Ubuntu
alsa-driver package

Soundcard Detected : No sound, audio apps always paused

Asked by The Great Gazauga

https://alsa-project.org/db/?f=069e93fb6e08d84272f1eac8353b0bb364d82621

I see my sound card(s) listed. The built in speaker/headphone jack is one and the HDMI port is the other.

They play nothing. No audio can play, not even without sound. Any app that tries to play audio remains paused.

I have already done this: https://forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Computers-Tablets/Ubuntu-on-NS-P11W7100/td-p/1221573

When I set up the tablet, I also set up the touchscreen to work as written here: https://eanbowman.com/blog/2019/09/07/how-to-get-the-touchscreen-working-in-xubuntu-linux-on-an-insignia-flex-11-6-tablet/

Is it possible that "snd_soc_sst_cht_bsw_nau8824" is the wrong chipset for my tablet? Do I have to blacklist this one so the one in the BestBuy post can work?

***I figured it out!
What I had to do: Apparently replace the alsa ucm configs... Like, all of them?
Not sure why, but checking out https://github.com/plbossart/UCM and copying the contents of that folder into /usr/share/alsa/ucm/ made my sound work as it had been before.

So not what the instrutions in the Best Buy forum said to do, but it worked.

*** Too quiet issue fix
To fix the audio being too quiet I found out that there is a separate amp controlled by the mic mute in alsamixer at the prompt.
As well, the MIC VOLUMES ARE ALL INVERTED.

Turned up, you'll get super quiet audio. Turn the audio to 00 to get it to max gain. Then you can control the volume properly with the volume rocker in the tablet

What a weird driver/piece of hardware...

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The Great Gazauga
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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

Possibly this
https://forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Computers-Tablets/Ubuntu-on-NS-P11W7100/td-p/1221573

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The Great Gazauga (eanbowman) said : 		#2

@actionparsnip That does *NOT* solve my problem. Didn't solve it one bit. Tried that one 20 times actually. Thanks but why close it?

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The Great Gazauga (eanbowman) said : 		#3

This is really strange since I have also done a fresh install of Xubuntu twice and reset my BIOS to defaults.

The sound worked once in my first install of Xubuntu, where I followed the above tutorial as well as probably some other things I forget now.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#4

I didn't close it. I marked it as answered as I have given an answer....

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The Great Gazauga (eanbowman) said : 		#5

More info: the sound card shows up as you can see in the link in my OP, but it can't play anything and it's missing most of its inputs and outputs. Only the one output is listed for some reason. Seems broken. I can't get it to register the proper sound card at all.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#6

If you use:

alsamixer

In terminal, are all levels maxed and unmuted? Use M to un/mute. ESC to exit and cursor keys as you expect. Use F6 to change the device manipulated.

How are you outputting sound? Speakers in 3.5mm Jack / HDMI?

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The Great Gazauga (eanbowman) said : 		#7

Thanks actionparsnip!

I have run alsamixer and every single time it only lists one muted thing on the screen (or selects the HDMI which has no outputs at all for some reason.

If I press right or left I can navigate to different parts of the broken card. Most levels are muted but unmuting them and turning up the volume does nothing. This all seems like a red herring.

The *big red flag* I see is that any application, be it Firefox or a media player or anything that outputs audio, it all *freezes* the moment you try to play audio. These apps are not able to open an audio stream at all.

That tells me the driver is the wrong one or is in a broken state. Something is very wrong about the setup and it's not volume control.

Hope this helps. (I can't try anything else right now, but if you have any more suggestions I'll be glad to try them in 8 hours, when I' home with the tablet again.)

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The Great Gazauga (eanbowman) said : 		#8

I figured it out myself.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#9

What was the solution please. It may help others

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The Great Gazauga (eanbowman) said : 		#10

@actionparsnip I put the solution in the OP above.

"What I had to do: Apparently replace the alsa ucm configs... Like, all of them?
Not sure why, but checking out https://github.com/plbossart/UCM and copying the contents of that folder into /usr/share/alsa/ucm/ made my sound work as it had been before.

So not what the instrutions in the Best Buy forum said to do, but it worked."

Revision history for this message
The Great Gazauga (eanbowman) said : 		#11

I still have one weird issue: very quiet sound. Was trying to figure that out last night.

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The Great Gazauga (eanbowman) said : 		#12

I still have one weird issue: very quiet sound. Was trying to figure that out last night.