After upgrading my XPS 13 7390 to Ubuntu 20.04 my screen is flickering before playing media

Introduction

Ubuntu 20.04 is the latest long-term support (LTS) release of the popular Linux distribution. It comes with several new features and improvements, making it a popular choice among Linux enthusiasts. However, some users have reported issues with screen flickering after upgrading to Ubuntu 20.04 on their XPS 13 7390 laptops. In this blog post, we will discuss the possible causes of this issue and how to fix it.

Possible Causes of Screen Flickering

Before we proceed to the solutions, it is essential to understand the possible causes of screen flickering on your XPS 13 7390 after upgrading to Ubuntu 20.04. Here are some of the reasons why you might be experiencing this issue:

1. Outdated Graphics Drivers

One of the most common causes of screen flickering is outdated graphics drivers. If your XPS 13 7390 has an Iris Plus integrated graphics card, updating the graphics drivers to the latest version might help fix the issue.

2. Incompatible Display Settings

In some cases, the screen flickering issue might be caused by incompatible display settings. This can happen when the refresh rate or resolution of your screen is not supported by Ubuntu 20.04.

3. Hardware Issues

In rare cases, the screen flickering issue might be caused by hardware issues such as a faulty display or graphics card. If none of the software solutions work, you might need to get your laptop checked by a professional.

Solutions to Screen Flickering Issue

Now that we have discussed the possible causes of screen flickering, let’s look at some of the solutions that might help fix the issue on your XPS 13 7390.

1. Update Graphics Drivers

As mentioned earlier, outdated graphics drivers can cause screen flickering issues. To update your graphics drivers on Ubuntu 20.04, follow these steps:

1. Open the Terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T.
2. Type the following command and press Enter: sudo apt-get update
3. Type the following command and press Enter: sudo apt-get install –install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-20.04 xserver-xorg-hwe-20.04
4. Once the installation is complete, reboot your laptop and check if the screen flickering issue is resolved.

2. Change Display Settings

If updating the graphics drivers did not fix the issue, you can try changing the display settings to see if it helps. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Click on the Settings icon in the top right corner of your screen.
2. Select Devices > Displays.
3. Check if the refresh rate and resolution of your screen are supported by Ubuntu 20.04. If not, change them to a supported setting.
4. Once you have made the changes, close the Settings window and check if the screen flickering issue is resolved.

3. Disable Hardware Acceleration

Disabling hardware acceleration in your browser might also help fix the screen flickering issue. Here’s how you can do it in Google Chrome:

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Click on the three dots in the top right corner of your screen.
3. Select Settings > Advanced > System.
4. Toggle off the “Use hardware acceleration when available” option.
5. Restart your browser and check if the screen flickering issue is resolved.

4. Update BIOS

Updating your BIOS to the latest version might also help fix the screen flickering issue. Here’s how you can update your BIOS on XPS 13 7390:

1. Go to the Dell support website.
2. Enter your XPS 13 7390’s Service Tag or Express Service Code and click on “Submit”.
3. Click on “Drivers & Downloads”.
4. Scroll down and click on “BIOS”.
5. Download the latest BIOS version and follow the instructions to install it.
6. Once the installation is complete, reboot your laptop and check if the screen flickering issue is resolved.

5. Contact Dell Support

If none of the above solutions work, you might need to contact Dell Support for further assistance. They might be able to identify the exact cause of the issue and provide a solution.

Conclusion

Screen flickering can be a frustrating issue to deal with, especially after upgrading to a new operating system. However, with the solutions discussed in this blog post, you should be able to fix the issue on your XPS 13 7390 running Ubuntu 20.04. Remember to always keep your drivers and BIOS up to date to avoid such issues in the future.

It’s possible that the screen flickering issue you’re experiencing is caused by a compatibility problem between the graphics driver and the new version of Ubuntu.

To try and resolve this issue, you can try the following steps:

1. Check if there are any available updates for the graphics driver:
   • Open the terminal and run the command sudo apt update to update the package lists
   • Run the command sudo apt upgrade to upgrade any installed packages
   • Run the command sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall to install the recommended graphics driver for your system
2. If the problem persists, you can try installing a different version of the graphics driver:
   • Open the terminal and run the command sudo apt install mesa-utils to install the Mesa utilities package
   • Run the command glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version" to check the version of the currently installed graphics driver
   • If the version is not the latest available, you can try installing a newer version by running the command sudo apt install <package_name>, where <package_name> is the name of the package for the version of the driver you want to install.
3. If the problem still persists, you can try changing the graphics settings in Ubuntu:
   • Open the “Settings” app and go to the “Devices” section
   • Click on the “Displays” option
   • Try changing the refresh rate and/or the resolution to see if that helps resolve the issue.

If none of these steps help, it’s possible that the issue could be caused by a hardware problem with the display. In that case, you may need to contact Dell support for further assistance.

This is a problem that takes the sleep of many XPS owners. The interesting fact is that this happens even with Dell’s pre-installed version of Ubuntu 19.10.

The problem is related to PSR (Panel Self Refresh). Since kernel versions 5.2.0 or 5.3.0 this PSR is active by default. This periodic panel refreshing method, depending on the hardware, can cause video anomalies, such as a white screen before playback, or even the screen flashing several times.

The solution is in this source: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2339302 and consists of the following steps:

1. Open default grub config file:
   sudo nano /etc/default/grub
2. Comment out this line:
   GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
3. Add this line:
   GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.enable_psr=0"
4. Save and close your editor.
5. Update grub:
   sudo update-grub
6. Reboot your system

This is one of the most common solutions to this problem. I hope it works well for you. ;)