No Sound on Acer Chrombook R11 in Linux Mint

[EmanuelNorsk]

Hello, I've recently installed Linux Mint on my chromebook, but the speakers on my chromebook won't play anything. I've seen others have this problem, and I've trying my best to follow along, but found no success. I was wondering if someone is smart enough to help me out, since I have no idea where to go from here, and I'm pretty lost. Just tell me what information you need, and I'll try my best to reply as quickly as possible.

[deepakdeshp]

Post output of command

Code: Select all

 inxi -Fxz

in code tags.
Basic sound troubleshooting
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=363010

[EmanuelNorsk]

Okay here is what is what the command outputs:

System:
Kernel: 5.4.0-110-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.4.0
Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: GOOGLE product: Cyan v: 1.1 serial: <filter>
Mobo: N/A model: N/A serial: N/A BIOS: coreboot v: N/A date: 08/13/2019
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 33.5 Wh condition: 34.3/40.5 Wh (85%)
model: SANYO AC15A3J status: Discharging
CPU:
Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Celeron N3160 bits: 64 type: MCP
arch: Airmont rev: 4 L2 cache: 1024 KiB
flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 12800
Speed: 480 MHz min/max: 480/2240 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 480 2: 480
3: 503 4: 533
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx
Integrated Graphics
driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: modesetting
unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 400 (BSW) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.6
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series
High Definition Audio
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-110-generic
Network:
Device-1: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 1000
bus ID: 02:00.0
IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
IF-ID-1: lxcbr0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 29.12 GiB used: 20.89 GiB (71.7%)
ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: HBG4e size: 29.12 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 28.05 GiB used: 20.89 GiB (74.5%) fs: ext4
dev: /dev/mmcblk0p5
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 28.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 226 Uptime: 1m Memory: 3.79 GiB used: 779.8 MiB (20.1%)
Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.4.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17
inxi: 3.0.38

[HAWR]

Hello EmanuelNorsk,

with the R11 Chromebooks (Google Cyan) it's problematic to get the sound working in LM 20.x. The user Smurphos has also that chromebook and tried a lot. He got the sound working in Ubuntu 22.04, which will be the base for Linux Mint 21 (is expected to be released this summer), so it's very probable that the sound will work then. Maybe you can temporarily use Bluetooth for sound?

See the following link for more information: viewtopic.php?p=2166877#p2166877

[EmanuelNorsk]

Should I switch to Ubuntu 22.04? I really need Sound to work on the Speakers. What other Software is good with Acer Chromebook R11?

[smurphos]

I'm using Manjaro Cinnamon edition on mine for the time being were sound also works fine. I may revisit putting Mint on it when 21 is released later this summer, but I'm quite enjoying using and learning something a bit different.

The main edition of Ubuntu is a bit heavyweight for these machines, but if you go down that route I'd suggest Xubuntu or Lubuntu 22.04. I tested a got sound in Live Sessions of Ubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu.....

[deepakdeshp]

I'm using Manjaro Cinnamon edition on mine for the time
The main edition of Ubuntu is a bit heavyweight for these machines, but if you go down that route I'd suggest Xubuntu or Lubuntu 22.04. I tested a got sound in Live Sessions of Ubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu.....

Is it because the Ubuntu 22.04 kernel is different than Mint 20.04?In that case in Mint 20.04 the Ubuntu 22.04 kernel can be 8nstalled and tested?

[smurphos]

Is it because the Ubuntu 22.04 kernel is different than Mint 20.04?In that case in Mint 20.04 the Ubuntu 22.04 kernel can be 8nstalled and tested?

There are a variety of niggles to be solved - missing UCM definitions for the sound chip in alsa-ucm-conf, other sound config issues and the Ubuntu kernel depending on which series is used sometimes identifies the sound chip differently to what it actually is. I did have sound working fine on my R11 with 19.3 a while back, but it needed a mishmash of fixes and a mainline kernel at the time. No success with 20.3

22.04 has got the right UCM definitions out of the box with the newest version of alsa-ucm-conf. I didn't look much further than that, other than smiling when sound came out of the speakers.

To be honest Manjaro is a slightly better fit than Mint- quick and easy set up of zram swap (suits these machines well - mine is the 2GB RAM version, but I can still run Cinnamon with only a little lagginess at times), provides a specific chromebook keyboard layout, and starting with a minimal Manjaro ISO a much lighter install out of the box. So if Manjaro proves to be stable I might not bother putting that machine to Mint - good to have a foot in both camps with my main laptop on Mint and the R11 on Manjaro, albeit both running Cinnamon.

[deepakdeshp]

Thank you Smurphos for your detailed reply. As usual your reira are full of research and details.
Manjaro and Mint both offer Cinnamon.Manjaro is based on Arch which has probably best Linux documentation of all the flavours.Mint is based on Debian while Manjar on Arch, both heavyweight Linux flavors. You will be in a good position to know the plus and minuses of both Manjaro and Mint. I had used Manjar briefly but have gone back to Mint,that way I am a Mint man.