lose sound randomly on Dell XPS 13 (developer edition)

[anthalamus]

Hi all,

I removed Ubuntu that comes with this laptop (http://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/pro ... 360-laptop) and installed mint (MATE edition) instead. It works pretty well except for the sound that usually stops working after a little while. restarting the laptop typically fixes it for a short while, but not long enough that it makes it a practical workaround.

I've tried this:
- pulseaudio -k -v, which shows nothing and returns 0
- alsamixer and the MATE sound menu seem fine (nothing muted for instance)
- sudo alsa force-reload does return 1 and shows "failed: modules still loaded: snd-hda-codec-hdmi snd-hda-codec-realtek snd-hda-codec-generic snd-hda-intel snd-hda-codec snd-hda-core snd-hwdep snd-pcm snd-timer", but none of the solution from google work
- I tried reloading the kernel modules manually to no avail
- dmesg and syslog show nothing particular upon playing an mp3, just no sound
- installing and checking pavucontrol shows no problem, i can even see the sound bar moving up/down as the music unfolds, just no sound. one oddity though, the headphone is marked as "plugged-in" even when it's not (but i still can't hear anything by plugging them in).

anyone else has the same issue and/or has a suggestion for fixing it?

Thanks!

Anthony

[Hoser Rob]

The computer make/model isn't enough info. Please copy/paste this into the terminal and copy/paste the text output here:

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inxi -Fxz

[anthalamus]

thanks, here's the info:

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System:    Host: XXX Kernel: 4.4.0-53-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: MATE 1.16.1 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.1) Distro: Linux Mint 18.1 Serena
Machine:   System: Dell (portable) product: XPS 13 9360
           Mobo: Dell model: 06CC14 v: A00 Bios: Dell v: 1.3.2 date: 01/18/2017
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i7-7500U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 4096 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 11617
           clock speeds: max: 2701 MHz 1: 400 MHz 2: 1500 MHz 3: 800 MHz 4: 700 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Device 5916 bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Kabylake GT2 GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Device 9d71 driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 Sound: ALSA v: k4.4.0-53-generic
Network:   Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath10k_pci bus-ID: 3a:00.0
           IF: wlp58s0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Atheros usb-ID: 001-002
           IF: null-if-id state: N/A speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: NA (-) ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 model: N/A size: 512.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 454G used: 309G (72%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 16.76GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 55.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 261 Uptime: 1 day Memory: 7389.5/15653.6MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.461) inxi: 2.2.35
           

[pomchip]

Hi,

I have what appears to be a similar/same problem with my new Dell Latitude 7280 (see viewtopic.php?f=48&t=247813), which has the same audio hardware/driver as yours.

Did you find a solution to your problem?

[anthalamus]

Never , but I'm starting to look into it again... who knows!

[MrEen]

Hi anthalamus,

Try deleting everything in your ~/.config/pulse folder. Reboot and test sound.

[anthalamus]

Unfortunately I've tried that before, and pretty much every trick I was able to find on the matter.

Things are worse now somehow, and the device itself is no longer properly detected. I get the following in dmesg:

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[  213.719649] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1f.3: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915_bpo])
[  213.831610] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1f.3: CORB reset timeout#1, CORBRP = 0
[  213.833268] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1f.3: no codecs found!			

I'm not really leaning towards defective hardware, as in https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... nd-916382/

[MrEen]

Have you upgraded to the latest kernel in your series (4.4.0-116 I think) and also installed pavucontrol?

EDIT: I just looked at the laptop specs and I think you want a more recent kernel. Maybe try 4.13.0-37

[anthalamus]

Sorry, yes, I should mention that since my original post I did upgrade to 4.4.0-116. Why do you think 4.13 could make a difference with my specs? I'm not all that familiar with the kernel release process.

(PS: yes, pavucontrol shows only the dummy output)

[MrEen]

Generally speaking, newer hardware needs newer kernel. Your laptop appears to be very new, hence the suggestion for 4.13 kernel (some actually need 4.15 although I'm not sure about yours.)

[MrEen]

This could also possibly fix your issue:

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gksudo xed /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

(Replace xed with your text editor.)

At the bottom of the file, add this:

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options snd-hda-intel model=auto

Reboot and test sound.

[anthalamus]

I tried both, and no dice...

upgrading to 4.13 made me lose sound, network and messed up display as well :-/ I guess that's maybe why linux-image-generic still points to 4.4!

setting model to "auto" had no effect (i had also tried to set it to "ref" before, based on the post i linked to earlier)

I think i'll try to get another sound card and see what gives!

[anthalamus]

PS: dmesg basically still shows the same 3 error lines, which I suspect is at the core of the issue (whatever that really is!)

[MrEen]

Sorry I can't help further. The suggestion from my last post fixed someone else with the same dmesg output here: viewtopic.php?f=48&t=265908

I've also seen people fixed by both upgrading the kernel and reinstalling their OS.

One thing you might want to try is running a live dvd/usb and see if the problem exists there.

Using such a recent laptop, you might also consider upgrading Mint itself.

[anthalamus]

No worries, i really appreciate the help anyway. Will let you know if I ever fix it!

[anthalamus]

A different sound card seem to work well, I'm going to assume it was just defective hardware in the end...

[MrEen]

Happy to hear you have sound again!

[jimux]

I have very similar symptoms on a Thinkpad X201. It's a clean install of Mint 18 Sara on a new SSD.
Normally correctly plays sound through internal 'HDA-Intel - HDA Intel MID (at 0xf2520000 irq 29)' on boot up, then after a while speakers cut out and it only outputs to headphones. Alsa mixer shows output signal switching properly as you plug headphones in and out.
The fault occurs when i start up Thunderbird email. If I get it to restore using aplay, etc, then it again faults when Thunderbird does a scheduled mail download. Is there a shared interrupt issue?

Linux version 4.13.0-37-generic (buildd@lcy01-amd64-012) (gcc version 5.4.0 20160609 (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.9)) #42~16.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Mar 7 16:03:28 UTC 2018
Thunderbird 52.7.0 (64-bit)