Ubuntu

Need to reset audio driver in Ubuntu 16 to get sound back

Asked by Jason

I purchased a Windows laptop and replaced Windows with Ubuntu 16.

I experienced the low audio volume issue, where sound is only about 25% as loud in Ubuntu as it was in Windows, even with all settings at their max (with sound > 100% enabled as well). Since the other AskUbuntu solutions I found for this issue didn't work, I tried to install RealTek's linux codecs, as that is was is used in Windows.

Following the instructions in the INSTALL file, I ran ./configure then make then make install and rebooted. Now I have no sound whatsoever and in the Sound Settings menu the "Default audio device" which appeared before under "Play sound through..." has been replaced with "Dummy output".

At this point I would be happy just to go back to the way things were before.

How can I restore the defaults?

I've tried about a dozen different things based on Internet research, but none have worked. I've uninstalled and reinstalled everything related to ASLA, forced reloaded, installed the DKMS driver, etc, etc, etc. All I have in my Sound menu is a Dummy Output. I just need Ubuntu to go through the same process it did at install time to detect the sound card and install it.

 here's the output from lspci -v | grep -A7 -i "audio":

    00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
      Subsystem: Lenovo 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller
      Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 255
      Memory at f1510000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
      Capabilities: <access denied>
      Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel

    00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
      Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16

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Jason (millerintllc) said : 		#1

ALSA doesn't see anything to load or unload.

The reason the RealTek install didn't work (I think) is that their driver is not available for my kernel.

sudo modprobe snd-hda-intel

    modprobe: ERROR: ../libkmod/libkmod-module.c:192 kmod_module_parse_depline() ctx=0x563319b75030 path=/lib/modules/4.4.0-47-generic/kernel/sound/pci/hda/snd-hda-codec.ko error=No such file or directory modprobe: ERROR: ../libkmod/libkmod-module.c:192 kmod_module_parse_depline() ctx=0x563319b75030 path=/lib/modules/4.4.0-47-generic/kernel/sound/pci/hda/snd-hda-codec.ko error=No such file or directory modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'snd_hda_intel': Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

There is no Ubuntu 16. There is Ubuntu 16.04 which is the latest LTS release, and 16.10 which is the latest stable version but is not LTS.

What is the output of:

lsb_release -a

Thanks

Revision history for this message
Jason (millerintllc) said : 		#3

Hi

I got this fixed last night and will update this thread accordingly shortly. Thanks!

Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 27, 2016, at 9:28 AM, actionparsnip <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> Your question #404421 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/404421
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> actionparsnip requested more information:
> There is no Ubuntu 16. There is Ubuntu 16.04 which is the latest LTS
> release, and 16.10 which is the latest stable version but is not LTS.
>
> What is the output of:
>
> lsb_release -a
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following page:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/404421
>
> You received this question notification because you asked the question.

Revision history for this message
Jason (millerintllc) said : 		#4

Here's the solution:

sudo aptitude --purge reinstall linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils linux-image-`uname -r` linux-ubuntu-modules-`uname -r` libasound2