Kernel requirements for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 on Dell Precision laptops with Coffee Lake CPU
Environment
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5
- Dell Precision Mobile Workstation (3530, 5530, 7530, and 7730) laptops with Coffee Lake CPUs.
Issue
- What kernel parameters are needed at install time for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 on Coffee Lake based Dell Precision 3530, 5530, 7530, and 7730 Mobile Workstations.
- After installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5, what kernel version is the minimum version needed for full support.
Resolution
If this solution is attached to a certification that system was certified without using accelerated graphics drivers during install. The discrete GPU (if equipped) was disabled by passing the "nomodeset" kernel parameter.
It is recommended to install 7.5 on these systems with the "basic graphics" option in the installer, (Which passes the 'nomodeset' parameter to the kernel on boot).
Or you can install using the i915 accelerated video, and disabling the discrete graphics by passing the appropriate kernel parameters on install. e.g. "module_blacklist=nouveau,amdgpu,radeon i915.alpha_support=1"
Once the system is installed, you should upgrade to kernel 3.10.0-862.3.2.el7 (7.5 Batch Update 1 "z-stream"). This kernel requires no kernel parameters for accelerated i915 video,.
Root Cause
The i915 driver in the 7.5 GA kernel does not support Coffee Lake graphics by default.
In some instances the nouveau driver has caused lockups during install.
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