Taking apart a Dell D6000 MKX27 USB C docking station

[@computersales]

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[@jbuccaran]

Thanks for this video- Even though I had a different model, D6000u - Disassembly was similar. I was hoped to try using a Nintendo Switch cable as Abbadon2001 mentioned in an earlier comment below, but there was a short on the board and it was toast. I kept the heatsink as a paperweight and the housing as a decent little project box. Cheers.

[@Jokar074]

Nice to see the location of the screws, made it possible to just cut mine out and get them off without having to rip out the rubbermat .

[@Abbadon2001]

I found a DEll forum post a chap made where he managed to fix it, sort of, it had some tx and rx lines switched over, like a cross cable. He was making a flex pcb to sell to fix this for a normal cable, but it never came to be available. Someone else suggested a nintendo switch dock cable worked, but never showed evidence. I have both a busted D6000, and a switch cable, so i may try this....

[@computersales]

Hopefully it works.

[@diegolemos5960]

it worked? i have the same problem =(

[@punto360reviews]

Hello I have the same issue now my dog destroyed my type C cable, did you solve it ?

[@ztkent]

​@@punto360reviews I got mine working again today. Removed the old cable and replace it with a new usbc-usba 3.0 cable. Works on my Mac and windows machines. Needed to plug into my usb3.0 port.

[@punto360reviews]

@@ztkent hello, where did you buy it ? Got the link ?

[@jgyprime1]

There are 3 things that you need to consider: 1. The dock might be broken 2. The laptop might not support thunderbolt (usb c port being there doesn't mean it also supports thunderbolt) 3. The cable wasn't good enough to support thunderbolt (and usually phone charger cables are not good enough to be able to support thunderbolt). I have a similar dock (pcb are difgerent inside) and i replaced the cable with another one (not from a charger, i got it from a store for about 10€), the laptop was charging and the monitors / peripherals were working.

[@computersales]

Valid points. To the best of my knowledge this dock is USB only. As far as I know the only thing wrong with it was the original USB cable's external connector was damaged which is a common design flaw. These have a USB C to USB 3.0 adapter physically attached to them. I don't see why a standard USB C cable wouldn't work since it doesn't support thunderbolt.

[@dhaferalzubaidy4773]

Note: I believe that the power station that you dismantled was not recognized due to the malfunction of the integrated circuit that says (AWAREI) and its location near the board connections, which is closer to the longer connection plug on the main board.

[@le41cl]

The reason they didn't make it a removable connector , was the difference in usb c cables. There's some that do data, or power , or both, or are just trash and do nothing well. The dock was sold for industrial mind set. And they just want something that always works , until it breaks then they have budget to replace. But the usb c cable can be common confusion so this is the simplest solution, having the cable be attached

[@computersales]

Honestly if the cable didn't have such a high failure rate I wouldn't be as annoyed that the cable isn't replaceable.

[@amyslivets]

have you tried real verified thunderbolt 4 cable? Seems your cable is a simple USB2 cable (4 wires), as it is just for charging of your Oculus....

[@computersales]

I don't own any thunderbolt cables otherwise I'd try.

[@dhaferalzubaidy4773]

Hello sir, I have a power station from Dell that contains an integrated circuit whose symbol is (AWAREI ) How can I obtain its information, noting that the model of the station is (D6000 )

[@computersales]

I wouldn't know short of Google search.

[@m1ghtyboy]

Are there any cables you could recommend for this? I’m not quite sure what exact spec I should be looking for as 40gb thunderbolt 3 cables can get pricey but I’d like the full functionality of the dock. Not to mention cables with that kind of angle are a lot less common (still around, but not from reputable brands)

[@computersales]

I have no idea to be honest. I did get some more of these in though. I'm guessing the Anker power delivery cable I recently bought won't cut it though.

[@m1ghtyboy]

@@computersales it could work, im not in a huge rush so do please try it and let me know, and youll know it works fully if it allows you to drive multiple displays but of course I dont blame you if you would rather not test to that extent.

[@computersales]

@@m1ghtyboy I'll try to keep it in mind.

[@m1ghtyboy]

@@computersales thank youu

[@Dark-xz1im]

@m1ghtboy I'm in the same pickle as you but I discovered a few things while researching about the cable in question: 1. its a 240w thunderbolt 3 EPR cable and 2. After taking the connectors apart, BizLink is the company in question that makes these cables. Now the bad news is that Bizlink won't sell these cables to individuals. I don't know where one would find this exact cable without purchasing a dead D6000 and tearing that apart for parts.

[@diegolemos5960]

thanks for your video! i have been looking for the cable but no idea were to found the replacement, did you manage to found one?

[@computersales]

I recycled the dock since it was unusable and I didn't have a compatible cable.

[@m1ghtyboy]

Did you find a cable?

[@punto360reviews]

Hello I have the same issue now my dog destroyed my type C cable, did you solve it ?

[@computersales]

I was not able to solve it.

[@Tensopiseth]

hi. so are you able to fix it?

[@computersales]

Unfortunately no. I didn't have a replacement cable, and the USB C cable I had wasn't compatible.

[@punto360reviews]

Hello I have the same issue now my dog destroyed my type C cable, did you solve it ?

[@snailsec]

hey! great video, i was a bit disappointed aswell to know that normal usb c cable dosent work :( , maybe try a thunderbolt 3 cable ?

[@computersales]

I don't have the dock or a thunderbolt cable at this time unfortunately. The dock does come with a USB C to USB A adapter built in. I'm not sure if it is thunderbolt capable even to be honest.

[@snailsec]

@@computersales thanks for the reply :) , i read on a forum and some reddit posts that even thunderbolt cable dosent work i guess they went out of their way to make a custom cable 🥲

[@Nieklammers]

@@snailsec I tried to lengthen the docking station cable with an usb c female/male cable but the power supply does not transfer.

[@maltoNitho]

@@computersales Thanks for the tear down. I’m about to order this dock and was interested to see inside. It’s nice to know that at least a Dell part to replace it probably exists if I have an issue. The suggestion of using a TB3 cable was because they are known to have all wires connected and be of good quality. I half wondered if the Quest cable simply didn’t support all the needed USB lines. I have cables from various vendors that support different charge and data rates, or not at all. And they are all “USB C”. Anyway-thanks again.

[@computersales]

@@maltoNitho if I ever get another one I will have to try some additional cables I have acquired recently. It would be interesting if my Oculus USB C cable wasn't good enough.

[@outuvoyager1901]

do you have the reference for the xternal usb c cable ?

[@computersales]

I don't. Sorry.

[@jabezhane]

If only they built their laptops like that...

[@computersales]

I would say their XFR series laptops are built like that but in all reality even those are kinda jank. 🤔 Edit: Oops meant rugged extreme series. I forgot they dropped the XFR series after 2nd gen i-series CPUs.

[@jabezhane]

@@computersales Indeed! I have actually got one of these docks that I sue with my Framework laptop and I was wondering if I could open it up and tweak the thermals but I see it's pretty packed in there. It's almost a PC in a box itself. I can see why they are so pricey. Best way is like me, get one on Ebay for £50.

[@computersales]

@@jabezhane You could always run it with no case with a fan on top

[@GilbertoCruzMty]

I have the same docking and i have a problem, if I plug through USB does not recognize any monitor connected and the docking can supply energy by the other hand if i plug with usb adapter recognize all the monitors but as you know does not supply energy, I already try to update drivers and bios even with two laptops it's the same

[@computersales]

I have never used one of these so I wouldn't know where to start. I guess check device manager for errors and your display settings. If it works fine with regular USB then my guess is there is something interfering with the USB C negotiating process when you plug in the dock.

[@nageshmane4444]

Deta transfer Cebal use

[@amyslivets]

Anyone found a solution?

[@computersales]

Not that I'm aware of

[@TuliodeFreitas]

I tried all USB C cable types, normal, thunderbolt... Nothing, was someone capable of replace this cable?

[@computersales]

There must be a trick to it. Makes me wonder what they did.

[@WaschBaer__]

@@computersales propably switched TX RX lines ? usually the usb c device would figure this stuff out but it seems as if this dock was just a dumb thunderbolt device ?

[@punto360reviews]

Hello I have the same issue now my dog destroyed my type C cable, did you solve it ?

[@kerwinmendez4225]

nice video, this awesome 😁

[@computersales]

Thanks. I was really surprised what was inside. It was built like a tank.

[@ztkent]

I was able to get this working by swapping to a new usbc-usba cable. Then plugging the usb3 A side into my pc usb3 port. Other ports are no good.

[@computersales]

Any chance the cable has a specific model number people can refer to?

[@m1ghtyboy]

Does display output work?

[@ztkent]

@@m1ghtyboy yeah still using this setup. Long USB able and a hole drilled in the dock cover.

[@m1ghtyboy]

@@ztkent hell yeah. I’ve been seeing great efforts to reverse engineer it but if display output works then that’s fine by me. Can you remember the specific cable used? Edit: ordered a generic 3.2 adapter from Amazon, I’ll update

[@ztkent]

@@m1ghtyboy OULUOQI USB Type C Cable, but it looks out of stock. It says it's usb-c to USB 2.0 actually.. works great for me.

[@maseylorenzo5475]

funny story: when i move a little bit on my desk the dell docking shut down

[@computersales]

They are terrible docks as far as I can tell.

[@maseylorenzo5475]

@@computersales i’ve found a big workaround to get it works but it happens 2/3 times per days a suddenly disconnection …for 40€ i can deal with this frustation

[@SOMEONE-wq3qb]

its prob not wierd to suite the dock try a differnt cable

[@xd-mk3by]

Has anyone managed to fix the coil whine (the annoying noise) of this unit? I have read about using hot glue or a damping material, so just curious if that worked for someone

[@computersales]

I've never come across a working one of these personally so wouldn't know. Mounting under your desk would be a solution if you have the space.

[@xd-mk3by]

@@computersales that's actually not a bad idea, thanks! The coil whine stops when the dock is even under small load, so I will try to plug something like a USB lamp or a led strip to generate load and see if that fixes it. If not, hide it. Thank you man!

[@bryanphanvn]

A bit late but I've managed to reduce the level of the hissing noise to the unnoticeable level by adding a thin piece of silicone heatsink tape on top of the inductor coil of the daughter board.

[@xd-mk3by]

@@bryanphanvn Thanks a lot! Do you have pictures by any chance or a link to the tape? Cheers!

[@xd-mk3by]

welp just killed my d6000, nevermind. I disconnected the daughter board a few times (I didn't break it after the first try at least), as my first try of adding silicone heatsink tape didn't fix the issue. Turns out none of my attempts fixed the issue, so now my d6000 still does the coil whine and doesn't work as well :D

[@LexotanGuitarrist]

stupid Dell doesnt sell this cable and other USB-C cables even Thunderbolt seems not to be compatible

[@computersales]

Yeah it is annoying they don't sell replacement cables for what I feel is one of the worst docks they have ever made.