1) Install the 16.04 LTS kernel backport  linux-generic-lts-xenial as a device test.  Seems to not boot I only get a black screen.

I did this again and during the install the following errors are shown:

run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/dkms 4.4.0-22-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-22-generic
Error! The dkms.conf for this module includes a BUILD_EXCLUSIVE directive which
does not match this kernel/arch. This indicates that it should not be built.

Despite that it still generates an initrd but it doesn't boot.  It appears to die after the loading the initrd with a black screen.  If you let it sit long enough then something in the initrd times out and i'm dropped to a busybox recovery shell.  Haven't done anything more than that. 

2) Live image of Kubuntu 16.04 on USB disk.  This Boots and I make it to a KDE environment but mouse clicks (right clicks) didn't seem to work so I could not select anything.

Playing with this more it does seem to work if I use a usb mouse.  For a while the touchpad works but eventually the system seems to hang.  I can switch out to a VT and that seems to work but the GUI appear stuck.  Mouse moves but clicks don't do anything.

Next I'm going to try a Ubuntu 16.04 live USB instead of a Kubuntu.

Ubuntu 16.04 has been great for me on the XPS 13 (2016) EXCEPT for audio. Ubuntu plays a sound on boot-up, but then has no output devices under sound settings after login. Pulse audio volume control only has an HDMI port as an output option even though alsamixer seems to detect the HDA Intel PCH card just fine.

I was wondering especially if upgrading to kernel 4.6 could help .

Hi,

I have exaclty the same issue with no sound card in sound settings and I did not fin any hints to fix it.

Maybe someone from Dell could point us to a fix for this issue ?

Pierre.

I have tested with kernel 4.6 but it does not fix the sound issue.

Moreover, I would like to precise that the issue is not the same as the one reported by  vns35. since I have no hdmi plugged.