No sound from analog outputs

Issues & Assistance
1

Recently, I removed my old Wifi/Bluetooth card and haven't reinstalled a bluetooth compatible device yet, so I was going to use my analog outputs to my headphones. However, I realized that I have no sound output from the analog outputs. Pipewire was working fine before I started messing with it to try to get analog ouput to work, until I get a bluetooth usb dongle that's what I know. It should work, but isn't. I have no clue on how to troubleshoot pipewire and would like some direction.

inxi -Faz

perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
LANGUAGE = "",
LC_ALL = (unset),
LC_IDENTIFICATION = "en_US.UTF-8",
LC_MEASUREMENT = "en_US.UTF-8",
LC_MONETARY = "en_US.UTF-8",
LC_NAME = "en_US.UTF-8",
LC_NUMERIC = "en_US.UTF-8",
LC_TIME = "nv_US.UTF-8",
LC_ADDRESS = "en_US.UTF-8",
LC_TELEPHONE = "en_US.UTF-8",
LC_PAPER = "en_US.UTF-8",
LANG = "en_US.UTF-8"
are supported and installed on your system.
perl: warning: Falling back to a fallback locale ("en_US.UTF-8").
System:    Kernel: 5.15.6-zen2-1-zen x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen root=UUID=2cfb079f-f81d-4fe4-8aef-5f5eae05b7fe rw
rootflags=subvol=@ quiet
cryptdevice=UUID=c3f4fe1a-aac2-4161-a7e2-d71246f581e2:luks-c3f4fe1a-aac2-4161-a7e2-d71246f581e2
root=/dev/mapper/luks-c3f4fe1a-aac2-4161-a7e2-d71246f581e2 splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1 loglevel=3 sysrq_always_enabled=1 intel_iommu=on
Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.23.4 tk: Qt 5.15.2 info: latte-dock wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda Linux
base: Arch Linux
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: Alienware product: Alienware Area-51 R2 v: N/A serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 3
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Alienware model: 0FRTKJ v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Alienware v: A08 date: 06/08/2016
CPU:       Info: 6-Core model: Intel Core i7-6800K bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Broadwell family: 6 model-id: 4F (79)
stepping: 1 microcode: B00003E cache: L1: 384 KiB L2: 1.5 MiB L3: 15 MiB
flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 81414
Speed: 3507 MHz min/max: 1200/3800 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3507 2: 2846 3: 3294 4: 3149 5: 3409 6: 3357 7: 3457
8: 2787 9: 3246 10: 2334 11: 3260 12: 1887
Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable
Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling
Type: srbds status: Not affected
Type: tsx_async_abort mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
Graphics:  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 [Radeon RX 5600 OEM/5600 XT / 5700/5700 XT] driver: amdgpu
v: kernel bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:731f class-ID: 0300
Device-2: Logitech C922 Pro Stream Webcam type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 3-4:2 chip-ID: 046d:085c
class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.21.1.1 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: l~~~oaded: amdgpu,ati unloaded: modesetting,radeon
alternate: fbdev,vesa display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 677x381mm (26.7x15.0") s-diag: 777mm (30.6")
Monitor-1: DisplayPort-1 res: 2560x1440 hz: 144 dpi: 109 size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.2") diag: 685mm (27")
OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (NAVI10 DRM 3.42.0 5.15.6-zen2-1-zen LLVM 13.0.0) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.5
direct render: Yes
Audio:     Device-1: Intel C610/X99 series HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
chip-ID: 8086:8d20 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 HDMI Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 05:00.1
chip-ID: 1002:ab38 class-ID: 0403
Device-3: Logitech C922 Pro Stream Webcam type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 3-4:2 chip-ID: 046d:085c
class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.6-zen2-1-zen running: yes
Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.19 running: no
Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no
Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.40 running: yes
Network:   Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E220x Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Dell driver: alx v: kernel port: d000
bus-ID: 08:00.0 chip-ID: 1969:e091 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp8s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
IF-ID-1: anbox0 state: down mac: <filter>
IF-ID-2: virbr0 state: down mac: <filter>
RAID:      Hardware-1: Intel SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci v: 3.0 port: f000 bus-ID: 00:1f.2 chip-ID: 8086:2822
rev: N/A class-ID: 0104
Supported mdraid levels: raid0
Device-1: md126 maj-min: 9:126 type: mdraid level: raid-0 status: active size: 10.92 TiB
Info: report: N/A blocks: 11721039872 chunk-size: 128k
Components: Online:
0: sdd maj-min: 8:48 size: 5.46 TiB
1: sdc maj-min: 8:32 size: 5.46 TiB
Device-2: md127 maj-min: 9:127 type: mdraid level: N/A status: inactive size: N/A
Info: report: N/A blocks: 5296 chunk-size: N/A
Components: Online: N/A Spare:
0: sdc maj-min: 8:32 size: 5.46 TiB state: S
1: sdd maj-min: 8:48 size: 5.46 TiB state: S
Drives:    Local Storage: total: raw: 16.49 TiB usable: 5.57 TiB used: 7.64 TiB (137.0%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: LITE-ON model: CV3-CE128-11 SATA 128GB size: 119.24 GiB block-size:
physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 10C scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Toshiba model: DT01ACA200 size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> rev: AC70 scheme: GPT
ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Western Digital model: WD6003FZBX-00K5WB0 size: 5.46 TiB block-size:
physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> rev: 1A01
ID-4: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 vendor: Western Digital model: WD6003FZBX-00K5WB0 size: 5.46 TiB block-size:
physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> rev: 1A01
ID-5: /dev/sde maj-min: 8:64 type: USB vendor: Seagate model: Expansion Desk size: 3.64 TiB block-size:
physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 0915 scheme: GPT
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 118.98 GiB size: 118.98 GiB (100.00%) used: 46.4 GiB (39.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0
maj-min: 254:0 mapped: luks-c3f4fe1a-aac2-4161-a7e2-d71246f581e2
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 260 MiB size: 256 MiB (98.45%) used: 706 KiB (0.3%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 118.98 GiB size: 118.98 GiB (100.00%) used: 46.4 GiB (39.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0
maj-min: 254:0 mapped: luks-c3f4fe1a-aac2-4161-a7e2-d71246f581e2
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 118.98 GiB size: 118.98 GiB (100.00%) used: 46.4 GiB (39.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0
maj-min: 254:0 mapped: luks-c3f4fe1a-aac2-4161-a7e2-d71246f581e2
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 118.98 GiB size: 118.98 GiB (100.00%) used: 46.4 GiB (39.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0
maj-min: 254:0 mapped: luks-c3f4fe1a-aac2-4161-a7e2-d71246f581e2
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 62.7 GiB used: 1.5 MiB (0.0%) priority: 100 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 39.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 54.0 C mem: 62.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 1156
Info:      Processes: 415 Uptime: 17m wakeups: 0 Memory: 62.7 GiB used: 5.7 GiB (9.1%) Init: systemd v: 249 tool: systemctl
Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0 clang: 13.0.0 Packages: pacman: 2063 lib: 566 Shell: fish v: 3.3.1 default: Bash v: 5.1.12
running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.09
2

My first step would be to install and run pavucontrol to check device configuration and make sure they are set to e.g. "Analog output" rather than "Pro audio", and then that the default/fallback device is one that has speakers attached.

1 Like
3

alsamixer will be more feature complete than pavucontrol for device selection and control. However once you've got that set you will want to go back to pavucontrol for basic use and setting the defaults. For example you might have sound but can't hear it. Often times Pulse (pavucontrol) will report the output at unity but really it's like -30db. Alsamixer will show that... pulse is like the faders on the board, alsamixer will be like the real master strip.

4

Just to cover off the obvious, you have the correct analogue output active, it's not on a digital or stray analogue?
Screenshot_2021-12-07-1

Is the appropriate port selected for the output, with the appropriate profile

Screenshot_2021-12-07-2
Screenshot_2021-12-07-21375×683 67.1 KB

5

Does pavucontrol work with pipewire? I have alsamixer setup instead right now. Nothing appears to be muted in alsamixer.

I also double checked the audio settings in KDE to make sure I didn't do something dumb... It is set to the right default device and port with analog stereo duplex.

I would post a screenshot, but I am too new for that yet.

6

Yes. You also could have tried it to find out.

The various GUI tools that support PipeWire will directly interface with the ALSA backend so alsamixer itself doesn’t add anything to the process any more. For example, try altering settings with your DE’s built-in tools or with pavucontrol while you have alsamixer open - settings will change simultaneously.

I’m not sure if you overlooked my original reply; if you did it’s worth revisiting.

7

Yes, well I was wrangling with children. I tried pavucontrol it shows sound being received on that card and port but I still have no sound in my headphones. It shows that line out is plugged in as well, so I am on the right port... which I physically double checked. I tried my headphones/cord combo on my playstation just to double check that as well. I am at a loss.

8

I’ve done some searching around, and everything I’ve seen says that this audio device is supported by the kernel.

Do you have audio on any device?

Is there something like a physical volume switch on the PC case?

Can you test any other speakers or headphones?

Is there a different audio jack that you could connect the jack into (e.g. the green one)?

9

I did the same search, but I think that because it’s an alienware that it might not be completely compatible.

I have sound when using bluetooth. I should be buying an usb bluetooth dongle tomorrow, so I should be able to do further testing.

There is no physical volume switch and I have tested other head phones as well.

I have tried the headphones ports both front and back as well and still have no sound on anything.

For whatever reason, I have no explanation on why this doesn’t work… it should. I have been looking into the auto detect for speakers as well, but everything seems to be working there too.

I went a step further… I decided to use PCI passthrough on my audio device and send it to a different linux distributions. I tried opensuse, ubuntu, and fedora… they all have the same problem. I need to setup a windows vm and see if it just doesn’t work anymore.

10

If you’re testing other distros or OS then it’s worth doing that live rather than in a VM (e.g. something like EndeavourOS would be good to check as it uses a different kernel and set of default applications).

2 Likes
11

What does alsamixer say?

12

I got my bluetooth dongle today and tried the sound... It works great! My only conclusion from this endeavor is that my analog sound outputs on my mobo do not work anymore. I decided to further test this idea by installing and running a native version of windows 10 off an old spare hdd... no sound from analog outputs. :frowning:

Thank you everyone for all your help!!

1 Like
13

Well… broken outputs won’t help… :joy:

14

Hhe yeah physically dead will put a damper on things fo sho but glad it's semi figured out.

15

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