m-dwyer / zbook

ZBook Studio x360 G5 Notes etc for Linux

HP ZBook Studio x360 G5 - Linux

Current Setup

• Arch Linux 5.3.1
• GNOME + GDM

Known Issues

Nouveau Causing Crashes

After installing the nvidia package along with xorg-server and gnome, I noticed the nouveau kernel module seems to load and cause freezing, sometimes generating a kernel panic in another tty.

Fix

Blacklist the nouveau module, and add the install option so any attempts to load will just return true instead.

In /etc/modprobe.d/nouveau.conf or similar:

blacklist nouveau
install nouveau /bin/true

Nvidia module not loading

Nvidia module was failing to load (I don't have the exact error message at hand sorry).

Fix

Enabling kernel modesetting for nvidia driver in /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kms.conf or similar:

options nvidia-drm modeset=1

GPU switching

I decided on optimus-manager to allow switching between onboard (intel) and dedicated GPU (nvidia). However, something outside of udev and my initramfs was causing the nvidia kernel module to load when blacklisted (despite a clean xorg config).

I also decided to keep GDM, as changing away from GDM to LightDM breaks power management (screen dim/off and locking). I didn't want to rely on a patched GDM (available in the AUR, based on the patch Ubuntu uses) -- so I've opted to reboot when changing GPU.

When in intel mode, optimus-manager appears to rely on a static modprobe blacklist file, and a systemd service then will load the nvidia modules manually. However, something (?) on my system (I checked my initramfs) causes the nvidia module to load

The workaround is to blacklist and add install options for modprobe. I'm doing this manually for now, but working on optimus_primer as I don't believe optimus-manager will work in its current form.

The manual workaround for now -- in /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf or similar:

blacklist nvidia_drm
blacklist nvidia_uvm
blacklist nvidia_modeset
blacklist nvidia
install nvidia_drm /bin/true
install nvidia_uvm /bin/true
install nvidia_modeset /bin/true
install nvidia /bin/true

The blacklist options will not stop modules loading after boot/udev hardware detection. The install option ensures that if something does try to load the module, true will simply be returned instead.

Brightness Up/Down Hotkeys

Originally on Ubuntu 19.04 and some 5.x.x kernel versions (I can't remember exact versions) on Fedora, brightness hotkeys were not working.

When pressed, brightness up/down hotkeys were registering as microphone mute/unmute. I checked showkey, showkey --scancodes and evtest, all which indicated the brightness keys were registering the mic mute scancode.

After messing around a little looking through kernel driver source, attempting to decompile and check ACPI tables, and write my own WMI kernel module to listen for WMI events -- I wasn't successful in finding the bug.

Fix

I decided to move back to Arch for a number of reasons, at which point one of the 5.2.x kernels had resolved this bug -- somewhere between 5.2.6 on Fedora, and 5.2.11 on Arch. I'm still curious to know where it was, as I'm not very familiar with kernel dev..

EDIT 02/10/19 -- I suspect this relates to a buggy ACPI implementation. The issue occurred again. Powering the device off, and performing a hard reset (AC adapter, peripherals, etc unplugged followed by holding the power button for 15 seconds) seems to fix the issue.

Touchpad not working on resume

When suspending and resuming, the touchpad does not work. Workaround:

#rmmod i2c_hid && modprobe i2c_hid

Searching around, there are some systemd unit files to automate this.

USB-C to HDMI Adapter Not Working

After updating to Q71 Firmware Pack (01.08.00 Rev A), I noticed my USB-C to HDMI adapter was not working in Intel mode (i915 kernel module, with either Intel or modesetting XOrg driver). Unfortunately, I don't have a dmesg log showing the pcireport errors I was receiving, however downgrading the firmware back to 01.07.00 Rev A seemed to resolve the issue.