Dell Inspiron 3537

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Device	Make/model	Status	Bus ID	Kernel driver(s)	Kernel version
CPU	Intel i7-4500U	Works	N/A	N/A	5.6
Video card	Intel Integrated HD 4400	Works	8086:0a16	i915	5.6
Video card	AMD Radeon HD 8850M	Works	1002:6823	radeon/amdgpu	5.6
Ethernet	Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E	Works	10ec:8136	r8169	5.6
Touchpad	Synaptics TM2382-001	Works	N/A	synaptics	5.6
Wireless	Broadcom BCM43142	Works	14e4:4365	wl	5.6

Firmware

Due to errata in the processor, it is advised to install and keep the CPU microcode up-to-date. See intel microcode.

Kernel

Follow the intel and radeon articles to enable the required kernel options.

KERNEL Enable ethernet support

Device Drivers --->
  Network device support --->
    Ethernet Driver Support --->
      [*] Realtek Devices
      [*] Realtek 8169 gigabit ethernet support

Configuration

Configuring Xorg

A barebone config is needed:

CODE /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

Section "Device"
   Identifier "Intel Graphics"
   Driver "intel"
   Option "TearFree" "true"
   Option "DRI" "3"
   Option "AccelMethod" "SNA"
EndSection

Hybrid Graphics

To offload applications to the dedicated GPU, add the PRIME prefix before the command:

user $DRI_PRIME=1 command_here

Configuring the touchpad

This enables horizontal scrolling. Tapping with two fingers acts as a rightclick, and a tap with three fingers acts as a middleclick.

CODE /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-synaptics.conf

Section "InputClass"
	Identifier "Touchpad Catchall"
	Driver "synaptics"
	MatchIsTouchpad "yes"
	Option "TapButton1" "1"
	Option "TapButton2" "3"
	Option "TapButton3" "2"
	Option "CornerCoasting" "1"
	Option "AccelFactor" "0.05"
	Option "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "1"
	Option "FingerHigh" "40"
	Option "CoastingSpeed" "0"
	Option "CoastingFriction" "0"
	Option "ClickTime" "15"
EndSection

It is also possible to enable Synpatics InterTouch which uses RMI4 over SMBus by adding `psmouse.synaptics_intertouch=1` to the kernel command line.

Troubleshooting

Wrong turbo multipliers

Dell seems to have changed the MSR controlling Turbo multipliers and effectively downclocked the processor compared to the stock multipliers. The stock Intel configuration is 30x/27x/27x/27x, Dell changes this to 27x/25x/25x/25x, ie. 2.7GHz with a single core, and 2.5GHz with 2+ cores.

This can be reverted back to the default with the use of msr-tools.

Warning
The following is for experienced users only. Misuse of these tools can potentially damage/brick your CPU. Proceed only if you know what you are doing.

First, we use the rdmsr utility to read the current value of the MSR register:

root #sudo rdmsr 0x01ad

This should return the value 1919191b which corresponds to 27/25/25/25. Note that the order is reversed, the highest multiplier (for single core) in this case is last (1b). Next, we write the new multiplier configuration:

root #sudo wrmsr 0x01ad 0x1b1b1b1e

This will set the multipliers to 30/27/27/27.

Note
Setting the wrong multiplier will downclock the CPU to its lowest multiplier. The current configuration can be viewed with i7z.

Touchpad doesn't work after resume

Sometimes when using RMI4 (Synaptics "InterTouch") the touchpad might randomly stop working and requires reinitialization:

root # echo -n "none" | tee /sys/bus/serio/devices/serio1/drvctl

root # echo -n "reconnect" | tee /sys/bus/serio/devices/serio1/drvctl

See also

• Intel
• Radeon