Lost Sound in Ubuntu 23.04

Tech_JA · September 30, 2023, 7:59pm

Hi KenS,
Thanks for your reply.
While I try to find a solution on other forums or one of the It’s FOSS members may be able to help,
can you do one more test?
MX Linux 23 has PipeWire.
Can you run a live distro and check if you get sound from the speakers?

If you have audio,run the following commands:

hostnamectl | grep -iE "Operating System|Kernel"

and

pactl list sinks

Please put the result here

Thank you

Jorge

EDIT:

Because your RaspPi “should” have a different code.
Try run on your RaspPi the following command:

cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#0 | grep -i Codec

I have found several posts on the net asking for help for no audio on HP OMEN and HP with audio codecs issues.

BTW: Have you updated the UEFI firmware to the latest version?

KenS · October 1, 2023, 7:42pm

Jorge,
No need to pursue this any more. I got a bluetooth sound bar and it works fantastically.

Of course it still nags me that I couldn’t resolve the speaker issue but it was consuming way too much of your time.

Anyway, you are a fantastic man for putting in such an effort to help this old geezer.

Tech_JA · October 1, 2023, 8:18pm

Hi KenS,
I’m sorry I couldn’t help you.
I’m glad to hear that it works well with the Bluetooth sound bar, but in my opinion, you should create a post about of a possible bug in Bugs: Ubuntu, because there are a lot of people complaining about sound problems with HP, Ubuntu and PipeWire.

Jorge

KenS · October 1, 2023, 8:44pm

What the heck, I can’t stand being defeated …and getting obsessive - LOL
Tommorow, I will try to create a live distro mX Linux 23 and do the test and report back.
Here is the test from the Pi:

t~$ cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#0 | grep -i Codec
cat: /proc/asound/card0/codec#0: No such file or directory

Tech_JA · October 1, 2023, 9:36pm

Hi KenS,
Sorry: the error you got was my mistake. I’ve been testing the command on my RaspPi and it doesn’t have the Codec. I’ll have to check the raspberry’s configuration carefully.

What I want with all these tests:

Find out if Fast Boot is Disabled (ok);
To know if UEFI has the latest update;
Know the kernel version of your PC (Kernel: Linux 6.5.0-5-generic);
Know the kernel version of MX Linux;
Know your Ubuntu audio codec (ALC1220);
Know your Ubuntu PipeWire configuration (ok);
Know the MX Linux PipeWire configuration;

If MX Linux audio works, try to find the difference between MX and Ubuntu configuration.

Jorge

daniel.m.tripp · October 2, 2023, 2:50am

They’ve taken the 3.5 mm “combo” (combo 'cause it can also do analog video) 3.5 mm jack off the RPi 5 - so if you want audio you have to either get it through HDMI, or use a “hat”, or a USB sound device…

Note : I’ve seen pipewire running on my Pi Zero 2 W… Why? I think 'cause I installed a desktop (OLWM I think)… But the Pi Zero series don’t even have an audio jack…

Tech_JA · October 2, 2023, 3:40am

Hi Daniel,
I think the RaspPi Zero 2 W has audio via HDMI.
One of the PipeWire sinks I have on my PC is for HDMI.
I think OLWM installed PipeWire because of HDMI, but I’ll have to read more about RaspPi/PipeWire

Jorge

KenS · October 3, 2023, 7:34pm

Jorge,
I finally got a chance to create and test live MX and it DID have pretty decent audio volume.

Here are the test results that I got from MX. I hope it reveals the issue with Ubuntu failure.

demo@mx1:~
$ hostnamectl | grep -iE "Operating System|Kernel"
System has not been booted with systemd as init system (PID 1). Can't operate.
Failed to connect to bus: Host is down
demo@mx1:~
$ pactl list sinks
Sink #47
	State: SUSPENDED
	Name: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo
	Description: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
	Driver: PipeWire
	Sample Specification: s32le 2ch 48000Hz
	Channel Map: front-left,front-right
	Owner Module: 4294967295
	Mute: no
	Volume: front-left: 66152 / 101% / 0.24 dB,   front-right: 66152 / 101% / 0.24 dB
	        balance 0.00
	Base Volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	Monitor Source: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo.monitor
	Latency: 0 usec, configured 0 usec
	Flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY 
	Properties:
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.device = "0"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		alsa.id = "ALC1220 Analog"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0x6411130000 irq 201"
		alsa.name = "ALC1220 Analog"
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		api.alsa.card.longname = "HDA Intel PCH at 0x6411130000 irq 201"
		api.alsa.card.name = "HDA Intel PCH"
		api.alsa.path = "front:0"
		api.alsa.pcm.card = "0"
		api.alsa.pcm.stream = "playback"
		audio.channels = "2"
		audio.position = "FL,FR"
		card.profile.device = "8"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		device.id = "42"
		device.profile.description = "Analog Stereo"
		device.profile.name = "analog-stereo"
		device.routes = "2"
		factory.name = "api.alsa.pcm.sink"
		media.class = "Audio/Sink"
		device.description = "Built-in Audio"
		node.name = "alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo"
		node.nick = "ALC1220 Analog"
		node.pause-on-idle = "false"
		object.path = "alsa:pcm:0:front:0:playback"
		priority.driver = "1009"
		priority.session = "1009"
		factory.id = "18"
		clock.quantum-limit = "8192"
		client.id = "35"
		node.driver = "true"
		factory.mode = "merge"
		audio.adapt.follower = ""
		library.name = "audioconvert/libspa-audioconvert"
		object.id = "47"
		object.serial = "47"
		node.max-latency = "16384/48000"
		api.alsa.period-size = "1024"
		api.alsa.period-num = "32"
		api.alsa.headroom = "0"
		api.acp.auto-port = "false"
		api.acp.auto-profile = "false"
		api.alsa.card = "0"
		api.alsa.use-acp = "true"
		api.dbus.ReserveDevice1 = "Audio0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1f.3"
		device.enum.api = "udev"
		device.form_factor = "internal"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-analog-pci"
		device.name = "alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3"
		device.nick = "HDA Intel PCH"
		device.plugged.usec = "13107428"
		device.product.id = "0x7a50"
		device.subsystem = "sound"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0"
		device.vendor.id = "0x8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.string = "0"
	Ports:
		analog-output-lineout: Line Out (type: Line, priority: 9000, availability group: Legacy 5, available)
		analog-output-headphones: Headphones (type: Headphones, priority: 9900, availability group: Legacy 6, not available)
	Active Port: analog-output-lineout
	Formats:
		pcm

Tech_JA · October 5, 2023, 10:21pm

Hi KenS,
Thank you for your tests and reply.

I can’t find any differences in the sink of your Ubuntu on your PC and MX Linux.

I ran some tests with the live distros of Ubuntu 22.04.3, Ubuntu 23.04 and MX Linux 23 and these are the results I got:

Ubuntu 22.04.3: Kernel 6.2.0-26-generic and uses PulseAudio;
Ubuntu 23.04: Kernel 6.2.0-20-generic and uses PipeWire;
MX Linux 23 : Kernel 6.1.0-10-amd64 and uses PipeWire;

In short, this was your feedback:

Initially, you were using Ubuntu 23.04 and using PipeWire and you had no sound from the speakers;
Then you installed Ubuntu Mantic Minotaur (development branch) and uses PipeWire with kernel 6.5.0-5-generic and still no sound from the speakers;
Next, you tested Ubuntu 23.04 distro live, with kernel 6.2.0-20-generic and uses PipeWire and no sound from the speakers;
You also tested Ubuntu 22.04.3 distro Live , with kernel 6.2.0-26-generic and uses PulseAudio but you never got any sound from the speakers.
Finally, you tested MxLinux 23, I couldn’t find the kernel due to my error, but if you downloaded it before testing it, it was kernel 6.1.0-10 and it uses PipeWire and you got sound from the speakers.

In table format, easier to read:

Distro	Kernel	Audio Server	Sound in the speakers
Ubuntu Mantic Minotaur	kernel 6.5.0-5-generic	PipeWire	NO
Ubuntu 23.04 Live Distro	kernel 6.2.20-generic	PipeWire	NO
Ubuntu 22.04 Live Distro	kernel 6.2.0-26-generic	PulseAudio	NO
Mx Linux Live Distro	kernel 6.10.0-10-amd64(?)	PipeWire	YES

If you want, run MX Linux Live Distro again and run the following command to find out which kernel has sound in the speakers:

uname -a

The MX Linux 23 you tested must be using the LTS 6.1X.XX kernel

I believe the fault may be with the kernel, and I recommend you to use LTS, as Neville mentioned in one of his earlier posts:

The latest LTS kernel is 6.1, As you can see from this list: Longterm release kernels

When the grub menu appears, select “Advanced” and see if you have kernel 6.1X.XX installed.
If you have, select that one, run it and see if you have running sound. If not, install the kernel 6.1X.XX , reboot the PC and in the grub menu, under “advanced” choose the kernel 6.1x.x you have installed, run it and see if you have audio.

If I may ask you a question:
Have you made any other changes to your PC other than those requested here on the forum?
I’m very confused by some of the results

Jorge

KenS · October 6, 2023, 1:33am

Jorge,
I don’t recollect any changes to my computer other than O/S updates as they became available, adding Cinnamon desktop environment, and other well regarded non audio software that (before the issue raised its ugly head).

KenS · October 7, 2023, 10:54pm

I found the issue: It was Thunar that was the culprit. Not only was it interfering with sound but also file transfers on my LAN.

My sincere THANKS to Jorge and everyone else for your efforts.

abhishek · October 9, 2023, 4:57am

That’s interesting. Did you remove Thunar to fix it? Do share it with us so that it helps rest of us.

It’s my guess that you experimented with a lot of things (desktop environments) and it may have resulted in a conflict.

And special thanks to @Tech_JA for putting so much effort in trying to resolve the issue.

KenS · October 9, 2023, 12:24pm

Yes, I used Synaptic Full removal so that was got rid of Thunar & its dependencies.

I had no idea that Thunar also controlled some audio functions and Synaptic revealed this when I did the full removal.

I run Thunar and the Cinnamon desktop combination on my Raspberry Pi 4 that is running Ubuntu 23.04 and it works well. After upgrading my PC to Ubuntu 23.04, I tested it and all seemed good so I added Cinnamon then weeks later Thunar. I just never made the connection that Thunar, being a file manager, caused the audio issue.

BTW, this site is FANTASTIC!!!

nevj · October 9, 2023, 1:01pm

That is a rather untidy violation of the Unix principle… " a program should do one job and do it well"

KenS · October 9, 2023, 1:45pm

This was an eye opener for me.