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#1 2016-02-19 11:06:57

mallocman
Member
Registered: 2012-08-16
Posts: 24

Dell XPS 9550 (2016) 4k

Hello,

I would like to install Arch linux on this laptop and I am facing one problem after another.
According to this page "https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/De … %282016%29" installation should work, but if I do not specify "nouveau.modeset=0", the boot process hangs. I do not know how to set this kernel parameter in live USB UEFI boot loader, so I am using legacy MBR boot. Sometimes kernel parameter does not help and the system hangs either way.

Second problem is that I can not install Arch, because I can not establish WiFi internet connection using live USB. The laptop does not have Ethernet port. After configuring a WiFi connection, the kernel is constantly printing a bunch of errors in terminal and ping-ing google does not work.

I have heard that some problems are fixed in the new kernel 4.4.1-1. Do anyone know where can I get live USB with the new kernel?

I would really like to use Arch on my new laptop, so any suggestion is appreciated.
Thank you in advance.

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#2 2016-02-22 18:54:25

mallocman
Member
Registered: 2012-08-16
Posts: 24

Re: Dell XPS 9550 (2016) 4k

Hi,

somehow I managed to install Arch on my laptop, using the live USB, but now I have problems with the Grub.

At first I tried syslinux, but installation did not went well. Error was something like "Syslinux installation finished \n Can not mark partition as bootable 'nvme0n1p4'.
Then I have set 'bootable flag' manually using gdisk and it didn't help (Syslinux did not show up).

After that I have uninstalled Syslinux and installed Grub using MBR. After reboot, the Grub menu did not show up (Selected boot device failed). Then I have tried using UEFI boot. After configuring UEFI and rebooting, the Grub printed an error to the screen "error: disk 'some uuid' not found" and opens rescue shell. Typing 'ls' inside the recovery shell finds hd0 and hd1, but 'ls (hd[01])/boot', throws 'error: unknown filesystem'.

Any clue?

p.s.

I can boot into the Arch using the Syslinux from the live USB and selecting 'Boot existing OS' and typing 'hd1 4' at the end... Why is my MBR on the primary disk unable to do that?

Last edited by mallocman (2016-02-22 22:47:53)

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#3 2016-02-26 06:39:10

robster
Member
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: 2016-02-14
Posts: 15

Re: Dell XPS 9550 (2016) 4k

I've found with my dell laptop the easiest solution is to use a straight uefi install with no grub. Just using the efi boot partition (marketed as boot), swap partition (hibernation purpose), one big root or whatever.

It's a more complicated method to setup currently with the directions given on beginners guide. I would suggest you use parted for your partitioning.

With the uuid error it means you have got the incorrect root partuuid entry systemd-boot config file.

Hope this has been some help, very much a newbie here.


Over 60 and very much a Linux newbie.

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#4 2016-02-28 05:11:18

i_love_r34
Member
From: Mexico
Registered: 2016-02-14
Posts: 87

Re: Dell XPS 9550 (2016) 4k

I had the same problem, but with a Dell Inspiron. My solution for Wifi-connection error is updating to the kernel version and installing linux firmware "4.4.1" but in your case you can update the kernel by usb: download all packages for kernel update (linux, linux-firmware), by a Computer with internet. After in your Arch Linux installation only mount the usb and install the packages with pacman.
For the problem with grub you can read the wiki:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB#UEFI_systems


I hope I've helped
Regards

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#5 2016-02-28 20:35:17

mallocman
Member
Registered: 2012-08-16
Posts: 24

Re: Dell XPS 9550 (2016) 4k

Syslinux and UEFI install works for me. The only think i needed to do, is to remove the auto generated boot entry in bios and manually add a new one. The only problem I have with the boot process is distorted (bad layout) Syslinux menu. I hope they will fix it soon.

I have to say, that when I got through all those boot problems, everything else worked. The 4K display looks nice in Plasma5 (just set the DPI and increase icons size), wifi, sound, mic, webcam, keyboard illumination, display brightness, double GPU, powersave features, touchpad, touchscreen...
In Windows I had problems with the blue screen (every week), flickering display on low brightness, slow sleep and wake up time, buggy navigation panel scrolling in the Explorer, not to mention half way done and inconsistent GUI... Now all those problems are gone.

The laptop actually works better in Linux then in Windows 10. It works faster (boot up time, application responsiveness) and it consumes less or equal power (~8W in idle mode, 7-8h when browsing on the internet). I recommend adding 'powertop --auto-tune' to the Systemd as a service.
Thank you all for the support.

Last edited by mallocman (2016-02-28 21:42:29)

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#6 2016-03-09 05:45:11

hrod
Member
Registered: 2013-10-24
Posts: 57

Re: Dell XPS 9550 (2016) 4k

mallocman wrote:

Syslinux and UEFI install works for me. The only think i needed to do, is to remove the auto generated boot entry in bios and manually add a new one. The only problem I have with the boot process is distorted (bad layout) Syslinux menu. I hope they will fix it soon.

Hi. If you haven't yet figured out how to fix the Syslinux menu. You could alternatively use systemd-boot which is more minimal and will have a non-distorted menu. It's pretty easy to install using `bootctl install` and the boot menu entries are very easy to write, checkout the arch wiki page for it.

mallocman wrote:

... everything else worked. The 4K display looks nice in Plasma5 (just set the DPI and increase icons size), wifi, sound, mic, webcam, keyboard illumination, display brightness, double GPU, powersave features, touchpad, touchscreen...

The laptop actually works better in Linux then in Windows 10. It works faster (boot up time, application responsiveness) and it consumes less or equal power (~8W in idle mode, 7-8h when browsing on the internet).

That's good to hear. It seems like a nice laptop.

Last edited by hrod (2016-03-09 05:47:05)

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#7 2016-03-11 11:18:19

Feadurn
Member
Registered: 2013-05-15
Posts: 15

Re: Dell XPS 9550 (2016) 4k

@hrod.

Hello, how did you get that 8W on idle? I never go even close to that (often 20W when I do nothing). I also installed arch and follow the guide given in this threat.

For the OP. I also used bootctl install. It is really easy to follow the wiki guide.

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#8 2016-03-28 05:59:43

hrod
Member
Registered: 2013-10-24
Posts: 57

Re: Dell XPS 9550 (2016) 4k

Feadurn wrote:

@hrod.

Hello, how did you get that 8W on idle? I never go even close to that (often 20W when I do nothing). I also installed arch and follow the guide given in this threat.

For the OP. I also used bootctl install. It is really easy to follow the wiki guide.

I was quoting mallocman there, he's the one that got 8W on idle. (I don't own a XPS.)

On my macbook retina I got 10.7W with chrome open (and about 7.5W with just terminals open). Didn't really do anything fancy, just looked at powertop tuneables, ensured there wasn't a kworker interrupt running rogue (there was at one point which was doubling my power draw so i disabled it), using a minimal setup of i3 + urxvt + chromium (no flash), using low brightness of ~20% with solarized light to make it more readable at lower screen brightness, and ensured hardware decoding for all media.

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#9 2016-04-02 17:45:51

mallocman
Member
Registered: 2012-08-16
Posts: 24

Re: Dell XPS 9550 (2016) 4k

Hello,

first you have to make sure that the NVidia GPU is not enabled.

cat /proc/acpi/bbswitch

Then run 'powertop --auto-tune' to enable all the power-saving features.
Set the display brightness to minimum with the slider on the desktop (KDE), or

echo 1 > /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness

Using the keyboard buttons does not set the brightness to minimum in my case.

I have just tested again and currently I am using 8.6W with a few terminal widows opened, a Chromium browser with 8 tabs and the CloudStation app.
I you want to lower the power consumption even more, you can disable the WIFI and close the Chromium browser...

Which desktop environment are you using? If you still can't get the power below 10W, I would suggest you to reboot into terminal and test the consumption there. After that start desktop environment programs/services one at the time.

I hope it helps and I apologize for the late response.

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