Mouse freezing/pausing when using docking station

Here's one that I thought I might try solve on these forums since I was helped with my other problem.

I use a port replicator with my XPS 1710 for monitor, keyboard, mose and network connection (well Internet ethernet connection anyway). It's the Dell branded one WITHOUT the built in power supply (has an external power brick).

On Windows XP this setup works flawlessly...no problems.

But in Vista if I have the mouse (any mouse) plugged into any of the docking station USB ports, the mouse will freeze for about 2 - 5 seconds, every 5 - 10 seconds pretty much making it unusable.
If I plug the mouse directly into one of the laptops USB ports it works fine (laptop is still docked).
I'd rather if possible be able to plug the mouse intop the docking station if I can resolve this freezing but I have no idea where to start...there isnt any docking station driver that I can find not sure if they even exist.

I've got Vista patched with SP1 but the problem existed before then.
Any help appreciated.

 

I should mention that this is a reinstall of Vista from fresh format so i could have missed some kind of driver during the install.

Is there some kind of USB fix pack or am I imagining things???

 

I have similar problem. New Dell Precision laptop with docking station. Any mouse (have tried many) plugged into docking station USB hangs/pauses every so often. After some tweaking I got the pauses down to a second or so and they only occur every 5 to 10 minutes, though that varies greatly during the day. Still, very frustrating. Pauses do not happen when plugged directly into laptop. I suspect this is related to Vista Power Options as I also have problems with my power plan not working right when laptop is docked. When not docked they work properly, as does mouse & keyboard. When docked, power plan does not work per settings and anything plugged into docking station USB port has pause issues.

I worked with Dell on this issue and everyone I talked to insisted I was the only complaint they had received on this, until one guy admitted that he had heard about this from several customers, though still insisted it was a small number. He suggested that under power options I set USB selective suspend setting to "disabled". I did this and the symptoms lessened from 3 to 5 second pauses every minute or two to the durations described above, but they are still there. My theory is Vista's power options and the Dell docking station are not compatible. Ultimately Dell said I was stuck. I've tried to get them to send me a key to "downgrade" to XP Pro from Vista Business, but so far no dice. I will probably just pay the $$ to get XP Pro as this is not my only Vista issue and it is costing me money to deal with it. I run AutoCAD and Vista just isn't geared up to run this type of program - Vista runs it much slower than XP Pro despite this being a faster, better equipped machine than my previous PC.

Anyone know of a fix please post it. BTW, Vista Business stinks.

 

I'm having the same problem on a D820. It makes the computer unusable.

I tried a D630 on the same dock, with all the same USB attachments, no problem. I don't get it.

Chatted with Dell for two hours today and they're going to replace the motherboard on my D820. I give it about a 2% chance of fixing the problem.

Unfortunately, this does not seem to be a very widespread problem, or we might see more action.

 

UPDATE: just had the Dell tech replace the motherboard and it did NOT fix the problem. Doing a clean reinstall of Vista now. Will update later.

 

Keep us posted. I am interested to hear the outcome.

Something i can tell you though is there are different port replicator versions. And not all are compatible with all laptops even though they seem to be. (it fits fine and all). We found this out at work when we upgraded a persons laptop but not the docking station and it was acting funny. Getting a new docking station fixed it.

 

The problem seemed to have returned during the Vista install, but hasn't done it since then. I'm about to install SP1. Haven't installed any third-party drivers, so if the problem comes back again, maybe it's an SP1 thing.

 

SP1 installed, still going OK. Will update as needed.

 

I have something very interesting to report on this problem.

I've been working on a D 620 this week, trying to get dual-monitors working on a docking station. The only way to do this is by connecting one monitor to DVI, the other to analog. This machine did NOT have the USB problem prior to this task.

Anyway, I installed the latest nVidia driver from Dell's site because I was having trouble getting the machine to even see the analog display. Dual display worked fine after installing the driver.

Then the USB problem started!! This coincided with the nVidia install. So I uninstalled nVidia and IMMEDIATELY the USB problem went away, even without a reboot!

Now of course I'm back to the displays not working, but that's another problem. It's hard to say for sure whether the nVidia drivers "cause" this problem, but there is definitely a very strong correlation.

I haven't installed the nVidia driver on my D 820 yet, and I don't seem to have the problem there.

I'd be interested to have someone else confirm this scenario. Thanks.

 

Just installed a corporate image of Vista SP1 (slipstreamed) on my D820 and it's working fine. Did NOT install the nVidia drivers, and I won't. I'm almost positive that's what caused the USB problem.

Question is, is it worth it to contact nVidia and report it? Do you think they'd even care?