Poor, helicopter-like pulsating sound quality

[arr123]

Hi,

I have a fresh install of LMDE 4 Debbie (kernel version: 4.8.6) on a Thinkpad T60. When I am listening to something, through headphones AND through laptop speakers, especially during the loud part of a song, dialogue, etc., the sound is distorted with a kind of pulsating noise (kind of like what a helicopter sounds like in the distance), and the quality of the sound is generally quite bad. As I adjust the volume, this distortion scales up or down proportionally with the volume. The problem occurs with audio played through Google Chrome, as well as VLC (and presumably other programs too). I had no such problems on the same laptop when Windows 10 was installed.

Does anybody know any possible solutions?

Many Thanks!
arr123

[MrEen]

Hi arr123, and welcome to the forum.

Let's get a look at your sound setup with this command:

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curl https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/raw/master/src/utils/pa-info?inline=false | bash | nc termbin.com 9999

The last line of output will have a URL pointing to the info. Pasting that URL is all I need.

[arr123]

https://termbin.com/928f

Thanks!

[MrEen]

Run this in the terminal then reboot and test your sound:

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sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/thinkpad-fix.conf <<<'options snd-hda-intel model=thinkpad'

[arr123]

No difference after running this command and rebooting. The output was so:

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options snd-hda-intel model=thinkpad

Edit: no need to show that "output" - the moderator was right to move me into the newbie section.

[MrEen]

Rename your ~/.asoundrc file then reboot and test again.

Also, run this one and paste the output:

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dmesg | grep -C1 -E 'ALSA|HDA|sof|HDMI|snd[_-]|sound|hda.codec|hda.intel'

And if the sound is still the same, run the curl command while sound is playing and paste that output.

[arr123]

Please bare with me while I figure out how the directory works. Okay, so I renamed .asoundrc to .asoundrc1, an after a reboot, the problem still exists.

The output of the command is:

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[    0.203229] NR_IRQS: 2304, nr_irqs: 440, preallocated irqs: 16
[    0.203425] CPU 0 irqstacks, hard=(ptrval) soft=(ptrval)
[    0.207807] Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
--
[    0.341342] smp: Bringing up secondary CPUs ...
[    0.341504] CPU 1 irqstacks, hard=(ptrval) soft=(ptrval)
[    0.341506] x86: Booting SMP configuration:
--
[    0.349904] ACPI: Added _OSI(Linux-Dell-Video)
[    0.349904] ACPI: Added _OSI(Linux-Lenovo-NV-HDMI-Audio)
[    0.349904] ACPI: EC: EC started
--
[    5.652170] raid6: using intx1 recovery algorithm
[    5.669333] xor: measuring software checksum speed
[    5.708157]    pIII_sse  :  4642.000 MB/sec
--
[    9.250780]  excluding 0xa000-0xa0ff 0xa400-0xa4ff
[    9.403958] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: probe_mask set to 0x1 for device 17aa:2010
[    9.456361] snd_hda_codec_analog hdaudioC0D0: autoconfig for AD1981: line_outs=1 (0x5/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0) type:speaker
[    9.456366] snd_hda_codec_analog hdaudioC0D0:    speaker_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[    9.456369] snd_hda_codec_analog hdaudioC0D0:    hp_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[    9.456371] snd_hda_codec_analog hdaudioC0D0:    mono: mono_out=0x0
[    9.456373] snd_hda_codec_analog hdaudioC0D0:    dig-out=0xa/0x0
[    9.456375] snd_hda_codec_analog hdaudioC0D0:    inputs:
[    9.456379] snd_hda_codec_analog hdaudioC0D0:      Mic=0x8
[    9.456381] snd_hda_codec_analog hdaudioC0D0:      CD=0x19
[    9.480780] input: HDA Digital PCBeep as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input10
[    9.665264] yenta_cardbus 0000:15:00.0: pcmcia: parent PCI bridge window: [mem 0xe4300000-0xe7ffffff]
--
[   93.547471] hrtimer: interrupt took 14626440 ns
[   95.294794] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: IRQ timing workaround is activated for card #0. Suggest a bigger bdl_pos_adj.

The output of "curl" is

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curl: try 'curl --help' or 'curl --manual' for more information

[arr123]

Ahh... the curl command from earlier (silly me)... with sound playing:

https://termbin.com/8uux

[MrEen]

Okay, the outputs didn't help to find any cause here. You do have something I've not seen before:

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!!Module: thinkpad_acpi
	brightness_enable : 2
	brightness_mode : 4
	enable : Y
	experimental : 0
	fan_control : N
	force_load : N
	id : ThinkPadEC
	index : -536870912
	software_mute : Y
	volume_capabilities : 0
	volume_control : N
	volume_mode : 3

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!!-------Mixer controls for card 29 [ThinkPadEC]

Card hw:29 'ThinkPadEC'/'ThinkPad Console Audio Control at EC reg 0x30, fw 79HT50WW-1.07'
  Mixer name	: 'ThinkPad EC 79HT50WW-1.07'
  Components	: ''
  Controls      : 2
  Simple ctrls  : 1
Simple mixer control 'Console',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 14
  Mono: Playback 7 [50%] [on]

If you run this then test the sound is there any difference:

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amixer -c29 set Console 0% toggle

[arr123]

The output from that command is...

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amixer: Invalid command!

[MrEen]

Ahh, I forgot we're on LMDE here.

In the terminal run alsamixer then press F6 to select the thinkpad named card. There'l only be one column showing, so just use the down arrow to lower the volume then m key to also mute it. Muted columns show MM at the bottom.

[arr123]

Okay, while I can adjust the audio of (default) {which is PulseAudio} and set the number to MM, for ThinkPad Console Audio Control (selected from the F6 menu), the slider cannot be adjusted or muted, and just sits as 00. It looks like this:

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┌────────────────────────────── AlsaMixer v1.1.8 ──────────────────────────────┐
│ Card: ThinkPad Console Audio Control                 F1:  Help               │
│ Chip: ThinkPad EC 79HT50WW-1.07                      F2:  System information │
│ View: F3:[Playback] F4: Capture  F5: All             F6:  Select sound card  │
│ Item: Console                                        Esc: Exit               │
│                                                                              │
│                                     ┌──┐                                     │
│                                     │  │                                     │
│                                     │  │                                     │
│                                     │  │                                     │
│                                     │  │                                     │
│                                     │  │                                     │
│                                     │  │                                     │
│                                     │  │                                     │
│                                     │  │                                     │
│                                     │  │                                     │
│                                     │▒▒│                                     │
│                                     │▒▒│                                     │
│                                     ├──┤                                     │
│                                     │OO│                                     │
│                                     └──┘                                     │
│                                      21                                      │
│                                  <Console >       

[MrEen]

How strange! Earlier it was at 7 (50%), but now it's down to 21%

I have no idea if it's part of the cause of your issue, so let's move on to other things to try. Run this then reboot and test again:

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sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/snd-hda-intel.conf <<<'options snd-hda-intel power_save=0'

[arr123]

Okay so I just ran that one, still no difference after a reboot. I also went to see if I could adjust the Thinkpad Console Audio Controller using AlsaMixer, but I still couldn't. The only difference is that the value is now at 93. I tried to look in my sound settings (GUI )for any setting which was set at that same value to see if I could change it there, but I couldn't see anything. It's hard to say whether the sound is better or worse with such an increased value. Perhaps there is no difference.

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┌────────────────────────────── AlsaMixer v1.1.8 ──────────────────────────────┐
│ Card: ThinkPad Console Audio Control                 F1:  Help               │
│ Chip: ThinkPad EC 79HT50WW-1.07                      F2:  System information │
│ View: F3:[Playback] F4: Capture  F5: All             F6:  Select sound card  │
│ Item: Console                                        Esc: Exit               │
│                                                                              │
│                                     ┌──┐                                     │
│                                     │  │                                     │
│                                     │▒▒│                                     │
│                                     │▒▒│                                     │
│                                     │▒▒│                                     │
│                                     │▒▒│                                     │
│                                     │▒▒│                                     │
│                                     │▒▒│                                     │
│                                     │▒▒│                                     │
│                                     │▒▒│                                     │
│                                     │▒▒│                                     │
│                                     │▒▒│                                     │
│                                     ├──┤                                     │
│                                     │OO│                                     │
│                                     └──┘                                     │
│                                      93                                      │
│                                  <Console >                                  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

[arr123]

Aha, so the Thinkpad Audio Control value is altered with the actual volume buttons on the laptop. I'm gonna try to do some more twiddling with sound amplification and stuff now that I know that, and will report any findings.

[MrEen]

Nice detective work.

I'm hoping with something turned down, the noise will vanish. But which something might be hard to find. It could be Master or PCM in alsamixer that would help here.

[arr123]

Okay, so I tried setting the thinkpad volume to different values (using the hardware buttons), high and low, and at the same time, the volume which I can adjust within Linux Mint using the sound slider at the bottom right of the screen, but I can neither improve, not make the problem worse that way.

[MrEen]

Of course you couldn't. That would have been too easy!

If you disable WiFi does the noise stop? Same with unplugging any USB attached devices you can safely remove? Either of those have caused odd audio issues in the past.

[MrEen]

Wait a minute. In your first post you mentioned this:

When I am listening to something, through headphones AND through laptop speakers,

Yet your outputs don't show any outputs other than speakers!

What kind of outputs and inputs does that machine have that are audio only?

[arr123]

Had a little play with the Master and PCM sliders (all while seeing how adjusting the ThinkPad sound responds to anything), but all that I can do is decrease the sound (and so decrease the sound of the distortion), and increase the sound (increasing the sound of the distortion).

The "distortion" is hard to describe exactly, but it's like when you've had some really weak speakers on a laptop, and you download a "sound booster", and increase the volume more than the speakers are designed to handle, and it sounds then sounds like its struggling to stay alive (especially at the bassy parts).

Re your latest post: I am testing with speakers and headphones as my outputs (and I'm pretty sure on every test I've done when I've sent you an output, I have had my headphones plugged in, playing the audio through them)... https://termbin.com/t2q8

Edit: and just to clarify, the 'AND' wasn't supposed to imply simultaneous output from both speakers and headphones, but rather that the problem exists regardless of which sound output device I play audio out of.
Also, the problem persists regardless of whether internet is on or off, and I have no USB connections.