Chromebook audio output error

Linux Mint
1

Hi

I was gifted an old ChromeBook, and tried several Linux Distro’s out.
All had the same problem NO sound from the speakers.

Reverted to Chrome, waited a year and tried MrChromeBox again.
Installed Linux Mint Wilma.

The sound does work, Audacity plays ogg files.
Other players ditto.

The audio output is upto 4 HDMI devices, which the ChromeBook doesn’t have, it has a pair of Bang and Olufsen speakers.

HWID. 4GB RAM, 32 GB eMMC storage.

HP ChromeBook 14db0003na
Prod ID: 5AS60EA#ABU
CAREENA C5B-A4I-C4P-43A-L6Y-A3A-A47).

2019/01/06 HP HP Chromebook 14 (db0000-db0999) careena grunt grunt x86_64 4.14 x86_64 Stoney Ridge Chromebook.

HOW2 force the config of Alsa (or similar) to change from the HDMI output to internal speakers?

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2

You use the pulseaudio volume control gui.
Mint should have pulseaudio running, as well as alsa.
Alsa is lower level than PA… mostly drivers.
The pavu gui is a beast in my opinion… I never get it right first try… beware of locks on channels… you have to define an input and at least one output.

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Hi

ChromeBook audio 1
ChromeBook audio 11920×526 125 KB

I hope that the above piccie explains things better than I can.

NOTHING I have tried has ever worked.

I am unable to ID or even trace any internal audio devices.

I had hoped that a later kernel would be better than a year ago, but sadly no.

Any other ideas?

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ChromeBook audio 2
ChromeBook audio 21920×683 268 KB

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ChromeBook audio 3
ChromeBook audio 31920×823 303 KB

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you have it on input devices
what does Pavucontrol have under output devices? … is that those HDMI’s in last reply.

If your internal audio is not in pavu output devices, you need to look lower level …

  • does alsa show anything?
  • does the Mint detect any internal audio device when booting… look at dmesg… it is quite a long listing… scroll thru it carefully with dmesg | more
  • use lshw you might have to install it.
  • somehow you need to find the name of the driver for your internal audio, then check with lsmod to see if the kernel loaded the driver.

If you get that far and there is no driver loaded, let us know and we can show you how to force the kernel to load a driver.

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Hi

Thank you so much.

I have scrolled thru dmesg and came up with a clue.

Putting the clue into an ai engine I got Carrizo 15b3 DUMMY as the built into the chip sound device, and it has an Intel driver.

So I am trying the amdgpu range of possible drivers, like amdgpu-dkms.

I know not the outcome as a module is being built, and it is inordinately slow.

But I believe it is progress thanks to you.

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8

Yes, modules need to be compiled.
When it comes to adding a module to the kernel

  • you can load it dynamically while linux is running , with the modprobe command. That is temporary, it disappears on reboot. Do this first to test it
  • you can make it autoload at boot time by putting its name in /etc/modules. Do this when tested and you know it works.

Great work so far.

At least that means the card is recognised at boot time.

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9

Hi

Thanks.

I will do a clean install of Mint and ask again so that I try things in a more ordered fashion.

Thanks for your patience.

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I have done this in multiple chromebooks. Check out https://askubuntu.com/questions/1486278/how-to-install-chromebook-audio-drivers-in-ubuntu

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Hi Archisman @archismanp ,
Your script is very interesting, congrats.

Jorge

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@Tech_JA The script is not mine. It is maintained by WeirdTreeThing on GitHub. I found it when I was trying to install Ubuntu on my Chromebook and then I wrote about it (also, other chromebook questions) on Ask Ubuntu.

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Hi Archisman,
Thanks for the correction. :+1:

Jorge

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