[i915] Display is Laggy/Unresponsive when PSR is enabled

[Jonathon Staples]

I have Dell Latitude 7430 and 9430 laptops. Both are affected by the same issue.

When using Ubuntu 22.04 or Ubuntu 24.04 with the default configuration the in-built display of the laptop is laggy and unresponsive. External displays are unaffected. The issue does not occur in Ubuntu 20.04.

I believe the issue is with the Intel Panel Self Refresh (PSR).

I was able to employ a workaround that resolves the issue by adding "i915.enable_psr=0" to grub, as per this thread: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2497326

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 24.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+23ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.8.0-31.31-generic 6.8.1
Uname: Linux 6.8.0-31-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.28.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
BootLog: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/boot.log'
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Tue May 7 20:54:19 2024
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: noble
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, if not too technical
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Alder Lake-UP3 GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] [8086:46a8] (rev 0c) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Alder Lake-UP3 GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] [1028:0b0b]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2024-04-30 (7 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS "Noble Numbat" - Release amd64 (20240424)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Latitude 7430
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-6.8.0-31-generic root=/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv ro quiet splash i915.enable_psr=0 vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 01/31/2024
dmi.bios.release: 1.21
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.21.0
dmi.board.name: 0HMKCM
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A01
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 13014441
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr1.21.0:bd01/31/2024:br1.21:svnDellInc.:pnLatitude7430:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0HMKCM:rvrA01:cvnDellInc.:ct10:cvr:sku0B0B:
dmi.product.family: Latitude
dmi.product.name: Latitude 7430
dmi.product.sku: 0B0B
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.120-2build1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 24.0.5-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:21.1.12-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:22.0.0-1build1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20210115-1build1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.17-2build1

[Hui Wang (hui.wang)]

@Jonathon,

Could you help test this kernel? https://people.canonical.com/~hwang4/psr2-oem68/

[Jonathon Staples (jonathonstaples)]

Hi @Hui Wang,

Happy to test, but can you point me towards a guide on how to install & enable the Kernel you linked to?

[Hui Wang (hui.wang)]

Download linux-image-unsigned-6.8.0-1001-oem_6.8.0-1001.1+psr2_amd64.deb and linux-modules-6.8.0-1001-oem_6.8.0-1001.1+psr2_amd64.deb to a local folder (like /tmp/test), then $cd /tmp/test; $sudo dpkg -i *.deb, reboot the sytem, in the grub, select linux-6.8.0-1001 to boot up (don't forget remove i915.enable_psr=0)

[Jonathon Staples (jonathonstaples)]

@Hui Wang

I followed your instructions, installed the test kernel and removed i915.enable_psr=0 from grub.

The performance is slightly better than on default Ubuntu 24.04, but the mouse pointer still jumps around and the in-built display is still laggy/unresponsive. I would still say it is unusable without adding i915.enable_psr=0 to grub.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

A jerky mouse pointer can also be a symptom of an optimization that went into Mutter 45 and 46. It seems to hurt some machines but not others. To avoid that you can edit /etc/environment and add:

  MUTTER_DEBUG_FORCE_KMS_MODE=simple

then reboot.

[Hui Wang (hui.wang)]

OK, got it. The testing kernel is for fixing another psr related issue. I thought this could fix your problem too, but looks like it couldn't fix the issue on your side.

You could file a bug to Intel: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/i915/kernel/-/issues/

[Jonathon Staples (jonathonstaples)]

@Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)

Thanks, I'll give that a try. Just to note though that I think the jerky mouse is just a symptom of the low refresh rate of the screen, the display is generally unresponsive and you get a lot of graphical glitches and screen tearing etc. No issues at all when using an external display, also no issues when using the i915.enable_psr=0 workaround.