No sound from headphone jack on xps13 9350 after ubuntu 17.10 dist-upgrade

[Rien Heuver]

I just upgraded from 17.04 to 17.10 on my Dell XPS13 9350. Ever since my headphone jack doesn't output anything. The internal speakers are still working fine, the speakers I connect to the laptop too (tested with my phone). The system does recognize the speakers being connected, since I get the Headpones | Headset | Microphone popup and I can also test left/right speakers in Sound. However, no audio is coming through.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-12.13-generic 4.13.3
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-12-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: rienheuver 1426 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Thu Oct 5 14:41:11 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-11-22 (316 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-GNOME 16.10 "Yakkety Yak" - Release amd64 (20161012.1)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Symptom_AlsaPlaybackTest: ALSA playback test through plughw:PCH failed
Symptom_Card: Built-in Audio - HDA Intel PCH
Symptom_Jack: Black Headphone Out, Front
Symptom_Type: No sound at all
Title: [XPS 13 9350, Realtek ALC3246, Black Headphone Out, Front] No sound at all
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to artful on 2017-10-05 (0 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 12/18/2015
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.1.9
dmi.board.name: 07TYC2
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A01
dmi.chassis.type: 9
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr1.1.9:bd12/18/2015:svnDellInc.:pnXPS139350:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn07TYC2:rvrA01:cvnDellInc.:ct9:cvr:
dmi.product.name: XPS 13 9350
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Chris Billington (cjbil1)]

I am also having this problem on a Dell Precision 5520 (which is similar hardware to both the Dell XPS 15 and Dell XPS 13).

Headphone output worked initially since install and then stopped working mid-session after unplugging and re-plugging the headphones. I was adjusting the "Alert volume" setting in sound settings at the time, which may or may not be relevant. Reebooting, unplugging and replugging, etc, nothing seems to bring it back.

I am on Ubuntu 17.10 having installed fresh at the time of Beta 2, and the problem started occurring whilst I was fully updated today.

[Chris Billington (cjbil1)]

This problem seems to be the same as in the following two Ubuntu stackexchange posts:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/768463/laptop-headphone-jack-produces-no-sound
https://askubuntu.com/questions/219342/no-sound-output-from-headphone-jack-ubuntu12-04/859931

A temporary solution mentioned in those threads is:

alsactl restore

which fixes the problem for me.

Might be a problem with Dell hardware specifically - a few comments mention Dell models. In any case it doesn't seem like a new problem since the two stackexchange posts are from 2016 and 2012.

[Tim Edwards (tkedwards)]

I found this worked around the problem (Dell XPS 9360):
Open alsamixer, enable sound on 'Headphone' (next to 'Master'). If there's a hissing/popping sound in the background but sound at 0 on 'Headphone Mic Boost'

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 17.10 (artful) reached end-of-life on July 19, 2018.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test. If you then find the bug is still present in the newer Ubuntu version, please add a comment here telling us which new version it is in and change the bug status to Confirmed.