MSI Modern 15 - A11S

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Reason: Some PCI/USB IDs missing, the "Function Key" section is missing. (Discuss in Talk:MSI Modern 15 - A11S)
Hardware PCI/USB ID Working?
Touchpad 04f3:30aa Yes
Keyboard Yes
GPU 8086:9a49 Yes
Webcam 5986:211c Yes
Bluetooth 8087:0026 Yes
SD-card reader 10ec:525a Yes
Audio 8086:a0c8 Yes
Wireless 8086:a0f0 Yes
TPM Yes

The information below is valid for models:

  • Modern 15 A11SB
  • Modern 15 A11M
  • Modern 15 A11SBL
  • Modern 15 A11ML
  • Modern 15 A11SBU
  • Modern 15 A11MU

Installation

Secure Boot needs to be disabled at first startup and after UEFI updates. Append intel-ucode and intel-media-driver to pacstrap.

Firmware

Some devices can be listed with fwupd, but MSI does not provide updates via the LVFS.

Secure Boot functions well with custom keys and sbctl, make sure to disable automatic reverting to factory keys.

Install upd72020x-fwAUR for module xhci_pci. See Mkinitcpio#Possibly missing firmware for module XXXX.

Tip: Intel ME firmware needs to be updated from Windows, e.g. from Windows PE with the files provided by MSI on their BIOS Update page.
Warning: Passing an excessively long path for the loader through efibootmgr (e.g. with an EFI boot stub) may result in being stuck on the logo screen, without access to UEFI. To solve this, unplug NVMe drives and then power up the laptop to clear all UEFI boot entries.

Sound

This laptop requires ALSA firmware (i.e. installing sof-firmware) in order for the soundcard to work.

Accessibility

The BIOS interface is keyboard driven and does not require the use of a mouse.

Thermals

Fan control can be tuned by installing iswAUR.

Configuration entry for Modern 15 A11M is missing, and needs to be added manually (PR: https://github.com/YoyPa/isw/issues/152): 

/etc/isw.conf
[1552EMS1]
# A11M-217XIT
# 1552EMS1.1071023
address_profile = MSI_ADDRESS_DEFAULT
fan_mode = 140
# CPU
cpu_temp_0 = 50
cpu_temp_1 = 58
cpu_temp_2 = 65
cpu_temp_3 = 70
cpu_temp_4 = 90
cpu_temp_5 = 95
cpu_fan_speed_0 = 45
cpu_fan_speed_1 = 58
cpu_fan_speed_2 = 65
cpu_fan_speed_3 = 72
cpu_fan_speed_4 = 80
cpu_fan_speed_5 = 85
cpu_fan_speed_6 = 100
# GPU
gpu_temp_0 = 50
gpu_temp_1 = 60
gpu_temp_2 = 70
gpu_temp_3 = 82
gpu_temp_4 = 90
gpu_temp_5 = 93
gpu_fan_speed_0 = 0
gpu_fan_speed_1 = 50
gpu_fan_speed_2 = 65
gpu_fan_speed_3 = 72
gpu_fan_speed_4 = 80
gpu_fan_speed_5 = 85
gpu_fan_speed_6 = 100

To activate a personalized profile, you need to set the value 0xd4 to 64. You can set your profile adding to autostart the following two lines (PR: https://github.com/YoyPa/isw/issues/152): 

# isw -w 1552EMS1
# isw -s 0xd4 64

To autostart you can also use the provided isw@.service, but you will need use a drop-in snippet: 

/etc/systemd/system/isw@.service.d/override.conf
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/bin/isw -w %I -s 0xd4 64

Then start/enable isw@1552EMS1.service.

Function keys

The keyboard backlight works properly.

Keyboard LEDs :

  • F1 (Audio mute) and F5 (Microphone status) : not working
  • Esc, Power and Caps Lock : working
Key Marked1 XKB Libinput Notes
Fn+Esc Yes Not visible2 KEY_FN_ESC Quick FN Launch Keys
Fn+F1 Yes XF86AudioMute KEY_MUTE
Fn+F2 Yes XF86AudioLowerVolume KEY_VOLUMEDOWN
Fn+F3 Yes XF86AudioRaiseVolume KEY_VOLUMEUP
Fn+F4 Yes XF86TouchpadToggle KEY_LEFTMETA && KEY_F21
Fn+F5 Yes XF86AudioMicMute KEY_F20
Fn+F6 Yes XF86WebCam KEY_CAMERA
Fn+F7 Yes XF86Launch1 KEY_PROG1 no effect (MSI Center Pro)
Fn+F8 Yes Not visible2 Not visible2 Toggle keyboard backlight levels
Fn+F9 Yes XF86MonBrightnessDown KEY_BRIGHTNESSDOWN
Fn+F10 Yes XF86MonBrightnessUp KEY_BRIGHTNESSUP
Fn+F11 Yes Super_L KEY_LEFTMETA && KEY_P Switch display
Fn+F12 Yes XF86Launch2 KEY_PROG2 no effect (Rotate screen)
Fn+Print Yes Super_L KEY_LEFTMETA && KEY_LEFTSHIFT && KEY_S no effect (Capture screen zone)
  1. The physical key has a symbol on it, which describes its function
  2. The key is visible to xev and similar tools
  3. systemd-logind handles this by default

See also