[SOLVED] Audio seems to work when it wants to, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesnt

[artdigy]

So, I am in a bit of a pickle. I am trying to run Mint on a laptop and Mint seems to occasionally recognize the sound driver, and ubuntu never could at all. I have tried all of the suggested things like forcing alsa to reset.

I have discovered that Alsa is indeed the problem, yet I dont know how to avoid it. I can't switch to headphones without it messing up. It seems that pressing the mute key and unpressing it will make the audio no longer work for the session. It only seems to work occasionally on reboots, and I am really confused, shouldn't linux boot the same way each time? Is there an alternative to Alsa since I figured out it is the problem? Why might this be? Has anyone else had the same problem, and knows how to fix it?

My laptop is Asus, and while that is generally the least compatible, everything else works and I haven't run into any wireless adapter errors. I've gotten this far, yet I've reached a brick wall. I tried updating my bios as I read somewhere that would work, but it didn't.

System Specs

Code: Select all

System:    Host: ***** Kernel: 4.15.0-20-generic x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.8.9 (Gtk 3.22.30-1ubuntu1) dm: lightdm Distro: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Machine:   Device: laptop System: ASUSTeK product: GL503VM v: 1.0 serial: N/A
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: GL503VM v: 1.0 serial: N/A
           UEFI: American Megatrends v: GL503VM.311 date: 03/13/2018
Battery    BAT1: charge: 59.0 Wh 100.0% condition: 59.0/64.4 Wh (92%) volts: 5.4/15.2
           model: ASUS A32-K55 serial: N/A status: Full
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-7700HQ (-MT-MCP-) arch: Skylake rev.9 cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 22464
           clock speeds: min/max: 800/3800 MHz 1: 3500 MHz 2: 3408 MHz 3: 3499 MHz 4: 3496 MHz
           5: 3461 MHz 6: 3408 MHz 7: 3498 MHz 8: 3504 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GP106M [GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile] bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1c20
           Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 ) drivers: nouveau (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.02hz
           OpenGL: renderer: NV136 version: 4.3 Mesa 18.0.5 (compat-v: 3.0) Direct Render: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel CM238 HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a171
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-20-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCIE Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
           IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Intel Wireless 8265 / 8275 driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:24fd
           IF: wlp4s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1128.2GB (2.8% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: SanDisk_SD8SN8U1 size: 128.0GB serial: <filter>
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: HGST_HTS721010A9 size: 1000.2GB serial: <filter>
Partition: ID-1: / size: 456G used: 29G (7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb3
RAID:      System: supported: N/A
           No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
           Unused Devices: none
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 53.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0
Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
           deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com tara main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
           deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-security main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http: //archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ bionic partner
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list
           deb [arch=amd64] https: //repo.skype.com/deb stable main
Info:      Processes: 242 Uptime: 25 min Memory: 2178.2/15996.1MB
           Init: systemd v: 237 runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 7.3.0 Client: Unknown python3.6 client inxi: 2.3.56

[Flemur]

It seems that pressing the mute key and unpressing it will make the audio no longer work for the session.

I had that happen and it was a pulseaudio issue; after muting with "amixer" (alsa) I had to unmute with pavucontrol. If you don't have it, intstall it:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol

Run it and see if you can un-mute:

Code: Select all

pavucontrol

[trytip]

maybe your laptop has some kill-switch that isn't detected automatically. when that happens delete everything in .config/pulse/ folder and then open Terminal to run pulseaudio -k give it a few seconds to regenerate. (if you have .config/pulse/ open you'll see the new files being added. wait for the second addition of files before trying to test sound again)

[artdigy]

Thanks guys! I will try these suggestions. I am curious though, is it just the added audio comparability with Mint that allows it to work sometimes? I didn't think my sound card would end up being compatible at all. I'll be honest, I was so used to not hearing sound, it took me five seconds to register that Mint recognized my sound card

[artdigy]

Under close examination, it seems that the problem has resolved itself (permanently) as every reboot thus far seems to have it working, now. And it confuses the hell out of me on how things don't load the same all the time. I will be marking this as solved, I guess.