16-xf0xxx-linux-troubleshooting

linux troubleshooting related notes for 16-xf0xxx/16-xf0060ax

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Making linux related notes and troubleshooting for HP Omen 16 R7 7840HS RTX 4060 (16-xf0xxx)

What works and what doesn't

Based on Pop!_OS 22.04 and Fedora Workstation 39

Wherever I haven't mentioned "Windows", the issue affects Linux only.

Component Works? Notes
Display ✔️ - VRR works from GNOME 46 (tested on Fedora Workstation 40) - HDR doesn't work since Linux doesn't support HDR yet. - Displays colors by default are good enough. For even better color repro, use Adobe RGB color profile. - Disable AMD Vari Bright (THIS IS NECESSARY if you care about color accuracy on battery power)
Keyboard ✔️ - Keyboard backlit can be turned ON and OFF from Linux - You can't control the RGB settings of keyboard on this model from Linux yet. hp-omen-linux-module doesn't work either. However, if you're on dual boot, (only static) RGB settings changed from Windows will persist on Linux. - You can't control the brightness of the keyboard from Linux either - Surprisingly, the calculator key does launch the calculator app on Gnome - Orange indicator on mute button doesn't work on Linux but the button itself does the mute/unmute function
CPU ✔️ (Please read the notes on this one) - AMD-pstate works from kernel 6.5.x - Please update the BIOS for improved performance of the 7840HS
HDMI ✔️ - HDMI works as expected.
DisplayPort ✔️ - DisplayPort works as expected (but only when booted on dGPU)
Ethernet RJ45 ✔️ - Ethernet works as expected.
Ryzen AI (AMD XDNA) ✔️ - HP has enabled it on BIOS so works on Windows but Linux doesn't have support for Ryzen AI yet :(
GPU (RTX 4060) ✔️ - Use proprietary drivers -To enable Dynamic Boost (thus changing max TGP from 80W to 140W) follow this - On Fedora, use negativo17 repo for CUDA and cuDNN; read more here -Use EnvyControl to switch between GPU modes (integrated, hybrid and nvidia)
Battery ✔️ - Battery life varies from 2-6 hours on Fedora Linux 40 Workstation Edition depending on the workload. - You can't see the battery cycle count on Linux - You can't set battery capacity limits on both Linux and Windows - The battery life is similar, if not better than Windows - Battery charges upto 84.66 Wh while the design capacity is 83.Wh. On Windows, the capacity is 81.0 Wh.
Speaker - On Pop!_OS, speakers are buggy, no matter the kernel - Speakers work fine on Fedora 39/40 but doesn't sound even nearly as good as Windows (Windows have DSP hacks, similar setup can be reproduced on Linux using JamesDSP - Also, check this out
Headphone jack - Headphone jack is buggy on Pop!_OS - Works as expected on Fedora 39/40
Microphone ✔️ - Microphone works as expected.
Webcam ✔️ - Webcam works as expected.
Fans ✔️ - Fans seems to work fine (it does work when temps are above 40-50 degree celcius) though lm-sensors doesn't show the fan speed. - I will update this section later. - You can't manually control fans of this machine on Linux yet
Touchpad ✔️ - Touchpad works as expected. - multi touch gestures works too.
Fingerprint reader - My model doesn't have a fingerprint reader. Someone else will have to test this.
USB ports ✔️ - All USB ports work fine
Bluetooth ✔️
WiFi ✔️ - HP has put a MediaTek wifi card in this laptop. It works fine most of the time but does glitch sometimes in both Linux and Windows - Use sudo iw wlo1 set power_save off to disable power saving mode on the WiFi card
Suspend/sleep ✔️ - If you face random logouts after waking up from suspend, follow this - Suspend doesn't work if sleep state is set to S3 (deep)
Hibernation - Always unreliable even when made to work