T61 and Advanced Dock Problems

Recently bought a T61 (766417U) with an Advanced Dock (250310U).

I’ve never used a dock before, and I’m having a lot of problems docking/undocking my notebook.
I’m running (2) external monitors through the dock – (1) VGA and (1) DVI.

Whenever I try to dock my notebook (power-off/lid closed) and then powering up the unit with the power button on the dock; neither of my external monitors work (laptop screen does not work either if I open the lid).

The only way I seem to be able to get the dock to work, is to power up my laptop, wait for windows to fully load, and then with the lid still up, dock it.

The problem with this however is, if my laptop goes into standby/hibernation mode, and I “wake” it up, I end up having the same problem as before and both external screens (and even the notebook screen) will not work.

In addition to this, I can’t shutdown/restart while docked! The computer sits at the signoff screen saying “shutting down” and stays there.

I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong, but if anybody has any suggestions I would really appreciate it – as I’ve literally spent hours trying to rectify this issue.

 

I am not sure, but I don't think you can use both VGA and DVI at the same time. I think that is the problem.

Also, if you have any external HDDs attached to the mini-dock try having those powered OFF before you dock. After you power up the laptop and you see the desktop, then power them ON.

You should also apply this registry fix: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-68055
It might help for waking up after stndby/hibernation. I applied it. It certainly won't hurt.

Final advise... I am not a fan of ThinkVantage Utilities BUT I do use the ThinkVantage Easy Eject Utility with my advanced mini-dock. You may already have it installed. When you want to undock press FN + F9. If nothing happens then you can download EasyEject here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-44035

 

Appreciate your response Stallen. I will definitley try installing those 2 fixes and see if it helps with standby/hibernation problem.

With regards to the external screens: I can get both to work, given that the laptop is already powered on and then docked.

 

Well getting it to (somewhat) work and if it is actually supported is two different things. Maybe call tech support. I really just don't believe this is a supported option but I'll eat some crow if I'm wrong. I hope I am wrong if that is what you need your lappy to do.

 

On a T60, I have 1 DVI 1 VGA @ 1600x1200 for each. Works fine, but I use presentation director.