Alex's questions

Hardware:

• XPS 17 with Ubuntu 21.04 - Wayland and Nouveau drivers for the RTX 2060
• External monitor plugged with Thunderbolt port

Behaviour:

When I disconnect the external monitor, 25% of the time the screen goes black for 5 seconds and then brings me back to the login screen. After I log in everything is gone and it looks like a brand new session.

I get a crash report with this info in the Title section:

gnome shell crashed with sigsegv in g_cclosure_marshal_void__objectv()

Not sure where to find the log for it to attach it here and no clue where to start to resolve this.

A bit of a puzzling one for me here:

System: XPS 17 (9700) with RTX 2060 Ubuntu 21.04

Somehow when I run the Nouveau drivers in a Wayland session everything is fine, but when I run the NVIDIA 470 drivers I get a lot of screen tearing.

Any idea what could cause this?

Thanks

So 2 days ago I got a popup to update from 20.10 to 21.04 and like a moron I proceeded to it even though I knew that my XPS 17 was sorta tricky to get everything to work with 20.10 to begin with as detailed in my previous post: How to install Ubuntu 20.10 on the new XPS 17 (9700)?

In any case everything seems to work except for the sound again as it seems to be the case with other people as well but the method I used to make it work with 20.10 doesn't seem to work with 21.04.

That part now seemed useless because everything was already on my system:

git clone https://github.com/maaarghk/soundwire-dkms
cd soundwire-dkms
git checkout latest-sofproject
cd ..
sudo mv soundwire-dkms /usr/src/soundwire-1.4.0
sudo dkms add soundwire/1.4.0
sudo dkms build soundwire/1.4.0
sudo dkms install soundwire/1.4.0

As evidenced with this error message: alex@alex-XPS-17-9700:~$ sudo dkms add soundwire/1.4.0

[sudo] password for alex: 
Error! DKMS tree already contains: soundwire-1.4.0
You cannot add the same module/version combo more than once.

So then I went to the next section, using the latest version:

wget http://tardis.tiny-vps.com/aarm/packages/s/sof-firmware/sof-firmware-1.7-2-any.pkg.tar.xz
tar xf sof-firmware-1.7-2-any.pkg.tar.*
sudo mv /usr/lib/firmware/intel/sof /usr/lib/firmware/intel/sof.bak
sudo mv /usr/lib/firmware/intel/sof-tplg /usr/lib/firmware/intel/sof-tplg.bak
sudo cp -r usr/lib/firmware/intel/sof/sof /usr/lib/firmware/intel/sof
sudo cp -r usr/lib/firmware/intel/sof/sof-tplg-v1.6/ /usr/lib/firmware/intel/sof-tplg

Then still no sound so I rebooted and yet nothing. I saw a few other posts that mentionned how to modify the kernel to make it work and I had a crack at it - using this guy's process: https://www.bluebert.info/?p=521

But I dont think I'm doing it right as it ran for a good while and ended up giving me a bunch of error messages after this command:

make -j 16 deb-pkg LOCALVERSION=-custom KDEB_PKGVERSION=$(make kernelversion)-1

...

      GEN     .version
      CHK     include/generated/compile.h
      LD      vmlinux.o
      MODPOST vmlinux.symvers
      MODINFO modules.builtin.modinfo
      GEN     modules.builtin
    BTF: .tmp_vmlinux.btf: pahole (pahole) is not available
    Failed to generate BTF for vmlinux
    Try to disable CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_BTF
    make[3]: *** [Makefile:1177: vmlinux] Error 1
    make[2]: *** [debian/rules:7: build-arch] Error 2
    dpkg-buildpackage: error: debian/rules binary subprocess returned exit status 2
    make[1]: *** [scripts/Makefile.package:77: deb-pkg] Error 2
    make: *** [Makefile:1548: deb-pkg] Error 2

Ideally I'd avoid the kernel solution as I don't know much about kernel configurations if it's not already obvious -_-

Hopefully someone can help, Thanks

I saw a few posts online of people having some issues setting up the new XPS 17 as a Linux machine so I thought I'd share my journey here in case it'd be of anyone's interest. I've been using Ubuntu as my only OS for roughly 2 years now, so I'm somewhat knowledgeable about Linux itself but as far as drivers and kernel stuff goes I'm definitely a beginner so I hold very few credits apart from copying what other people did.

From my Github page: https://github.com/letourneaualex/xps17-9700_Ubuntu2010.git

I might add some shell script eventually to automate some of the steps, just need some of that ever elusive spare time!

Laptop specs:
Dell XPS 17 (9700)
64Gb RAM
i7 10875H
1Tb SSD
RTX 2060
4k screen

Install:
Ubuntu 20.10 single-boot- kernel 5.8.0-38-generic
I thought 20.10 was a better option due the the newer kernel looking at issues other people had
Used LVM with encryption

Results: It took me like 3 attempts to be able to install the OS, the process failed both during and after the the OS install. I then tried to create the partitions beforehand and then was able to finish the install. I chose the minimal install, no update and no 3rd party stuff to make it quicker and I also though there was less chance of trying to install drivers that aren't supported, but looking at the installation details maybe the normal install would've been faster as I think it loaded everything from the normal install and then removed everything. Anyway now it works well so I'm not going to dig more into this.

The first few reboots I got and error with cups-browsed, but it stopped happening by itself after a few reboots.

Configure Gestures using this process: https://medium.com/@kaigo/mac-like-gestures-on-ubuntu-20-04-dell-xps-15-7ea6e3be7f76 and it works well

GPU seems to work well on Intel and NVidia profiles, but doesn't seem to switch properly when I set it to On-Demand - more investigation needed. As reference even though I'm not much of a gamer. I tried Rise of the Tomb Raider and hit 60-90 FPS at 1080p High settings.

I'm realizing that the screen max refresh rate seems to be 60 no matter which resolution I chose which is weird because I bought this to replace my XPS 9570 which had a refresh rate of 120 for 2k and under. I never thought to check that before buying it as I thought for sure it would have at least the same refresh rate as my 2 years old xps 15, especially considering the RTX GPU, maybe it's a config issue - more investigation needed

alex@alex-XPS-17-9700:~$ xrandr Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 2560 x 1600, maximum 32767 x 32767 DP-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) DP-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) eDP-1-1 connected primary 2560x1600+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 366mm x 229mm 3840x2400 59.99 + 48.00
3840x2160 60.00 60.01 59.98 59.97
3200x1800 59.96 59.94
2880x1620 59.96 59.97
2560x1600 59.99 59.97* 2560x1440 59.99 59.99 59.96 59.95
2048x1536 60.00
1920x1440 60.00
1856x1392 60.01
1792x1344 60.01
2048x1152 59.99 59.98 59.90 59.91
1920x1200 59.88 59.95
1920x1080 60.01 59.97 59.96 59.93

Sound does not work on speakers and headphone jack as I anticipated with what I read before buying it, works well on Bluetooth - Issue fixed using this process: https://km.kkrach.de/p_dell_xps_17_9700/ (however there's a typo in the commands, you're looking at sof-firmware-1.6-1 , not sof-firmware-1.6-2, also the wget command didn't work so I downloaded it straight from the website)

More to come as I go along... Cheers!

Trying to set up my XPS 9570 on Ubuntu 20.04 with this KVM switch: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08F1XGTBN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I can use the keyboard and mouse that are connected to the kvm switch and I can detect the screen in my Ubuntu display settings, I can even grag the mouse off the laptop screen.

However I see no image on the moonitor and the monitor doesn't detect any signal.

The KVM works for sure though because when I switch to the windows box the screen lights up.

I did notice that my NVidia X server doesn't seem to detect the second monitor now though.

Any ideas?

In case it can help:

alex@alex-XPS-15-9570:~$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 6400 x 2160, maximum 16384 x 16384
eDP-1 connected primary 2560x1440+3840+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 194mm
   3840x2160     60.00 +  59.98    59.97  
   3200x1800     59.96    59.94  
   2880x1620     59.96    59.97  
   2560x1600     59.99    59.97  
   2560x1440     59.99    59.99*   59.96    59.95  
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-3 connected 3840x2160+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 698mm x 393mm
   3840x2160     60.00*+  60.00    50.00    59.94    30.00    25.00    24.00    29.97    23.98  

Tried NVidia and Intel video and no difference.

Context: my laptop was running perfectly for months, then yesterday while I was playing a game on steam, it just rebooted all of a sudden and then after that it didn't even recognized the NVidia drivers, I couldn't see the graphics card drivers in the Software and Updates settings or ubuntu-drivers devices. I tried reainstalling the drivers but still have issues.

Laptop: Dell xps 9570 NVidia GTX 1050 ti

Some commands for more info:

alex@alex:~$ ubuntu-drivers devices
== /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.0/0000:3b:00.0 ==
modalias : pci:v00008086d00002526sv00008086sd00000014bc02sc80i00
vendor   : Intel Corporation
model    : Wireless-AC 9260
manual_install: True
driver   : backport-iwlwifi-dkms - distro free

== /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0 ==
modalias : pci:v000010DEd00001C8Csv00001028sd0000087Cbc03sc02i00
vendor   : NVIDIA Corporation
model    : GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile]
driver   : nvidia-driver-435 - distro non-free
driver   : nvidia-driver-440 - third-party free recommended
driver   : nvidia-driver-390 - third-party free
driver   : xserver-xorg-video-nouveau - distro free builtin

alex@alex:~$ 

alex@alex:~$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
[sudo] password for alex: 
Hit:1 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security InRelease
Hit:2 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan InRelease                                                               
Ign:3 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease                                                           
Hit:4 https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu disco InRelease                                                         
Hit:5 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-updates InRelease                                                       
Hit:6 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-backports InRelease                                              
Hit:7 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu eoan InRelease                                                               
Hit:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/gns3/ppa/ubuntu eoan InRelease                                                          
Hit:9 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable Release                                                             
Hit:10 http://repo.steampowered.com/steam precise InRelease                                                            
Hit:11 http://ppa.launchpad.net/graphics-drivers/ppa/ubuntu eoan InRelease                                  
Hit:12 https://deb.torproject.org/torproject.org eoan InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
1 package can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see it.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libnvidia-common-435 linux-headers-5.3.0-40 linux-headers-5.3.0-40-generic linux-image-5.3.0-40-generic
  linux-modules-5.3.0-40-generic linux-modules-extra-5.3.0-40-generic
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be upgraded:
  python3-keyring
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 28.6 kB of archives.
After this operation, 2,048 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-updates/main amd64 python3-keyring all 18.0.1-1ubuntu1 [28.6 kB]
Fetched 28.6 kB in 0s (131 kB/s)         
(Reading database ... 289354 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../python3-keyring_18.0.1-1ubuntu1_all.deb ...
Unpacking python3-keyring (18.0.1-1ubuntu1) over (18.0.1-1) ...
Setting up nvidia-dkms-440 (440.64-0ubuntu0~0.19.10.2) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
INFO:Enable nvidia
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/lenovo_thinkpad
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/put_your_quirks_here
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/dell_latitude
Removing old nvidia-440.64 DKMS files...

------------------------------
Deleting module version: 440.64
completely from the DKMS tree.
------------------------------
Done.
Loading new nvidia-440.64 DKMS files...
Building for 5.3.0-45-generic
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 5.3.0-45-generic
ERROR: Cannot create report: [Errno 17] File exists: '/var/crash/nvidia-dkms-440.0.crash'
Error! Application of patch disable_fstack-clash-protection_fcf-protection.patch failed.
Check /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/440.64/build/ for more information.
dpkg: error processing package nvidia-dkms-440 (--configure):
 installed nvidia-dkms-440 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 6
Setting up python3-keyring (18.0.1-1ubuntu1) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of nvidia-driver-440:
 nvidia-driver-440 depends on nvidia-dkms-440 (= 440.64-0ubuntu0~0.19.10.2); however:
  Package nvidia-dkms-440 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package nvidia-driver-440 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                                                                                                          Processing tri
ggers for man-db (2.8.7-3) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.133ubuntu10) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.3.0-45-generic
I: The initramfs will attempt to resume from /dev/nvme0n1p4
I: (UUID=4ef37681-250c-4d75-954b-c8cf78fd5e65)
I: Set the RESUME variable to override this.
Errors were encountered while processing:
 nvidia-dkms-440
 nvidia-driver-440
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
alex@alex:~$ 

Thanks

Like the title says I can't figure out a way to force my laptop to use PRIME Synchronization and from what I understand, it may very well be the reason I get quite a lot of screen tearing when watching videos.

I've tried pretty much everything I could find that was reasonably recent and nothing works.

I've made sure that the drm file was configured properly:

(base) alex@alex:/etc/modprobe.d$ cat nvidia-drm.conf 
options nvidia-drm modeset=1

I tried to force it with xrandr --output eDP-1-1 --set "PRIME Synchronization" 1but it stays at 0.

I made sure to do the following command and reboot:

(base) alex@alex:/etc/modprobe.d$ sudo update-initramfs -u
[sudo] password for alex: 
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.3.0-24-generic
I: The initramfs will attempt to resume from /dev/nvme0n1p4
I: (UUID=4ef37681-250c-4d75-954b-c8cf78fd5e65)
I: Set the RESUME variable to override this.

*when I tried the same thing but by creating a zz-nvidia-modesetconf file like I read on some posts the update-initramfs command generated a lot of errors.

After all that I still get the following result:

(base) alex@alex:/etc/modprobe.d$ sudo cat /sys/module/nvidia_drm/parameters/modeset
N

I have a Dell xps 9570 with the GTX 1050 ti card and I'm running Ubuntu 19.10.

Here are a few more outputs to help (my monitor is eDP-1-1):

base) alex@alex:/etc/modprobe.d$ xrandr --prop
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 2560 x 1440, maximum 32767 x 32767
eDP-1-1 connected primary 2560x1440+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 194mm
    _MUTTER_PRESENTATION_OUTPUT: 0 
    EDID: 
        00ffffffffffff004d108d1400000000
        051c0104a52213780eef4fa95334bc25
        0d515400000001010101010101010101
        0101010101014dd000a0f0703e803020
        350058c2100000180000000000000000
        00000000000000000000000000fe0046
        4e564452804c51313536443100000000
        0002410328011200000b010a2020004c
    PRIME Synchronization: 0 
        supported: 0, 1
    scaling mode: Full aspect 
        supported: Full, Center, Full aspect
    max bpc: 12 
        range: (6, 12)
    Broadcast RGB: Automatic 
        supported: Automatic, Full, Limited 16:235
    link-status: Good 
        supported: Good, Bad
    CONNECTOR_ID: 86 
        supported: 86
    non-desktop: 0 
        range: (0, 1)
   3840x2160     60.00 +  59.98    59.97  
   3200x1800     59.96    59.94  
   2880x1620     59.96    59.97  
   2560x1600     59.99    59.97  
   2560x1440     59.99    59.99*   59.96    59.95  
   2048x1536     60.00  
   1920x1440     60.00  
   1856x1392     60.01  
   1792x1344     60.01  
   2048x1152     59.99    59.98    59.90    59.91  
   1920x1200     59.88    59.95  
   1920x1080     60.01    59.97    59.96    59.93  
   1600x1200     60.00  
   1680x1050     59.95    59.88  
   1600x1024     60.17  
   1400x1050     59.98  
   1600x900      59.99    59.94    59.95    59.82  
   1280x1024     60.02  
   1440x900      59.89  
   1400x900      59.96    59.88  
   1280x960      60.00  
   1440x810      60.00    59.97  
   1368x768      59.88    59.85  
   1360x768      59.80    59.96  
   1280x800      59.99    59.97    59.81    59.91  
   1152x864      60.00  
   1280x720      60.00    59.99    59.86    59.74  
   1024x768      60.04    60.00  
   960x720       60.00  
   928x696       60.05  
   896x672       60.01  
   1024x576      59.95    59.96    59.90    59.82  
   960x600       59.93    60.00  
   960x540       59.96    59.99    59.63    59.82  
   800x600       60.00    60.32    56.25  
   840x525       60.01    59.88  
   864x486       59.92    59.57  
   800x512       60.17  
   700x525       59.98  
   800x450       59.95    59.82  
   640x512       60.02  
   720x450       59.89  
   700x450       59.96    59.88  
   640x480       60.00    59.94  
   720x405       59.51    58.99  
   684x384       59.88    59.85  
   680x384       59.80    59.96  
   640x400       59.88    59.98  
   576x432       60.06  
   640x360       59.86    59.83    59.84    59.32  
   512x384       60.00  
   512x288       60.00    59.92  
   480x270       59.63    59.82  
   400x300       60.32    56.34  
   432x243       59.92    59.57  
   320x240       60.05  
   360x202       59.51    59.13  
   320x180       59.84    59.32  
DP-1-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    PRIME Synchronization: 1 
        supported: 0, 1
    Content Protection: Undesired 
        supported: Undesired, Desired, Enabled
    max bpc: 12 
        range: (6, 12)
    Broadcast RGB: Automatic 
        supported: Automatic, Full, Limited 16:235
    audio: auto 
        supported: force-dvi, off, auto, on
    link-status: Good 
        supported: Good, Bad
    CONNECTOR_ID: 92 
        supported: 92
    non-desktop: 0 
        range: (0, 1)
DP-1-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    PRIME Synchronization: 1 
        supported: 0, 1
    Content Protection: Undesired 
        supported: Undesired, Desired, Enabled
    max bpc: 12 
        range: (6, 12)
    Broadcast RGB: Automatic 
        supported: Automatic, Full, Limited 16:235
    audio: auto 
        supported: force-dvi, off, auto, on
    link-status: Good 
        supported: Good, Bad
    CONNECTOR_ID: 100 
        supported: 100
    non-desktop: 0 
        range: (0, 1)
DP-1-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    PRIME Synchronization: 1 
        supported: 0, 1
    Content Protection: Undesired 
        supported: Undesired, Desired, Enabled
    max bpc: 12 
        range: (6, 12)
    Broadcast RGB: Automatic 
        supported: Automatic, Full, Limited 16:235
    audio: auto 
        supported: force-dvi, off, auto, on
    link-status: Good 
        supported: Good, Bad
    CONNECTOR_ID: 106 
        supported: 106
    non-desktop: 0 
        range: (0, 1)


(base) alex@alex:/etc/modprobe.d$ dmesg | grep drm
[    0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-5.3.0-24-generic root=UUID=3aed6bfe-476b-4f03-a33a-8265acaf1a5a ro quiet splash acpi_rev_override=1 acpi_osi=Linux nouveau.modeset=0 pcie_aspm=force drm.vblankoffdelay=1 scsi_mod.use_blk_mq=1 nouveau.runpm=0 mem_sleep_default=deep pti=off spectre_v2=off l1tf=off nospec_store_bypass_disable no_stf_barrier vt.handoff=7
[    0.131737] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-5.3.0-24-generic root=UUID=3aed6bfe-476b-4f03-a33a-8265acaf1a5a ro quiet splash acpi_rev_override=1 acpi_osi=Linux nouveau.modeset=0 pcie_aspm=force drm.vblankoffdelay=1 scsi_mod.use_blk_mq=1 nouveau.runpm=0 mem_sleep_default=deep pti=off spectre_v2=off l1tf=off nospec_store_bypass_disable no_stf_barrier vt.handoff=7
[    3.004066] [drm] Incompatible option detected: enable_guc=3, GuC submission not supported!
[    3.004066] [drm] Switching to non-GuC submission mode!
[    3.004671] fb0: switching to inteldrmfb from EFI VGA
[    3.016968] [drm] Supports vblank timestamp caching Rev 2 (21.10.2013).
[    3.016969] [drm] Driver supports precise vblank timestamp query.
[    3.024951] [drm] Finished loading DMC firmware i915/kbl_dmc_ver1_04.bin (v1.4)
[    3.096695] [drm] HuC: Loaded firmware i915/kbl_huc_ver02_00_1810.bin (version 2.0)
[    3.107310] [drm] GuC: Loaded firmware i915/kbl_guc_32.0.3.bin (version 32.0)
[    3.107444] [drm] CT: enabled
[    3.137213] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20190619 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0
[    3.376284] [drm] [nvidia-drm] [GPU ID 0x00000100] Loading driver
[    3.376286] [drm] Initialized nvidia-drm 0.0.0 20160202 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 1
[    3.413727] fbcon: i915drmfb (fb0) is primary device
[    3.413802] i915 0000:00:02.0: fb0: i915drmfb frame buffer device


(base) alex@alex:/etc/modprobe.d$ nvidia-smi
Sat Dec  7 13:10:10 2019       
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 435.21       Driver Version: 435.21       CUDA Version: 10.1     |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name        Persistence-M| Bus-Id        Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp  Perf  Pwr:Usage/Cap|         Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
|   0  GeForce GTX 105...  Off  | 00000000:01:00.0 Off |                  N/A |
| N/A   44C    P8    N/A /  N/A |    600MiB /  4042MiB |     31%      Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                       GPU Memory |
|  GPU       PID   Type   Process name                             Usage      |
|=============================================================================|
|    0      1520      G   /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg                            72MiB |
|    0      2495      G   /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg                           137MiB |
|    0      2768      G   /usr/bin/gnome-shell                         207MiB |
|    0      3410      G   ...quest-channel-token=2905873432716077065   133MiB |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Any ideas is very much appreaciated, thanks!