[HP Spectre x360 - 13-4001nf] Audio broken, broadwell-U audio controller

[yom]

On Ubuntu vivid (15.04), Audio driver on HP Spectre x360 doesn't work.

WORKAROUND: GRUB can be reconfigured to use the sound card in legacy (HDA) mode by:
1) Editing /etc/default/grub
2) replacing GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" by GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_backlight=vendor acpi_osi='!Windows 2013' acpi_osi='!Windows 2012'"
3) Rebooting TWO times

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04
Package: linux-image-3.19.0-30-generic 3.19.0-30.34
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.19.0-30.34-generic 3.19.8-ckt6
Uname: Linux 3.19.0-30-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.17.2-0ubuntu1.5
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: yom 1908 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1: yom 1908 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Mon Oct 12 10:49:27 2015
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-07-17 (86 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20150218.1)
MachineType: Hewlett-Packard HP Spectre x360 Convertible 13
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-30-generic root=UUID=fabc8684-f690-4eeb-ad0a-ec14846f7de6 ro quiet splash acpi_backlight=vendor "acpi_osi=!Windows 2013" "acpi_osi=!Windows 2012" vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.19.0-30-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.19.0-30-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.143.3
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to vivid on 2015-07-24 (79 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 08/19/2015
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: F.25
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: 802D
dmi.board.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.board.version: 58.39
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrF.25:bd08/19/2015:svnHewlett-Packard:pnHPSpectrex360Convertible13:pvr:rvnHewlett-Packard:rn802D:rvr58.39:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct10:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: HP Spectre x360 Convertible 13
dmi.sys.vendor: Hewlett-Packard

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

yom, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. Could you please test the latest upstream kernel available from the very top line at the top of the page from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/?C=N;O=D (the release names are irrelevant for testing, and please do not test the daily folder)? Install instructions are available at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/MainlineBuilds . This will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue.

If the latest kernel did not allow you to test to the issue (ex. you couldn't boot into the OS) please make a comment in your report about this, and continue to test the next most recent kernel version until you can test to the issue. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this issue is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon, next to the word Tags, located at the bottom of the report description:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-X.Y-rcZ

Where X, Y, and Z are numbers corresponding to the kernel version.

If the mainline kernel does not fix the issue, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-X.Y-rcZ

Please note, an error to install the kernel does not fit the criteria of kernel-bug-exists-upstream.

Once testing of the latest upstream kernel is complete, please mark this report's Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results.

Thank you for your understanding.

[yom (g-lestrelin)]

@Christopher
I have just tested the latest upstream kernel (4.3-rc5).
I reverted my GRUB config to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" and rebooted two times (using the 4.3-rc5 kernel).
I was able to boot into the OS but the latest kernel does not fix the sound issue.

[Bastien (bkerysaouen)]

Kernel 4.4.0-040400rc8-generic appears to fix the issue, without having to modify the GRUB.

[madbiologist (me-again)]

Yom - can you confirm what Bastien said in comment #5 about kernel 4.4? If not, he probably has different hardware to yours.

Can you also please test the 4.9-rc1 kernel when it is available at http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/?C=N;O=D
It contains the following commit:

ALSA: hda - Add the top speaker pin config for HP Spectre x360

HP Spectre x360 with CX20724 codec has two speaker outputs while the
BIOS sets up only the bottom one (NID 0x17) and disables the top one
(NID 0x1d).

This patch adds a fixup simply defining the proper pincfg for NID 0x1d
so that the top speaker works as is.

Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=169071
Cc: <email address hidden>
Signed-off-by: Takashi Iwai <email address hidden>

[Bastien (bkerysaouen)]

madbiologist: I'm currently running 4.4.0-38-generic and while sound is working, it is not as loud an clear as in Windows, on the same device (I dual boot).
Do you think that would be fixed with kernel 4.9 ?
I'm not sure to understand this "two speaker outputs" story. Does that mean that the laptop has two physical sets of speakers but only one is activated on current kernel ? That would explain the low volume.

[madbiologist (me-again)]

I was wondering about your last question myself. I can't be sure, but the last phrase of the commit note seems to say "Yes" - "so that the top speaker works as is."

[madbiologist (me-again)]

The upstream 4.9-rc1 kernel has been released. It includes the patch I mentioned in comment #6 as commit 0eec880966e77bdbee0112989a2be67d92e39929. This patch is also in the upstream 4.4.24 kernel as commit 9c5d43504bbbb20bc1f9fa4f7cc79b4e35860c48.