[Solved] External microphone not working

[AlphaBravoCharlie]

I have an old HP Pavilion g6 laptop from which I uninstalled Windows 10, and installed Linux Mint 20.2 "Uma." Everything's working fine as of now, expect for the external microphone. This laptop has two separate ports for audio input and output. When I plug in the microphone into the audio input jack, the OS does recognize the newly plugged in device, but it there is no input at all. It used to work fine on Windows 10; so I know that the issue isn't with the mic. Can someone help me with this?

[MrEen]

Hi AlphaBravoCharlie, and welcome to the forum.

Let's see the output from this command run in the terminal while the mic is plugged in:

Code: Select all

pacmd list-sources

[AlphaBravoCharlie]

Hello, MrEen! Thank you for the warm welcome!

Below is the output of the pacmd list-sources command. I have also added it as an attachment.

2 source(s) available.
index: 0
name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_14.2.analog-stereo.monitor>
driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
flags: DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY
state: SUSPENDED
suspend cause: IDLE
priority: 1030
volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB, front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
balance 0.00
base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
volume steps: 65537
muted: no
current latency: 0.00 ms
max rewind: 0 KiB
sample spec: s16le 2ch 48000Hz
channel map: front-left,front-right
Stereo
used by: 0
linked by: 0
configured latency: 0.00 ms; range is 0.50 .. 341.33 ms
monitor_of: 0
card: 1 <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_14.2>
module: 8
properties:
device.description = "Monitor of Built-in Audio Analog Stereo"
device.class = "monitor"
alsa.card = "1"
alsa.card_name = "HD-Audio Generic"
alsa.long_card_name = "HD-Audio Generic at 0xf0440000 irq 16"
alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:14.2"
sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card1"
device.bus = "pci"
device.vendor.id = "1022"
device.vendor.name = "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]"
device.product.id = "780d"
device.product.name = "FCH Azalia Controller"
device.form_factor = "internal"
device.string = "1"
module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
* index: 1
name: <alsa_input.pci-0000_00_14.2.analog-stereo>
driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY
state: SUSPENDED
suspend cause: IDLE
priority: 9039
volume: front-left: 13850 / 21% / -40.50 dB, front-right: 13850 / 21% / -40.50 dB
balance 0.00
base volume: 8739 / 13% / -52.50 dB
volume steps: 65537
muted: no
current latency: 0.00 ms
max rewind: 0 KiB
sample spec: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
channel map: front-left,front-right
Stereo
used by: 0
linked by: 0
configured latency: 0.00 ms; range is 0.50 .. 371.52 ms
card: 1 <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_14.2>
module: 8
properties:
alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
device.api = "alsa"
device.class = "sound"
alsa.class = "generic"
alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
alsa.name = "92HD87B2/4 Analog"
alsa.id = "92HD87B2/4 Analog"
alsa.subdevice = "0"
alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
alsa.device = "0"
alsa.card = "1"
alsa.card_name = "HD-Audio Generic"
alsa.long_card_name = "HD-Audio Generic at 0xf0440000 irq 16"
alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:14.2"
sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card1"
device.bus = "pci"
device.vendor.id = "1022"
device.vendor.name = "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]"
device.product.id = "780d"
device.product.name = "FCH Azalia Controller"
device.form_factor = "internal"
device.string = "front:1"
device.buffering.buffer_size = "65536"
device.buffering.fragment_size = "32768"
device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
device.profile.name = "analog-stereo"
device.profile.description = "Analog Stereo"
device.description = "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo"
module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
ports:
analog-input-internal-mic: Internal Microphone (priority 8900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
properties:
device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
analog-input-mic: Microphone (priority 8700, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
properties:
device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
active port: <analog-input-mic>

[MrEen]

All right, the volume is very low and that may be causing the issue. Let's see the output of amixer -c1 now please.

[AlphaBravoCharlie]

The output of amixer -c1 has been attached as a text file. Let me know if you instead prefer that the output be included as part of the text of the posts.

And, just in case you might need it, I've also run the below command.

Code: Select all

curl https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/raw/master/src/utils/pa-info?inline=false | bash | nc termbin.com 9999

The termbin URL for that is https://termbin.com/6j4g8.

[MrEen]

Thanks. I think the amixer might have been enough in this case. In the terminal run alsamixer and when Alsamixer opens press the F5 so all columns will be there (some will probably be off the screen to the right.)

Arrow over to the Mic column and press the up arrow key until it's up to at least 80%, then press the m key to unmute it. Muted columns show MM at the bottom while unmuted shows 00

Now arrow over to the Capture column and use the up arrow key to raise that one to 100%.

Now test the mic.

[AlphaBravoCharlie]

I'm sorry, MrEen, but that made no difference at all. When I test the mic in the Sound app, there is no movement in the input sensitivity bar; none at all.

I should also mention that the internal mic works fine; the issue is only with external mics. I tried another external mic, this one with a USB plug, and I still face the same issue. The OS recognizes the mic, but it doesn't receive any input from it.

[MrEen]

I'm afraid I only have one other suggestion here, and that's to try the 5.11 kernel. Update Manager > View > Linux kernels. Select 5.11 on the left, then the highest kernel on the right, then click on Install. Reboot when done and text the mic.

[AlphaBravoCharlie]

MrEen, I finally have some good news. I found out what the issue was. I was using a microphone with a TRRS plug and plugging it into a TRS jack.

Like I'd said earlier, the laptop is old and has separate ports for audio input and output, which means that they are, in all likelihood, TRS ports. But what confused me was that the mic worked perfectly fine when Windows 10 was installed. So I thought that TRRS plugs might be compatible with TRS ports even on GNU+Linux. Another thing that led me to believe that that might not be an issue was the problem with an external webcam that I'd connected using a USB plug. The webcam has an in-built mic, but it wasn't taking in input; so I thought that the issue doesn't have anything to do with the ports, but rather external devices. (I later noticed that it was because the input was still coming in through the laptop's in-built mic. I probably have to manually change it to receive input from the webcam's mic. I'll create a separate topic for it on the forum since I don't know how to do that.)

I tested with a newly bought mic that has a TRS plug, and it works fine. I still have to thank you for it because it was while going though your posts on similar audio issues that I came to know of this issue. Thank you very much, MrEen!

[MrEen]

You're most welcome AlphaBravoCharlie!

I'm glad you found the source of the issue!