[SOLVED] ALSA - no HDMI audio output

bananabrain · 2021-10-18 14:35:08

Good day to all.

I have a HP Prodesk G4 Desktop Mini (i3, 3.1GHz), connected by HDMI to a 4K HD TV. It runs Kodi to play movies from an external USB3 disk, and Logitech Media Server to serve music to squeezeboxes over the network from the same disk. This thing has worked flawlessly for about two years. A couple of months ago I ran a system update, and from that day to this I haven't heard a sound from the TV that originated on the computer. I thought when I finally got around to looking at it it would take ten minutes to sort out, but after tearing my hair out for two days I'm ready to give up.

The codec is a Conexant CX20632.
There's no desktop environment, just Xorg and kodi-standalone-service service from the AUR.
No pulseaudio, just ALSA.

I've been through the arch alsa wiki and the troubleshooting page to no avail.
I've had a look at some of Gentoo's wise words.
I've even rebuilt from scratch with the latest arch iso, so the machine here now is pretty bare bones.
I've also reset the telly to factory defaults, and tried a different HDMI cable.

Discounting the extraodinary coincidence that some bit of hardware may have died just when I ran that system update, I'm at a loss to know what's wrong. The video over the same HDMI cable is fine; I just have no audio - unless it's played through the tiny onboard loudsepeaker (device 0).

"aplay -D plughw:0,<hdmi device> *.wav" runs without error, but silently.

I hope someone tells me I'm doing something stupid, which I'll accept with good grace and also be eternally grateful for.

Some output...

# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 8th Gen Core 4-core Desktop Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers [Coffee Lake S] (rev 08)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation CoffeeLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630]
00:12.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Lake PCH Thermal Controller (rev 10)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Lake PCH USB 3.1 xHCI Host Controller (rev 10)
00:14.2 RAM memory: Intel Corporation Cannon Lake PCH Shared SRAM (rev 10)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Lake PCH HECI Controller (rev 10)
00:16.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Lake PCH Active Management Technology - SOL (rev 10)
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Lake PCH SATA AHCI Controller (rev 10)
00:1b.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Cannon Lake PCH PCI Express Root Port #21 (rev f0)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Q370 Chipset LPC/eSPI Controller (rev 10)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Cannon Lake PCH cAVS (rev 10)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Cannon Lake PCH SMBus Controller (rev 10)
00:1f.5 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Cannon Lake PCH SPI Controller (rev 10)
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (7) I219-LM (rev 10)
01:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM981/PM981/PM983

# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: CX20632 Analog [CX20632 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
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

# aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
samplerate
    Rate Converter Plugin Using Samplerate Library
speexrate
    Rate Converter Plugin Using Speex Resampler
jack
    JACK Audio Connection Kit
oss
    Open Sound System
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
speex
    Plugin using Speex DSP (resample, agc, denoise, echo, dereverb)
upmix
    Plugin for channel upmix (4,6,8)
vdownmix
    Plugin for channel downmix (stereo) with a simple spacialization
default:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    Default Audio Device
sysdefault:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    Front output / input
surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
hdmi:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
    HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 1
    HDMI Audio Output
usbstream:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH
    USB Stream Output

Last edited by bananabrain (2021-10-19 22:03:11)

V1del · 2021-10-18 14:50:49

What was part of the update? Most likely candidate here is a kernel regression, what do you get for

sudo dmesg | grep snd
amixer -c0

bananabrain · 2021-10-18 15:02:03

If i'd been sharper or taken it more seriously I'd have thought to diff the update with the prior version.

# dmesg | grep snd
[    1.770388] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1f.3: enabling device (0100 -> 0102)
[    2.169093] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1f.3: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
[    2.621465] snd_hda_codec_conexant hdaudioC0D0: CX20632: BIOS auto-probing.
[    2.622161] snd_hda_codec_conexant hdaudioC0D0: autoconfig for CX20632: line_outs=2 (0x19/0x1c/0x0/0x0/0x0) type:hp
[    2.622164] snd_hda_codec_conexant hdaudioC0D0:    speaker_outs=1 (0x1f/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[    2.622165] snd_hda_codec_conexant hdaudioC0D0:    hp_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[    2.622167] snd_hda_codec_conexant hdaudioC0D0:    mono: mono_out=0x0
[    2.622167] snd_hda_codec_conexant hdaudioC0D0:    inputs:
[    2.622168] snd_hda_codec_conexant hdaudioC0D0:      Mic=0x1a

# amixer -c0
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 74
  Mono: Playback 70 [95%] [-4.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 74
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 74 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 74 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',1
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 74
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 74 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 74 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 74
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 74 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 74 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 4
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',1
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Beep',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 7
  Mono: Playback 6 [86%] [-4.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 80
  Front Left: Capture 80 [100%] [6.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 80 [100%] [6.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Auto-Mute Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Disabled' 'Enabled'
  Item0: 'Disabled'

V1del · 2021-10-18 15:19:04

Your /var/log/pacman.log lists everything that happened in regards to pacman operations if you don't actively rotate/clear it.

Regarding the outputs, there are no kernel errors and the HDMI devices are unmuted. Double check your monitors volume settings.

Last edited by V1del (2021-10-18 15:22:49)

bananabrain · 2021-10-18 15:23:27

Thanks V1del,

I wouldn't deliberately clear logs for the sake of it, but I did reinstall arch from the ground up.

V1del · 2021-10-18 15:26:05

Ah right you did mention that... Well for starters I'd give the LTS kernel a shot or so. Maybe use the ALA to go to a known good one: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_Linux_Archive

bananabrain · 2021-10-19 21:58:08

It occured to me that I may have updated the machine firmware around about the time I lost my sound, and so rolled back from v2.16 to v2.15... everything stayed the same. No HDMI audio.

In for a penny, in for a pound, I rolled back further to v2.14.1, and bingo - I'm back in business.

I wish I understood this ASLA stuff more than I do. What's confusing me is that the output of "aplay -l" in the two most recent firmware releases returned this...

# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: CX20632 Analog [CX20632 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
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

...and back in v2.14.1 I get this...

# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: CX20632 Analog [CX20632 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
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

What's going on here? Why would just flashing a new bios provide three more HDMI outputs?

It's HDMI 2 (card 0, device 8) that gives me my noise. Why device 8?

Feeling cerebrally challenged here. Should I be writing to HP to tell them they've made a cock-up?

Thanks for your time V1del.

Edit: Should've said I did try the ALA first as you suggested, which was a fascinating experience. No joy though, as you'd guess from the above.

Last edited by bananabrain (2021-10-19 22:00:18)

Arch Linux

#1 2021-10-18 14:35:08

[SOLVED] ALSA - no HDMI audio output

#2 2021-10-18 14:50:49

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA - no HDMI audio output

#3 2021-10-18 15:02:03

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA - no HDMI audio output

#4 2021-10-18 15:19:04

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA - no HDMI audio output

#5 2021-10-18 15:23:27

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA - no HDMI audio output

#6 2021-10-18 15:26:05

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA - no HDMI audio output

#7 2021-10-19 21:58:08

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA - no HDMI audio output

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