[alsa-devel] After kernel upgrade to v ~~> 4.1.0, no audio output unless UNPLUG/RE-PLUGIN of audio jack on card; OK with earlier kernels

[Takashi Iwai]

At Sun, 05 Jul 2015 13:39:08 -0700,
robert.devanna at nospammail.net wrote:
> 
> I run Opensuse 13.2/64.
> 
> My audio system has been / is ALSA, not PulseAudio.
> 
> I have installed
> 
> 	rpm -qa | grep -i alsa
> 		alsa-utils-1.0.29-143.1.x86_64
> 		alsa-plugins-jack-1.0.29-99.1.x86_64
> 		alsa-firmware-1.0.29-33.1.noarch
> 		alsa-devel-1.0.29-218.1.x86_64
> 		alsa-plugins-1.0.29-99.1.x86_64
> 		alsa-1.0.29-218.1.x86_64
> 		alsa-oss-1.0.28-51.1.x86_64
> 		alsa-docs-1.0.29-218.1.noarch
> 
> It's run fine for ages.  In the past week -- after a bunch of zypper (distro packages) upgrades, and no I don't know which one specifically -- I now have an audio problem.
> 
> When I boot my machine there's no audio output.
> 
> Every alsa/sound diagnostic I ran said everything's OK.
> 
> Took me awhile to figure out that simply UNPLUGGING the audio jack from the mobo socket, then replugging it in fixes the audio -- immediately.
> 
> Chatting in #irc, suggestion was to check kernel version dependency.
> 
> I'm currently on latest stable kernel 4.1.X.
> 
> 	uname -rm
> 		4.1.1-1.ga46abf6-desktop x86_64
> 
> I am absolutely sure that this was NOT a problem in the 4.0.X kernel branch.
> I am pretty-darn-sure that this was NOT a problem in earlier 4.1.X branch.
> 
> Unfortunately, I only had access to
> 
> 	4.1.1-1.1.ga46abf6
> 	4.1.0-3.g5ee367d
> 
> and
> 
> 	3.16.7-21.1.x86_64
> 
> no longer any earlier 4.1.X or 4.0.X kernels.
> 
> Testing each of those
> 
> 	4.1.1-1.1.ga46abf6  --> FAILs
> 	4.1.0-3.g5ee367d    --> FAILs
> 	3.16.7-21.1.x86_64  --> WORKs
> 
> so at least from 3.16.7 -> 4.1.0 there's a kernel dependency.  Again, I'm pretty certain that this was NOT a problem with earlier 4.1.X and 4.0.X kernels; just can't prove it.
> 
> As instructed in IRC, I DL'd and exec'd the 'alsa-info.sh' script.
> 
> I ran the script in 2 cases:
> 
> 	[1] boot to console, kernel 4.1.1-1.1.ga46abf6, no audio output
> 	[2] boot to console, kernel 4.1.1-1.1.ga46abf6, unplug & replug, OK audio output
> 
> First, the DIFF between the two shows there IS a change on UNPLUG/REPLUG of the jack,
> 
> DIFF:
> ------------------------------------------
> --- alsa-info.txt.BEFORE	2015-07-05 12:32:44.973554471 -0700
> +++ alsa-info.txt.AFTER	2015-07-05 12:34:01.935900433 -0700
> @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
>  !!ALSA Information Script v 0.4.64
>  !!################################
>  
> -!!Script ran on: Sun Jul  5 19:32:43 UTC 2015
> +!!Script ran on: Sun Jul  5 19:34:00 UTC 2015
>  
>  
>  !!Linux Distribution
> @@ -332,7 +332,7 @@
>    Pin-ctls: 0x40: OUT
>    Unsolicited: tag=01, enabled=1
>    Power states:  D0 D1 D2 D3
> -  Power: setting=D3, actual=D3
> +  Power: setting=D0, actual=D0
>    Connection: 1
>       0x16
>  Node 0x1d [Pin Complex] wcaps 0x40058d: Stereo Amp-Out
> @@ -602,7 +602,7 @@
>  crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  6 Jul  5 12:31 /dev/snd/hwC0D0
>  crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 10 Jul  5 12:31 /dev/snd/hwC2D0
>  crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  4 Jul  5 12:31 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0c
> -crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  3 Jul  5 12:32 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p
> +crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  3 Jul  5 12:33 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p
>  crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  5 Jul  5 12:31 /dev/snd/pcmC0D3p
>  crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 12 Jul  5 12:31 /dev/snd/pcmC1D0c
>  crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  8 Jul  5 12:31 /dev/snd/pcmC2D3p
> ------------------------------------------
> 
> Since the output's too big for the list, apparently, I pastebin'd the full script output 
> 
> 	[1] -> http://pastebin.com/jUyTRrFG
> 	[2] -> http://pastebin.com/4V8YCguV

The most important bit wasn't shown in the mail -- the codec name.

It's a known problem with VIA codecs, and the fix was already merged
in 4.2-rc1, the commit 735c75cf4d434862e38c01dcfb2ce8d2fcb9035f.
The next stable 4.1.x kernel should contain the fix.


thanks,

Takashi