Let's Be Honest / Save Time: Lenovo T430s (NVIDIA) DOES NOT Support Multiple Monitors

Question

There have been a few comments / complaints / articles around the web regarding the T430s and difficulties using multiple monitors.
But since this capabilitiy is clearly documented in all of Lenovo's specifications and marketing literature, I went ahead and bought an i7, NVIDIA, SSD, T430s with the docking station and all the bells and whistles to facilitate 3 or even 4 monitors.
Well please listen and let's be clear:  IT DOES NOT WORK. Therefore, to be clear:
DO NOT BUY THIS MACHINE AND DOCK IF YOU WANT IT TO LIVE UP TO ITS MULTI MONITOR PROMISE.
In the two weeks since FedEx arrived, here is the deal:
1) I fussed around with the dock and monitors at home and the office to no avail, for most of TWO weekends.  (I am not a beginner).
2) Then, I spoke to Lenovo in Atlanta's tech support for THREE HOURS.  No results
3) I spoke to Lenovo's "premium support" (paid) for FOUR HOURS.  No results.
4) I consulted with a 3rd party expert on mulitple monitors who was kind enough to remote into my machine for another HOUR.  No results.
5) Muliple parties have confirmed that yes, all hardware is working and yes, everything can be seen in device manager, and yes, the NVIDA card is properly switched on in the BIOS, yes I bought the i7 version etc.
6) And just in case, yes, we wiped the drive clean for a factory reset, yes we unistalled and reinstalled all the drivers and yes, we even deleted the Lenovo driver just in case the NVIDIA driver was newer or better and yes, we double checked the settings in the BIOS again.
7) Yes, we tried every connector in the dock AND the laptop:  VGA, DVI, DP and mini DP - in EVERY possible combination.
And NO, IT STILL DOESN'T WORK. AT ALL.  Two screens, take your pick, but THAT'S IT.
Finally, not one but TWO technicians asked me to not quote them (so I wont mention any names) but that in their opinion IT JUST DOESNT WORK AT ALL, EVER, despite Lenovo's claims / insistance that it is configured for 3 and even 4 monitors.
So the final conclusion was only that Lenovo must have rushed this T430 spec / configuration / capability to market (including the glossy brochures!) before figuring out that something is missing in the handshake between the mother board and the NVIDIA card? 
Or in the firmware re swithing between the Intel (internal) and NVIDA card? 
Or something else which prevents the NVIDIA card from seeing the ports on the laptop or the dock?
In summary 1) you get NOTHING from the NVIDIA upgrade and with respect to more than 2 monitors, IT JUST DOES NOT WORK, AT ALL, EVER, PERIOD and END OF STORY.
I too am a die hard old school Thinkpad enthusiast and with the company's service could match their classic products.
I have an X201 that I generall love, but would appreciate more speed, an SSD and I have to drive at least 3 external monitors, using at least 1920 x 1080 resolution.
Perhaps a W series Thinkpad would work, but I also travel so going up to the T430s was already a sacrifice vs the small size of the X201.
There are some 3rd party solutions but they are expensive and not so sure how plug and play they are with 3 or more monitors - what the T430s and Mini Dock 3.0 are SUPPOSED TO DO.  But they dont.
Not giving up yet, but this has been a real bummer.
PS
Lenovo was very focused, efficient, and uncompromising when charging my CC for "premium" support.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Answer 1

Thors,
Thank you and happy to report, albeit after all the hours and now weekend number 3:
1) For the moment, I am able to repeat the 3 screen performance using mini DP from the Thinkpad and 2 DPs from the dock to the external monitors
AND
2) For the first time ever, I am just now for the first time running the 3rd external monitor from the VGA port on the dock.
That is what I meant by using the various ports on the dock, so that the Thinkpad can simply be docked and undocked without connecting the mini DP - the purpose of a dock obviously.  As stated in other threads and articles, various configurations of the dock ports supposedly work to achieve 3 external screens, but until today was not able to do this.
That is the good news and thank you for all help.
The bad news is I stil have no clear idea why this has been so difficult, or where the problem lives that consumed so many hours of my own time and many hours with Lenovo tech support as stated above.
Some success seems to have happened only after more than one set of LONG updates to Windows 7 (?)
If I can replicate this set up the office (where I have 3 of the same monitors) I will be almost there.
Thank you again to all for help and support.