Ubuntu
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HP Elitebook 840 G1 - 19.10 - Microphone mute key does not work

Asked by Simple Machine

I just installed Ubuntu 19.10 on my HP Elitebook 840 G1. Switching from Windows to Ubuntu for personal use.

The mic does not enable/disable with FN+F8 combo and the light is constantly on.

I found the following solution to my problem. However, I do not know how to implement it in Ubuntu 19.10 (new to Ubuntu and generally not as techinical).
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HP_EliteBook_840_G1#Enable_the_microphone_muting_key

1. Would greatly appreciate if someone could point me to step by step instructions to install the code from the link above. I can report back if this resolve the issue.
2. Also, is there a way to incorporate a fix for this issue with HP laptops in Ubuntu going forward? When I was searching for a fix, I found this to be a widespread issue with various HP laptops and Ubuntu dating back a couple years.

Many thanks.

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Solved by:
Manfred Hampl
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This question was originally filed as bug #1848862.

Revision history for this message
Simple Machine (thesimplemachine) said : 		#1

While this is a bug. It is also a question on how to implement the potential fix identified.

Revision history for this message
Simple Machine (thesimplemachine) said : 		#2

Updated repost from bug with regards to ubuntu 20.04

I updated the laptop to Ubuntu 20.04. The mic still does not enable/disable with FN+F8 combo and the light is constantly on. I haven't been able to implement in the following link (due to lack of technical know how):
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HP_EliteBook_840_G1#Enable_the_microphone_muting_key

I run "sudo showkey -s" in terminal to test the output for the Fn+F8 combination I do not see any output.

Other key press combinations show outputs. For example pressing Fn+F7 shows "0xe0 0x30 0xe0 0xb0"

Revision history for this message
Best Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#3

An attempt to translate the Arch Linux instruction into Ubuntu terms:

open a terminal window and issue the command

gedit ~/61-hp-mic-mute-hotkey.hwdb

add the two lines from the archlinux wiki into the file (starting with evadm and ending with F20)
save the file and close the editor

issue the commands

sudo cp ~/61-hp-mic-mute-hotkey.hwdb /lib/udev/hwdb.d/
sudo systemd-hwdb update
sudo udevadm trigger
rm ~/61-hp-mic-mute-hotkey.hwdb

Disclaimer: I do not have such hardware, so I cannot test this myself. No warranty given. I hope that there are no adverse effects.

If you want to undo the changes, do the following:
sudo rm /lib/udev/hwdb.d/61-hp-mic-mute-hotkey.hwdb
sudo systemd-hwdb update
sudo udevadm trigger

Revision history for this message
Simple Machine (thesimplemachine) said : 		#4

I am stuck at the step after running sudo cp ~/61-hp-mic-mute-hotkey.hwdb /lib/udev/hwdb.d/

I get the following message:
cp: missing destination file operand after '/home/ub/61-hp-mic-mute-hotkey.hwdb/lib/udev/hwdb.d/'

Revision history for this message
Simple Machine (thesimplemachine) said : 		#5

Actually my bad.

I typed (didn't put a space): sudo cp ~/61-hp-mic-mute-hotkey.hwdb/lib/udev/hwdb.d/
Instead of this(with space): sudo cp ~/61-hp-mic-mute-hotkey.hwdb /lib/udev/hwdb.d/

I was able to follow the rest of the code above and resolve my problem.

Mute ON (Fn+F8):
- Screen shows "internal microphone" mute symbol
- Microphone mutes
- The microphone mute orange light on F8 key comes on

Mute OFF (Fn+F8)
- Screen shows "internal microphone" activate symbol
- Microphone activiates
- The microphone mute orange light on F8 key goes off

Thanks so much for your help @m-hampl

The microphone now mutes with Fn+F8. When the microphone is muted the organge light on the F8 key comes on. When the microphone is unmuted the Fn+F8 light goes off.

Revision history for this message
Simple Machine (thesimplemachine) said : 		#6

Thanks Manfred Hampl, that solved my question.

Revision history for this message
Simple Machine (thesimplemachine) said : 		#7

Btw, I added this solution to https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=207487

Hopefully, this will get implemented in the kernel in the future so it works out of the box.

Revision history for this message
Simple Machine (thesimplemachine) said : 		#8

I also added the issue and solution to systemd github
https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/15774