Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 - Linux Install

Question

I have seen a few topics discussed with the Dell laptops and the mouse problem when you move it jitters or just doesn’t respond, but none of those solutions work especially with X11 being replaced with Wayland.

I was wondering has anyone gotten Linux to run stable on a Inspiron 16 Plus 7620, really want to get rid of windows entirely now. I have tried serval distributions now Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, Fedora, etc. I just can't get passed the mouse problem. My previous Inspiron took 10 years before Linux supported it fully. I really don't want to wait 10 years, then I might as well go buy a Lenovo they all just work. Windows 11 is just a no at this point want to drop it entirely.

Any advice? Drivers? Official Linux distro by dell etc, anything to move away from Windows.

anne_droid · Accepted Answer

Hi

Below does not seem too arduous, or even black magic....

The jittery pointer on your Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 under Linux is a known issue, most commonly caused by Intel i915 Panel Self Refresh (PSR) interacting badly with the Alder Lake iGPU. The fix that consistently works is to disable PSR via a kernel boot parameter. dell+1

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/inspiron/linux-issues-on-dell-inspiron-16-plus-7620/66d3f02a3c9d6f1b219b1beb

Quick fix: disable i915 PSR

Edit GRUB config:

bash

sudo nano /etc/default/grub
Find the line:

text

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
Change it to:

text

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.enable_psr=0"
Save, then update GRUB and reboot:
- On Debian/Ubuntu/Mint:
  
  bash
  
  sudo update-grub
- On some systems you may need:
  
  bash
  
  sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Reboot:

bash

sudo reboot

After reboot, the cursor should be smooth and stable. dell+1

If the problem persists or you want to go further

1. Ensure you’re not using the legacy Intel Xorg driver

On newer Intel GPUs (Alder Lake, Iris Xe), the xf86-video-intel driver can cause flicker/lag. Prefer the modesetting driver.

Check if it’s installed:

bash

dpkg -l | grep xf86-video-intel # Debian/Ubuntu/Mint pacman -Qs xf86-video-intel # Arch/Artix
If present, remove it:

bash

sudo apt remove xserver-xorg-video-intel # Debian/Ubuntu/Mint sudo pacman -R xf86-video-intel # Arch/Artix
Ensure xf86-input-libinput is installed (it usually is by default).

Many users with the 7620 report that removing xf86-video-intel eliminates flicker and pointer issues. forum.artixlinux

ejn63 · Answer

Dell has no official Linux support for this model. If you're looking for success stories, search the support forums for the various distributions of Linux -- Ubuntu would be the first to look at.

RiaanPre78 · Answer

@ejn63​ I have, They are older Linux's and their tricks are no longer relevant, because of something dell does with hardware the mouse issue is persistent and requires hacking it to work. was wondering if someone got it working in 2026 with current distributions

ejn63 · Answer

If you haven't purchased the system yet, there are 16' Latitude systems that do have Linux support.

RiaanPre78 · Answer

@ejn63​ Sadly this is my primary laptop that I already bought 2 years ago. If i knew about this problem I would never have bought the system 😢

ejn63 · Answer

If the issue is solely the touchpad, a USB or Bluetooth mouse is one workaround.

RiaanPre78 · Answer

@ejn63​ I currently have a Bluetooth mouse plugged in - does exactly the same

RiaanPre78 · Answer

@anne_droid​ LEGEND! It worked. Mouse issues are gone. I could have sworn I tried it before. Maybe I had a type. But this definitely solved the problem. Thank you so much :)

Linux General

Inspiron 16 Plus 7620 - Linux Install

Quick fix: disable i915 PSR

If the problem persists or you want to go further

1. Ensure you’re not using the legacy Intel Xorg driver

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