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gnome-volume-control does not recognise external hardware. My headphones work nonetheless, but an external microphone does not. External microphones used to work, but at times were temperamental - I would have to login or logout with or without microphone plugged in.

I am running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) on an mSi U100 wind notebook with one Intel soundcard and trying to use a jack microphone which has worked previously. USB microphones have also been problematic.

I have done the basics:

  • Installed upgrades.
  • Checked nothing is muted.
  • Looked for the device on gnome-volume-control.
  • Tried using a different microphone that works on a friends computer.
  • Tested my microphone works when using a different computer.
  • Checked my soundcard can be seen (cat /proc/asound/cards).

I have done more complicated things:

  • I have tried playing around with settings in alsamixer. Nothing is muted. I can adjust "mic" and "internal mic" regardless of whether an external microphone is plugged in. I have the choice of input source from "mic", "front mic", "line" and "CD". I've played around changing this and it hasn't helped. I only have one CAPTURE option.

    • In gnome-sound-recorder I have the choice of line, microphone 1 and microphone 2. I have played around changing this option. None of these pick up sound from the external microphone. Microphone 2 is the microphone on my laptop which is bad quality.

    • In gnome-sound-recorder I have the choice of different profiles, and changing this has not helped either.

    • I have looked at gstreamer-properties but none of that seemed helpful.

I don't know if there a way to check if these external devices are being picked up. I would like to make an external microphone work. Please help!

5 Answers 5

5

My computer, compaq CQ45-118A, intel sound card.

Since ubuntu 10.04 to 11.04, I have added to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf the following lines and worked for me:

options snd-pcsp index=-2

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel

options snd-hda-intel model=dell-m4-1

options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=1

options snd-hda-intel position_fix=1 enable=yes
1
  • You just made me very happy!!
    – Pringles
    Mar 9, 2012 at 23:11
2

I found a solution, and uploaded a screencast to YouTube.

  1. Install alsa-tools-gui package.
  2. Run hdajackretask.
  3. At the top, the Realtek analog codec will be already selected. In my case, it was Realtek ALC270.
  4. Pay attention to the left panel (Pin configuration). In my case, it showed only 3 connected pins: Internal Mic, Internal speaker, Headphone. Note that it is missing a pin for the external microphone.
  5. Check: ☑ Show unconnected pins.
  6. Several new pins will show up at the left panel. For each one that is Not connected:
    • Check ☑ Override.
    • Look for a Microphone option at the drop-down box.
    • If there no Microphone in that box, then uncheck ☐ Override and try the next pin.
    • If there is a Microphone option, select it, and go to step 7.
  7. You should now have one pin that was previously unconnected but now is overridden as a microphone. Click on Apply now and enter your password.
  8. If you receive an error message about Device or resource busy, close any applications that are using the sound card (e.g. close alsamixer).
  9. If you receive a success message: Ok, now go ahead and test to see if it actually worked!, do what it says and test it!
  10. If it worked, click on Install boot override and enter your password again. If it did not work, uncheck ☐ Override and go back to step 6.

In my case, overriding pin 0x18 to Microphone fixed the issue for me.

4
  • I tried it but it didn't worked for me :(
    – Lokesh
    May 27, 2017 at 9:28
  • Didn't worked on Linux Mint 19.1, in Acer Aspire E 15.
    – Matt Mello
    Apr 5, 2020 at 16:15
  • @MattMello I have the same device+OS configuration. were you able to get it working? May 1, 2020 at 7:22
  • @vijayvithal Yes! Check out my answer below. It worked for me in the first time, following the mentioned video.
    – Matt Mello
    May 5, 2020 at 18:16
1

Had the same issue with Kubuntu 20.4. Tried unmuting it on alsamixer but tht didn't quite solve the problem.
As it turned out, Pulse Audio wasn't identifying the front panel because of the audio controller profile, so i googled a little bit and found this post and was able to solve the problem. Here goes a TL;DR:

  • First open up Pulse Audio Volume Control by typing in a terminal: pavucontrol (if you don't have it installed, just do a: sudo apt install pavucontrol)
  • On the Configuration tab, change the audio controller device to Analog Stereo Duplex.
  • Go to the desired input/output device tab, plug your device into the front panel and identify wether your device is recognized or not. If it isn't, then the next steps might not solve your problem.
  • As changes made in Pulse Audio's GUI aren't permanent, we have to make them this way by editing a pulse audio config file.
  • In a terminal, type sudo vim ~/.config/pulse/default.pa. If you are not familiar with vi or vim, replace it with a text editor you are familiar with.
  • Append the following strings to the configuration file:
### Set Built-in Audio (HDA Intel) profile to Analog Stereo Duplex
set-card-profile 1 output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo
  • Save the file, reboot and enjoy you system!
0

The only solution to make microphone work is to install linux-backports-modules-alsa-generic.

Just go to:

Menu > System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager

And search and mark for installation:

linux-backports-modules-alsa-generic

Tip: if you have multiple versions click on the first and read the description which should inform what name to install.

If after the reboot and mic mute is off, still does not work, just go to terminal and type:

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

and add or change the following:

options snd-hda-intel model=auto enable=yes

Then Ctrl+X, type Y to write and exit, reboot and mic will work.

0

Since the other answers didn't work for my Acer Aspire E5-574-592S, I've tried another way, following this video.

It has been tested on:

  • Linux Mint 19.1 (Cinnamon)
  • Manjaro 5.8.6-1 (Gnome)

Steps:

  1. Locate the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf file
    • if it doesn't exist, create it by running in a terminal: sudo touch /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf;
  2. Edit it:
    • By terminal: sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
    • By graphical interface: sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf. (Note: if you don't have gedit try xed or simliar in your distro.)
  3. Add the following lines:
# Fix External microphone connected via combo jack on Ubuntu 16.04+ (video)
options snd-hda-intel model=dell-headset-multi
options snd-hda-intel position fix=1

I've tested it on Linux Mint 19.1 and Manjaro 5.6.8-1. On Manjaro, that is the window that pops up when I plug an external mic: External input selector

4
  • 1
    I have ES1 523 49c0, This did not work for me :( Microphone used to work when I had centos 7 on this laptop. So it looks like a mint/ubuntu issue May 1, 2020 at 7:51
  • @vijayvithal I've added my alsabase.conf to help you get a solution. Hope it helps you!
    – Matt Mello
    May 5, 2020 at 18:34
  • 1
    Not sure why this was downvoted, it actually worked for me, on Fedora 35. Thank you @MattMello A question, do you know why the model has to be model=dell-headset-multi? I'm using HyperX Cloud Stinger headset, so no idea why dell-headset fixes this issue for me. Apr 26, 2022 at 19:48
  • @DarkoTasevski I suppose the reason is the module/driver name present in linux kernel... By the way, some weeks ago when using Linux Mint 20, it stopped working again ¬¬ . Then, the Emanuel Tav's answer worked incredibly well ¯\_(^.^)_/¯.
    – Matt Mello
    Jul 20, 2022 at 1:56

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