Question HP Elite USB Type C Dock doesn't seem to work with Zoom virtual backgrounds

cswallinger

Commendable
Nov 12, 2020
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I have an HP Elite USB C dock (X7W54UT#ABA ) that I got refurbished from HP Business Outlet a few years back and it's been working fine, except recently I noticed that it will crash every time I try to use a virtual background on Zoom. I believe I've narrowed the problem down to the dock, as I am able to use virtual backgrounds on my laptop when it's undocked, and I'm also able to use them if I use my smaller HDMI travel dock connected to my second monitor. If I am connected to the C Dock, though, as soon as I turn a virtual background on, the computer will disconnect from all external monitors and will not reconnect until I turn it off. I can actually hear a clicking sound as the laptop tries to reconnect to the monitors, but will not. Turn the virtual backgrounds off and it reconnects fine.

I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas as to what may be causing this as I'd like to ensure if I replace the dock that I get one that will be able to handle virtual backgrounds.

My computer is an HP Elitebook 1030x360 G2 with an Intel i5 7th generation processor, 3.60 GHz and 16 GB of RAM (64-bit system), and I'm running Windows 10.
 

cswallinger

Commendable
Nov 12, 2020
6
0
1,510
Check for a newer BIOS, chipset and video driver for the laptop and check if the dock has any newer firmware for it also. There have been bugs with the Zoom backgrounds and some video chips, I remember that we had to wait at work to use them properly on some laptop models.

This may be the issue, as I just checked and my driver for the USB C Dock is listed as a Microsoft driver from 2006. HP has newer drivers on its website but when I went to install, it doesn't seem to have loaded anything (date should be 2018).

Is there a way to override the Microsoft drivers and ensure that I get the correct ones installed for this dock?
 

cswallinger

Commendable
Nov 12, 2020
6
0
1,510
Update: I did update the BIOS tonight and checked the chipset and other drivers to make sure they were also up to date.

I found that the drivers for the dock are properly updated in the display adapters section of Device Manager --it's the one listed under "portable devices" that is a generic Windows driver as described above.

The issue is still happening with Zoom, so I'm not sure what my next steps should be.
 
Update: I did update the BIOS tonight and checked the chipset and other drivers to make sure they were also up to date.

I found that the drivers for the dock are properly updated in the display adapters section of Device Manager --it's the one listed under "portable devices" that is a generic Windows driver as described above.

The issue is still happening with Zoom, so I'm not sure what my next steps should be.

Did you check for the drivers in Windows or from the HP site. The firmware updates for docks are always on the vendor site.

Did you contact HP or Zoom support?
 
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cswallinger

Commendable
Nov 12, 2020
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1,510
Update 2: I have resolved this issue! Turns out that while I thought my drivers were up to date, HP was holding out on me with some information. I found several that still needed to be updated by using the HP Image Assistant tool, and everything appears to work now. HP Support helped determine the resolution via chat.

Thanks for your help!
 

cswallinger

Commendable
Nov 12, 2020
6
0
1,510
Update 3: Just wanted to make sure I provided an update here that the driver updates did NOT resolve the problem. I didn't test for long enough, apparently. Virtual backgrounds will come up for a minute or so but external displays still cut out as before when using Zoom and the problem remains the same.

I contacted HP Support and ran yet more updates including the DisplayLink drivers which weren't updating properly. Problem persists. So I will likely try buying a new dock as I can't seem to find a fix.