MSI GS65 - ArchWiki

# MSI GS65

From ArchWiki

Device | Status | Modules
Intel GPU | Working | modesetting
Nvidia GPU | Working | nvidia (not nouveau)
Ethernet | Working | alx
Wireless | Working | iwlwifi
Audio | Working | snd_hda_intel
Webcam | Working | uvcvideo
Bluetooth | Working | btusb
USB | Working |
Thunderbolt | Working | thunderbolt
Power management | Partially Working |
Keyboard | Partially Working |
Touchpad | Partially Working | libinput

For a general overview of laptop-related articles and recommendations, see Laptop.

## Configuration

### BIOS

#### 2.20.1271

At bootup, the BIOS settings page is entered via the delete key, the quick boot select window can be activated via the F11 key, PXE scanning can be activated via the F12 key

In the BIOS setings,he model name can be seen in the Main tab, Secure Boot can be disabled from the Security tab and boot mode can optionally be switched from UEFI to legacy.

There is no option to disable the discrete intel GPU.

### Video

#### Backlight

Backlight works out of the box

    # ls /sys/class/backlight/

    intel_backlight

#### Drivers

PRIME functionality works by using only nvidia and will work without the intel video driver, instead using modsetting.

The xf86-video-nouveau driver does not work well in PRIME configuration (see #Known Issues}).

#### Multihead

Multihead support works with intel-virtual-output tool, following the 'port wired to Nvidia' instructions at Bumblebee and using this post at Stack Exchange.

### Webcam

The webcam is device 003 on bus 001. See Webcam setup for more details.

    # lsusb -vs 001:003

    Bus 001 Device 003: ID 5986:211c Acer, Inc
    Device Descriptor:
      bLength                18
      bDescriptorType         1
      bcdUSB               2.01
      bDeviceClass          239 Miscellaneous Device
      bDeviceSubClass         2
      bDeviceProtocol         1 Interface Association
      bMaxPacketSize0        64
      idVendor           0x5986 Acer, Inc
      idProduct          0x211c
      bcdDevice            3.01
      iManufacturer           1 SunplusIT Inc
      iProduct                2 HD Webcam
      iSerial                 0
      bNumConfigurations      1
    ...

### Power Management

Battery indicator works out of the box.

Sleep and wake also work with the proper configuration (see Power management).

An issue when sleeping is that the networking will be disabled when waking and set to airplane mode. This issue does not affect hibernation.

### Keyboard

#### Lights

    # lsusb -vs 001:002

    Bus 001 Device 002: ID 1038:1122 SteelSeries ApS
    Device Descriptor:
      bLength                18
      bDescriptorType         1
      bcdUSB               2.00
      bDeviceClass            0
      bDeviceSubClass         0
      bDeviceProtocol         0
      bMaxPacketSize0        64
      idVendor           0x1038 SteelSeries ApS
      idProduct          0x1122
      bcdDevice            2.29
      iManufacturer           1 SteelSeries
      iProduct                2 SteelSeries KLC
      iSerial                 0
      bNumConfigurations      1

The Steel Series lights on the keyboard cannot be configured with msi-keyboard-gitAUR or msiklm-gitAUR, because those tools only work with region-based RGB lighting. For this laptop model, the tool msi-perkeyrgbAUR provides partial control.

#### Button Mapping

On the US model, the `\|` key (to the right of space) has scancode `0x56` is incorrectly mapped to `<>`.

The mapping can be fixed temporarily by adding a scancode mapping:

    /etc/udev/hwdb.d/85-msi-keyboard.hwdb

    # MSI GS65 Stealth Thin has a physical backslash key next to the space bar
    evdev:atkbd:dmi:bvn*:bvr*:bd*:svnMicro-Star*:pnGS65StealthThin*:pvr*
     KEYBOARD_KEY_56=backslash

And reloading the keymapping database:

    # systemd-hwdb update
    # udevadm trigger

The commit [1] to fix this in systemd has been merged and should be available in the next release of systemd (240).

##### Airplane Mode Key Combination

The airplane mode key combination (FN + F10) is disabled by default. Adding the following kernel parameters activates airplane mode:

`acpi_osi=! acpi_osi="Windows 2009"`

##### Unmapped Buttons

The following buttons don't have any function or keycodes.

- FN + F7
- FN + Home

### Touchpad

Single tap and double finger scrolling work. Multi gestures do not work out the box though, they are detected with libinput-gesturesAUR.

## Troubleshooting

### Webcam is not detected

If `/dev/video0` is unavailable and `lsusb` does not list the webcam, make sure that hard webcam switch is activated. The switch is indicated on the F6 key and can be toggled with `FN + F6`.

## Tips and Tricks

## Known Issues

### Lockup Issue (lspci and poweroff hang)

Symptoms:

- lspci hangs
- poweroff hangs

Applies to: Arch boot ISO and systems with nouveau or without nvidia driver installed. See NVIDIA Optimus#Lockup issue (lspci hangs).

Solutions:

- Arch ISO: Add `modprobe.blacklist=nouveau` to the kernel parameters (https://superuser.com/a/1301487).
- System without nouveau: Install nvidia.

### Cheese Hangs While Opening Camera

The issue can be fixed by installing vlc and running:

    $ vlc v4l:// :v4l-vdev="/dev/video0"

Following this, cheese should work correctly.

### Wifi is hardblocked (airplane mode) after waking up from suspend

Waking from suspend will have wifi in airplane mode. [2]

    # rfkill list

    1: phy0: Wireless LAN
    	Soft blocked: no
    	Hard blocked: yes

Wifi can be reactivated by either using the airplane mode key combination twice or by hibernating and rebooting.

A way to mitigate this is by setting systemd to hibernate instead of suspending.

    /etc/systemd/logind.conf

    HandleSuspendKey=hibernate
    HandleLidSwitch=hibernate

### System freeze

From time to time the graphical interface will freeze and the keyboard will be unresponsive, though audio keeps running. It tends to happen when CPU temperature is high and CPUs are throttling.

There is no known solution for this.

It is not clear what causes this issue:

    $ journalctl -r --boot -1

    Jul 22 20:27:40 almsi kernel: nvidia-modeset: ERROR: GPU:0: Failed to allocate memory for the display color lookup table.

### Display outputs don't work after suspend

If the laptop is suspended with another monitor connected, then on wake all display outputs do not recognise when an external display is connected to any port. This persists across reboots. Worryingly it also persists if you reboot into Windows.

One workaround is to boot into Windows, suspend the laptop, then wake it. Connected displays will then be recognised when rebooting into Windows or Arch.

## More Information

### MS-16Q2

#### Microarchitecture, Processor and Platform

    uname -mpi

    x86_64 unknown unknown

#### PCI Devices

    lspci

    00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 3ec4 (rev 07)
    00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor PCIe Controller (x16) (rev 07)
    00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 3e9b
    00:12.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Device a379 (rev 10)
    00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Device a36d (rev 10)
    00:14.2 RAM memory: Intel Corporation Device a36f (rev 10)
    00:14.3 Network controller: Intel Corporation Device a370 (rev 10)
    00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Device a360 (rev 10)
    00:1b.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device a340 (rev f0)
    00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device a330 (rev f0)
    00:1d.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device a334 (rev f0)
    00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Device a30d (rev 10)
    00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Device a348 (rev 10)
    00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Device a323 (rev 10)
    00:1f.5 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Device a324 (rev 10)
    01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP104M [GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile] (rev a1)
    3b:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Device a808
    3c:00.0 Ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2500 Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 10)

#### USB Devices

    lsusb

    Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
    Bus 001 Device 002: ID 1038:1122 SteelSeries ApS
    Bus 001 Device 003: ID 8087:0aaa Intel Corp.
    Bus 001 Device 005: ID 5986:211c Acer, Inc
    Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Category:

- MSI