12 Posts
3
33824
XPS 13 7390 Ubuntu Screen flickering
Hello everyone,
My Dell XPS 13 7390 with the 10th generation i7 processor and Ubuntu 18.04 (Kenel 4.15.0-1065-oem) preinstalled just arrived yesterday. I have updated BIOS to the latest 1.3.1 version. The version of my xserver-xorg-video-intel is 2:2.99.917+git20171229-1 (the newest version from Ubuntu Bionic repositories).
There is a serious problem with screen flickering. It is especially apparent when a full-screen video is played. There is a hiccup every two seconds or so.
I have tried the latest Intel drivers from this PPA (version 2:2.99.917+git1912100730.f66d39~oibaf~b). Still flickers.
I found online that some people had similar issues and have solved them by going from 60.3 Hz screen refresh rate to 48.3 Hz (I don't know where the .3 comes from, those are the options in Ubuntu Display Settings). For me, flickering remains on both frequencies.
Some other people online claim that turning off the adaptive brightness from BIOS helps. It does not help in my case.
First, I would like to report this issue to Dell people responsible for Ubuntu support. What is the official way to do so?
Second, I would like to know if any community members experience this issue and what are the possible workarounds?
In conclusion, this is a deal-breaker for me. If I don't get to solve it in next week or so, I will return the laptop.
TheseusLinux
18 Posts
5
February 11th, 2020 06:00
I may or may not have the same issue as you but I managed to finally resolve it after tons of searching and what seems like millions of red herrings:
Hardware: XPS 13 7390 ordered in December 2019
Software: Ubuntu 19.10 (stock version with which I overwrote the Dell installation)
Screen symptoms, all intermittent and unpredictable:
* Grayish/multicoloured thin line at the top of the screen (most prominently while watching YouTube videos)
* Chopped off bottom third of screen with either white, grey, or black
* Black screen (100%)
* Green/negativish frozen screen (100%)
I tried tons of solutions including upgrading the kernel to 5.5.0 and installing the drm-tip kernel from Ubuntu's kernel site. None of these solutions worked even though they seemed to reduce the occurrence of the problem.
Final Solution:
After several hours of continuous laptop use the problem has not reoccurred. At this point I'm 90% it's going to work for good.
Source: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2339302
Steps:
1. sudo (editor command) /etc/default/grub
2. Comment out this line:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
3. Add this line instead:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.enable_psr=0"
4. Save and close your editor
5. sudo update-grub
6. reboot
Explanation:
Seems that starting with either the 5.2.0 or 5.3.0 kernel they decided to enable PSR (Panel Self Refresh) by default. Depending on the hardware, this periodic panel refreshing may cause the screen artifacts I described above.
Like I said, you and I may be experiencing completely different problems and my solution may not work for you. Still, i think it's worth a shot.
tykom
1 Message
1
April 1st, 2020 16:00
Thank you!! This solved the same issue for me, but on Fedora 31. The distros are a little different so the process for me was:
sudo nano /etc/default/grub
Edit the line that begins as below, which will have many kernel args specified already (the ...) to add the same Intel integrated graphics argument at the end.
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="... i915.enable_psr=0"
Save and exit the editor. Then run:
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg
And reboot.
Have been flicker free for about 2 hours now. It was previously happening almost constantly.
Saysora
2 Posts
1
December 11th, 2019 11:00
I too just got a new xps 13 7390 (there was a nice black friday deal) but I am having the same issues. As soon as I opened up the laptop there was major flickering with the ubuntu installer and any subsequent attempts to run ubuntu have screen tearing / flicker that can ultimately just render the screen completely blank of any activity but oddly colored pixels.
I would love to see an official fix by Dell to fix this, since this is a laptop that I use for work and would love the OS that I chose this laptop for specifically (Ubuntu) would actually run and allow me to use it.
For the time being I upgraded to ubuntu 19.10 and have been following a thread by other people who have been working to try and create a fix
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1826125
Hope this helps you, I still get flickering and sometimes to the point of it not recovering, needing a restart, but I can at least use the computer to a degree now.
Garisa
12 Posts
1
December 11th, 2019 13:00
It would be polite from Dell people to at least acknowledge this.
XPS 13 should be their flagship laptop and the version I have on my desk is far from a flagship laptop.
If I get some time before I return it, I will also try the latest kernel in few versions (probably on Arch Linux). But potential buyers have to be aware that this laptop is not usable out of the box (and even the status of the bug you posted is marked "unknown").
At the end of the day, it's not me who put Linux on this laptop. It's Dell. When I purchased it, I expected them to do what I am just about to do. Without them solving the issues we just described, I don't see any viable reason for me as a customer to buy an XPS 13 over some other laptops on the market.
dkatzi
3 Posts
2
December 11th, 2019 14:00
I am having exactly the same laptop XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 that came with Windows 10 and I have exactly the same flickering problem. I have no solution at the moment. I will open a ticket with Dell.
Garisa
12 Posts
0
December 11th, 2019 14:00
Thank you.
Can you please link the ticket here once when you make it?
Saysora
2 Posts
0
December 11th, 2019 17:00
I absolutely agree with you. I really do hope to see them actually respond and address this. Even running the maintenance in the bios shows the laptop all confirms the parts are fine, but the laptop is completely unusable upon arrival.
dkatzi
3 Posts
1
December 12th, 2019 01:00
I created the ticket last night (Europe time).
Still no response from Dell even if I have ProSupport Warranty.
DELL-Cares
Moderator
Moderator
•
25.1K Posts
0
December 12th, 2019 02:00
Hi,
Thanks for sharing the details. I understand that the screen flickers. Let's first check if the issue is happening outside the operating system.
Let’s run the hardware diagnostics.
1) Restart the system.
2) Keep tapping F12 key when the Dell logo appears during the startup.
3) Select diagnostics from the one-time boot menu and run the initial test.
4) Once done, do let me know if you receive any error code and validation code.
You can skip the extended memory test.
You can also refer to the link: https://dell.to/2tdaDIh
Connect the power adapter while running the diagnostics. Check if the flickering occurs here.
Could you also send a Private Message with the following details:
Registered owners name:
Phone Number and Email Address
Regards,
Mausam
Garisa
12 Posts
0
December 12th, 2019 16:00
I did run the diagnostics and did not receive any errors. The error code is 000.
Flickering is impossible to observe in diagnostics as the diagnostics show only one single static image. Hangs are obvious only when a video is played. I have no doubts that the hangs exist in a picture too, but there is no way for me to prove it. However, you can experience the hangs even when you type fast enough.
DELL-Cares
Moderator
Moderator
•
25.1K Posts
0
December 14th, 2019 05:00
Hi,
I hope you're doing well. I am awaiting your response to the earlier message. Did you get a chance to run the hardware diagnostics?
I will go ahead and archive this case for now, as I haven't heard from you. Feel free to reach out if you have any concerns. Here is the reference number for our conversation:46357245
Regards,
Mausam
Garisa
12 Posts
1
December 14th, 2019 20:00
I did answer your question. Look at my post before your last one.
patrickalj
1 Message
0
December 16th, 2019 07:00
I have the same issue here.
avalasion
1 Message
0
December 22nd, 2019 18:00
Same issue here. My computer came with windows 10 but I'm dualbooting with Ubuntu. It's happening on the Ubuntu side, but I don't use the windows side enough to know if it's happening there as well.
RoLam
1 Message
0
December 26th, 2019 15:00
I'm too seing a lot of screen flicker. I had to disable hardware acceleration for software that allows it (VSCode, Vivaldi, Chrome, ...) to make it usable.
It is not only screen flickering but also X running with unusual high CPU and causing high battery drain. Only for a short time after a fresh boot the syste,m acts normally,, but soon after (a few minutes of running or resuming from suspend) is laggy with high Xorg CPU and high battery drain (4-10W) instead of the expected 2-4W as seen after a boot for a nearly idle system.
I have the Dell XPS 13 7390 Developer Edition (i7-10510U, 16GB RAM) that came with Ubuntu running Debian Buster (sorry, I don't like Ubuntu). The issues
Currently the newer 7390 is worse than my 4 year old 7350 with a pretty bad battery, which is not acceptable for a product in this price range and with a product bein positioned as a linux ready system. So I really hope, that Dell is taking this seriously.
And I am pretty sure that hardware diagostics won't show any issues. I think the issue is driver/bios related and maybe caused by the bad intel drivers.