Arch Linux

exypnos

Member

Registered: 2017-01-05

Posts: 4

[SOVLED] No speaker output on Thinkpad W530; headphones work fine

Just as the title says, I can't get my speakers to play any sound. alsamixer isn't muted anywhere, pulseaudio makes no difference (I've installed it, tried various configurations, uninstalled it, etc., to no effect). I'm fairly certain the proper modules are loaded. The problem persists with both the LTS and normal kernels.

There's a possibility that this is a hardware issue. I haven't opened up the laptop yet because accessing the speakers is a bit of a process and requires removal of the entire bezel. No sound plays on Manjaro, Mint, and Ubuntu live USBs in the machine.

Various outputs are below:

lsmod | grep snd

snd_hda_codec_realtek    69632  1
snd_hda_codec_generic    69632  1 snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hda_intel          32768  0
snd_hda_codec         106496  3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hda_core           65536  4 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hwdep              16384  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                90112  3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_core
snd_timer              28672  1 snd_pcm
snd                    69632  8 snd_hda_intel,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_codec,snd_timer,thinkpad_acpi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_pcm
soundcore              16384  1 snd

pacman -Qs alsa

local/alsa-lib 1.1.3-1
    An alternative implementation of Linux sound support
local/alsa-utils 1.1.3-1
    An alternative implementation of Linux sound support
local/zita-alsa-pcmi 0.2.0-3
    The successor of clalsadrv, provides easy access to ALSA PCM devices.

lspci | grep Audio

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)

cat /proc/asound/modules

 0 snd_hda_intel

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it.

Last edited by exypnos (2017-01-07 20:37:56)

vtyulb

Member

Registered: 2013-08-18

Posts: 16

Re: [SOVLED] No speaker output on Thinkpad W530; headphones work fine

I had similar problem with thinkpad p50 - speakers worked, but headphones not.

Solution was to boot with headphones connected (or may be disconnected in your case). Did you try it?

Is it fresh installation, or something just breaked in working distro?

exypnos

Member

Registered: 2017-01-05

Posts: 4

Re: [SOVLED] No speaker output on Thinkpad W530; headphones work fine

Fresh installation. I never had sound from the speakers in Arch, although for the ~5 minutes it had Windows on it, the speakers were functional. They may have been physically damaged while I was installing Arch, though I don't know how that would've happened.

vtyulb

Member

Registered: 2013-08-18

Posts: 16

Re: [SOVLED] No speaker output on Thinkpad W530; headphones work fine

There is one another funny thing. If your notebook was never really shut down after Windows (just suspend states and reboots), then your speakers may still be in some kind of power saving state (after windows). If it's like this, then you can try this:
1) Unplug power cord
2) Take off accumulator
3) Press power button
4) Boot Arch

exypnos

Member

Registered: 2017-01-05

Posts: 4

Re: [SOVLED] No speaker output on Thinkpad W530; headphones work fine

Alright, fixed this. Ended up being a hardware issue. I took the bezel off and messed around with the connection a bit, removed it, cleaned it with alcohol on a q-tip, and it worked. Thanks for the support, anyway.

exypnos

Member

Registered: 2017-01-05

Posts: 4

Re: [SOVLED] No speaker output on Thinkpad W530; headphones work fine

Further update regarding this: the sound seems to cut out when I tighten the screws which hold in the keyboard too much. I ran

speaker-test -c 2

while tightening & loosening the two screws, and it would cut out right when a 'seal' was made. Not sure what to make of that, but the computer seems to work fine without the screws (actually more convenient, as I can remove the keyboard and access the goodies underneath without a screwdriver), so that's my solution at the moment.