terrible while other windows are not so bad...
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Hi again dandy72,
Regarding the USB 3.0 docking station...
I've tried a couple of things more:
1. installing the "USB 3.0 extensible host controller driver" from Intel.
2. installing the newest drivers (with firmware) from DisplayLink.
Now it looks much better... it is still lagging a little, I've not seen any disconnection from then (but it is been like this for less than one week)...
Not perfect, but better...
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I appreciate the follow-up after this much time.
I wouldn't be telling you anything you don't already know by saying it normally comes down to drivers/firmware...good to know it's gotten better with newer versions. Getting the latest host controller from Intel is probably a big contributor. I wonder if the motherboard manufacturer (OEM?) would have a custom driver that's further optimized? Though personally I tend to stick with those from Intel itself (as far as motherboard drivers go).
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Message Closed
modified 24-Mar-15 5:41am.
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Message Removed
modified 24-Mar-15 5:42am.
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Movie Quote Of The Day
I know. I've been really naughty, haven't I? Maybe a good spanking's in order?
Which movie?
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