Dell XPS 15 (9510) - ArchWiki

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# Dell XPS 15 (9510)

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Reason: Misses an Accessibility section (Discuss in Talk:Dell XPS 15 (9510))

Hardware | PCI/USB ID | Working?
--- | --- | ---
Touchpad | `04f3:311c` | Yes
Touch screen | `04f3:29e2` | Yes
Keyboard |  | Yes
GPU (Intel) | `8086:9a60` | Yes
GPU (NVIDIA) | `10de:25a0` | Yes
Webcam | `0c45:672e` | Yes
Bluetooth | `8087:0026` | Yes
SD Card reader | `10ec:5260` | Yes
Audio | `8086:43c8` | Partial
Wireless | `8086:43f0` | Yes
Fingerprint reader | `27c6:63ac` | Yes
TPM |  | Yes

## Installation

Before installing it is necessary to modify some UEFI Settings. They can be accessed by pressing `F2` repeatedly when booting.

- Change the SATA Mode from the default "RAID" to "AHCI". This will allow Linux to detect the NVMe SSD. If dual booting with an existing Windows installation, Windows will not boot after the change but this can be fixed without a re-installation.
- Change Fastboot to "Thorough" in "POST Behaviour". This prevents intermittent boot failures.
- Disable Secure Boot to allow Linux to boot. Alternatively, you can choose to set up Secure Boot so that it works with Linux and you can take advantage of its potential security benefits.

Installation of Arch Linux can proceed normally. Refer to the Installation guide for more information.

Note: Many Dell XPS UEFI do not support passing kernel line options directly to the kernel and will result in a frozen boot. Use a boot loader or Arch-EFIBoot [1] instead.

## Firmware

They are 2 ways to update the UEFI firmware:

- through a running Linux session with fwupd,
- through UEFI.

### UEFI

Firmware images can be found at Dell support page as `XPS9510_Precision5560_X.Y.Z.exe` files. In order to install:

- Download the desired firmware from section "Dell XPS 15 9570 System BIOS"
- Save it in `/boot/`, `/boot/EFI/` or `/boot/EFI/Dell/Bios/` (this path may vary, depending on your installation)
- Reboot the system, and enter the boot menu by pressing repeatedly `F12` on Dell logo
- Choose "Bios Flash Update"
- Select the file previously saved, and start the process

The process will take about five minutes, during which the system will have some reboots and push fans at maximum speed. Finally the system will reboot normally.

## Function keys

Key | Visible?1 | Marked?2 | Effect
--- | --- | --- | ---
`Fn+Esc` | No | Yes | Enables Fn lock
`Fn+F1` | Yes | Yes | `XF86AudioMute`
`Fn+F2` | Yes | Yes | `XF86AudioLowerVolume`
`Fn+F3` | Yes | Yes | `XF86AudioRaiseVolume`
`Fn+F4` | Yes | Yes | `XF86AudioPlay`
`Fn+F5` | No | Yes | Change keyboard backlight
`Fn+F6` | Yes | Yes | `XF86MonBrightnessDown`
`Fn+F7` | Yes | Yes | `XF86MonBrightnessUp`
`Fn+F8` | Yes | Yes | Inputs `Super+p`
`Fn+F9` | No | No |
`Fn+F10` | Yes | Yes | `PrintScreen`
`Fn+F11` | Yes | Yes | `Home`
`Fn+F12` | Yes | Yes | `End`
`Fn+RCtrl` | Yes | Yes | `Menu`
`Fn+Up` | Yes | Yes | `PageUp`
`Fn+Down` | Yes | Yes | `PageDown`
`Fn+Left` | Yes | No | `Home`
`Fn+Right` | Yes | No | `End`

1. The key is visible to `xev` and similar tools
2. The physical key has a symbol on it, which describes its function

## Power Management

### Suspend and hibernate

See Power management/Suspend and hibernate.

Only the `s2idle` suspend variant is supported.

Kernels between 5.17 and 5.18.3 (included) can not suspend properly when Bluetooth is enabled. See this defect for more information.

### Powertop

`powertop` is very efficient to manage power consumption. Run `powertop --auto-tune` and compare the Watt consumption variation (laptop must be unplugged and running on battery).

This command can be run at every boot: see Powertop#Apply settings.

### Fan and temperature monitoring and control

Many of the thermometers can be read with lm_sensors.

The built in fan modes can also be controlled directly by editing the setting in the bios. The libsmbios package provides many tools for reading and modifying certain settings on the computer. The `smbios-thermal-ctl` command can be used with the `--set-thermal-mode` flag to change the fan between modes performance, cool-bottom, quiet and balanced. For example:

    # smbios-thermal-ctl --set-thermal-mode quiet

this changes the fan mode to quiet, which makes the fan curve less aggressive.

The thermometer on the discrete Nvidia GPU can be monitored with the `nvidia-smi` utility, which is part of nvidia-utils.

### Thermal management

Throttling can be an issue under sustained load, install thermald to better manage thermals and avoid reaching temperature where heavy throttling is required.

## Graphics

### NVIDIA Optimus

See NVIDIA Optimus#Available methods: PRIME render offload works.

In addition, the Ampere generation GPU (GeForce RTX 3050) doesn't need any change for powering off when not used.

### Thermal management

Since the 530.41 driver version, nvidia-powerd.service should be used for proper TDP and DynamicBoost control, see NVIDIA Optimus#Low power usage (TDP).

## Fingerprint reader

The fingerprint reader is supported by the `goodixmoc` driver from fprint.

## Touchpad lag

The touchpad can be laggy at times, see libinput issues 636 618 for more information.

Update the touchpad firmware to version `0c` as described in this comment of issue 618.

## microphone not working from jack

External microphone not working from the audio combo jack, see issues 1435421 and thread 1777240 for more information.

It is possible to use the microphone from webcam or an usb microphone

## See also

- Dell XPS 15 (generic)
- Dell XPS 15 9560 (2017)
- Dell XPS 15 9570 (2018)
- Dell XPS 15 7590 (2019)
- Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 9575 (2018)
- Dell XPS 13 (9310)

Category:

- Dell

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