no sound due to error direct firmware load failed for intel/sof-tplg/sof-byt-max98090.tplg

Question

My laptop's built-in speakers aren't working (can't select it as sound output device) in a brand new install of Xubuntu 21.10.

• In pavucontrol (pulseaudio Volume Control) output devices, only "Dummy Output" is displayed.

• pacmd list-sinks lists only "Dummy Output" sink available:

  properties:
      device.description = "Dummy Output"
      device.class = "abstract"
      device.icon_name = "audio-card"
  

• dmesg | grep audio returns a Direct firmware load for intel/sof-tplg/sof-byt-max98090.tplg failed error. The error message refers to downloading firmware from: https://github.com/thesofproject/sof-bin/

  [    4.785674] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
  [    5.105065] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: BYT-CR not detected
  [    5.109471] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: BYT-CR not detected
  [    5.167660] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: Firmware info: version 1:6:0-e9637
  [    5.167669] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: Firmware: ABI 3:17:0 Kernel ABI 3:18:0
  [    7.159766] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: Direct firmware load for intel/sof-tplg/sof-byt-max98090.tplg failed with error -2
  [    7.159781] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: error: tplg request firmware intel/sof-tplg/sof-byt-max98090.tplg failed err: -2
  [    7.159789] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: you may need to download the firmware from https://github.com/thesofproject/sof-bin/
  [    7.159793] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: error: failed to load DSP topology -2
  [    7.159797] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_component_probe on 80860F28:00: -2
  [  379.040737] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: BYT-CR not detected
  [  379.048501] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: BYT-CR not detected
  [  379.079313] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: Firmware info: version 1:6:0-e9637
  [  379.079324] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: Firmware: ABI 3:17:0 Kernel ABI 3:18:0
  [  379.124318] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
  [  379.287289] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: Direct firmware load for intel/sof-tplg/sof-byt-max98090.tplg failed with error -2
  [  379.287301] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: error: tplg request firmware intel/sof-tplg/sof-byt-max98090.tplg failed err: -2
  [  379.287308] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: you may need to download the firmware from https://github.com/thesofproject/sof-bin/
  [  379.287312] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: error: failed to load DSP topology -2
  [  379.287316] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_component_probe on 80860F28:00: -2
  [  463.085767] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
  [  463.211519] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: BYT-CR not detected
  [  463.218495] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: BYT-CR not detected
  [  463.286669] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: Firmware info: version 1:6:0-e9637
  [  463.286678] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: Firmware: ABI 3:17:0 Kernel ABI 3:18:0
  [  463.309603] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: Direct firmware load for intel/sof-tplg/sof-byt-max98090.tplg failed with error -2
  [  463.309615] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: error: tplg request firmware intel/sof-tplg/sof-byt-max98090.tplg failed err: -2
  [  463.309622] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: you may need to download the firmware from https://github.com/thesofproject/sof-bin/
  [  463.309626] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: error: failed to load DSP topology -2
  [  463.309629] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_component_probe on 80860F28:00: -2
  [  733.096831] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: BYT-CR not detected
  [  733.104806] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: BYT-CR not detected
  [  733.137105] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: Firmware info: version 1:6:0-e9637
  [  733.137115] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: Firmware: ABI 3:17:0 Kernel ABI 3:18:0
  [  733.209951] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: Direct firmware load for intel/sof-tplg/sof-byt-max98090.tplg failed with error -2
  [  733.209964] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: error: tplg request firmware intel/sof-tplg/sof-byt-max98090.tplg failed err: -2
  [  733.209971] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: you may need to download the firmware from https://github.com/thesofproject/sof-bin/
  [  733.209975] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: error: failed to load DSP topology -2
  [  733.209979] sof-audio-acpi-intel-byt 80860F28:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_component_probe on 80860F28:00: -2
  

I am running Xubuntu 21.10 on Toshiba Chromebook 2 CB35-B3340 (Intel Bay Trail, codename SWANKY). I installed Xubuntu on the Chromebook's SSD (including updating to MrChromebox custom UEFI (Full ROM) firmware).

I tried the following fixes, but none of them worked.

1. Tried running:

   sudo apt install firmware-sof-signed
   

   but got this error:

   dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/firmware-sof-signed_1.7-1_all.deb (--unpack):
    trying to overwrite '/lib/firmware/intel/sof/sof-bdw.ri', which is also in package linux-firmware 1.201
   dpkg-deb: error: paste subprocess was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
   Errors were encountered while processing:
    /var/cache/apt/archives/firmware-sof-signed_1.7-1_all.deb
   E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
   

2. I tried editing alsa-base.conf using sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf, adding options snd-hda-intel model=auto, then running pulseaudio -k && sudo alsa force-reload.

3. I tried editing alsa-base.conf using sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf, adding options snd-hda-intel dmic-detect=0, then running pulseaudio -k && sudo alsa force-reload.

4. I downloaded chtmax98090.conf and HiFi.conf config files, copied them to /usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtmax98090/..., and then rebooted.

5. Removing timidity package by running sudo apt remove timidity (timidity wasn't installed).

I can hear sound if using Bluetooth headphones, but there's no sound from the built-in speakers.

AlsaInfo logs: http://alsa-project.org/db/?f=123ea8006b8acd0de246f7e3f19d206fd20cb790

Answer 1

Found a temporary workaround by manually copying sof-bin firmware to /lib/firmware/intel/sof-tplg/ folder. See steps below

cd ~/Downloads
wget https://github.com/thesofproject/sof-bin/releases/download/v1.9.3/sof-bin-v1.9.3.tar.gz
tar xvzf sof-bin-v1.9.3.tar.gz
sudo mv /lib/firmware/intel/sof* ~/backup/ # save a backup in your home folder
sudo rsync -a sof-v1.9.3/       /lib/firmware/intel/sof/
sudo rsync -a sof-tplg-v1.9.3/  /lib/firmware/intel/sof-tplg/
reboot

Not sure why linux-firmware doesn't include sof-byt-max98090.tplg yet, but I assume this is due to older releases having a bug and will be fixed when distro picks up a newer release.