[SOLVED] PulseAudio doesn't detect multiple nvidia outputs

vityafx · 2020-10-08 11:24:10

This could be a problem of pulseaudio, nvidia drivers, or both.
So, I have two monitors, both with speakers, and headphones. Two monitors are connected via displayport. When I connect each one of those separately, both are detected correctly. But when I plug in two of them at the same time, pacmd list-sinks only list one index for nvidia and one port:

❯ pacmd list-sinks
2 sink(s) available.
    index: 0
	name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY
	state: SUSPENDED
	suspend cause: IDLE
	priority: 9039
	volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB,   front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	        balance 0.00
	base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	volume steps: 65537
	muted: no
	current latency: 0.00 ms
	max request: 0 KiB
	max rewind: 0 KiB
	monitor source: 0
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 48000Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	used by: 0
	linked by: 0
	configured latency: 0.00 ms; range is 0.50 .. 1837.50 ms
	card: 1 <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3>
	module: 7
	properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "ALC1220 Analog"
		alsa.id = "ALC1220 Analog"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "0"
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0x9a230000 irq 185"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1f.3"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.product.id = "a348"
		device.product.name = "Cannon Lake PCH cAVS"
		device.form_factor = "internal"
		device.string = "front:0"
		device.buffering.buffer_size = "352800"
		device.buffering.fragment_size = "176400"
		device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
		device.profile.name = "analog-stereo"
		device.profile.description = "Analog Stereo"
		device.description = "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	ports:
		analog-output-lineout: Line Out (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
			properties:
				
		analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
	active port: <analog-output-lineout>
  * index: 2
	name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	flags: HARDWARE DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY
	state: SUSPENDED
	suspend cause: IDLE
	priority: 9030
	volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB,   front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	        balance 0.00
	base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	volume steps: 65537
	muted: no
	current latency: 0.00 ms
	max request: 0 KiB
	max rewind: 0 KiB
	monitor source: 3
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 48000Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	used by: 0
	linked by: 1
	configured latency: 0.00 ms; range is 0.50 .. 1837.33 ms
	card: 0 <alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1>
	module: 6
	properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "HDMI 0"
		alsa.id = "HDMI 0"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "3"
		alsa.card = "1"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA NVidia"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA NVidia at 0x9c080000 irq 17"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:01:00.1"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "10de"
		device.vendor.name = "NVIDIA Corporation"
		device.product.id = "1aef"
		device.string = "hdmi:1"
		device.buffering.buffer_size = "352768"
		device.buffering.fragment_size = "176384"
		device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
		device.profile.name = "hdmi-stereo"
		device.profile.description = "Digital Stereo (HDMI)"
		device.description = "HDA NVidia Digital Stereo (HDMI)"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	ports:
		hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority 5900, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"
				device.product.name = "XV273K
      "
	active port: <hdmi-output-0>

However, if I try to see what each audio card has I can see two ports of nvidia for each of the monitors I have connected:

❯ pacmd list-cards
2 card(s) available.
    index: 0
	name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	owner module: 6
	properties:
		alsa.card = "1"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA NVidia"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA NVidia at 0x9c080000 irq 17"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:01:00.1"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "10de"
		device.vendor.name = "NVIDIA Corporation"
		device.product.id = "1aef"
		device.string = "1"
		device.description = "HDA NVidia"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	profiles:
		output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output (priority 5900, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 800, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround71: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 800, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-stereo-extra1: Digital Stereo (HDMI 2) Output (priority 5700, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround-extra1: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 2) Output (priority 600, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround71-extra1: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 2) Output (priority 600, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-stereo-extra2: Digital Stereo (HDMI 3) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
		output:hdmi-surround-extra2: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 3) Output (priority 600, available: no)
		output:hdmi-surround71-extra2: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 3) Output (priority 600, available: no)
		output:hdmi-stereo-extra3: Digital Stereo (HDMI 4) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
		output:hdmi-surround-extra3: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 4) Output (priority 600, available: no)
		output:hdmi-surround71-extra3: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 4) Output (priority 600, available: no)
		output:hdmi-stereo-extra4: Digital Stereo (HDMI 5) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
		output:hdmi-surround-extra4: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 5) Output (priority 600, available: no)
		output:hdmi-surround71-extra4: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 5) Output (priority 600, available: no)
		output:hdmi-stereo-extra5: Digital Stereo (HDMI 6) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
		output:hdmi-surround-extra5: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 6) Output (priority 600, available: no)
		output:hdmi-surround71-extra5: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 6) Output (priority 600, available: no)
		output:hdmi-stereo-extra6: Digital Stereo (HDMI 7) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
		output:hdmi-surround-extra6: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 7) Output (priority 600, available: no)
		output:hdmi-surround71-extra6: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 7) Output (priority 600, available: no)
		off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
	active profile: <output:hdmi-stereo>
	sinks:
		alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo/#2: HDA NVidia Digital Stereo (HDMI)
	sources:
		alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo.monitor/#3: Monitor of HDA NVidia Digital Stereo (HDMI)
	ports:
		hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority 5900, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"
				device.product.name = "XV273K
      "
		hdmi-output-1: HDMI / DisplayPort 2 (priority 5800, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"
				device.product.name = "XG270
       "
		hdmi-output-2: HDMI / DisplayPort 3 (priority 5700, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"
		hdmi-output-3: HDMI / DisplayPort 4 (priority 5600, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"
		hdmi-output-4: HDMI / DisplayPort 5 (priority 5500, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"
		hdmi-output-5: HDMI / DisplayPort 6 (priority 5400, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"
		hdmi-output-6: HDMI / DisplayPort 7 (priority 5300, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"
    index: 1
	name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	owner module: 7
	properties:
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0x9a230000 irq 185"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1f.3"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.product.id = "a348"
		device.product.name = "Cannon Lake PCH cAVS"
		device.form_factor = "internal"
		device.string = "0"
		device.description = "Built-in Audio"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	profiles:
		input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Input (priority 65, available: unknown)
		output:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Output (priority 6500, available: unknown)
		output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Duplex (priority 6565, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-21: Analog Surround 2.1 Output (priority 1300, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-21+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 2.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 1365, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-40: Analog Surround 4.0 Output (priority 1200, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-40+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 4.0 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 1265, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-41: Analog Surround 4.1 Output (priority 1300, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-41+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 4.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 1365, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-50: Analog Surround 5.0 Output (priority 1200, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-50+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 5.0 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 1265, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-51: Analog Surround 5.1 Output (priority 1300, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-51+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 5.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 1365, available: unknown)
		output:iec958-stereo: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output (priority 5500, available: unknown)
		output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5565, available: unknown)
		off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
	active profile: <output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo>
	sinks:
		alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo/#0: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
	sources:
		alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo.monitor/#0: Monitor of Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
		alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo/#1: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
	ports:
		analog-input-front-mic: Front Microphone (priority 8500, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
		analog-input-rear-mic: Rear Microphone (priority 8200, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
		analog-input-linein: Line In (priority 8100, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				
		analog-output-lineout: Line Out (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
			properties:
				
		analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
		iec958-stereo-output: Digital Output (S/PDIF) (priority 0, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
			properties:

The problem I am having now is that I change the sinks by pressing hot-keys in my self-written desktop environment (based on awesome). I am doing that by running "pacmd set-default-sink <index>" and then if I need to switch ports - "pacmd set-sink-port 2 hdmi-output-0". The last command will work for the monitor which is listed as the only available even though two monitors are connected, but according to the output of pacmd, there is also another monitor available but it is not listed as an available port in "pacmd list-sinks" and the command to set the port to it "pacmd set-sink-port 2 hdmi-output-1" fails, however setting to the monitor it lists there works fine:

❯ pacmd set-sink-port 2 hdmi-output-0
<exit code 0>
❯ pacmd set-sink-port 2 hdmi-output-1
Failed to set sink port to 'hdmi-output-1'.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Last edited by vityafx (2020-10-21 14:33:55)

V1del · 2020-10-08 13:22:44

This is a bit of a definition issue rather than a bug. By default pulse will simply allocate one HDMI profile per output adapter slot (... which helps with keeping sink/source listings sane) What you can do here is define your own profile that exposes both. You can do this by editing/appending the appropriate profile information in /usr/share/alsa-card-profile Not on my Arch right now or I'd give you an actual example.

Alternatively if it's really just care about switching just switch the profile instead of the port as the ports are linked to a specific profile, so instead of a sink-port command you use a card profile command

pacmd set-card-profile alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1 output:hdmi-stereo #This is the currently active monitor port
pacmd set-card-profile alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1 output:hdmi-stereo-extra1 #This switches to the second one, and will by definition switch the port to hdmi-output-1 as well

Last edited by V1del (2020-10-08 13:23:18)

vityafx · 2020-10-21 14:33:39

Thanks much, that does the job actually! Also, setting via `pavucontrol` works and may be preferred by someone else, hence posting it here as well.

Arch Linux

#1 2020-10-08 11:24:10

[SOLVED] PulseAudio doesn't detect multiple nvidia outputs

#2 2020-10-08 13:22:44

Re: [SOLVED] PulseAudio doesn't detect multiple nvidia outputs

#3 2020-10-21 14:33:39

Re: [SOLVED] PulseAudio doesn't detect multiple nvidia outputs

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