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I installed Ubuntu 20.04 on my Dell XPS 7390 this weekend and can't seem to get the soundcard working which, according to the BIOS, comes with a Realtek ALC3271 controller. pavucontrol doesn't show any sinks or sources except a dummy output. Here's what I've tried and have been able to find out so far:

$ pacmd list-cards
0 card(s) available.

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: sofhdadsp [sof-hda-dsp], Device 0: HDA Analog (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: sofhdadsp [sof-hda-dsp], Device 1: HDA Digital (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: sofhdadsp [sof-hda-dsp], Device 3: HDMI1 (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: sofhdadsp [sof-hda-dsp], Device 4: HDMI2 (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: sofhdadsp [sof-hda-dsp], Device 5: HDMI3 (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

(No sign of the internal soundcard here.)

Output of hwinfo:

$ hwinfo --sound
19: PCI 1f.3: 0403 Audio device                                 
  [Created at pci.386]
  Unique ID: nS1_.MDj4I2BvgV7
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3
  SysFS BusID: 0000:00:1f.3
  Hardware Class: sound
  Model: "Intel Audio device"
  Vendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
  Device: pci 0x02c8 
  SubVendor: pci 0x1028 "Dell"
  SubDevice: pci 0x0962 
  Driver: "sof-audio-pci"
  Driver Modules: "snd_sof_pci"
  Memory Range: 0x604b118000-0x604b11bfff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  Memory Range: 0x604b000000-0x604b0fffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  IRQ: 170 (1726 events)
  Module Alias: "pci:v00008086d000002C8sv00001028sd00000962bc04sc03i80"
  Driver Info #0:
    Driver Status: snd_hda_intel is active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe snd_hda_intel"
  Driver Info #1:
    Driver Status: snd_sof_pci is active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe snd_sof_pci"
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

Audio-related output of lspci:

$ sudo lspci -v
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Device 02c8 (prog-if 80)
        Subsystem: Dell Device 0962
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 64, IRQ 170
        Memory at 604b118000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Memory at 604b000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [80] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 <?>
        Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
        Kernel driver in use: sof-audio-pci
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel, snd_sof_pci

Weirdly enough, as I'm writing this post, the output of $ sudo lspci -v is changing. When I executed it again a minute ago, the audio-relevant output suddenly was

$ sudo lspci -v
00:15.1 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Comet Lake Serial IO I2C Host Controller
        Subsystem: Dell Device 0962
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
        Memory at 4010001000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [virtual] [size=4K]
...skipping...
        Kernel driver in use: sof-audio-pci
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel, snd_sof_pci

and there was no sign of the 02c8 device from above. But as of right now it's again back to "normal" (i.e. the previous output, see above).

Meanwhile, the output of dmesg hasn't changed at all and, as far as I can tell, it's reporting that everything is fine:

$ dmesg | grep audio
[   14.047977] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: DSP detected with PCI class/subclass/prog-if info 0x040380
[   14.047988] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[   14.048210] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: DSP detected with PCI class/subclass/prog-if 0x040380
[   14.048290] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
[   14.054734] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: use msi interrupt mode
[   14.118496] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: hda codecs found, mask 5
[   14.118498] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: using HDA machine driver skl_hda_dsp_generic now
[   14.213711] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: Firmware info: version 1:4:2-66a5a
[   14.213712] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: Firmware: ABI 3:11:0 Kernel ABI 3:13:0
[   14.213970] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: firmware boot complete
[   14.216836] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: Topology: ABI 3:11:0 Kernel ABI 3:13:0
[   14.216840] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 7 name iDisp3 Tx not handled
[   14.219998] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 0 name codec0_in not handled
[   14.220000] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 7 name iDisp2 Tx not handled
[   14.221323] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 0 name codec1_in not handled
[   14.221324] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 7 name iDisp1 Tx not handled
[   14.222260] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 1 name codec0_out not handled
[   14.222263] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 7 name Analog CPU Playback not handled
[   14.223154] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 1 name codec1_out not handled
[   14.223156] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 7 name Digital CPU Playback not handled
[   14.223157] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 0 name codec2_in not handled
[   14.223159] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 7 name Alt Analog CPU Playback not handled
[   14.223160] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 1 name codec2_out not handled
[   14.223161] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 0 name Analog CPU Capture not handled
[   14.224026] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 1 name iDisp1_out not handled
[   14.224028] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 0 name Digital CPU Capture not handled
[   14.224870] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 1 name iDisp2_out not handled
[   14.224872] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 0 name Alt Analog CPU Capture not handled
[   14.225704] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 1 name iDisp3_out not handled
[   14.229492] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: ASoC: Parent card not yet available, widget card binding deferred
[   14.246407] snd_hda_codec_realtek ehdaudio0D0: autoconfig for ALC3271: line_outs=1 (0x17/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0) type:speaker
[   14.246408] snd_hda_codec_realtek ehdaudio0D0:    speaker_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[   14.246409] snd_hda_codec_realtek ehdaudio0D0:    hp_outs=1 (0x21/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[   14.246409] snd_hda_codec_realtek ehdaudio0D0:    mono: mono_out=0x0
[   14.246410] snd_hda_codec_realtek ehdaudio0D0:    inputs:
[   14.246410] snd_hda_codec_realtek ehdaudio0D0:      Headset Mic=0x19
[   14.246411] snd_hda_codec_realtek ehdaudio0D0:      Headphone Mic=0x1b
[   14.246412] snd_hda_codec_realtek ehdaudio0D0:      Internal Mic=0x12
[   14.295052] snd_hda_codec_realtek ehdaudio0D0: ASoC: sink widget AIF1TX overwritten
[   14.295055] snd_hda_codec_realtek ehdaudio0D0: ASoC: source widget AIF1RX overwritten
[ 3180.256625] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: firmware boot complete

What I've tried so far:

  • Add options snd-hda-intel model=generic to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
  • Add options snd-hda-intel model=auto to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
  • Disable the soundcard in the BIOS, boot Ubuntu, restart & enable the soundcard in the BIOS again, boot Ubuntu again (as recommended here)

Possibly related (or similar) issues:

1 Answer 1

2

I was able to fix the sound card not being detected on a Dell XPS 13 7390 running Xubuntu 20.04 by adding snd_hda_intel.dmic_detect=0 to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT entry of /etc/default/grub.

Example entry of /etc/default/grub:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash mem_sleep_default=deep snd_hda_intel.dmic_detect=0"

After editing the file simply run sudo update-grub and reboot.

Note: only the snd_hda_intel.dmic_detect parameter is related to the sound card issue. You can find other useful tweaks for this machine (such as the mem_sleep_default one) in this Debian wiki article.

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  • Thanks, I'll give this a try! What exactly does passing this parameter do?
    – balu
    Jul 19, 2020 at 19:04
  • It worked! (Although I'm hearing quite a bit of noise but I suppose that must be the mediocre sound chip.)
    – balu
    Jul 19, 2020 at 21:48
  • @balu the parameter supposedly disables microphone detection of Intel's digital microphone array only correctly supported by the Intel's SOF driver, more here, here and here. Internal mic works for me though.
    – M4he
    Jul 20, 2020 at 5:52
  • @balu I also notice some very faint white noise on the 7390's 3,5mm jack while the audio port is active when no sound is currently playing. Does not seem to scale with output volume. Only noticable to me when it's really quiet in the room, almost negligible (using Apple earpods).
    – M4he
    Jul 20, 2020 at 6:04
  • What worked for me was adding this entry and then removing it. When I added and rebooted, all sound went away, no sound even from the speakers. But then I restored it as it was earlier and rebooted again. Then the headphones started working. Thanks!
    – nikhil
    Mar 19, 2021 at 23:49

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