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Hi all,
I own a Thinkpad laptop (AMD) that connects to a dock station using their ethernet dedicated/special port and a USB C.
I have 2 displays connected via HDMI into the dock station.
When the laptop powers up sometimes both displays show the "power saving mode message" as they don't get any input.
When this happens, I tried several things like restarting the graphics driver, pressing the power button in the displays... but nothing seems to work.
The only way to get those displays to wake up is to unplug and plug the HDMI cable again.
Have you seen this in your computer?
Have you been able to solve it or know of a way of solving it?
Thank you all!
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I've got a Dell Inspiron that I use at the company office and at home. Both locations have a Dell docking station that connects with a single USB C. At the office, its about 98% accurate. Just last week, one of my 2 monitors would randomly shut off for about 10 seconds and then start back up. At home, I have one 32" monitor. It recently decided to only display the full screen if the laptop was open. When shut, it becomes a 26" monitor leaving a black strip on each side of the monitor.
All that said, its still nice to have a laptop and docking stations. I don't know why it seems to be random. It is just annoying so I've not tried to figure out why.
Hogan
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Are they connected via HDMI on both ends of the cable, or is it DisplayPort, or some other, on one end and HDMI on the other?
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My primary monitor (actually a TV) is shared among different systems - one's direct into HDMI1, and the other is going through an HDMI switchbox that goes into the TV's HDMI2. For all intents and purposes however, the switchbox is always same input and I never switch it.
Every once in a while, even though I manually set the TV to HDMI2, I get the no-signal message, and the only solution I have is to disconnect/reconnect the switchbox, even though it should still be using the same channel as the last time it was used.
I realize this introduces a variable you don't have on your end, but I've concluded a long time ago the power-up sequence for HDMI devices isn't always done 100% correctly and you end up with these sorts of results. Not sure there's much that can be done about it.
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Similar issue here. In my case, power off/on the display helps mostly.
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I have a Lenovo Thinkpad with Lenovo's dock station. Connected via the usb-c port and has no issues whatsoever with the two monitors (both HDMI)...
...if it helps...
Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 22H2
Installed on 30/03/2023
OS build 22621.1702
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22641.1000.0
"If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization." ― Gerald Weinberg
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every morning.
Samsung Notebook 3 PRo 360. Connected to a docking station and then a 48" Samsung Curved display. and every single freaking time.
I have tried other docking stations. I have tried many things.
Only thing that works is boot. Unplug and replug in HDMI cable. once for connection and then sometimes again to get the Display settings correct.
Once it is working it is great.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
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Just curious...
Did you try turning them all off (actually off) and then try turning them on in different order?
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I have a different setup which uses multiple USB-to-DVI adapters to drive several displays from my laptop via a dock and a KVM switch.
Due the the chains of USB hubs (some internal to the laptop) it's often the case that one or more displays don't come up, either on power on or when I do a keyboard/display/mouse switch.
I found a Windows-provided utility PNPUTIL which will list PNP devices which have problems so I parse the output to issue disable and enable commands for each one. This resets them and they come online so I don't have to go round unplugging and plugging in devices!
pnputil /enum-devices /problem|select-string "Instance ID"|Foreach-object {$_ -match "Instance ID:\s+(?<root>.*)";$x = $matches['root'];Invoke-Expression -Command "pnputil /disable-device ""$x""";Invoke-Expression -Command "pnputil /enable-device ""$x"""}
Since HDMI connections must be Plug-N-Play in a similar way this might work for them too. I don't have an HDMI connected monitor to test.
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I'll lose a monitor if the cat jiggles the HDMI cables. Then it's not straight forward getting it back. I think multi-monitor support in general is "weak" (like setting focus to a monitor that isn't even on).
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
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I have had this issue in Linux, but it's usually a driver issue and/or KDE not playing to friendly with external monitors on laptops.
Back in Win10, I always had problems with external monitors on a laptop with coming back from sleep mode and having all of my windows moved around because it went through several cycles of resetting the resolution every time. Less of an issue in Win11 though, so we may have to sell our soul but at least our windows stay put. 
Jeremy Falcon
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I had that problem with my Thinkpad. I now have an HP, and I have 3 external monitors connected and have had no problems in the last 6 months.
Maybe it's a Lenovo issue.
Nothing succeeds like a budgie without teeth.
To err is human, to arr is pirate.
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To avoid this problem I only plug-in the USB-C cable to the laptop, after it has booted up. DELL inspiron laptop and DELL dock with two monitors too.
To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson
Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia
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You didn't say if it was Windows or what. If it is, try WinKey + Ctrl + Shift + B, it restarts the graphics driver.
I do have the same problem on Lenovos, but they're running the free version of Hyper-V server (without any GUI), they're a bit "special". Any way, the key combination is good to wake up the PC's screen, which doesn't wake in any other way.
On my main laptop, sometimes one of my 3 screens starts to act funny, graphics start distorting, and this key combination also solves it. I attribute this to a flaky graphics card, getting old and near end of life. I could be wrong, of course.
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I find that if I switch my laptop on, then wait a few seconds before plugging in the USB-C cable from the docking station, it finds both my monitors. If I have the USB-C plugged in before powering up then it generally misses the monitors.
This is for my personal MS laptop. My work machine is a Dell and it always finds the monitors.
Hope this helps
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I have a HP ZBook from 2017 that has always had some trouble with my dock and monitors. It is much better than it was originaly. My solution when I've used it off line and wake it up connected and it fails is to disconnect the USB C cable to the dock. After reconnection it usually finds everything where I left it. Sometimes I need to reboot. I tend not to take it off the dock unless I absolutly have to do so.
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Same thing here with a Dell Alienware laptop. Simply unplugging, then re-plugging brings the monitor back online. This only happens to the USB-C connected monitor as the other external HDMI connected monitor never has any issues.
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I have two monitors attached to my Tecra-Z50. One monitor goes to the video output port on the laptop, the other goes to a USB adapter. Sometimes, I loose the second monitor attached to the USB adapter. Unplugging the USB Adapter on the USB end, then re-inserting it usually brings the monitor back to life. Before I found this trick, the only thing that worked was a re-boot.
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I hesitate to say but ... Penny Fury calls out! (6)
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Definition: Calls out
I hesitate to say but ... UM
Penny P
Fury IRE
UMPIRE
A SWAG if there ever was one.
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FreedMalloc wrote: A SWAG if there ever was one.
But a correct SWAG 
You are up tomorrow.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Scientific wild-ass guess - Wikipedia[^]
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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How did you colour the text to blue Paul ?
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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I'm not sure if you meant to respond to me or OG. But the blue text in my post is due to the "code" formatter. I pasted the clue into my response as a code block and then modified that for my post of the solution. The formatter highlights key words for whatever its default language is, C++ or C# I would imagine.
BTW, my name is Craig, not Paul. 
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