[alsa-devel] no front speaker sound with ALC262

[Takashi Iwai]

At Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:49:43 +0100,
Rene Dohmen wrote:
> 
> Hi List,
> 
> Is there any chance that this bug will be fixed soon?

Well, it's up to you.

One of the problems is that BIOS on your machine doesn't give the
useful information for auto-probing at all.  A typical workaround in
such a case is to try the existing preset models.  Pass model=basic or
model=benq to snd-hda-intel module, for example.  The available model
values can be found in ALSA-Configuration.txt.  Don't forget to
check and adjust the mixer status again after changing the model
because the mixers appear completly differently depending on the
model.

If none of the existing models doesn't match with your device, we have
to figure out the exact codec configuration.  For some codecs like
ALC880 or ALC260, you have model=test option that allows you to test
all codec configurations via mixer interface.  Unfortunately, ALC262
has no model=test support, so you have to do check it literally
manually.  Below is a brief instruction how to explore the mysterious
world of HD-audio codecs.

First of all, install the very latest ALSA HG version.  Don't stick
with 1.0.16 release.  You can use the daily snapshot tarball instead,
too.

Then, get hda-verb program found on
	ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/tiwai/misc/
Extract the tarball, run make.  Install it or invoke it locally.  This
program can be usable only as root.

The next step is to get ALC262 datasheet from Realtek web site.  Take
a look at the block diagram page.  There are pins in the right side
and two DACs in the left side.  We have to set up the correct pins and
connect to the DAC properly.

Now, assume the port-D (NID 0x14) is the speaker output.  Check
/proc/asound/card0/codec#0 and look for Node 0x14.  It may have the
entry like the following:

	Node 0x14 [Pin Complex] wcaps 0x40018f: Stereo Amp-In Amp-Out
	  Amp-In caps: ofs=0x00, nsteps=0x03, stepsize=0x27, mute=0
	  Amp-In vals:  [0x00 0x00] [0x00 0x00]
	  Amp-Out caps: ofs=0x00, nsteps=0x00, stepsize=0x00, mute=1
	  Amp-Out vals:  [0x80 0x80]
	  Pincap 0x083e: IN OUT HP Detect Trigger
	  Pin Default 0x411111f0: [N/A] Speaker at Ext Rear
	    Conn = 1/8, Color = Black
	    DefAssociation = 0xf, Sequence = 0x0
	    Misc = NO_PRESENCE
	  Pin-ctls: 0x20: IN
	  Unsolicited: tag=00, enabled=0
	  Connection: 2
	     0x0c* 0x0d

For this widget, we have a couple of things to do: fix the pin type,
adjust the amp and check the connection.  First, change the pin type
to the correct one, the output type.  Usually, it's either 0x40 or
0xc0.  The latter type is with a headphone amplifier.  Let's take
0xc0 as an example.  Call hda-verb like below (as root user):

	# hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC0D0 0x14 SET_PIN_WID 0xc0

Check /proc/asound/card0/codec#0 again whether the pin-ctls is changed
properly.  Similarly, unmute the output volume of this widget with
hda-verb.  For this, pass 0xb000 to SET_AMP verb:

	# hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC0D0 0x14 SET_AMP 0xb000

0xb000 means to set the AMP-output to 0x00.  The mute bit is 0x80, so
0x00 means to unmute and set the volume 0.  (The volume 0 doesn't
matter because this widget has no volume but only mute control.)

In the example above, this pin is connected from the NID 0x0c, which
is a mixer amp.  That's fine and let's keep as is.
Check this widget 0x0c whether the first Amp-In vals is unmuted
(i.e. has *no* 0x80 bit mask).  The first element of 0x0c is connected
to the DAC, 0x02, directly.  If it's muted, call like below 

	# hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC0D0 0x0c SET_AMP 0x7000

0x7000 means to set the AMP-input of the first element (index 0) to
0x00.  For the second element, it'd be 0x7100.

OK, all set ready.  Try aplay and pray.  If this doesn't work, try
other ports as well until you find a gold mine.

You could check the inputs similarly if anything doesn't work.
Once after you figure out all pin configurations, we can create a new
model (or fix the existing model) to adapt your device.

Have fun,


Takashi