Trying to install Ubuntu on Dell XPS 15 (9570)

Question

I have been trying to install Ubuntu on my new laptop:

• Dell XPS 15 (9570)
• Windows 10 Home 64bit English
• 8th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H Processor (9M Cache, up to 4.1 GHz, 6 cores)
• 16GB, 2x8GB, DDR4, 2666MHz
• 256GB M.2 2280 PCIe Solid State Drive
• NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 1050Ti with 4GB GDDR5

I began by trying to install Ubuntu 18.04 LTS using an 8GB USB drive. The first issue I ran into was getting frozen on the bootup screen on the fourth dot. After a couple tries, I plugged in my monitor (through HDMI) and it stopped getting stuck all of a sudden.

Next, I tried to go through the installation and when I clicked on restart now, my computer froze and I had to shut it down manually and start it back up again. At this point I got to the login screen and logged in but after entering my password it got stuck on a purple screen with my mouse pointer (which was frozen). I was able to get into a shell at this point (with ctrl+alt+f4) and attempted to run sudo apt-get install nvidia-390 but this froze when it reached building initial module for 4.15.0-22-generic and upon reboot I had to run sudo dpkg --remove -a.

I was unable to work around this so I attempted to install Ubuntu 16.04 which I could only do by adding acpi=off to the boot configuration (which by the way, I had a lot of trouble getting to since GRUB usually flashed in and then immediately disappeared and only occasionally would it stick around long enough for me to use). But when I try to boot up now, I never reach the screen with the five dots and instead immediately get stuck on a purple screen (with no mouse pointer).

I reinstalled Ubuntu 18.04 and am back to being stuck on the log-in screen.

What should I do?

Solution 1

I have got a very similar set-up. XPS 15 9570- i7 w/ 32GB. I have managed to set-up dual boot with Ubuntu 18.04 and Windows 10.
I installed BIOS update from Dell directly.
And then I followed these instructions provided by Ramón Casero

Hope this helps.

Solution 2

I've summarized all of this into a blog post https://medium.com/@pwaterz/how-to-dual-boot-windows-10-and-ubuntu-18-04-on-the-15-inch-dell-xps-9570-with-nvidia-1050ti-gpu-4b9a2901493d

I struggled with this as well. What ended up working for me is as follows, note I installed Ubuntu 18.04:

• Follow the first part of this doc - https://github.com/rcasero/doc/wiki/Ubuntu-linux-on-Dell-XPS-15-(9560) in regards to bios settings and changing the windows partition from raid to ahci. This will allow you to boot the live CD. Note, I did end up having to enter my windows key to unlock the drive after I did this to get back into windows.

• Install Ubuntu normally.

• JackJack96 did a fabulous job scripting all setup and package installation steps here https://github.com/JackHack96/dell-xps-9570-ubuntu-respin. The primary purpose of those scripts is to generate an image with the packages already installed, but he does provide a script to set things up on a existing installation. After you boot for the first time, open terminal and run the following:

  sudo apt install curl
  sudo bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JackHack96/dell-xps-9570-ubuntu-respin/master/xps-tweaks.sh)"
  sudo prime-select intel
  

This forces the use of the intel integrated graphics, no need to waste battery. I have not tested running the nvidia card. If you want to, run:

sudo prime-select nvidia

• The last issue I ran into was the screen would start flickering. I solved this by changing the resolution to 2048 x 1152 and setting the refresh rate to 59.91. At first I did have it set at 3840 x 1152, with the lowest refresh rate, but it was still a little unstable, so I dropped the resolution. It's basically the same as running 4k and scaling up to 250% - which is the default. Side note, I owned an XPS 10 years ago, and ran into this same issue...why is it still happening?

I've been running this setup for a couple days and it mostly works. The screen does occasionally freak out when I plug in the power, still need to work that out.

Lastly, one tweak that was icing on the cake was installing https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures.

Last but not least, back up your image so if you break something you can restore it:

sudo dd if=/dev/nvme0n1p2 conv=sync,noerror bs=64K status=progress |  gzip -c  > backup.img.gz

Make sure to replace nvme0n1p2 with the proper partition. You can check it by running:

df -h  

My advice is to do this on a fresh install. You end up installing and configuring so many different things when trying to get things working, and that will ensure you don't have any issues.

Update 1:

Screen flickering/crashing continues. Did some digging and it appears to be a bug with linux kernel. I updated my kernel to 4.17.12-041712-generic by doing the following:

git clone [email protected]:mtompkins/linux-kernel-utilities.git
cd linux-kernel-utilities
sudo ./update_ubuntu_kernel.sh --latest

Note, when you run this, you might install a newer kernel version than I did. For the moment things seem a little better, only been a couple hours though. Will update later if it stays stable.

Update 2:

Used the computer all day and no flickers. Kernel update seems to have done the trick.

Update 3 No flickering still after kernel update. I did notice an issue when suspending the laptop where it was getting very hot and not fully shutting down. I traced it to what looks to be a bug in nouveau driver:

Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: Hardware name: Dell Inc. XPS 15 
9570/02MJVY, BIOS 1.3.0 07/12/2018
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: Workqueue: events_unbound async_run_entry_fn
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: RIP: 0010:gf100_vmm_flush_+0x15c/0x1a0 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: RSP: 0018:ffffa9fc0782f5c8 EFLAGS: 00010282
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff969a575e0050 RCX: ffffffffaf061dc8
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000096 RDI: 0000000000000246
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: RBP: ffffa9fc0782f600 R08: 0000086da855788c R09: 000000000000001d
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: R10: 0000000000000766 R11: 00000000000158a8 R12: ffff969a49d08c00
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: R13: ffff969a2b5d0f00 R14: 000003cbc7bc6800 R15: ffff969a494a5000
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff969a5bcc0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: CR2: 00007f15f4007036 CR3: 00000001b960a004 CR4: 00000000003606e0
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: Call Trace:
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  gp100_vmm_flush+0x17/0x20 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nvkm_vmm_iter.constprop.14+0x323/0x810 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? gp100_vmm_pd0_pde+0x1a0/0x1a0 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? __switch_to_asm+0x40/0x70
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? __switch_to_asm+0x40/0x70
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? native_sched_clock+0x37/0x90
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nvkm_vmm_map+0x148/0x400 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? gp100_vmm_pd0_pde+0x1a0/0x1a0 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? __switch_to_asm+0x40/0x70
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? __switch_to_asm+0x34/0x70
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nvkm_vram_map+0x57/0x80 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nvkm_uvmm_mthd+0x5ff/0x8d0 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nvkm_object_mthd+0x1a/0x30 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nvkm_ioctl_mthd+0x65/0x70 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nvkm_ioctl+0xe2/0x180 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nvkm_client_ioctl+0x12/0x20 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nvif_object_ioctl+0x47/0x50 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nvif_object_mthd+0x129/0x150 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? _cond_resched+0x19/0x30
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? __kmalloc+0x19b/0x230
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? nvif_vmm_map+0x3f/0xb0 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nvif_vmm_map+0x88/0xb0 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nouveau_mem_map+0x82/0xf0 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nouveau_vma_map+0x48/0x70 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nouveau_bo_move_ntfy+0x77/0xe0 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ttm_bo_handle_move_mem+0x2d2/0x520 [ttm]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ttm_bo_evict+0x142/0x1c0 [ttm]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? drm_edid_to_sad+0x194/0x1d0 [drm]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ttm_mem_evict_first+0x19a/0x220 [ttm]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ttm_bo_force_list_clean+0xa1/0x170 [ttm]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ttm_bo_evict_mm+0x2e/0x30 [ttm]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nouveau_do_suspend+0x85/0x2d0 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  nouveau_pmops_suspend+0x39/0x80 [nouveau]
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  pci_pm_suspend+0x76/0x130
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? pci_pm_freeze+0xf0/0xf0
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  dpm_run_callback+0x5b/0x130
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  __device_suspend+0x109/0x450
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  async_suspend+0x1f/0x90
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  async_run_entry_fn+0x3c/0x150
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  process_one_work+0x1f5/0x3c0
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  worker_thread+0x32/0x400
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  kthread+0x120/0x140
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? pwq_unbound_release_workfn+0xd0/0xd0
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ? kthread_bind+0x40/0x40
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel:  ret_from_fork+0x35/0x40
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: Code: 41 5e 41 5f 5d c3 49 8b 7c 24 10 48 8b 5f 50 48 85 db 74 4d e8 56 4a 3c ed 48 89 da 48 c7 c7 9c a8 f9 c0 48 89 c6 e8 b6 79 de ec <0f> 0b eb bf 49 8b 7c 24 10 48 8b 5f 50 48 85 db 74 1e e8 2d 4a 
Aug 08 19:20:26 hermes kernel: ---[ end trace ff7d3fd86666433f ]---

To fix it I switched to the nvidia card full time.

sudo prime-select nvidia

It seems to suspend and wake up much smoother now!

Update 4: I fixed the issue with not being able to sleep while using the intel gpu. All I had to do was add nouveau.modeset=0 to my grub and everything works now! I am going to try and write all this up in a medium post soon!

Solution 3

I come across the same issue as you with my 9570, what you need to do is to modify the bootup parameters. Being more specific, adding nouveau.modeset=0 to the boot options.

The following 2 links might help you:

• https://github.com/rcasero/doc/wiki/Ubuntu-linux-on-Dell-XPS-15-(9560)
• Ubuntu 16.04 hangs on shutdown/restart (Dell XPS 15 9560)

Comments

[oldfred]

have you updated UEFI from Dell? Even if new computer there may be newer UEFI. And did you turn RAID off and change drives to AHCI. But be sure to add AHCI driver into Windows first. Also turn off fast boot in UEFI so you have time to press keys when booting. You will need nomodeset to boot until you get newest nVidia driver installed. Do not download from Dell, but use ppa. Dell XPS 13 9360 16.04 worked after nvme firmware & BIOS update, 16.10 did not, new rEFInd for NVMe askubuntu.com/questions/884991/…

[Nadav Kohen]

I have turned off RAID and changed to AHCI. I could not find fast boot and I don't know if I can update UEFI now that windows has been wiped. I did use ppa

[oldfred]

My 3 year old Dell SFF (small desktop) updates directly from UEFI. I have to save update file into ESP or another FAT32 partition for UEFI to be able to read it. Do not remember if Dell was similar to my other systems which use "Windows" and "Other" where you have to use "Other" with Windows 7 as Windows 7 does not support UEFI Secure Boot. Or that really is UEFI Secure Boot setting, check you manual for details, often UEFI has short description as part of setting.

[David Foerster]

Are you sure the Nvidia driver installation was actually stuck? It takes a while on my machine to build the kernel modules from source which is what happens during the step in question.

[Nadav Kohen]

I reinstalled Windows 10 on the laptop so that I could get the BIOS update from Dell's website, and then I also got Dell's nVidia driver update and installed it. I then reinstalled Ubuntu and as long as nomodeset is in the kernel config in grub, it works now!