Dell D3100 dock drivers error code 31 (no displays)

[LFS92]

Hello, it's nice to meet you all.

I have a Dell D3100 docking station and a older Toshiba laptop (which has a USB3.0 port) that I'm trying to connect it to. I'm using the latest drivers from synaptics.com, latest AMD graphics drivers for my laptop and up to date Windows 10. Everything is working on the dock apart from the displays. So I have ethernet, audio and USBs, but no displays. In device manager I can see 4 DisplayLink USB Devices under "display adaptors" and they have the yellow triangle covering their icons. The error is saying "This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31)".

I've been googling this endlessly and tried all sorts of things from trying different driver versions to plugging and unplugging everything, nothing works. I've seen this issue come up in other threads and websites but I couldn't find a conclusion. Now, here is the curious part: I noticed people were complaining that their docks stopped working or started glitching after certain Windows updates were installed, and as it happens, I had an older Dell laptop laying around for a couple of days, with a out of date Windows 10 on it, 7 years out of date to be precise. I plugged the dock into one of its USB SuperSpeed ports, and voila! Drivers came up by themselves (I don't know how that happened, is there a storage device built into these docks that contains drivers?), and the dock was working flawlessly! So I know for a fact that the dock is fine, but when I plug it into my up to date laptop, no displays! The USB ports are fine as well, I tried other devices. I tried using the Windows Support Tool and managed to get some logs for you as well.

Can anyone help me work out why this is happening, because it beats me, and I know there are other people out there looking for a solution to this problem as well. Maybe we can use this thread to help others too! Let me know if I need to record logs again, I may have missed something.

Thanks, Sergiu

[KatarzynaCzaja]

Hello, DisplayLInk drivers can be automatically downloaded from Windows updates upon connection. This is why you did not have to install them manually when connecting the device to an older computer.

As for your current computer, I see that you are actually running a slihtly older driver. Could you please install the latest one available, v11.2 M0. It is available here: https://www.synaptics.com/products/d...c?filetype=exe

Thank you

[LFS92]

Hello! Thank you for your assistance. Unfortunately, no luck. I forgot to mention I actually tried the latest drivers from the DisplayLink website as well as the ones from Dell's website and in my attempts to try different driver versions, I must have left Dell's in while I was collecting the logs previously. At this moment in time, Dell's latest drivers are indeed not the latest DisplayLink drivers in general. Nevertheless, for the sake of sanity I just installed the latest driver(s) from synaptics.com and still no displays. Drivers won't start, code 31 again. It's code 31 no matter which drivers I try! They won't start at all... I've attached new logs I collected just now. Thanks very much!

[rboerner]

Originally Posted by LFS92

Hello! Thank you for your assistance. Unfortunately, no luck. I forgot to mention I actually tried the latest drivers from the DisplayLink website as well as the ones from Dell's website and in my attempts to try different driver versions, I must have left Dell's in while I was collecting the logs previously. At this moment in time, Dell's latest drivers are indeed not the latest DisplayLink drivers in general. Nevertheless, for the sake of sanity I just installed the latest driver(s) from synaptics.com and still no displays. Drivers won't start, code 31 again. It's code 31 no matter which drivers I try! They won't start at all... I've attached new logs I collected just now. Thanks very much!

According to this DisplayLink knowledge base article --> https://support.displaylink.com/know...-on-windows-10 a 'Code 31' error can sometimes be caused by security software installed on the host computer (for example, anti-virus software):

"DEVICE MANAGER - ERROR CODE 31

There have been some instances of DisplayLink devices with a yellow "!" in device manager, and opening the properties shows that they have an error code 31. To resolve, please ensure your anti-virus or endpoint protection software is not blocking UMDF driver installation."

If you have any such software installed, if you temporarily remove the security software and attempt the DisplayLink driver installation again, does that help change the result?

[LFS92]

Originally Posted by rboerner

According to this DisplayLink knowledge base article --> https://support.displaylink.com/know...-on-windows-10 a 'Code 31' error can sometimes be caused by security software installed on the host computer (for example, anti-virus software):

"DEVICE MANAGER - ERROR CODE 31

There have been some instances of DisplayLink devices with a yellow "!" in device manager, and opening the properties shows that they have an error code 31. To resolve, please ensure your anti-virus or endpoint protection software is not blocking UMDF driver installation."

If you have any such software installed, if you temporarily remove the security software and attempt the DisplayLink driver installation again, does that help change the result?

Hello! Thank you for your input, I've seen that article and already tried disabling all the antivirus functions, in fact I even went into safe mode and installed the drivers that way. The drivers always install successfuly regardless of how I install them or which version, they just won't load. Could it be some registry key causing it? Thank-you.

[KatarzynaCzaja]

Hello, I apologize for late response.

Can you please unplug your docking station from the computer, then restart the computer.

Then please run the cleaner to uninstall the DisplayLink software completely:

1. Disconnect all hardware using DisplayLink technology.
2. Download the DisplayLink Installation Cleaner.
3. The DisplayLink_Installation_Cleaner.exe needs to be run with Administrator permissions. To be sure it runs as Administrator, right click on the DisplayLink_Installation_Cleaner and choose "Run as administrator".
4. Accept any User Access Control requests.
5. The Cleaner should run in a command prompt. Press Enter to start cleaning:
   

Once the cleaner has finished, please reboot the computer.

Then install the 11.2 driver one more time and check if the issue persists.