Sound output too low

[jatin sachdeva]

Sound output on lenovo p51s is too low. No option to go above 100% in volume settings. Download pulse audio volume control to raise application and output volume to 153%, which helps to some extent, but then leads to distortion.
Was running windows 10 on same system and audio was loud enough!
Also after this morning
s update, the volume keys no longer work, even after re-mapping them in shortcuts.3

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-13.14-generic 4.15.10
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-13-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: jatin 2098 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: Budgie:GNOME
Date: Sun Apr 8 22:50:04 2018
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-03-23 (17 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Budgie 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Alpha amd64 (20180307.1)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Symptom_AlsaPlaybackTest: ALSA playback test through plughw:PCH successful
Symptom_Card: Built-in Audio - HDA Intel PCH
Symptom_Jack: Speaker, Internal
Symptom_PulsePlaybackTest: PulseAudio playback test successful
Symptom_Type: High background noise, or volume is too low
Title: [20HCS06601, Realtek ALC298, Speaker, Internal] Background noise or low volume
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 10/03/2017
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: N1VET36W (1.26 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 20HCS06601
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: SDK0J40697 WIN
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: None
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrN1VET36W(1.26):bd10/03/2017:svnLENOVO:pn20HCS06601:pvrThinkPadP51s:rvnLENOVO:rn20HCS06601:rvrSDK0J40697WIN:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNone:
dmi.product.family: ThinkPad P51s
dmi.product.name: 20HCS06601
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad P51s
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Vanja D (dizyart)]

Identical symptoms, package version, distro version, also ALC298, also tried windows, only difference is computer model (Lenovo T570). Confirmed on two identical computers with identical setups. Sorry, don't know how to generate a new report or add debug info.

[lucasheringer (lucasheringer)]

This looks like an Alsa-driver bug, I have the same hardware but I'm using Arch Linux and I have the exact same problem. Don't know also to generate all these reports if anyone wants more details just tell me.

[David G. Johnson (n-david-johnson)]

Originally had this issue on my ThinkPad T570 running Ubuntu 16.04 and added a bug report to this issue. Yesterday, I upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04 and the problem still exists. Please advise if additional detail would be useful.

[Pierre-Alexis Ciavaldini (pciavald)]

Same issue here on T570 running Manjaro, this is the only bug report talking about the problem which seems not related to Ubuntu but to alsa. All sliders are up in alsamixer, sound is around half-volume compared to the Windows install. ALSA Driver Version: k4.14.67-1-MANJARO.
these did not help: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture/Troubleshooting#Volume_is_too_low

[Damian Gasior (cerotis)]

The same issue here. Different videos, different volume. In general very low.

Audio chip: Realtek ALC298

Laptop: T570

[David G. Johnson (n-david-johnson)]

For the T570, I seem to have resolved the issue by installing the HDA DKMS driver from the ALSA Daily Build Snapshots here:

https://code.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-audio-dev/+archive/ubuntu/alsa-daily/+packages

Since I'm on 18.04, I grabbed the latest "daily" DKMS snapshot, which as of this writing is from 2018-08-05.

You must use DKMS to install this driver. Instructions are here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/UpgradingAlsa/DKMS

The article is a little outdated, but the instructions still work. After rebooting, I had good quality sound through my ThinkPad's main built-in speakers again. I hope this helps!