missing resolution after upgrade to 16.10

[D]

I have a XPS13-9350 system and even though the highest resolution was available (3200x1800), my preferered resolution (2560x1440) wasn't available anymore after i upgraded from 16.04 to 16.10.

I resolved it by manually adding the resolution with xrandr, described here;
http://askubuntu.com/questions/837746/missing-resolution-on-xps13-after-upgrading-to-16-10/837755#837755

I'm not sure if it's a bug, but as the resolution was available on a clean 16.04 installation, i'm guessing it is. please feel to correct me if i'm wrong though.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.10
Package: unity 7.5.0+16.10.20160906.1-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.8.0-22.24-generic 4.8.0
Uname: Linux 4.8.0-22-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity_support_test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.20.3-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun Oct 16 10:54:01 2016
DistUpgraded: 2016-10-13 19:54:02,796 DEBUG icon theme changed, re-reading
DistroCodename: yakkety
DistroVariant: ubuntu
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation HD Graphics 520 [8086:1916] (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell HD Graphics 520 [1028:0704]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-05-07 (161 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.1)
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:5682 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f3:20d0 Elan Microelectronics Corp.
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0a5c:6412 Broadcom Corp.
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: Dell Inc. XPS 13 9350
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.8.0-22-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=209e8836-e574-433f-936f-56cd04b1d0fa ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to yakkety on 2016-10-13 (2 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 06/14/2016
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.4.4
dmi.board.name: 0J07MR
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A02
dmi.chassis.type: 9
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr1.4.4:bd06/14/2016:svnDellInc.:pnXPS139350:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0J07MR:rvrA02:cvnDellInc.:ct9:cvr:
dmi.product.name: XPS 13 9350
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.13.0+16.10.20160818.2-0ubuntu2
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.70-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 12.0.3-1ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 12.0.3-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.18.4-1ubuntu6
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.10.2-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.7.1-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20160706-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.12-2

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[kordi (dragola)]

Hi,

As a fix for problems in 16.04, I had a grub option in my /etc/default/grub

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.modeset=0"

After removing this option I can now set my brightness and the resolution of the screen

NOW:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

[Luis Arias (kaaloo)]

Downgrading to the 4.4 kernel solved this issue for me. Specifically I installed the 4.4.28 mainline build.

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.4.28/

Not ideal but avoids messing around with modelines et. al. for the time being.

[Luis Arias (kaaloo)]

I seem to have been experiencing some instability due to this kernel downgrade so I'm now back to the stock 16.10 linux-generic to see how things hold out. Using an .xprofile file with the appropriate commands for my HP Envy 34c:

xrandr --newmode "3440x1440_60.0" 196.25 3440 3600 3952 4464 1440 1443 1453 1468 +hsync -vsync
xrandr --addmode HDMI-1 "3440x1440_60.0"

[D (360-dennis)]

Hmm.. It might be something that's specific to the earlier install. I think i upgraded from 15.10 to 16.04 to 16.10. On a different system (Dell T3420) I installed 16.04 and upgraded to 16.10. That system has 2x 4k screens and shows also the lower resolution of 2560x1440.

I'm gonna try a fresh install on the XPS13. Maybe even a 16.04 install and update that one. I'll keep you posted.

[D (360-dennis)]

So I tried it, installed 16.04.1 fresh, updated to 16.10 but I'm still missing the resolutions. It has nothing to do with previous installed versions before 16.04.

[D (360-dennis)]

I also found out the issue exits while on 16.04.2 and upgrading to the hwe. It happened after the install of package
xserver-xorg-hwe-16.04