Screen flickering on DELL XPS-13-7390

English Hardware
1

I just purchased a brand new DELL XPS13-7390 laptop and installed Tumbleweed on it. Unfortunately the screen flickers like crazy. If windows runs on the same laptop the screen works very well. Also if I connect an external screen to it everything works fine. What is the reason of this flickering? Did anybody have the same problem?

2

Probably this:
https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1159305

Various places have suggested fixes or workarounds, such as:

or that it’s a recurring problem for some Intel users but not others (e.g. none of mine):

Possibly similar or related (and recent):

3

I installed opensuse 15.1 on the laptop and it worked without screen flickering. But after I run the online update it started to flicker again. I suspect that there are some changes in the newer kernel versions. Does anybody know why it does work with kernel 4.12.14-lp151.27-default and it doesn’t work with a newer kernel?

4

Please provide output using code tags the output from the following run in an Xterm or Konsole:

**inxi** -SGxxza

You may need to install the [b]inxi information gathering script first.

5

Here is the output from:

**inxi** -SGxxz


linux-7ze7:~ # inxi -SGxxz
System:    Host: linux-7ze7 Kernel: 4.12.14-lp151.28.40-default x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 7.5.0
           Console: tty 0 dm: sddm,sddm Distro: openSUSE Leap 15.1
Graphics:  Card: Intel Device 9b41 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9b41
           Display Server: X.Org 1.20.3 drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 3840x2160@60.00hz, 2560x1440@59.95hz
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (Comet Lake 3x8 GT2)
           version: 4.5 Mesa 18.3.2 (compat-v: 3.0) Direct Render: Yes
linux-7ze7:~ #

When I run

**inxi** -SGxxza

I get the following error message:


/usr/bin/inxi: illegal option -- a
Error 7: One of the options you entered in your script parameters: -SGxxza
is not supported.The option may require extra arguments to work.
For supported options (and their arguments), check the help menu: inxi -h
6

I updated inxi to version: 3.0.38-00 (2020-03-14). With this version the -a parameter worked. Below you can fin the output of

inxi -SGxxzda


linux-7ze7:~ # inxi -SGxxzda
System:    Kernel: 4.12.14-lp151.28.40-default x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 7.5.0 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.12.14-lp151.28.40-default 
           root=UUID=022fc693-211f-483b-9593-17e2cd69add4 splash=silent 
           resume=/dev/disk/by-uuid/ccfaae64-a1bf-4f9d-97ed-0192515be14e mitigations=auto quiet 
           Console: tty 0 wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM Distro: openSUSE Leap 15.1 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:9b41 
           Display: server: X.Org 1.20.3 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa alternate: intel 
           compositor: kwin_x11 resolution: 3840x2160~60Hz, 2560x1440~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (Comet Lake 3x8 GT2) v: 4.5 Mesa 18.3.2 
           compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 983.69 GiB used: 8.83 GiB (0.9%) 
           ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: SK Hynix model: PC601 NVMe 1TB size: 953.87 GiB block size: 
           physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> rev: 80002111 
           temp: 49 Celsius C scheme: GPT 
           SMART: yes health: PASSED on: 26 hrs cycles: 50 read-units: 559,816 [286 GB] 
           written-units: 712,361 [364 GB] 
           ID-2: /dev/sda type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: Cruzer Blade size: 29.82 GiB block size: 
           physical: 512 B logical: 512 B serial: <filter> rev: 1.26 scheme: MBR 
           SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure? 
           Message: No Optical or Floppy data was found. 
linux-7ze7:~ #
7

I don’t believe any of the regulars here have Comet Lake experience or hardware. Your best bet may be to ask about this on the intel-gfx mailing list or irc channel. There may be a cmdline option that they know about that would fix or work around this, or a patched kernel or driver to try.

8

I asked on the intel-gfx mailing list, but I got no response. Does anyone have another option?

9

I see you did get a response several hours ago, a request for information that had not already been provided in this thread. [Intel-gfx] Screen Flickering on DELL XPS-13-7390

10

It looks like the problem has been solved in 5.6 kernels

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/intel/issues/272#note_432762

When will kernel 5.6 be released for tumbleweed?

11

You can get 5.6rc6 now:
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/standard/

TW kernel is only 5.5.8 currently. Usually current reaches .12 or more before the next kernel gets an official release, and TW typically doesn’t release next before it reaches .1. So, 5.6 is still weeks away.

12

I still have the same flickering even with kernel 5.6

13

Did you report it in the mailing list thread?

14

Yes. I reported it here https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/intel/issues/1480

15

Did you see the How to report bugs for Intel graphics instructions?

16

Yes. I filed the issue according the instructions.