Dell XPS 9570 with TB16 dock issues

Hardware Support
#53

Screenshot from 2021-02-23 20-23-40
Screenshot from 2021-02-23 20-23-40890×599 22.7 KB

10-quirks.conf

# Collection of quirks and blacklist/whitelists for specific devices.


# Accelerometer device, posts data through ABS_X/ABS_Y, making X unusable
# http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=22442 
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "ThinkPad HDAPS accelerometer blacklist"
        MatchProduct "ThinkPad HDAPS accelerometer data"
        Option "Ignore" "on"
EndSection

# https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=523914
# Mouse does not move in PV Xen guest
# Explicitly tell evdev to not ignore the absolute axes.
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "Xen Virtual Pointer axis blacklist"
        MatchProduct "Xen Virtual Pointer"
        Option "IgnoreAbsoluteAxes" "off"
        Option "IgnoreRelativeAxes" "off"
EndSection

# https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55867
# Bug 55867 - Doesn't know how to tag XI_TRACKBALL
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "Tag trackballs as XI_TRACKBALL"
        MatchProduct "trackball"
        MatchDriver "evdev"
        Option "TypeName" "TRACKBALL"
EndSection

# https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=62831
# Bug 62831 - Mionix Naos 5000 mouse detected incorrectly
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "Tag Mionix Naos 5000 mouse XI_MOUSE"
        MatchProduct "La-VIEW Technology Naos 5000 Mouse"
        MatchDriver "evdev"
        Option "TypeName" "MOUSE"
EndSection

11-nvidia-prime.conf

# DO NOT EDIT. AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED BY gpu-manager

Section "OutputClass"
    Identifier "Nvidia Prime"
    MatchDriver "nvidia-drm"
    Driver "nvidia"
    Option "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration"
    Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "CRT"
    Option "PrimaryGPU" "Yes"
    ModulePath "/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg"
EndSection

40-libinput.conf

# Match on all types of devices but joysticks
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput pointer catchall"
        MatchIsPointer "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput keyboard catchall"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput touchpad catchall"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput touchscreen catchall"
        MatchIsTouchscreen "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput tablet catchall"
        MatchIsTablet "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
EndSection
#54

There you can see the relation to the Input devices, such as keyboard, touchpad, trackball or mouse.
Well… Want to try creating the

20-intel.conf

There and fill it with

Section “Device”
Identifier “Intel Graphics”
Driver “intel”
Option “NoAccel” “True”
EndSection

and see if you need to hammer the esc key 75 times after?

1 Like
#55

I was able to create the file with sudo from the terminal in Zorin. I’ll restart to see if anything changes.

Edit: Back to the login loop. Booting to terminal to remove the file.

Edit 2: Back to the desktop.

#56

I just had a thought after all of that… What is your current DPI setting? 59.95hz? Or it still 100million or something?

#57

I started getting flickering again at 59.95hz, so I’ve been back at 23.97hz.

Screenshot from 2021-02-23 20-59-33
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#58

I opened up the Nvidia Server Settings again, and it seems I’ve lost the ability to swap my video settings via this method.

Screenshot from 2021-02-23 21-01-52

As opposed to how it used to look:

Screenshot from 2021-02-22 21-23-11

#59

Undoubtedly affected by my guidance- even so, assuming you have removed the file we created earlier from the xorg.conf.d directory,
You could check the BIOS settings on Discrete Graphics, just to be sure.

Looking at the image above- you have Two monitors, different resolutions? OR different sizes. Is one a notebook and one a Monitor or is it two external monitors on a desktop?

#60

Correct, both. The laptop display is 1080p, whereas the external display connected via the Thunderbolt Dock is 1440p. Note that I can set it to run as a single display on the 1440p display, and I still experience the flickering (last I checked). I could test connecting a display that shares a resolution, and also could test connecting the display via the laptops HDMI port, as opposed to running it through the dock.

#61

Highly recommend the HDMI port.
I also was using 1280 on a notebook and 1440 on external monitor for a long time until just very recently (and I do mean very) when I switched to Desktop PC (at long last) and have two 1440 monitors.
Never had any trouble.

Can you

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

and relay what is on this line?

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=

#62

It reads

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=“quiet splash i915.enable_psr=0”

As per your direction.

#63

That part did not help so let’s remove that.
Can you open another terminal and in it, run

grep “model name” /proc/cpuinfo | sort -u

and relay that output…

#64

Screenshot from 2021-02-23 21-26-01
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#65

Ok, back to the first terminal, can you change the original default line to:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=“quiet splash intel_idle.max_cstate=1”

Can you run

sudo nano ~/.profile

and look through the output and see if there is anything in there that looks like

export Display=

in it?

If no, run in terminal

sudo update-grub

#66

I added the intel_idle.max_cstate=1 and couldn’t find any export Display= (or anything similar) so I ran sudo update-grub and this is the output:

Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub’
Generating grub configuration file …
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/zorin/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-65-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-65-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-45-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-45-generic
Adding boot menu entry for EFI firmware configuration
done

#67

Nothing went wrong there- and lacking an export value on your display is a good thing. I am just wracking my brains on possible causes.

Since you updated grub, when you feel up to it, you can try rebooting and testing for flickering, or if there is loss of control over peripherals.

#68

Rebooted, can still replicate the flickering and loss of devices connected via the dock.

#69

For now, so we do not forget, as I had earlier (thanks for reminding me), lets revert your grub back:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=“quiet splash”

sudo update-grub

Killer practice, at least.

What happens if no Dock?

#70

Updated that line, updated Grub.

I’ve disconnected the dock, and connected via the HDMI port on the laptop to another display (1080p, I know this introduces new variables, but my 24" 1440p display only has DisplayPort) and cannot replicate the flickering or loss of peripherals.

#71

Ok, so on a different monitor plugged into HDMI directly, no Dock- No flickering?

Do you remember… You said, “I think it’s the dock…” And I said, “I think it is the graphics…”

Can’t say we did not test thoroughly to be sure. In fairness… Losing the Mouse, Keyboard and screen intermittently- the above really would have worked out better if it’s the graphics.

So, think it is the Dock?

#72

Yeah, I have to imagine it’s an issue with the dock. I need to figure out how to get Windows back on this so I can attempt to use Dell’s method to update the BIOS. Until then I guess I have to live with the flickering and 24hz, if I want to use it. Unfortunate, but at least we’ve narrowed the culprit.

I am curious if there’s a way to rectify my ability to swap between my Intel/Nvidia graphics.