[SOLVED] No Sound via HDMI or Headphones - LM 20.2 Edge - Dell XPS 8940

[frank84]

In Linux Mint (LM) 20.2 Edge Cinnamon, I cannot get any sound from my desktop computer to play via HDMI cables to the TV (connected to a sound system). I also get no sound when connecting headphones directly to the computer. However, when I boot up to Windows on a separate drive on the same computer, the sound plays via the HDMI cable on the TV just fine.

The HDMI cable is connected to the HDMI output of a Nvidia RTX 2060 Super graphics card. Although this LM installation is very new, I did so many views back and forth between the Windows and LM installations on this computer that I cannot actually remember for sure if the sound ever worked in LM or not. I have not yet tried to use Timeshift to go back to the initial installation and check, primarily because I'd prefer to "solve the problem" so I can keep going forward with an installation that I can keep up to date.

This is a new computer and a new install of LM. I am a novice with LM so I don't really know how volume controls are supposed to work -- normally. I don't see an icon for sound control on the panel -- and am wondering if there is supposed to be one there?

I tried reading other forum posts with sound issues but that didn't seem to help. In response to reading other posts, I tried doing things like installing pulseaudio but when I try to launch it, it just says "establishing connection to pulseaudio. Please wait" - but does nothing more and never connects or opens.

I opened the "Sound" app, but the sound "Device" settings are frozen with the sound level at minimum. I could not find any way to change or adjust anything there. I would sure appreciate any help to solve this issue. Thanks.

Frozen Sound app interface

inixi excerpt for audio:

Code: Select all

Audio:
  Device-1: Intel vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:f1c8 
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU106 High Definition Audio vendor: Dell 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 02:00.1 chip ID: 10de:10f9 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.11.0-25-generic 

full inixi:

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 5.11.0-25-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.5 wm: muffin 5.0.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Dell product: XPS 8940 v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 3 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: 0427JK v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI: Dell v: 2.1.1 
  date: 06/15/2021 
CPU:
  Topology: 8-Core model: 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11700 bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: N/A L2 cache: 16.0 MiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 79872 
  Speed: 801 MHz min/max: 800/4800 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 988 2: 1804 
  3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 801 8: 801 9: 801 10: 908 11: 800 12: 800 
  13: 800 14: 800 15: 801 16: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
  chip ID: 8086:4c8a 
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU106 [GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER] vendor: Dell 
  driver: nvidia v: 470.57.02 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1f06 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: modesetting,nvidia 
  unloaded: fbdev,nouveau,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER/PCIe/SSE2 
  v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.57.02 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:f1c8 
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU106 High Definition Audio vendor: Dell 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 02:00.1 chip ID: 10de:10f9 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.11.0-25-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 vendor: Bigfoot Networks driver: iwlwifi 
  v: kernel port: 5000 bus ID: 00:14.3 chip ID: 8086:06f0 
  IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Realtek vendor: Bigfoot Networks driver: r8169 v: kernel 
  port: 3000 bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:2600 
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.13 TiB used: 78.40 GiB (6.8%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda model: SATA SSD size: 223.57 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s 
  serial: <filter> rev: 61.2 scheme: GPT 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-75WN4A1 
  size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 7200 rpm serial: <filter> 
  rev: 7113 scheme: GPT 
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel Device driver: ahci v: 3.0 port: 5060 bus ID: 00:17.0 
  chip ID: 8086.06d6 rev: N/A 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 91.17 GiB used: 14.24 GiB (15.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
  ID-2: /home size: 92.29 GiB used: 32.08 GiB (34.8%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/sda3 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 45.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 38 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 809 fan-2: 1003 gpu: nvidia fan: 30% 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nordvpn.list 
  1: deb https://repo.nordvpn.com//deb/nordvpn/debian stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://muug.ca/mirror/linuxmint/packages uma main upstream import backport
  2: deb http://muug.ca/mirror/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://muug.ca/mirror/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://muug.ca/mirror/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/official-source-repositories.list 
  1: deb-src http://muug.ca/mirror/linuxmint/packages uma main upstream import backport
  2: deb-src http://muug.ca/mirror/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb-src http://muug.ca/mirror/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb-src http://muug.ca/mirror/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Info:
  Processes: 369 Uptime: 1h 11m Memory: 31.04 GiB used: 3.22 GiB (10.4%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 
 

[frank84]

I seem to have found a solution -- thanks to MrEen. This solution would only be potentially relevant for those who are running Windows and Linux Mint (LM) on the same computer.

I went back and re-read some earlier posts and then followed a link by MrEen to his No Sound Fix Tips.

The "tip" that appeared to solve my problem was this one:

3. Sometimes Windows will leave a sound card in an unclean state when dual booting:
Ensure Windows fast startup is off: Instructions
Try a complete shutdown and wait a few minutes before powering back up
In some circumstances an additional reboot may be necessary

After turning off "Fast Startup" in Windows, I was able to boot up into LM and actually hear sound! I then tested the persistence of the solution by doing another cycle of shutting down, booting into Windows, playing audio, shutting down Windows and booting back into LM. To my delight, the sound is still working in LM.

And now, the sound apps/controls in LM are actually working instead of operating like bricks. And there is even a sound icon in the panel now.

I'd also like to mention that AndyHM had recommended that I turn Fast Boot off when I was working on installing LM and Windows on separate SSDs in the same computer, but he had suggested it for a different purpose that I wasn't concerned about -- so I hadn't turned it off until now.

Thanks again to all the helpful members of the Linux Mint Forums.