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Dell Latitude Frustration (lemmygrad.ml)
submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by knfrmity@lemmygrad.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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I have been having such a difficult time getting a 2018 Dell Latitude 7930 to run any Linux distro stably. Maybe there is something obvious I am missing or maybe it really is dying hardware that's the root cause of the issue.

The silly thing is I had a stable install of openSUSE Tumbleweed running for a few months but because I made some poor choices on disk partition when I installed it I was eventually backed into a corner where I had to wipe the SSD and install from scratch.

I since then have tried Tumbleweed again as well as Ubuntu, Mint, and finally Manjaro to no avail. The Debian based distros completely freeze at some point, either immediately upon login and loading the desktop or when running apt update. Tumbleweed gets a kernel panic within an hour or so, even though I changed kernel options to a previous known-good config. Now after quite a frustrating time installing Manjaro it freezes within an hour as well and the diagnostic light code indicates a CPU issue.

Strangely enough none of these issues are apparent when running from a LiveUSB, but occur on two different M.2 SATA SSDs with proper installs.

At this point I don't really care which distro I use, as long as it doesn't crash constantly. Does anyone have any suggestions on other things I can try?

Edit: seems to be solved with the kernel options I already mentioned. For whatever reason it didn't work for the Tumbleweed reinstall but Manjaro has run for a couple days without crashing.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Intel_graphics#Crash/freeze_on_low_power_Intel_CPUs

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[-] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 11 points 8 months ago

I would start by running a full memtest scan. Faulty RAM can manifest itself as apparently random freezes or application crashes.

[-] knfrmity@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 8 months ago

Of course I should have done that too. Running one now, I'll let it go for a few hours and see what happens.

[-] lemmy_user_838586@lemmy.ml 6 points 8 months ago

Not sure you saw my edit, but I've been using a Dell Latitude 7490 for years and its been perfectly fine, so the issues you're experiencing aren't normal. Something is definitely up with your specific laptop. Just mentioning to help you narrow down issues.

[-] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 5 points 8 months ago

If it finds bad areas take a picture. You can tell the kernel which are the bad addresses so it can avoid them.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago

How did that go?

[-] lemmy_user_838586@lemmy.ml 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

That was my first thought, sounds like a hardware issue, either maybe overheating? Faulty ram or ssd issues, etc

Been using Ubuntu on my Dell Latitude 7490 for years with no issues

[-] dingdongitsabear@lemmy.ml 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

you have faulty hardware, whether it's RAM or cooling or storage related, no way to tell but crashes like that don't happen nowadays.

edit: I recall having some issues with a 7490 a few years back, it needed some special module for the fan or the sensors, not sure. don't know if that's your issue, but look it up.

[-] dingdongitsabear@lemmy.ml 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I think you mistyped the model, if it's a 7390 it should be the same hardware as the 7490 I've mentioned. the module I needed was i8k, check if your model needs it.

[-] knfrmity@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 8 months ago

The RAM is fine (Memtest ran 4 times without faults), and cooling seems to work well enough. Storage is ok and I used two different SSDs through this whole process and saw the same problems on both.

I tried the previous known-good kernel options on the Manjaro install and it seems to be OK now. According to the Arch Wiki the Intel 8th Gen mobile CPUs and especially iGPUs are known to be a little problematic on Linux so the kernel options to disable some power saving options are basically non-optional. It's weird though that it works now and didn't on the Tumbleweed reinstall.

[-] dingdongitsabear@lemmy.ml 1 points 8 months ago

I have an issue involving similar hardware, can you share the mandatory stuff for 8th gen iGPUs? read through the intel_graphics article but found no direct mention.

did you try the i8k module?

[-] knfrmity@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 8 months ago

I linked the specific wiki page section in an edit to the main post. It's in the troubleshooting part at the end.

I didn't try the i8k module but looking at a couple things it looks like the issue was more apparent around Linux kernel 4.15 from a few years ago. I also don't have any specific complaints with temperature control. The fans only ramp up in the 70-80C range which seems to be quite reasonable.

[-] dingdongitsabear@lemmy.ml 1 points 8 months ago

thanks. unfortunately, didn't fix my problem.

I also have a T480s with similar hardware to your Dell and it works without issues, no kernel switches necessary.

[-] currawong@lemmy.ml 1 points 8 months ago

Install a windows first just to launch the Dell Command Update app (you'll have to download it from the Dell website) and use it to update the BIOS and Intel firmwares.

These laptops even run badly on win10 until you update everything.

Then install your chosen distro. I bet there will be fewer problems then.

[-] Romkslrqusz@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago

A software approach to a hardware problem is an exercise in futility.

Test your memory with Memtest86

Test your disks too. badblocks is a Linux utility. I like the Victoria and HDDScan Windows programs because they’re less pass/fail in their reporting - you can see that a disk is degraded even if all of the sectors technically respond.

[-] knfrmity@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 8 months ago

Memory is fine. I ran a couple disk checks as well and it's also fine. I was also using two SSDs during the process with no difference in the problems experiences.

this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2023
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