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Hi. My question is about the WD-19 (WD19) dock. I’m posting my question under Latitudes because I’m considering using a WD-19 with a Latitude 5590 - but it would apply equally to other 'Dell compatible laptops'. I’ve seen posts relating to the number of monitors that can be attached to the dock – but my question is about the power button. I’m hoping someone who has experience of using the dock with a ‘Dell compatible laptop’ (such as the 5590) can tell me if the power button on the dock will switch on (power up) the laptop even if the laptop is completing turned off and the lid is closed. The documentation implies that it will – but in a conversation I had with dell on chat I was told that the power button would only wake up the laptop if it were asleep or hibernating. I’m hoping someone knows for sure. Thanks. Chris.
I just wanted to add - I went ahead and bought the Latitude 5590 with the WD-19 - and I'm very pleased to say that the power button does indeed turn om the laptop, even if it is completely off and not just asleep. So - just like you said. Without your help I might have believed what I was told by Dell Chat and not gone ahead with the purchase - so I rekcon Dell owe you one
@Chris-W thanks for the follow-up and the kind words! Glad it's performing as advertised and as you'd hoped it would. As for the bad answer from Dell Support, they're expected to field a broad range of questions about a broad range of products, so even though in this particular case the answer was available in the manual, as a general statement, that breadth means that when a question about a specific product is asked and the answer relies on understanding some underlying technical concepts, they might not always have enough depth of knowledge about that concept or how it's implemented in that specific product to answer correctly. By comparison, people like me on this forum get to pick and choose the threads that we want to jump into based on the ones that align with our expertise and interests.
@SeanObba Looking over the WD19 manual available on support.dell.com, a triple blink is the only listed docking LED indicator behavior, and that means that the dock has started drawing power from the power adapter. So it sounds like it’s working as it should.
Hi, I just got a WD19 (180W) docking station for my Latitude 7490 laptop. Everything works as it should but the only question remains to be answer is; is the power button on docking station suppose to light up when the laptop is on? The light on the power button briefly blinks when I plug in the power cable to the docking station but that's only time I see the power button light comes on. Is my docking station defective?
thank you for that. i saw that too but that just didn't make common sense since that power button is supposed to function identically as the power button on the laptop, i (& the common sense) would expect the same from the LED on that power button. I was wondering if other users with WD 19 see the same.
Mine does that too.
They say the power button on the WD-19 Dock is "supposed to act" like the power button on the laptop.
Wake/Sleep/On/Off all work with mine but the LED indicator light does not light up. Laptop power button is always on when the laptop is on, so I presume the power button on the dock should do the same but no...
This is pretty frustrating at times because when I connect my laptop to the dock with the lid closed, since the power button indicator light is 'off' I don't even know if the laptop is actually on or not.
Dock is currently connected to my XPS 13 which has all the recommended driver and BIOS updates.
Is there any solution to this? or is the dock actually defective?
Luke Morehead
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Posted April 25th, 2020 09:00
I am in the same boat with the WD19TB and the XPS 13. The power button LED remains off while the dock is operational. I've ordered a replacement dock, but given your experience, I'm a bit skeptical the LED will work. I would love to hear from anyone who finds a solution.
Can someone explain to me why people here are so worried about the behavior of an LED on a dock button if the dock is working fine -- including the ability to use the Power button to control the system -- and there's nothing in the WD19 manual to suggest that the Power button is SUPPOSED to remain on? Do people really need to see a lit up Power button on a dock to be reassured that their dock and/or system is actually running? If you're able to see the dock, you're also obviously able to see your system and the peripherals attached to said dock, in which case the behavior of those devices would seem to make it plainly obvious whether they're running.
If you dock a system while it's running, then your dock-attached displays will light up. So if the displays DON'T light up, then the system is off or asleep. And if the displays don't light up is because the dock itself isn't powered even if the system is on, then you'd be able to discern that by the ABSENCE of the triple blink that occurs when you dock a system -- which is likely why that behavior is programmed.
jphughan
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Posted November 18th, 2019 05:00
The manual is always better than Dell Support reps, whose reliability is shaky at best when dealing with technical questions. From the WD19 User Guide on support.dell.com:
“Sleep/Wake/Power button: The dock power button is designed to replicate your system's power button. If you connect the Dell Docking Station WD19 to supported Dell computers, the dock button works like your computer's power button and you can use it to power on/sleep/force shutdown the computer.”
Yes it will wake supported systems up from full shutdown regardless of lid position. I do this all the time. Supported systems would include at least Latitude, Precision, and XPS systems. Inspiron and Vostro systems are less certain because it seems Dell didn’t implement firmware support for some of this dock’s “bonus” features like an external power button and MAC Address Passthrough into those model lines, at least not all models, even though the regular functions of the dock still work.
You might also find that you have a BIOS option enabled by default that will cause the system to wake up when you simply connect it to the dock. If you don’t want that, look in the BIOS for an option called “Wake on Dell USB-C Dock” and disable it.