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#1 2017-10-03 14:34:18

edrose
Member
Registered: 2016-01-25
Posts: 15

[SOLVED] Sound Problems with Dell WD15 Dock

I have a Dell XPS 13 9350 (Late 2015) and a Dell USB C Dock WD15. Everything works perfectly except the sound on the docking station. I have two FHD monitors attached, Ethernet, and various USB devices that work (better on Linux in the case of the webcam).

I've been through loads and loads of troubleshooting steps yet am really struggling to find an answer. The device is recognised by the system and I am able to change the index using an /etc/modprobe.d file.

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Audio [USB Audio], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Audio [USB Audio], device 1: USB Audio [USB Audio #1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC3246 Analog [ALC3246 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

However running alsamixer, pressing F6 and trying to select the card results in a crash and `cannot load mixer controls: Invalid argument` being displayed. In gnome settings only the built-in audio is displayed, and that works fine.

Since I know so little about sound in Linux I'm going to post the content of a few files I feel may be relevant, sorry if an important one is missed.

None of the things I've found with my searching so far have helped. Thanks in advance to anyone who is able to help me.


/etc/asound.conf

# Use PulseAudio by default
pcm.!default {
  type pulse
  fallback "sysdefault"
  hint {
    show on
    description "Default ALSA Output (currently PulseAudio Sound Server)"
  }
}

ctl.!default {
  type pulse
  fallback "sysdefault"
}

# vim:set ft=alsaconf:

/etc/modprobe.d/snd-cards-priorities.conf

options snd_usb_audio index=0
options snd_hda_intel index=1

/etc/pulse/default.pa

#!/usr/bin/pulseaudio -nF
#
# This file is part of PulseAudio.
#
# PulseAudio is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
# under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# PulseAudio is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
# General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
# along with PulseAudio; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

# This startup script is used only if PulseAudio is started per-user
# (i.e. not in system mode)

.fail

### Automatically restore the volume of streams and devices
load-module module-device-restore
load-module module-stream-restore
load-module module-card-restore

### Automatically augment property information from .desktop files
### stored in /usr/share/application
load-module module-augment-properties

### Should be after module-*-restore but before module-*-detect
load-module module-switch-on-port-available

### Load audio drivers statically
### (it's probably better to not load these drivers manually, but instead
### use module-udev-detect -- see below -- for doing this automatically)
#load-module module-alsa-sink
#load-module module-alsa-source device=hw:1,0
#load-module module-oss device="/dev/dsp" sink_name=output source_name=input
#load-module module-oss-mmap device="/dev/dsp" sink_name=output source_name=input
#load-module module-null-sink
#load-module module-pipe-sink

### Automatically load driver modules depending on the hardware available
.ifexists module-udev-detect.so
load-module module-udev-detect
.else
### Use the static hardware detection module (for systems that lack udev support)
load-module module-detect
.endif

### Automatically connect sink and source if JACK server is present
.ifexists module-jackdbus-detect.so
.nofail
load-module module-jackdbus-detect channels=2
.fail
.endif

### Automatically load driver modules for Bluetooth hardware
.ifexists module-bluetooth-policy.so
load-module module-bluetooth-policy
.endif

.ifexists module-bluetooth-discover.so
load-module module-bluetooth-discover
.endif

### Load several protocols
.ifexists module-esound-protocol-unix.so
load-module module-esound-protocol-unix
.endif
load-module module-native-protocol-unix

### Network access (may be configured with paprefs, so leave this commented
### here if you plan to use paprefs)
#load-module module-esound-protocol-tcp
#load-module module-native-protocol-tcp
#load-module module-zeroconf-publish

### Load the RTP receiver module (also configured via paprefs, see above)
#load-module module-rtp-recv

### Load the RTP sender module (also configured via paprefs, see above)
#load-module module-null-sink sink_name=rtp format=s16be channels=2 rate=44100 sink_properties="device.description='RTP Multicast Sink'"
#load-module module-rtp-send source=rtp.monitor

### Load additional modules from GConf settings. This can be configured with the paprefs tool.
### Please keep in mind that the modules configured by paprefs might conflict with manually
### loaded modules.
.ifexists module-gconf.so
.nofail
load-module module-gconf
.fail
.endif

### Automatically restore the default sink/source when changed by the user
### during runtime
### NOTE: This should be loaded as early as possible so that subsequent modules
### that look up the default sink/source get the right value
load-module module-default-device-restore

### Automatically move streams to the default sink if the sink they are
### connected to dies, similar for sources
load-module module-rescue-streams

### Make sure we always have a sink around, even if it is a null sink.
load-module module-always-sink

### Honour intended role device property
load-module module-intended-roles

### Automatically suspend sinks/sources that become idle for too long
load-module module-suspend-on-idle

### If autoexit on idle is enabled we want to make sure we only quit
### when no local session needs us anymore.
.ifexists module-console-kit.so
load-module module-console-kit
.endif
.ifexists module-systemd-login.so
load-module module-systemd-login
.endif

### Enable positioned event sounds
load-module module-position-event-sounds

### Cork music/video streams when a phone stream is active
load-module module-role-cork

### Modules to allow autoloading of filters (such as echo cancellation)
### on demand. module-filter-heuristics tries to determine what filters
### make sense, and module-filter-apply does the heavy-lifting of
### loading modules and rerouting streams.
load-module module-filter-heuristics
load-module module-filter-apply

### Make some devices default
#set-default-sink output
#set-default-source input

Last edited by edrose (2017-10-10 22:12:25)

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#2 2017-10-05 17:03:40

edrose
Member
Registered: 2016-01-25
Posts: 15

Re: [SOLVED] Sound Problems with Dell WD15 Dock

More information that may or may not be relevant.

The working sound card has a folder /proc/asound/card1 with a listing as follows

codec#0  codec#2  eld#2.0  eld#2.1  eld#2.2  eld#2.3  eld#2.4  eld#2.5  eld#2.6  eld#2.7  eld#2.8  id  pcm0c  pcm0p  pcm10p  pcm3p  pcm7p  pcm8p  pcm9p

The sound card that isn't working has a listing of

id  pcm0c  pcm0p  pcm1p  stream0  stream1  usbbus  usbid  usbmixer

To me this suggests that no codec is installed maybe? It's a Realtek card.

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#3 2017-10-10 22:11:24

edrose
Member
Registered: 2016-01-25
Posts: 15

Re: [SOLVED] Sound Problems with Dell WD15 Dock

I've partially solved my issue so thought I'd post it in case anyone has a similar problem.

I needed modifications to two files:

/etc/modprobe.d/snd-cards-priorities.conf

options snd_usb_audio index=1
options snd_hda_intel index=0

The following lines were added to the end of /etc/pulse/default.pa

load-module module-alsa-sink device=plughw:1,0 sink_name=DockHeadphone
load-module module-alsa-sink device=plughw:1,1 sink_name=DockPort
update-sink-proplist DockPort device.description="Dock Rear Port"
update-sink-proplist DockHeadphone device.description="Dock Headphone Port"

It's not a perfect solution but works better than nothing!

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#4 2017-10-27 20:50:50

edrose
Member
Registered: 2016-01-25
Posts: 15

Re: [SOLVED] Sound Problems with Dell WD15 Dock

Full solution found. An Arch package is available in this repo https://github.com/edrose/dell-dock-audio-fix

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#5 2019-01-02 23:17:42

arthurulfeldt
Member
Registered: 2017-01-15
Posts: 1

Re: [SOLVED] Sound Problems with Dell WD15 Dock

a new very closely related problem with the same symptoms has a solution here:

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pulseaud … issues/572

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#6 2019-01-03 00:25:11

2ManyDogs
Forum Moderator
Registered: 2012-01-15
Posts: 4,645

Re: [SOLVED] Sound Problems with Dell WD15 Dock

Closing this old solved topic.


How to post. A sincere effort to use modest and proper language and grammar is a sign of respect toward the community.

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