XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

denbot · 2020-06-27 16:56:04

I have just done a fresh install of arch on my new XPS 17 following this page: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_13_(9300)

Relevant Info:
- Kernel: 5.7.6-arch1-1
- CPU: i7 10875H
- GPU: Intel Integrated + NVIDIA RTX 2060

Everything seems to work well except pulseaudio. I have installed the pulseaudio and alsa packages, however, pavucontrol shows my output device to be "Dummy Output".

I have tried adding options snd-hda-intel model=generic and model=auto to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and rebooting, but this hasn't helped at all.

Running play -l shows the following output:

➜ aplay -l                                 
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 11: HDMI 5 [HDMI 5]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 12: HDMI 6 [HDMI 6]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

fuser -v /dev/snd/* gives:

                     USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0:  den        1570 F.... pulseaudio
/dev/snd/controlC1:  den        1570 F.... pulseaudio

And pulseaudio -vvv gives:

I: [pulseaudio] main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_NICE, (31, 31)) failed: Operation not permitted
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_RTPRIO, (9, 9)) failed: Operation not permitted
D: [pulseaudio] core-rtclock.c: Timer slack is set to 50 us.
D: [pulseaudio] core-util.c: RealtimeKit worked.
I: [pulseaudio] core-util.c: Successfully gained nice level -11.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: This is PulseAudio 13.0
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Compilation host: x86_64
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Compilation CFLAGS: Not yet supported on meson
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Running on host: Linux x86_64 5.7.6-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu, 25 Jun 2020 00:14:47 +0000
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Found 16 CPUs.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Page size is 4096 bytes
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Compiled with Valgrind support: no
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Running in valgrind mode: no
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Running in VM: no
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Running from build tree: no
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Optimized build: yes
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: All asserts enabled.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Machine ID is 0cc13cf98eca4503a648d8e5163faa22.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Session ID is 1.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Using runtime directory /run/user/1000/pulse.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Using state directory /home/den/.config/pulse.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Using modules directory /usr/lib/pulse-13.0/modules.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Running in system mode: no
E: [pulseaudio] pid.c: Daemon already running.
E: [pulseaudio] main.c: pa_pid_file_create() failed.

Any advice on how to fix this problem?

V1del · 2020-06-27 18:22:45

The card is not detected at all, I'd guess it's sof based and you need to install sof-firmware or set options snd_intel_dspcfg dsp_driver=1 instead. In any case remove/revert the base conf, and post

sudo journalctl -k | grep -E  'snd|sof'

Last edited by V1del (2020-06-27 18:47:07)

denbot · 2020-06-27 19:33:19

Thanks for the response. I tried options snd_intel_dspcfg dsp_driver=1 but no luck, still getting Dummy Output.

Here's the output of sudo journalctl -k | grep -E 'snd|sof'

Jun 27 20:31:05 fatpug kernel: PCI-DMA: Using software bounce buffering for IO (SWIOTLB)
Jun 27 20:31:05 fatpug kernel: software IO TLB: mapped [mem 0x475f6000-0x4b5f6000] (64MB)
Jun 27 20:31:05 fatpug kernel: Modules linked in: pcc_cpufreq(-) intel_rapl_perf cmdlinepart input_leds intel_spi_pci(+) i2c_algo_bit intel_spi cfg80211 thunderbolt(+) drm_kms_helper snd_hda_core mei_me spi_nor tpm_crb snd_hwdep mei snd_pcm mtd cec i2c_i801 intel_ish_ipc(+) intel_lpss_pci(+) snd_timer rc_core intel_lpss rfkill idma64 tpm_tis intel_ishtp intel_pch_thermal i2c_nvidia_gpu snd intel_gtt syscopyarea tpm_tis_core processor_thermal_device ucsi_acpi soundcore sysfillrect sysimgblt intel_rapl_common typec_ucsi tpm fb_sys_fops intel_soc_dts_iosf typec rng_core i2c_hid hid evdev mac_hid wmi battery int3403_thermal int340x_thermal_zone intel_hid int3400_thermal acpi_thermal_rel sparse_keymap acpi_tad ac drm pkcs8_key_parser crypto_user agpgart ip_tables x_tables ext4 crc32c_generic crc16 mbcache jbd2 dm_crypt dm_mod rtsx_pci_sdmmc serio_raw mmc_core atkbd libps2 crct10dif_pclmul crc32_pclmul crc32c_intel ghash_clmulni_intel aesni_intel crypto_simd cryptd glue_helper xhci_pci xhci_hcd rtsx_pci i8042
Jun 27 20:31:06 fatpug kernel: snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1f.3: DSP detected with PCI class/subclass/prog-if info 0x040100
Jun 27 20:31:06 fatpug kernel: snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1f.3: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
Jun 27 20:31:06 fatpug kernel: snd_hda_intel 0000:01:00.1: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
Jun 27 20:31:06 fatpug kernel: snd_hda_intel 0000:01:00.1: Disabling MSI
Jun 27 20:31:06 fatpug kernel: snd_hda_intel 0000:01:00.1: Handle vga_switcheroo audio client
Jun 27 20:31:06 fatpug kernel: snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1f.3: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
Jun 27 20:31:07 fatpug kernel: uvcvideo 1-5:1.2: Entity type for entity IR Microsoft Extended Controls  was not initialized!

V1del · 2020-06-27 20:53:00

Mhmm that looks kind of normal, FWIW

sudo fuser -v /dev/snd/* #If that wasn't ran with sudo, fuser won't show the information we are usually interested in.
systemctl --user --mask --now pulseaudio{,.socket}
pulseaudio -vvv #Should be more telling now.
systemctl --user --unmask --now pulseaudio{,.socket} #To reenable pulse autostarting afterwards

denbot · 2020-06-27 21:28:11

I installed sof-firmware and rebooted but nothing new yet.

Running fuser as sudo results in the same output posted above. The only error I could see when masking and running pulseaudio -vvv was:

E: [pulseaudio] bluez5-util.c: GetManagedObjects() failed: org.freedesktop.systemd1.NoSuchUnit: Unit dbus-org.bluez.service not found.

. Is there anything specific that i should be looking for in the output?

denbot · 2020-06-27 22:51:09

I have been looking/asking around on other forums and it seems that multiple other individuals who own the new Dell XPS 17 9700 are experiencing no audio too:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/ … urce=share

brandon.arnold · 2020-07-27 21:44:16

Has anyone gotten a resolution for this? I'm buying (update: bought) a 9700 anyway, and Arch is the OS that will be on it.

Last edited by brandon.arnold (2020-07-27 22:14:31)

[-_-] · 2020-08-19 23:09:47

the solution was surprisingly easy for me after experimenting and going thru the documentation and forums describing the same symptoms...try to:

comment out the 3rd line in ~/.asoundrc (i.e. "/home/YOUR_USERNAME/.asoundrc.asoundconf>")

afterwards, reload the X session (reboot did the job for me, but I assume that logout/login or reloading the pulseaudio should be sufficient)

Last edited by [-_-] (2020-08-20 01:12:36)

denbot · 2020-08-24 14:42:22

[-_-] wrote:

the solution was surprisingly easy for me after experimenting and going thru the documentation and forums describing the same symptoms...try to:
comment out the 3rd line in ~/.asoundrc (i.e. "/home/YOUR_USERNAME/.asoundrc.asoundconf>")
afterwards, reload the X session (reboot did the job for me, but I assume that logout/login or reloading the pulseaudio should be sufficient)

I don't have an asoundrc configuration file so sadly I can't try out your recommendation. Are you able to post the contents of your .asoundrc?

Last edited by denbot (2020-08-24 14:43:27)

villuv · 2020-08-25 22:49:06

Same problem here, kernel 5.8.3-arch1-1

Tried things suggested here:
https://blog.fts.scot/2020/07/04/dell-x … -on-linux/

I had to modify the soundwire-dkms for 5.8.x kernel (see: https://github.com/maaarghk/soundwire-dkms/pull/2 )

Still no luck.

from dmesg I see that it is looking for some firmware that I don't know where to get:

[    2.005336] snd_soc_skl 0000:00:1f.3: DSP detected with PCI class/subclass/prog-if info 0x040100
[    2.005349] snd_soc_skl 0000:00:1f.3: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    2.366344] snd_soc_skl 0000:00:1f.3: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
[    2.520763] snd_soc_skl 0000:00:1f.3: Direct firmware load for 6c8-DELL-DellInc-538378241-tplg.bin failed with error -2
[    2.520766] snd_soc_skl 0000:00:1f.3: tplg fw 6c8-DELL-DellInc-538378241-tplg.bin load failed with -2, trying alternative tplg name skl_hda_dsp_generic-tplg.bin
[    2.520782] snd_soc_skl 0000:00:1f.3: Direct firmware load for skl_hda_dsp_generic-tplg.bin failed with error -2
[    2.520784] snd_soc_skl 0000:00:1f.3: tplg skl_hda_dsp_generic-tplg.bin failed with -2, falling back to dfw_sst.bin
[    2.520799] snd_soc_skl 0000:00:1f.3: Direct firmware load for dfw_sst.bin failed with error -2
[    2.520800] snd_soc_skl 0000:00:1f.3: Fallback tplg fw dfw_sst.bin load failed with -2
[    2.520801] snd_soc_skl 0000:00:1f.3: Failed to init topology!
[    2.520802] snd_soc_skl 0000:00:1f.3: ASoC: failed to probe component -2

I have alsa-firmware 1.2.1-2 and sof-firmware 1.5.1-1 installed.

sound device info:

lspci -vvnn | grep -A11 "1f.3"
00:1f.3 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Intel Corporation Comet Lake PCH cAVS [8086:06c8]
        Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:098f]
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
        Latency: 64
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
        Region 0: Memory at 609b118000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Region 4: Memory at 609b000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: snd_soc_skl
        Kernel modules: snd_soc_skl, snd_hda_intel

Djs42012 · 2020-09-20 05:31:16

Does anyone have any updates on this issue or any idea where the fix will come from?

villuv · 2020-09-20 08:02:52

We are having a bit of discussion about it here:
https://github.com/maaarghk/soundwire-dkms/pull/2

But I'm afraid it is not going anywhere soon. Maybe this gets fixed in kernel 5.9 or 5.10...

Meanwhile I've upgraded machine firmware and kernel to 5.8.9-arch2-1 and also added following to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf to try switching to 'sof' driver.

blacklist snd_soc_skl
blacklist snd_soc_skl_ipc
blacklist snd_soc_ssp_clk

And I get following in dmesg:

[    2.682411] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: DSP detected with PCI class/subclass/prog-if info 0x040100
[    2.682429] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    2.682556] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: DSP detected with PCI class/subclass/prog-if 0x040100
[    3.422665] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
[    3.428801] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: use msi interrupt mode
[    3.444388] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: hda codecs found, mask 4
[    3.444390] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: using HDA machine driver skl_hda_dsp_generic now
[    3.444393] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: DMICs detected in NHLT tables: 0
[    3.571085] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: Firmware info: version 1:5:1-88707
[    3.571086] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: Firmware: ABI 3:16:0 Kernel ABI 3:16:0
[    3.571725] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: unknown ext header type 3 size 0x1c
[    3.571754] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: unknown ext header type 4 size 0x10
[    3.609123] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: Topology: ABI 3:16:0 Kernel ABI 3:16:0
[    3.609127] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 7 name iDisp3 Tx not handled
[    3.609129] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 7 name iDisp2 Tx not handled
[    3.611864] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 1 name iDisp1_out not handled
[    3.611866] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 7 name iDisp1 Tx not handled
[    3.615507] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 1 name iDisp2_out not handled
[    3.619157] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: warning: widget type 1 name iDisp3_out not handled
[    3.623532] sof-audio-pci 0000:00:1f.3: ASoC: Parent card not yet available, widget card binding deferred

Still no sound, I guess it is probably because fo the last message.

[-_-] · 2020-10-09 22:26:17

After a recent package upgrade I experienced sound issues again.
The symptoms were:
a) no input or output devices available in my gnome -> settings -> sound section (i think there was just some dummy interface or nothing at all) and
b) dysfunctional volume up/down keys.

Here are the steps which worked for me this time:
1) I checked that the sound works in principle by finding my sound card in the output of aplay -l. There were bunch of HDMI subdevices listed as card 0 and a PCH analog subdevice listed as card 1 which was my default sound device. I verified the card 1 works (despite not having the speaker icon in the system tray) by issuing aplay -D plughw:1,0 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav

2) I also checked that the sound principally works by using another user account on the same system making me realize that the problem affects only a particular user account and is not a system-wide problem.

3) I moved ~/.asoundrc and ~/.asoundrc.asoundconf to a temporary directory (which can be deleted, once the issue is fixed) such that they don't interfere and also the ~/.config/pulse directory, which was then re-created using the pulseaudio command.

4) Afterwards, the sound worked again using the affected user-account but just after explicitly issuing the pulseaudio command.

5) I checked the global pulseaudio client settings in /etc/pulse/client.conf and noticed the following setting autospawn = no . After changing it to autospawn = yes and logging out and in again voila, the sound works!

P.S.: It's possible that some steps may be omitted

Last edited by [-_-] (2020-10-09 22:58:04)

villuv · 2020-10-10 07:37:38

I have also latest everyrhing from stable, also latest system firmware. But still no luck.

Could you please show your journalctl -k | grep -E "audio|snd" and aplay -l outputs?
Is the built-in microphone also working for you?

Last edited by villuv (2020-10-10 07:37:54)

Arch Linux

#1 2020-06-27 16:56:04

XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

#2 2020-06-27 18:22:45

Re: XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

#3 2020-06-27 19:33:19

Re: XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

#4 2020-06-27 20:53:00

Re: XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

#5 2020-06-27 21:28:11

Re: XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

#6 2020-06-27 22:51:09

Re: XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

#7 2020-07-27 21:44:16

Re: XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

#8 2020-08-19 23:09:47

Re: XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

#9 2020-08-24 14:42:22

Re: XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

#10 2020-08-25 22:49:06

Re: XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

#11 2020-09-20 05:31:16

Re: XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

#12 2020-09-20 08:02:52

Re: XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

#13 2020-10-09 22:26:17

Re: XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

#14 2020-10-10 07:37:38

Re: XPS 17 9700 - pulseaudio (Dummy Output) problem

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