Anyone with some Dell laptop XPS 13 9370 (2018) experience here?
Especially with that “Killer 1435 (802.11ac 2×2 und Bluetooth)” device?
Supported by the stock kernel (EL7)?
6 thoughts on - XPS 13 9370 / CentOS Compat
I had reasonably unreliable performance with that particular chip(sometimes wireless wouldn’t wake up from sleep and I’d have to reboot), and ended up replacing it with an intel 8265 chip. It takes about 10 minutes to swap, and got me much better performance on my 9370.
Link below is the one I picked up, but you may be able to find it for cheaper. Dell tells me that swapping it doesn’t void the warranty, so I’m good with it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZA1AB2
Am 07.11.2018 um 15:15 schrieb Jim Perrin :
Thank you for taking the time. A valuable information! The 9365 variant seems to be shipped with a Intel8265 card. I will get in contact with DELL and try to request it for the 9370 model …
I have an xps 13 9360 and had problems with the killer wireless. I got virtually 0 support from Dell on this issue. Some people who upgraded their warranty to Dell Pro Support were able to get dell to send them a new ethernet card, but some upgraded their support and still got no help.
I am running Ubuntu 18.04 on mine. A while back, I don’t know the exact date, there was a substanial bugfix in the mainline kernel which appeared in the Ubuntu kernel roughly in the May/June 2018 timeframe which improved support for the killer chip. You might check to see if this bugfix got backported to redhat/CentOS. Also some people have tweaked some parameters in the driver and improved the performance of their killer ethernets.
Before you order a card, I suggest you verify that your laptop actually has one. (I believe if you download the manuals for your xps, it will include instructions for replacing the card if it is replacable). My understanding was that as of the 2018 models, most, if not all of these laptops switched from using cards to soldering the chips directly on the motherboard.
I did replace my ethernet card with an Intel 8265 card (my xps is a 2017
model). For me the 8265 works well with some wifi hubs, but has packet loss problems with others, particularly some older hubs that I have. I
did verify that the killer card performed well under windows 10 with the same hubs which did not work well under Linux.
Other than this wireless issue, everything else works on my XPS 9360, including the touch screen. You might try booting various live CD’s.
Maybe its an earlier model (9360 or 9365). For the 9370 Dell stated and different user reports confirm it, that the XPS 13 (9370) has the WIFI module soldered on board.
Some users on dell discussion portal reported also issues with the build camera.
I haven’t looked through the entire guide, but there is no section for replacing WiFi, and the sections I’ve looked at don’t appear to illustrate a WiFi module. Pretty good indication that it’s an integrated component, I guess.
That said, I’m using a 9370 with Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac
(Killer 1435) under Fedora (newer kernel, so I can’t say much about how well it works under CentOS). I have not noticed any issues.
Beyond that, you can select which chipset you want when you order the laptop. I don’t think there’s any reason people should stay away from the 9370. It’s one of the few laptops on the market whose manufacturer actively develops Linux support for the hardware.
6 thoughts on - XPS 13 9370 / CentOS Compat
I had reasonably unreliable performance with that particular chip(sometimes wireless wouldn’t wake up from sleep and I’d have to reboot), and ended up replacing it with an intel 8265 chip. It takes about 10 minutes to swap, and got me much better performance on my 9370.
Link below is the one I picked up, but you may be able to find it for cheaper. Dell tells me that swapping it doesn’t void the warranty, so I’m good with it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZA1AB2
Am 07.11.2018 um 15:15 schrieb Jim Perrin:
Thank you for taking the time. A valuable information! The 9365 variant seems to be shipped with a Intel8265 card. I will get in contact with DELL and try to request it for the 9370 model …
I have an xps 13 9360 and had problems with the killer wireless. I got virtually 0 support from Dell on this issue. Some people who upgraded their warranty to Dell Pro Support were able to get dell to send them a new ethernet card, but some upgraded their support and still got no help.
I am running Ubuntu 18.04 on mine. A while back, I don’t know the exact date, there was a substanial bugfix in the mainline kernel which appeared in the Ubuntu kernel roughly in the May/June 2018 timeframe which improved support for the killer chip. You might check to see if this bugfix got backported to redhat/CentOS. Also some people have tweaked some parameters in the driver and improved the performance of their killer ethernets.
Before you order a card, I suggest you verify that your laptop actually has one. (I believe if you download the manuals for your xps, it will include instructions for replacing the card if it is replacable). My understanding was that as of the 2018 models, most, if not all of these laptops switched from using cards to soldering the chips directly on the motherboard.
I did replace my ethernet card with an Intel 8265 card (my xps is a 2017
model). For me the 8265 works well with some wifi hubs, but has packet loss problems with others, particularly some older hubs that I have. I
did verify that the killer card performed well under windows 10 with the same hubs which did not work well under Linux.
Nataraj
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1670041
Other than this wireless issue, everything else works on my XPS 9360, including the touch screen. You might try booting various live CD’s.
Maybe its an earlier model (9360 or 9365). For the 9370 Dell stated and different user reports confirm it, that the XPS 13 (9370) has the WIFI module soldered on board.
Some users on dell discussion portal reported also issues with the build camera.
For now, I will stay away from the 9370 model …
One of the things that makes Dell my preferred vendor is that they publish service manuals:
https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/xps-13-9370-laptop/manuals
I haven’t looked through the entire guide, but there is no section for replacing WiFi, and the sections I’ve looked at don’t appear to illustrate a WiFi module. Pretty good indication that it’s an integrated component, I guess.
That said, I’m using a 9370 with Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac
(Killer 1435) under Fedora (newer kernel, so I can’t say much about how well it works under CentOS). I have not noticed any issues.
Beyond that, you can select which chipset you want when you order the laptop. I don’t think there’s any reason people should stay away from the 9370. It’s one of the few laptops on the market whose manufacturer actively develops Linux support for the hardware.