Arch Linux

beelzy

Member

Registered: 2017-08-10

Posts: 9

Bad, scratchy audio after Linux Kernel update 5.1

Ever since upgrading to kernel 5.1, the audio on my Macbook Pro 7,1 has been scratchy. And it doesn't matter if I play the sounds through the normal speakers or attach headphones. I've also done without xorg and just run mpv on some audio file on the command line and the same thing happens.

I don't have pulseaudio, just alsa and jack. I might have installed pulseaudio previously, because there is a /etc/pulse folder with almost nothing in it, but pacman -Qi pulseaudio doesn't detect anything.

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for; I've tried adjusting things in alsamixer, but it changes nothing.

Sound card appears to be HDA-Intel Cirrus Logic CS4206.

dmesg | grep hda gives me

[   12.322398] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:08.0: Disabling MSI
[   12.322402] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:08.0: position_fix set to 1 for device 10de:cb89
[   13.729994] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0: autoconfig for CS4206: line_outs=2 (0xb/0xa/0x0/0x0/0x0) type:speaker
[   13.729999] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0:    speaker_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[   13.730002] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0:    hp_outs=1 (0x9/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[   13.730004] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0:    mono: mono_out=0x0
[   13.730006] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0:    dig-out=0x10/0x0
[   13.730008] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0:    inputs:
[   13.730011] snd_hda_codec_cirrus hdaudioC0D0:      Mic=0xd

I don't have an /etc/asound.conf; it was never necessary before.
Anything else I need to be looking for?

MrMathMo

Member

Registered: 2019-06-02

Posts: 3

Re: Bad, scratchy audio after Linux Kernel update 5.1

I'm experiencing the same issue with macbook air 3.1, I've tried reinstalling the audio drivers without any success. I even tried a clean arch linux install.

robopepe

Member

Registered: 2018-08-06

Posts: 2

Re: Bad, scratchy audio after Linux Kernel update 5.1

I have the same problem on a Mac mini 4,1. I believe this unit shares some of the same hardware as the MacBook Pro 7,1.

Though unrelated, a recent update has broken the nvidia proprietary video card driver functionality as well. https://lists.archlinux.org/pipermail/a … 29568.html

Last edited by robopepe (2019-06-10 01:30:09)

NoriTech

Member

Registered: 2019-06-30

Posts: 2

Re: Bad, scratchy audio after Linux Kernel update 5.1

I'm having the same issue, can't find anything on the internet on how to fix it

aluizioneto

Member

Registered: 2018-01-19

Posts: 1

Re: Bad, scratchy audio after Linux Kernel update 5.1

Same issue here on a MacBook Pro 7,1 - 2010. After the upgrade the sound is extremely distorted (saturation), using either internal speakers or the headphone jack. With a different interface (usb Line6 UX2) it works as before, so I assumed it's an issue with the snd_hda_intel driver... Will try to revert it to the previous version and see how it goes.

httpeter

Member

Registered: 2019-08-02

Posts: 1

Re: Bad, scratchy audio after Linux Kernel update 5.1

I also do have the MacBook Pro 7,1, mid 2010 and am facing these sound issues - did you find a way out of this in the meantime? Can you include your steps?
I'm facing these issues in both 5.1 and 5.2 kernel series. So once the 4.19 LTS is deprecated, I'm in trouble.

MrMathMo

Member

Registered: 2019-06-02

Posts: 3

Re: Bad, scratchy audio after Linux Kernel update 5.1

Just a quick update for anyone still experiencing the issue, the bug was reported on kernel.org and a patch was made. It will be included in 5.5-rc3 pull request.

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 18,037

Re: Bad, scratchy audio after Linux Kernel update 5.1

@MrMathMo are you experiencing the issue on linux 5.4.4-arch1 or later?  As they contain https://git.archlinux.org/linux.git/com … 768a14bdbc

Last edited by loqs (2019-12-22 19:27:27)

MrMathMo

Member

Registered: 2019-06-02

Posts: 3

Re: Bad, scratchy audio after Linux Kernel update 5.1

@loqs just installed the latest 5.4.6 kernel and the issue is fixed!

beelzy

Member

Registered: 2017-08-10

Posts: 9

Re: Bad, scratchy audio after Linux Kernel update 5.1

Ja, it works for me now. Thanks for the update.

Last edited by beelzy (2020-02-09 14:07:40)