[SOLVED] No sound solution ? xps 9700, dummy output, no microphone ...

[steph68]

Hello,

lots of discussion about dummy output, no sound, no microphone, on recent computers (in my case XPS 9700).

The issue seems related to kernel. I tried several official. At best, one (don't ask which one) allowed to have sound, but no microphone and most of 5.4 5.8 5.10 make impossible to stop or restart the computer without unplugging network and,or mouse from usb-c ...

In this discussion (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1912673) the kernel 5.11.0-19 seems to solve the issue.

- Can someone give some help explaining how or install this 'non official' kernel version ?
- Do you think this kernel will work with mint 20 ?

Thanks a lot

[BashBasher]

The newest kernel is a bit newer.
Currently it's 5.11.0-25. It runs nice and stable on my Linux Mint laptop (Linux Mint Cinnamon 20.2).
You can install it via the Update Manager.
Update Manager: Menu -> View -> Linux Kernels: Select the kernel you want and install.

[Hoser Rob]

You could dl the Mint 20.2 Edge version and try that, but I think it only comes in the Cinnamon edition, if you aren't running Cinnamon now.

[steph68]

Thanks
I'm actually running Linux Mint 20.2 Uma. I just checked :
- 5.13.0-1009-oem
- 5.11.0.25

No sound card, just the Dummy Output one.

[linuxfreedom]

try running alsamixer in term and check the card with f6 and see if it shows up

[steph68]

Initially alsa-info says no sound card:

Code: Select all

!!Soundcards recognised by ALSA
!!-----------------------------

--- no soundcards ---

Then I ran

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sudo modprobe snd-hda-intel

. Then alsa-info return

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!!Soundcards recognised by ALSA
!!-----------------------------

 0 [PCH            ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
                      HDA Intel PCH at 0x609b218000 irq 213
 1 [NVidia         ]: HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
                      HDA NVidia at 0x73000000 irq 17

Tried to play a file and use alsamixer. I can choose the card I want, but sound is stuck at 0 on each channel.

So I changed the card in /etc/asound.conf to 0 or 1 but still no sound on playing a file (aplay /tmp/test.mp3).

In pavacontrol, there is still only the Dummy Output

[steph68]

Back to the roots.
inxi find these devices.

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System:    Kernel: 5.13.0-1010-oem x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.6 Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma 
           base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Dell driver: N/A bus ID: 00:1f.3 
           Device-2: NVIDIA TU106 High Definition Audio vendor: Dell driver: N/A bus ID: 01:00.1 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.13.0-1010-oem 

Intel Comet Lake PCH cAVS is supported since linux 5.3 (https://linux-hardware.org/index.php?id ... -8086-7270)
NVIDIA TU106 High Definition Audio is supported since 3.16 (https://linux-hardware.org/index.php?id=pci:10de-10f9)

so I have no idea why I still have the 'Dummy Output'.

[steph68]

Solved this, probably changing the BIOS option for "thorough" startup instead of fast and for other purposes, I disabled the windows fast start option.
These changes helps the kernel to discover the hardware (which makes a lot of sense).

I may also did other things which may influence the result, like changing nvidia driver to "Nouveau". Now back to nvidia driver (470) and sound still working.

What are the changes:

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Graphics:
 Device-2: NVIDIA TU106 [GeForce RTX 2060] vendor: Dell driver: [b]nouveau[/b] v: kernel

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Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Dell driver:[b] sof-audio-pci-intel-cnl[/b]
  bus ID: 00:1f.3 
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU106 High Definition Audio vendor: Dell driver: [b]snd_hda_intel v: kernel[/b]
  bus ID: 01:00.1 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.13.0-1010-oem