Updated from 18 to 20, now analog output stops when digital sleeps

[triode]

I have a PC that has an Nvidia card (that has HDMI sound):

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input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=3 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input27

However, I use the built in analog output:

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input: HDA Intel PCH Line Out as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0/input21

In mint 18, when the monitor went to sleep, audio that was playing (through the headphone jack) kept playing.

Yesterday, I formatted the disk and moved to Mint 20. Same PC, same everything, all I did was upgrade to mint 20. Now, when the monitor goes to sleep, the analog audio (from the headphone jack) stops playing. This is not the desired behaviour, as I want it to keep playing. I checked most settings that I can find, the only thing I have on is to turn off the monitor after 10 minutes of inactivity. I think it is turning off the HDMI audio (since it is a DP monitor), BUT, it should not turn off the Intel audio, which is what I am using.

Oddly, if I go to the Volume control -> Configuration, the GeForce 940MX High Def Audio Controller is set to off. So I am even more baffled at why linux would turn off the Intel when it goes to sleep.

Again, this worked with Mint 18. Any insight or help would be appreciated.

[deepakdeshp]

You can try installing the same kernel as 18 in 20 ,boot to it from grub and test.

[SMG]

Yesterday, I formatted the disk and moved to Mint 20. Same PC, same everything, all I did was upgrade to mint 20.

You did an upgrade or you did a clean install of LM20?

Are you using the same version Nvidia driver as you were in LM18?

[triode]

Well,

I do not feel like going back in time to install the old kernel from 18.

On the LM "upgrade", I wiped the drive and did a fresh install of LM 20.

In both cases, I am not using the Nvidia driver for video, I am using the built in noveaux driver.

[SMG]

I believe the nouveau driver was updated earlier this year, but I do not know if or how that might relate to any differences you are noticing.

I do not know if it is relevant since you have not posted the inxi -Fxxxrz output, but others have noticed (for a variety of issues) that updating one's BIOS/UEFI seems to fix issues in LM20 that were not issues with prior versions of Mint. That may not apply in your situation, but it might be something you want to investigate as a possibility.

[deepakdeshp]

Latest kernel of series 4.15 series should be tried. One always has to use a kernel which works. It's not that the latest series is the greatest.

[SMG]

Latest kernel of series 4.15 series should be tried. One always has to use a kernel which works. It's not that the latest series is the greatest.

The 4.15 kernel is for LM19 and not for LM20 which the OP has installed.

[triode]

I believe the nouveau driver was updated earlier this year, but I do not know if or how that might relate to any differences you are noticing.

I do not know if it is relevant since you have not posted the inxi -Fxxxrz output, but others have noticed (for a variety of issues) that updating one's BIOS/UEFI seems to fix issues in LM20 that were not issues with prior versions of Mint. That may not apply in your situation, but it might be something you want to investigate as a possibility.

I did not see anyone ask for it, but here it is:

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System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-58-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.13 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 
  dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Dell product: Precision Tower 3420 v: N/A 
  serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 3 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: 02K9CR v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI [Legacy]: Dell 
  v: 2.1.9 date: 01/24/2017 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-7700 bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake rev: 9 L1 cache: 256 KiB L2 cache: 8192 KiB 
  L3 cache: 8192 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 57600 
  Speed: 4076 MHz min/max: 800/4200 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 4096 2: 4092 
  3: 4048 4: 4041 5: 4023 6: 4070 7: 4029 8: 4073 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GM107GL [Quadro K1200] driver: nouveau v: kernel 
  bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:13bc 
  Display: server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 3840x1600~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: NV117 v: 4.3 Mesa 20.0.8 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 100 Series/C230 Series Family HD Audio vendor: Dell 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:a170 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM107 High Definition Audio [GeForce 940MX] 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 chip ID: 10de:0fbc 
  Device-3: Logitech OrbiCam type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo 
  bus ID: 1-4.1:8 chip ID: 046d:0892 serial: <filter> 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-58-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-LM vendor: Dell driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k 
  port: f000 bus ID: 00:1f.6 chip ID: 8086:15b7 
  IF: enp0s31f6 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Intel I210 Gigabit Network driver: igb v: 5.6.0-k port: e000 
  bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 8086:1533 
  IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 202.00 GiB (21.7%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Mushkin model: MKNSSDRE1TB size: 931.51 GiB 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 5C temp: 29 C scheme: MBR 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 356.70 GiB used: 8.00 GiB (2.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5 
  ID-2: /boot size: 922.0 MiB used: 108.3 MiB (11.7%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/sda1 
  ID-3: /home size: 549.02 GiB used: 193.89 GiB (35.3%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/sda4 
  ID-4: swap-1 size: 8.38 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 63.0 C mobo: 42.0 C gpu: nouveau temp: 46 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 1146 mobo: 940 gpu: nouveau fan: 3600 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyssa main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list 
  1: deb http://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
Info:
  Processes: 252 Uptime: 3d 17h 15m Memory: 15.57 GiB used: 2.75 GiB (17.7%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 
  Shell: bash (sudo) v: 5.0.17 running in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 

Someone noted that it might be the nouveau driver, and I agree, but when I go to install the Nvidia driver, it fails miserably (I think the repo was having issues).

[SMG]

The data you posted indicates you have not yet run the updates available in Update Manager. The latest 5.4 kernel is 5.4.0-74 and there are also updates to X.Org (Those are the ones I see on your inxi output. There may be a lot of other files which also need updated.) Maybe updating will clear the issue. (I noticed just today that my system received updated packages related to ALSA and pulseaudio.)

If you have concerns about updating, you can always create a Timeshift snapshot before you update.

System:
Kernel: 5.4.0-58-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0
Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.13 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4
dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal

The Dell Precision Tower 3420: Drivers and Downloads indicates the most recent BIOS/UEFI is version 2.17.1, so there are newer ones available for your system.

Machine:
Type: Desktop System: Dell product: Precision Tower 3420 v: N/A
serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 3 serial: <filter>
Mobo: Dell model: 02K9CR v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI [Legacy]: Dell
v: 2.1.9 date: 01/24/2017

It's also possible using the 5.8 kernel might help the situation. That kernel is available in Update Manager if you would like to consider that option. (Let us know if you want to try it and need instructions. )

Someone noted that it might be the nouveau driver, and I agree, but when I go to install the Nvidia driver, it fails miserably (I think the repo was having issues).

I strongly encourage people to make sure their system is updated before trying to install Nvidia drivers. Also taking a Timeshift snapshot before installing can help revert your system if you run into issues.

[triode]

I am not seeing (all of) those updates that you are calling for... I typically keep my box up to date:

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number9@oneelectron:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  libegl-mesa0 libgbm1 libgl1-mesa-dri libglapi-mesa libglx-mesa0 libxatracker2 linux-generic linux-headers-generic
  linux-image-generic mesa-va-drivers mesa-vdpau-drivers mesa-vulkan-drivers ubuntu-advantage-tools
The following packages will be upgraded:
  firefox firefox-locale-en initramfs-tools initramfs-tools-bin initramfs-tools-core opera-stable thunderbird
  thunderbird-gnome-support thunderbird-locale-en thunderbird-locale-en-us xul-ext-lightning

I do not see xfce or lightdm updates in that list. I typically do not update the kernel.

As for Dell, I can look at the BIOS, most of the time it is a windows only update, but I think they might have a DOS variant.

Again, I am a longtime linux user, I rarely have an instance where "it worked" and then "upgrade killed it" and then "upgrade to bios fixed it", that is very rare. I might do it, but I tend to shy away from bios updates if all is working with the bios.

[SMG]

I do not see xfce or lightdm updates in that list. I typically do not update the kernel.

I did not mention xfce or lightdm updates. I said X.Org which is currently on version 1.20.9.

Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GM107GL [Quadro K1200] driver: nouveau v: kernel
bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:13bc
Display: server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
resolution: 3840x1600~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: NV117 v: 4.3 Mesa 20.0.8 direct render: Yes

And I indicated to open the app Update Manager to see what was available to update. The app runs more than the command you used in order to determine all the files which have updates available.

Updates to the kernel include bug fixes and patches, so I personally update my kernel and recommend others do it as well.

As for Dell, I can look at the BIOS, most of the time it is a windows only update, but I think they might have a DOS variant.

Again, I am a longtime linux user, I rarely have an instance where "it worked" and then "upgrade killed it" and then "upgrade to bios fixed it", that is very rare. I might do it, but I tend to shy away from bios updates if all is working with the bios.

I do not know what criteria lets people know "all is working with bios". The firmware (BIOS) is the interface between the software and the hardware and I have seen many instances where a BIOS update has fixed an issue people assumed was a problem caused by Mint. If you check the links Dell provides, you'll see they indicate what all the major changes were in each of the BIOS updates. I seem to recall seeing cpu microcode updates in the list as well as other fixes.

I offer what suggestions I think will help. You are free to wait for someone else to offer other suggestions you find more in line with your philosophy on how you want to install and run Mint. It is your computer and you should do what you feel is best.

[deepakdeshp]

You would know that an improper BIOS upgrade can brick your computer.

[triode]

And I indicated to open the app Update Manager to see what was available to update. The app runs more than the command you used in order to determine all the files which have updates available.

Updates to the kernel include bug fixes and patches, so I personally update my kernel and recommend others do it as well.

I do not negate your advise to upgrade the kernel, I typically do not, but OK. I will note that I am a long time slackware/gentoo user who moved
to ubuntu then mint. I find the idea that a GUI application for updating has different packages available (#.g. apt-get update ; apt-get upgrade shows no X.org
updates, but the GUI manager will?) than the CLI application a bit confusing. Why have two applications that update, but they can be out of sync? This is odd to me.


As for the BIOS, I did download the bios from Dell, and I was going to update it with my freedos stick, but all of the new bios updates are Windows only updates from Dell. This is a work-workstation, and not my personal box. I may just go back to Mint 18, or move back to Gentoo... as silly as this sounds, I need the analog audio output on when the monitor is off, and 20 stopped doing it. Even after the kernel update and X.org updates...

Thanks for the input.

[SMG]

I find the idea that a GUI application for updating has different packages available (#.g. apt-get update ; apt-get upgrade shows no X.org
updates, but the GUI manager will?) than the CLI application a bit confusing. Why have two applications that update, but they can be out of sync? This is odd to me.

Someone on a thread in the past had no updates showing, but the inxi information indicated he/she was running old versions. We finally suggested changing mirror sites and when that was done over 100 updates were showing. I do not know why that might have happened as the one being used should have had the updates. Something along all the steps needed to get the updates was obviously not quite correct in that case. Because of that an other "odd" solutions that others have found helps solve issues, I know better than to think I can explain why for all cases.

As for the BIOS, I did download the bios from Dell, and I was going to update it with my freedos stick, but all of the new bios updates are Windows only updates from Dell. This is a work-workstation, and not my personal box. I may just go back to Mint 18, or move back to Gentoo... as silly as this sounds, I need the analog audio output on when the monitor is off, and 20 stopped doing it. Even after the kernel update and X.org updates...

I only have very limited experience helping troubleshoot audio issues. The only other "easy" change which might make a difference is upgrading to the 5.8 kernel. It's available in Update Manager if you want to try it. I often recommend that as an option for 7th gen Intel and newer because it has been known to help a variety of issues.

Maybe someone else will have some ideas or have more experience troubleshooting audio issues.