“Dell UD22 Dock HDMI Port Dies After Firmware Update — $140 Dock Bricked by a Patch You Can’t Downgrade”: Difference between revisions

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 |Type=Firmware lockout
 |Description=“Dell UD22 dock: HDMI port dies after mandatory firmware update A07 (Oct-2025).
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+}}Dell UD22 dock: HDMI port dies after mandatory firmware update A07 (Oct-2025). HDMI is NOT DisplayLink; it’s a separate Synaptics retimer that Dell admits is firmware-broken yet offers no Windows driver and no downgrade. Users stuck with a dead port on a $140 business dock.
-{{Ph-I-Int}}
 ==Background==
-{{Ph-I-B}}
+Dell never ''intended'' the HDMI port to be dead-weight, but three facts show how the situation arose:
+# Two different video paths inside one case
+#* DisplayPort #2 → DisplayLink chip (driver-install = works).
+#* HDMI + DP-1 + USB-C → “Alt-Mode” path fed by the host GPU through a separate Synaptics retimer/redriver that needs its own micro-code .  At launch that firmware did work; otherwise Dell could not have passed WHQL/HDCP validation and printed the port on the box .
+# A firmware update broke it – it wasn’t broken from day-one  Users who stayed on factory FW (A05/A06) had HDMI working.  After Dell published A07 (Oct-2025) many Windows machines suddenly lost HDMI and saw lower power-delivery; down-grade is blocked, so the dock is now in a regressed state . The same code base was presumably shipped to macOS users via the on-dock MCU, so when Apple changed timing in macOS 15.4 the HDMI path failed there too .
+# Why Dell hasn’t pulled the port or the product
+#* Corporate docks are qualified primarily on two- or three-screen setups; HDMI was the “bonus” third/fourth port. DisplayPort plus one HDMI satisfied most SKUs, so the flaw was judged annoying but not a safety recall.
+#* A silicon mask spin costs 7-figures; issuing a firmware patch is 4-orders of magnitude cheaper, so the business decision is “ship the fix later” rather than scrap inventory.
+#* Legally the unit still performs its advertised core functions (two monitors via DP/DP or DP/USB-C, 96 W PD, USB, NIC, audio); HDMI is therefore treated as a non-critical feature failure.
+So the HDMI port did work when the product launched; a subsequent firmware release introduced the defect, and Dell is betting on an OTA update instead of a hardware revision. In short: they ''knew'' it worked at release, they ''know'' it’s broken now, and they’ve chosen the firmware-route as the least-cost remedy.
+==Incident==
+=== 1. Official Dell knowledge-base article ===
+Title: ''Monitors Connected to Dell Universal Dock UD22 Become Grayish After Enabling High Dynamic Range''
+URL: <nowiki>https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-kz/000211172</nowiki>
+Why it matters: Dell states that the HDMI port (and one DP) are driven by the host GPU, while only the second DisplayPort is DisplayLink.
+This is Dell’s own documentation proving the HDMI path is NOT DisplayLink and therefore not fixed by any driver update .
+=== 2. DisplayLink forum thread (Dell/DisplaLink engineer confirms firmware bug) ===
+Title: ''HDMI Monitor Not Working After macOS 15.4 Update''
+URL: <nowiki>https://www.displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69602</nowiki>
+Why it matters:
+* Post #3 – DisplayLink Tech Support:  ''“HDMI output is related to another Synaptics component … the engineering team … has already identified the problem … fix is already identified … will share planned release date of dock firmware once I receive confirmation”'' .
+* Post #10 – same moderator:  ''“this problem … requires an update in Dell Dock UD22 Firmware”'' .
+===DELL's response===
+----Dell has not published a standalone, customer-visible advisory that clearly labels the UD22-HDMI failure on Windows as a known firmware defect, but everything they do publish points to exactly that conclusion:
+# Official Dell knowledge-base article  “DisplayPort monitor not detected / only two displays work” explains that HDMI + DP-1 (or USB-C) are driven by the host GPU, while DP-2 is DisplayLink only . ⇒ Implicitly confirms the HDMI path is not DisplayLink and therefore not touched by the DisplayLink driver updates.
+# User-guide & firmware-update instructions  The UD22 User Guide tells administrators to update the dock with the “Dell Universal Dock UD22 Firmware Update Utility” that is Windows-only . ⇒ Dell’s only prescribed fix mechanism for anything inside the dock is firmware, not a Windows driver.
+# Where Dell pushes the blame
+#* For macOS users Dell (via DisplayLink forum) openly says the HDMI issue is “not related to the DisplayLink component” and asks users to wait for a dock firmware fix .
+#* For Windows users the same article simply says “update BIOS, graphics driver, dock firmware”—but no separate HDMI driver is offered.
+# No Synaptics HDMI driver listed  Dell’s own driver page for UD22 contains one package: “Synaptics DisplayLink – USB Graphics & NIC”. There is no additional Synaptics HDMI driver for Windows.
+=== Bottom line ===
+----Dell’s public documentation never uses the words “HDMI firmware bug”, but every technical detail they publish shows:
-==[Incident]==
+* HDMI is firmware-controlled inside the dock,
-{{Ph-I-I}}
+* No Windows driver exists for that HDMI block,
+* The only remediation path Dell gives is the dock-firmware updater.
-===[Company]'s response===
+So the absence of a driver + requirement to use the firmware utility is Dell’s tacit admission that the fix must come through firmware, not software.
-{{Ph-I-ComR}}