No sound through internal speakers on the HP Mini 110

[caitlyn]

I have no sound through the internal speakers of my HP Mini 110 netbook running SalixOS 13.1 (32-bit). Sound works properly through the headphone jack with external speakers or headphones. The system is still dual boot with Ubuntu and sound through the speakers works fine in that distro. It is not turned down/off at the hardware or BIOS level. Indeed, the keyboard volume controls fn-F8, fn-F10 and fn-F11 all work as expected when using external speakers. The HP Mini 110 uses an Intel HDA audio chip and the snd_hda_intel kernel module.

Here is the relevant info from lspci:

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bash-4.1$ lsmod | grep intel
snd_hda_intel          18936  0 
snd_hda_codec          57091  2 snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
snd_pcm                57736  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd                    43107  11 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
intel_agp              22699  1 
agpgart                23773  2 drm,intel_agp
snd_page_alloc          5849  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

Relevant information from ALSA (/proc/asound):

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bash-4.1$ cat /proc/asound/version
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.

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bash-4.1$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [Intel          ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
                      HDA Intel at 0xfe938000 irq 26

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bash-4.1$ cat /proc/asound/devices
  2:        : timer
  3: [ 0- 0]: digital audio playback
  4: [ 0- 0]: digital audio capture
  5: [ 0- 0]: hardware dependent
  6: [ 0]   : control
  7:        : sequencer

Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) has a bug with this same chipset where sound worked through the internal speakers but not through the headphone jack or speaker jack, essentially the exact opposite of this problem. To fix it you had to patch ALSA and compile a custom version. I expect the problem here is in ALSA as well, but it does not seem to show up in other distros.

[gapan]

Have a look at this: http://www.salixos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=83
it probably needs some similar treatment. model=auto worked for me, but you may need to specify the exact model.

All available models are listed in /usr/src/linux-2.6.33.4/Documentation/sound/alsa/HD-Audio-Models.txt

Some more documentation in /usr/src/linux-2.6.33.4/Documentation/sound/alsa/HD-Audio.txt

The position_fix option mentioned in HD-Audio.txt might help too.

[caitlyn]

gapan, I tried your suggestions from the other thread. They resulted in no change. I looked at the Ubuntu configuration options for ALSA and tried a few things that didn't work either. I did glance at the kernel docs and I need to do more research and understand them more thoroughly. I may not have time until the weekend, and maybe not even then. I had hoped someone else would have seen/fixed this. Oh well...

[gapan]

What did you try exactly? Which models? Did you also try to specify the position_fix parameter? I'm sure the right combination will fix it, but I don't know which one it is.

Also, can you check that the sound output is not muted or at level 0 in alsamixer?

[pwatk]

I had a similar issue (the reverse in fact) a few years ago when I bought a new laptop.
I know I only managed to fix it with a newer version of ALSA but I remember there were various configurations to do with jack detection as well as alsamixer settings that I was advised to try first.

Sorry I can't help more and I know this is pretty vague but it might give you an idea of where to look.

[caitlyn]

Also, can you check that the sound output is not muted or at level 0 in alsamixer?

That was the first thing I checked. Also, if that was the case it wouldn't work through external speakers/headphones.

Which models?

I tried auto as you suggested which didn't work. I didn't find a close match for my model of chip in the documentation so I have not tried any specific models yet. As I said, I need to do more research to determine which has a prayer of being correct.

Did you also try to specify the position_fix parameter?

Not yet. The above comment about understanding how it works and what settings to try applies here.

I'm sure the right combination will fix it, but I don't know which one it is.

I'm not at all sure of that. In the previous (reverse) problem it required a patch to ALSA or a newer version. The same may be true here. I just don't know and don't have enough time right now to study it.

Also, to be completely honest, this "just works" in other distros so it may simply be easier for me to not run SalixOS on the netbook (or at all).

[pwatk]

I forgot to ask but I assume Salix and Ubuntu are using the same version of ALSA here?

[caitlyn]

I forgot to ask but I assume Salix and Ubuntu are using the same version of ALSA here?

Sorry to take so long to get back to you. I haven't really had time to work on this issue lately.

The answer to your question is yes and no. Both SalixOS 13.1 and Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.4 use ALSA 1.0.23. They are packaged differently and Ubuntu has patches which SalixOS does not have. I may try to rebuild alsa-lib and alsa-utils using the patches and see if that makes the difference.

[caitlyn]

I've received an e-mail claiming that if I patch ALSA the way Ubuntu does and compile it will work. I haven't had time to try it yet but I hope to in the next few days. I haven't given up but time has been short.

In all other respects both the regular and LXDE versions of SalixOS 13.1.x work well on the netbook. It just takes some effort to get to that point