Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

silles · 2016-12-29 12:33:50

@kgizdov thanks for all the tips ...

I managed to grab the modelines from Windows using PowerStrip
added a new mode

randr --newmode "1920_1080_60" 138.500 1920 1968 2000 2080 1080 1083 1088 1111 -hsync -vsync
xrandr --addmode DP1 1920_1080_60
xrandr --output DP1 --mode "1920_1080_60"

Also upgraded the BIOS to 1.4.12

but still no luck.

Reported it as a bug here https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=99137 got some reply but don't understand much of it

kgizdov · 2016-12-29 13:19:57

silles wrote:

@kgizdov thanks for all the tips ...
I managed to grab the modelines from Windows using PowerStrip
added a new mode
randr --newmode "1920_1080_60" 138.500 1920 1968 2000 2080 1080 1083 1088 1111 -hsync -vsync
xrandr --addmode DP1 1920_1080_60
xrandr --output DP1 --mode "1920_1080_60"
Also upgraded the BIOS to 1.4.12
but still no luck.
Reported it as a bug here https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=99137 got some reply but don't understand much of it

That reply is not intended for you really. It has to do with the devs discussing the DisplayPort specification. As far as I can tell, they are saying that the DP spec is open for debate on whether the driver should send full information on source capabilities (such as colour depth, etc) or just transmit the signal and leave the adapter/receiver to figure it out for itself. Essentially, if your adaptors do not process the signal from the laptop into whatever the display accepts, it might be the case that the display/monitor you have does not know how to handle the incoming information. So in Windows, it could be that Microsoft devs impose a stricter communication "frames" in the driver than the standard prescribes and therefore the adapter does not need to process the signal and your monitor will work correctly.

If that is indeed the case, there is nothing much you can do except from buying an adapter/monitor with better/more processing capabilities. To be honest, adapters should be adapting the signal, that's their job. If the devs are sure your adapters aren't doing this, you might need to upgrade.

As I already mentioned for adapters, I am happy with CableMatters USB-C to VGA/HDMI/ETHERNET(...) and Plugable USB-C to DisplayPort. Others have mentioned different devices here that work as well, you might want to re-read a few older posts. Also, make sure your monitor is good - knock-off brands will always have weird quirks, due to cutting corners to lower manufacturing costs.

silles · 2016-12-29 13:25:18

thanks for the translation

the weird thing that it always works 800x600 and sometimes works when in reverting to 1920x1080.

I'll try a real monitor once i get back to London.
Right now I'm using a Samsung 40" HDTV

silles · 2016-12-29 14:16:29

yet another weird thing: hdmi looks good on console ctrl+alt+1

bkuri · 2016-12-29 17:28:21

damige wrote:

ror191505 wrote:
damige wrote:
install and run powerstat, it will show you the output for battery usage over time. (-d0 for no delay when starting)
Thank you for such cool tool!
I've performed bunch of tests for my XPS 15 (9550) using it. You can take a look into it in XPS 15 thread.
Some nice testing there! I did not expect the 15inch FHD screen to be so compareble to the 13 inch FHD power wise.
Just something i found out by fiddling today:
setting, 'i915.disable_power_well=0' allows 'i915.enable_psr=1' to work.
Atleast on my system.
Im not sure if there is less battery usage with this setting currently. I would need some more time for testing. Maybe you would like to test it also? :-)
Just for reference my current kernel options: "i915.modeset=1 i915.enable_psr=1 i915.enable_rc6=7 i915.enable_fbc=1 i915.semaphores=1 i915.disable_power_well=0 i915.lvds_downclock=1"

I'm trying those parameters out right now. Every time I booted I got a complete system freeze until I changed i915.semaphores=0. My current kernel is 4.8.15-2-ck-skylake and my boot params are as follows:

zswap.enabled=1 zswap.compressor=lz4 elevator=bfq i915.modeset=1 i915.enable_psr=1 i915.enable_rc6=7 i915.enable_fbc=1 i915.semaphores=0 i915.disable_power_well=0 i915.lvds_downclock=1 rw quiet

damige · 2016-12-29 18:08:50

bkuri wrote:

I'm trying those parameters out right now. Every time I booted I got a complete system freeze until I changed i915.semaphores=0. My current kernel is 4.8.15-2-ck-skylake and my boot params are as follows:
zswap.enabled=1 zswap.compressor=lz4 elevator=bfq i915.modeset=1 i915.enable_psr=1 i915.enable_rc6=7 i915.enable_fbc=1 i915.semaphores=0 i915.disable_power_well=0 i915.lvds_downclock=1 rw quiet

I just checked my kernel parameters and im setting semaphores=1, but "cat /sys/module/i915/parameters/semaphores" shows "0". So it seems im actually running disabled also.

bkuri · 2016-12-29 18:38:00

damige wrote:

bkuri wrote:
I'm trying those parameters out right now. Every time I booted I got a complete system freeze until I changed i915.semaphores=0. My current kernel is 4.8.15-2-ck-skylake and my boot params are as follows:
zswap.enabled=1 zswap.compressor=lz4 elevator=bfq i915.modeset=1 i915.enable_psr=1 i915.enable_rc6=7 i915.enable_fbc=1 i915.semaphores=0 i915.disable_power_well=0 i915.lvds_downclock=1 rw quiet
I just checked my kernel parameters and im setting semaphores=1, but "cat /sys/module/i915/parameters/semaphores" shows "0". So it seems im actually running disabled also.

Interesting that it freezes up my 9350 while yours keeps on running. Maybe something to do with the way i915 handles different screens? (I have QHD+touch). Are you using the intel driver?

Last edited by bkuri (2016-12-29 21:53:02)

Plawucht · 2016-12-30 14:28:48

bkuri wrote:

damige wrote:
bkuri wrote:
I'm trying those parameters out right now. Every time I booted I got a complete system freeze until I changed i915.semaphores=0. My current kernel is 4.8.15-2-ck-skylake and my boot params are as follows:
I just checked my kernel parameters and im setting semaphores=1, but "cat /sys/module/i915/parameters/semaphores" shows "0". So it seems im actually running disabled also.
Interesting that it freezes up my 9350 while yours keeps on running. Maybe something to do with the way i915 handles different screens? (I have QHD+touch). Are you using the intel driver?

Hey bkuri, have you checked if semaphores = 1?
I boot into:

title	nvme-testing
linux	/vmlinuz-linux-nvme
initrd	/intel-ucode.img
initrd	/initramfs-linux-nvme.img
options	root=UUID=myuuid rw i915.modeset=1 i915.enable_psr=1 i915.enable_rc6=7 i915.enable_fbc=1 i915.enable_psr=2 i915.semaphores=1 i915.disable_power_well=0 i915.lvds_downclock=1 elevator=noop pcie_aspm=force net.ifnames=0 quiet

For me,

# cat /sys/module/i915/parameters/semaphores

returns also 0.

Further:

I use gnome. If I say, that the notebook has to keep running while the lid is/gets closed, and I close the lid AFTER suspending, the device reboots when opening the lid again instead of waking up.
A) How do I debug a problem like this?
B) Is there a way I can keep the laptop running with turned off backlight while the screen is closed, but also close the device when it's suspended?
C) Is there a way to keep my notebook running and giving only output to my external screen while the lid is closed? Where can I read up on this? There's so much crap blogs with hacked solutions which all don't work properly.

Cheers!

Asriel · 2016-12-31 17:31:57

https://yadi.sk/d/9DAepXKJ36CCrX

My kernel updated to 4.9 release, some patches fro 4.10-rc1 and I believe all flickering is gone even with psr=1. Applied memory bandwidth workarount for skylake and 16.16 calculations instead of int32 - the kernel works fine for me.

Config is done for 3 possible wifi cards - Intel, Dell 1820 broadcom and killer 1535 ath10. i915 driver is built in with firmware compiled into kernel. All my attempts to make drm-intel kernel work with psr=1 instead of psr=2 still fail, I have applied latest patchwork patches related to PSR and still no luck.

So for me the kernel seems compete , the only bug left is no HDMI for DA200 dell dock, but this bug is still remains for very fresh drm-intel snapshot.

bkuri · 2017-01-01 04:31:54

Plawucht wrote:

Hey bkuri, have you checked if semaphores = 1?

I also get semaphores=0. Setting the kernel parameter to 1 completely freezes up my system within the first few seconds into booting to X.

Last edited by bkuri (2017-01-01 04:33:12)

kubrick · 2017-01-03 09:28:29

Asriel wrote:

https://yadi.sk/d/9DAepXKJ36CCrX
My kernel updated to 4.9 release, some patches fro 4.10-rc1 and I believe all flickering is gone even with psr=1. Applied memory bandwidth workarount for skylake and 16.16 calculations instead of int32 - the kernel works fine for me.

Hi Asriel,

I would really like to try your kernel but your version differs from mainline 4.9 kernel by 856,976 changes (according to diff -Naur) which makes it very hard to review / trust. Instead of shipping this big source tarball, would it be possible for you to share a few select patches that you think make a significant contribution? I can't believe that all the changes in your kernel are valuable, some changes are for ARM or obscure drivers that seem to be unrelated.

I appreciate you sharing your efforts,

Best regards,
F.

ewaller · 2017-01-03 21:03:01

Asriel wrote:

The way I make it - copy folders include/drm, include/uapi/drm, drivers/gru/drm into new kernel. Also I put GuC firmware into firmware/i915 - so it might make more differences. I could not make i915 drm version from mainline kernel work. The base version was from 4.8-rc2, i had applied a lot of patches after that. When I used other base version of i915 drm and applied same set of patches - no luck with psr=1. Looks like the main bug is in some atomic fencing code inside intel-drm development.
The rest of patches do not matter much - I am applying all acpi , pm, cpufreq patches from current rc. So it is pretty hard to say which patch make i915 work.

I think you meant to hit reply, not report.

kgizdov · 2017-01-03 21:16:50

silles wrote:

yet another weird thing: hdmi looks good on console ctrl+alt+1

What is drawing console 1 - X11, Wayland, Gnome, ...? That might give you a clue as to what it wrong.

kgizdov · 2017-01-03 21:28:25

Guys, I managed to update the TPM firmware to support TPM 2.0 spec and it works really well with linux-4.9-1. If anyone is interested, you need two extra packages - tpm2.0-tools-git and tpm2.0-tss-git from AUR. You need to also make a service to handle TPM requests, e.g.:

$ cat /usr/lib/systemd/system/tpm2_resourcemgr.service
[Unit]
Description=Manager for Trusted Computing Module 2.0
After=sysinit.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/resourcemgr

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Otherwise you have to start the resourcemgr daemon manually and kill it after you are done. Upstream has not figured this one out just yet.

I need to point out that you would have to clear and disown the TPM before the upgrade can be initated. Dell have a nice instructional page. I upgraded though a bootable Windows USB drive, I was not able to launch the setup inside the UEFI.

OdinEidolon · 2017-01-03 22:15:27

kgizdov wrote:

Guys, I managed to update the TPM firmware to support TPM 2.0 spec and it works really well with linux-4.9-1. If anyone is interested, you need two extra packages - tpm2.0-tools-git and tpm2.0-tss-git from AUR. You need to also make a service to handle TPM requests, e.g.:
$ cat /usr/lib/systemd/system/tpm2_resourcemgr.service
[Unit]
Description=Manager for Trusted Computing Module 2.0
After=sysinit.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/resourcemgr

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
Otherwise you have to start the resourcemgr daemon manually and kill it after you are done. Upstream has not figured this one out just yet.
I need to point out that you would have to clear and disown the TPM before the upgrade can be initated. Dell have a nice instructional page. I upgraded though a bootable Windows USB drive, I was not able to launch the setup inside the UEFI.

That's excellent, thanks. Can you add this to the wiki?

nos1609 · 2017-01-04 13:52:18

kgizdov wrote:

Guys, I managed to update the TPM firmware to support TPM 2.0 spec and it works really well with linux-4.9-1. If anyone is interested, you need two extra packages - tpm2.0-tools-git and tpm2.0-tss-git from AUR.

I'm not able installing this on my 9350, everytime getting

FAIL: test/integration/get-random
FAIL: test/integration/self-test
FAIL: test/integration/pcr-extension
============================================================================
Testsuite summary for tpm2.0-tss 1.0
============================================================================
# TOTAL: 3
# PASS:  0
# SKIP:  0
# XFAIL: 0
# FAIL:  3
# XPASS: 0
# ERROR: 0
============================================================================
See ./test-suite.log
============================================================================

Accordingly to this I can suppose that GuC is the same as intel-ucode, but for the GPU part. A kinda graphic-firmware update.

Last edited by nos1609 (2017-01-04 14:15:29)

Procrat · 2017-01-04 21:23:38

Asriel wrote:

New bios is released
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/ … egoryId=BI
Changelog claims fixes for DA200 - maybe it will help?

I just did that update. I still can't get a high resolution with HDMI. It was worth a shot, though!

kubrick wrote:

Procrat wrote:
I read through the whole thread hoping, in vain, that someone would have found a solution for that buggy DA200 adapter.
I noticed however that no one responded to @bellete's question whether someone tried to the Thunderbolt firmware update to fix the issue. So I'm gonna try that know and if it fails, I guess I'll just send it back to Dell?
The Thunderbolt update didn't change anything for me. Have you tried booting with i915.enable_guc_loading=1 i915.enable_guc_submission=1 kernel parameters? Some people have reported it allowed them to achieve 1680x1050@60Hz on kernel 4.4 with these parameters.
The problem with the DA200 is quite well documented, and comes from buggy/incomplete i915 driver, the adapter in itself is fine. See:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=93578
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=94567

I just tried that and it doesn't seem to change anything. It's the same as before: xrandr shows the screen is detected, but nothing is shown on the screen, except when using 800x6000 or lower. Thanks for the information anyway!

I already bought another USB-C to HDMI adapter and I already got a refund from Dell, so I think I'm not gonna look into this any further.

Last edited by Procrat (2017-01-04 21:27:10)

b52 · 2017-01-04 21:41:37

Out of curiosity, is anyone using it with a proper docking station to connect all the peripherals like display, USB, ethernet, etc.? If so, what are good options for a docking station? Last time I checked the TB15 had some issues..

silles · 2017-01-04 23:07:31

Procrat wrote:

Asriel wrote:
New bios is released
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/ … egoryId=BI
Changelog claims fixes for DA200 - maybe it will help?
I just did that update. I still can't get a high resolution with HDMI. It was worth a shot, though!

kubrick wrote:
Procrat wrote:
I read through the whole thread hoping, in vain, that someone would have found a solution for that buggy DA200 adapter.
I noticed however that no one responded to @bellete's question whether someone tried to the Thunderbolt firmware update to fix the issue. So I'm gonna try that know and if it fails, I guess I'll just send it back to Dell?
The Thunderbolt update didn't change anything for me. Have you tried booting with i915.enable_guc_loading=1 i915.enable_guc_submission=1 kernel parameters? Some people have reported it allowed them to achieve 1680x1050@60Hz on kernel 4.4 with these parameters.
The problem with the DA200 is quite well documented, and comes from buggy/incomplete i915 driver, the adapter in itself is fine. See:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=93578
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=94567
I just tried that and it doesn't seem to change anything. It's the same as before: xrandr shows the screen is detected, but nothing is shown on the screen, except when using 800x6000 or lower. Thanks for the information anyway!
I already bought another USB-C to HDMI adapter and I already got a refund from Dell, so I think I'm not gonna look into this any further.

did it work?
did you connect it to HDMI input? or DVI ?

When I use USB-C to HDMI adaptor it only ever worked when I connected it via HDMI to DVI, if I use HDMI to HDMI cable I get either black screen or some weird colours ...

Last edited by silles (2017-01-04 23:10:18)

belette · 2017-01-04 23:22:04

I am using the TB15 and it is good but not perfect.
When I connect the dock for the first time everything is working properly.
When I disconnect or simply put my computer to sleep, most of the time I got an issue when I resume it :
No mouse / keyboard are working anymore (so I use a udev rule to remove + rescan them, not perfect but ok)
Screen is not getting the signal, so I need to open the lid, ctrl + alt + F1 to switch to a console and then go back to ctrl + alt + F7 and sometimes it works sometimes not and I need to re try / disconnect or be patient....
I have no clue why this is failing like this...

Sometimes I also got complete hangs for the entire system and get unresponsive...

b52 wrote:

Out of curiosity, is anyone using it with a proper docking station to connect all the peripherals like display, USB, ethernet, etc.? If so, what are good options for a docking station? Last time I checked the TB15 had some issues..

OdinEidolon · 2017-01-05 06:56:38

There's the TB16 now, [sarcasm]which I'm sure will fix most of the previous issues without causing new ones.[/sarcasm]

Procrat · 2017-01-05 10:55:20

silles wrote:

Procrat wrote:
Asriel wrote:
New bios is released
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/ … egoryId=BI
Changelog claims fixes for DA200 - maybe it will help?
I just did that update. I still can't get a high resolution with HDMI. It was worth a shot, though!

kubrick wrote:
The Thunderbolt update didn't change anything for me. Have you tried booting with i915.enable_guc_loading=1 i915.enable_guc_submission=1 kernel parameters? Some people have reported it allowed them to achieve 1680x1050@60Hz on kernel 4.4 with these parameters.
The problem with the DA200 is quite well documented, and comes from buggy/incomplete i915 driver, the adapter in itself is fine. See:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=93578
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=94567
I just tried that and it doesn't seem to change anything. It's the same as before: xrandr shows the screen is detected, but nothing is shown on the screen, except when using 800x6000 or lower. Thanks for the information anyway!
I already bought another USB-C to HDMI adapter and I already got a refund from Dell, so I think I'm not gonna look into this any further.
did it work?
did you connect it to HDMI input? or DVI ?
When I use USB-C to HDMI adaptor it only ever worked when I connected it via HDMI to DVI, if I use HDMI to HDMI cable I get either black screen or some weird colours ...

No, it didn't. I only tried HDMI to HDMI.

kgizdov · 2017-01-05 17:15:09

@OdinEidolon, what exactly should I add to the Wiki? How to make a systemd service or how to install Windows on USB? They don't seems XPS specific. The guide to update the TPM is on Dell's website. Could you clarify?

@nos1609, did you update your TPM to 2.0 firmware through Windows? If you did, it seems like you are not running resourcemgr or something. None of the commands are going to succeed if the service is not forwarding them to the TPM, it is the wrong TPM version or you owned the device through Windows. Please have a look through the docs on TSS2.0 before running commands from tpm-tools2.0. Also, I do not understand what GuC has to do with the TPM.

Last edited by kgizdov (2017-01-07 12:05:22)

OdinEidolon · 2017-01-05 17:25:33

kgizdov wrote:

@OdinEidolon, what exactly should I add to the Wiki? How to make a systemd service or how to install Windows on USB? They don't seems XPS specific. The guide to update the TPM is on Dell's website. Could you clarify?

A small TPM section with a link to Dell's instructions, if they are working, would be useful.

Last edited by OdinEidolon (2017-01-05 17:25:43)

kgizdov · 2017-01-07 15:14:37

@OdinEidolon, I added a small TPM section to the Wiki.

To All: I just had a quick look at the Wiki and there seems to be some wrong/patially incorrect info there. I would like to have a discussion about what I saw and maybe even other people go have a look for other stuff, before I go off on my own correcting things.

To give an example, the first two subsections in the section about BIOS are giving false explanations to common problems not specific to XPS issues. USBs are not shown as boot devices not because of SecureBoot or Legacy Option ROMs, but because the user is trying to boot an MBR-only boot device into GPT/UEFI mode, which is obviously wrong. Switching Legacy Option ROMs to ON and booting your MBR stick risks installing Arch in legacy BIOS mode. I don't think that's what people want. If your Arch ISO image is correctly configured, you can boot in UEFI-only mode no problem. Moreover, you can self-sign the boot image and update the PKI records to even boot with SecureBoot enabled. I agree at least we should have the SecureBoot-off point for convenience as no one really wants to self-sign their linux and then update PKI records manually on every update. However, this is not XPS BIOS issue, this is not even general BIOS issue, this is user error/misconfig. This probably only belongs to general UEFI under Linux discussions, not on our XPS Wiki page.

The point about efivars not being recognised - brought upon by exactly what I just explained. If you boot in legacy mode, your efivars will not be recognised. The Wiki is instructing people to do wrong (possibly dangerous) things. There is another case where this might happen as well - using GRUB. Don't use GRUB as your boot loader. It's really really really really really really really bad and only recently even got the memo about EFI. (repeating the 'really' bit is a jab at GRUB devs struggling with for-loops). Use Systemd Boot or if you really must rEFInd. On the Wiki about systemd-boot you can see the second bit is exactly about this problem and how to correct it.

The Thunderbolt and specifically External Display subsection. Firstly, why is External Display listed up among the other built-in devices on the XPS? That's where we list devices that are part of the laptop, which might require special kernel modules for operation or currently not supported. Is anyone's USB-C or Thunderbolt port not working? Does it require a module? I don't think so. And even if it was - the port is not an external display. On top of that, most external display issues are actually Dell-docks-suck issues. The laptop itself has a great USB-C/Thunderbolt port. I myself use it on a daily basis and the kernel works with it out of the box. I use the Cable Matters multi-adaptor and I am yet to find a device I cannot connect to. Moreover, my USB-C to DisplayPort cable from Plugable allows me to connect my monitor and even use its built-in USB dock. I have been interested in these discussions here on the forum and a lot of people use external displays on a daily basis, some of my colleagues do to. I think this should be completely rewritten.

Can someone with more experience look at the Audio section as well? As far as I remember, I only had to disable power saving in TLP for my audio and the problem is gone. I haven't edited any PulseAudio files. And I definitely haven't disabled my internal mic at all.

I urge people to go and have a look themselves for other things, which I may have missed.

Arch Linux

#1201 2016-12-29 12:33:50

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1202 2016-12-29 13:19:57

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1203 2016-12-29 13:25:18

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1204 2016-12-29 14:16:29

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1205 2016-12-29 17:28:21

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1206 2016-12-29 18:08:50

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1207 2016-12-29 18:38:00

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1208 2016-12-30 14:28:48

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1209 2016-12-31 17:31:57

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1210 2017-01-01 04:31:54

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1211 2017-01-03 09:28:29

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1212 2017-01-03 21:03:01

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1213 2017-01-03 21:16:50

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1214 2017-01-03 21:28:25

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1215 2017-01-03 22:15:27

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1216 2017-01-04 13:52:18

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1217 2017-01-04 21:23:38

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1218 2017-01-04 21:41:37

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1219 2017-01-04 23:07:31

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1220 2017-01-04 23:22:04

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1221 2017-01-05 06:56:38

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1222 2017-01-05 10:55:20

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1223 2017-01-05 17:15:09

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1224 2017-01-05 17:25:33

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

#1225 2017-01-07 15:14:37

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

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