Dell 7×40, e-port advanced, dual external monitors==blank screen

I recently purchased a new e7440 for an employee and swapped out her old e6410.  She has an e-port+ advanced dock and 2 22″ monitors.  The setup worked great for years.

Shortly after she started using the e7440 the secondary monitor seem to go to sleep. Power cycling it fixed it.  I swapped the monitors around to see if it was the DVI port on the dock or the monitor.  Same behavior.

I swapped out the dock for a standard e-port+, same behavior.

I finally got around to googling to see if it was just this e7440.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, it’s not.

I found this post E7440 Display Problems (http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19532685.aspx)

While the issue in the post was flickering, this fix resolved my issue as well

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/Product/latitude-e7440-ultrabook?driverId=1XFPM&osCode=W864&fileId=3330366653&languageCode=en&categoryId=VI

Fixes & Enhancements

Firmware update to fix flickering screen seen on external monitors attached to dock.

NOTE: For E7440/E7240 only, this update applies when using a dock. If your configuration does not include a dock, the update is not for you and will fail to install

keywords: e7740, e7x40, dell, dock, replicator, blank screen, black screen, firmware