Skip to main content
  • Place orders quickly and easily
  • View orders and track your shipping status
  • Enjoy members-only rewards and discounts
  • Create and access a list of your products
  • Manage your Dell EMC sites, products, and product-level contacts using Company Administration.

Some Systems with USB Type-C Port Lack a Thunderbolt 3 Controller

Summary: Latitude 5175, 5179, 5280, 5480 (U/H UMA), 5580 (U/H UMA), 5285 & 5289 portable systems with USB Type-C ports that lack a Thunderbolt 3 controller.

This article may have been automatically translated. If you have any feedback regarding its quality, please let us know using the form at the bottom of this page.

Article Content


Symptoms

 

System Will Not Work With a Thunderbolt 3 Device

You may encounter an issue where a Dell Latitude system with a USB Type-C port will not support a connection to a Thunderbolt 3 device (such as a Dell Thunderbolt Dock (TB16). This is a result of either:

  • The system does not meet the hardware requirements for Thunderbolt 3
  • The system has the capability but was not ordered with an OPTIONAL Thunderbolt 3 controller

Cause

NOTE: If the system was not ordered with the Thunderbolt 3 options, it cannot be added at a later time.

Resolution


Ensure That Your System is Equipped With a Thunderbolt 3 Controller

While many Dell systems are equipped with a USB Type-C port, many of these systems do not have the optional Thunderbolt 3 controller. These systems will have the USB Type-C port which can be used with Thunderbolt 3 on systems that are so equipped, but USB Type-C is the default port (Without Thunderbolt) for several systems.

Types of USB Type-C ports:

  • Power/Charge Battery
  • Data use only (select systems only)
  • DisplayPort over USB
  • Thunderbolt 3 device support (Optional on many systems, Standard on select systems)

These systems have USB Type-C but DO NOT HAVE Thunderbolt 3 capability:

  • Latitude 5175 2-in-1
  • Latitude 5179 2-in-1
  • Latitude 5280
  • Latitude 5290
  • Latitude 5480 (U or H processor and Unified Memory Architecture (UMA) integrated graphics)
  • Latitude 5580 (U or H processor and Unified Memory Architecture (UMA) integrated graphics)
  • Latitude 5490
  • Latitude 5590
  • Latitude 5285
  • Latitude 5289

DisplayPort over USB Type-C ONLY:

  • Vostro 13-5390
  • Vostro 13-5391
  • Vostro 14-5490
  • Vostro 15-5590
  • Vostro 15-5581

Here is an example of a USB Type-C system order SKU: 338-BKXK Intel HD Graphics 620 with DisplayPort over USB Type-C with Core i5 vPro

These systems are compatible with the Dell USB Type-C Dock (WD15)

Systems that have optional Thunderbolt 3 capability will have a USB/Thunderbolt configuration option listed in the BIOS regardless of having a Thunderbolt 3 option installed.

If the system DOES NOT have Thunderbolt 3 capability, the thunderbolt options will be grayed out and cannot be selected in the BIOS. (See figure 1.)

SLN305150_en_US__2No-Thunderbolt-capability
Figure 1. - No Thunderbolt 3 Capability displayed in BIOS

These systems can be configured at the time of purchase with optional Thunderbolt 3 capability:

  • Latitude 5480 (H series processor with Discrete Graphics)
  • Latitude 5491
  • Latitude 5580 (H series processor with Discrete Graphics)
  • Latitude 5591
  • Latitude 7280 with vPro
  • Latitude 7380 with vPro
  • Latitude 7480 with vPro
  • Latitude 7290
  • Latitude 7390
  • Latitude 7490
  • Latitude 5570 (H series processor with Discrete Graphics)
  • Latitude 7275
  • Latitude 7370
  • Precision 3510
  • Precision 7510
  • Precision 7710
  • Precision 3520
  • Precision 3530
  • Precision 7520
  • Precision 7720
  • XPS 12 9250

Thunderbolt 3 is standard on the following systems:

  • Precision 5510
  • Precision 5520
  • Precision 5530
  • Precision 7530
  • Precision 7730
  • Vostro 15-7590
  • XPS 13 9365 2-in-1
  • XPS 13 9350
  • XPS 13 9360
  • XPS 15 9550
  • XPS 15 9560
  • XPS 13 9370
  • XPS 15 9570
  • XPS 9575 2-in-1

Additional Information on TB16 Docking Stations:

If you have further questions about this article, please contact Dell Technical Support.
 


 

Out of Warranty support Out of warranty? No problem. Browse to the Dell.com/support website and enter your Dell Service Tag and view our offers.

NOTE: Offers are only available for US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, and China personal computer customers. Server and Storage not applicable.

Article Properties


Affected Product
Latitude 5280/5288, Latitude 5290, Latitude 7280, Latitude 7290, Latitude 7370, Latitude 7390, Latitude 5480/5488, Latitude 5490, Latitude 5491, Latitude 7480, Latitude 7490, Latitude 5580, Latitude 5590, Latitude 5591, Latitude 5175 2-in-1 , Latitude 5179 2-in-1, Latitude 7275, Latitude E5570, Precision 3530, Precision 5520, Precision 7520, Precision 7530, Precision 7720, Precision 7730, Precision 3510, Precision 5510, Precision 7510, Precision 7710, XPS 12 9250, XPS 13 9350, XPS 13 9365 2-in-1, XPS 13 9370, XPS 15 9550, XPS 15 9560, XPS 15 9570, XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 ...
Last Published Date

02 Jun 2021

Version

6

Article Type

Solution