Fresh LM19, weird noise, etc

[r3dplanet]

Hello.

On a fresh install of Linux Mint 19 (Cinnamon) I have two sound problems. I use a simple analog cable from the computer audio jack to a receiver/ amp.

1. On boot, or whenever I open the sound settings, the speakers emit a high pitch whine. As long as the sound settings windows is open the whine remains. At boot or shutdown it lasts ten seconds.

2. Otherwise the sound works, but I cannot change the system volume unless I switch from "Analog Output PCM2900C Audio CODEC" to "Line Out Built-in Audio." That's fine with me but it doesn't survive a reboot.

The hardware identifies itself as "Texas Instruments PCM2900C Audio CODEC," just the built in audio chip on the motherboard.

Thanks for any help.

[MrEen]

Hi r3dplanet.

First, run alsamixer in the terminal and either mute or lower the volume on the mic, and if you have it, change loopback to disabled. Press Esc to exit alsamixer then open your sound settings to see if you still get the noise. (In alsamixer you use the left and right arrows to choose the columns and the up and down arrows to toggle or change volume, and the m key toggles mute.)

For the second issue, install and run PulseAudio Volume Control (pavucontrol) and you'll probably want to select Analog Stereo Duplex on the Configuration tab and Line Out on the Output Devices tab. Hopefully this will survive a reboot, but if not, we'll do some further investigating.

Hope that helps.

[r3dplanet]

Hi there. Thank you very much for your help.

I did as you said but neither of the problems are improved. But it was interesting to see the alsamixer, something I totally forgot about.

[MrEen]

Let's see the output of inxi -Fxz and aplay -l please.

[r3dplanet]

Sure thing:

System: Host: Stella Kernel: 4.15.0-33-generic x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.8.8 (Gtk 3.22.30-1ubuntu1)
Distro: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Machine: Device: desktop System: Gigabyte product: N/A serial: N/A
Mobo: Gigabyte model: H61M-S2PV v: x.x serial: N/A
UEFI: American Megatrends v: FE date: 06/21/2012
Battery hidpp__0: charge: N/A condition: NA/NA Wh
model: Logitech Wireless Mouse M215 2nd Gen status: Discharging
hidpp__1: charge: N/A condition: NA/NA Wh
model: Logitech Wireless Keyboard K330 status: Discharging
CPU: Dual core Intel Core i3-2100 (-MT-MCP-)
arch: Sandy Bridge rev.7 cache: 3072 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 12371
clock speeds: max: 3100 MHz 1: 1836 MHz 2: 1806 MHz 3: 1707 MHz
4: 1840 MHz
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Cedar [Radeon HD 5000/6000/7350/8350 Series]
bus-ID: 01:00.0
Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 )
drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
OpenGL: renderer: AMD CEDAR (DRM 2.50.0 / 4.15.0-33-generic, LLVM 6.0.0)
version: 3.3 Mesa 18.0.5 Direct Render: Yes
Audio: Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Cedar HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5400/6300/7300 Series]
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1
Card-2 Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Def. Audio Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Card-3 Texas Instruments PCM2900C Audio CODEC
driver: USB Audio usb-ID: 001-003
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-33-generic
Network: Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCIE Gigabit Ethernet Controller
driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Card-2: Ralink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
driver: rt61pci v: 2.3.0 bus-ID: 05:01.0
IF: wlp5s1 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (12.0% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD5003AZEX size: 500.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 400G used: 56G (15%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 51.0C mobo: 27.8C gpu: 53.5
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 204 Uptime: 16 min Memory: 1693.5/3909.2MB
Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 7.3.0
Client: Shell (bash 4.4.191) inxi: 2.3.56


**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC887-VD Analog [ALC887-VD Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: CODEC [USB AUDIO CODEC], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

[MrEen]

Okay, this is kinda weird.

Card-3 Texas Instruments PCM2900C Audio CODEC
driver: USB Audio usb-ID: 001-003

Do you have something plugged in to a USB port? Your original post had me thinking the TI was onboard.

[r3dplanet]

My record player connects to the USB port, I suppose it's an analog-to-USB connector. It's the only other USB device I have aside from the wireless mouse and keyboard dongle.

[MrEen]

Let's try this. Install and run PulseAudio Volume Control (pavucontrol) and go to the Configuration tab on the far right. For the Texas Instruments device, it should NOT have an output option (neither output nor duplex.) That will hopefully fix that problem.

[r3dplanet]

OUTSTANDING! You totally solved the problems! No more high pitched whine and now I don't have to select a different sound output to adjust the volume at each reboot.

Thank you so very much!

[MrEen]

Oh that's great! You're very welcome.