Kernel 5.4.5-050405-generic produces garbage on HDMI audio after 19.10

[Raul Dias]

After upgrading from 19.04 to 19.10, the sound output to HDMI is garbage.

The sound is great on local output, on bluetooth headphones, etc. But when outputting to a HDMI TV it is garbage.

I tried different users with the same problem.

If I boot on Windows, the output is fine, which discards any physical problem, cables and TV as the source of the problem.

I did delete any user pulseaudio configuration (and tried as a different one).

I purged all system wide configuration and reinstalled the default pulseaudio configs with:

apt-get -o DPkg::options::=--force-confmiss --reinstall install pulseaudio

On 19.04 and before this problem did not happen at all.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 19.10
Package: pulseaudio 1:13.0-1ubuntu1
Uname: Linux 5.4.5-050405-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.2
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: raul 4850 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: raul 4850 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Fri Jan 3 09:33:11 2020
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-05-12 (2062 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/installer/media-info'
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to eoan on 2019-11-17 (46 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 02/22/2017
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 5.12
dmi.board.asset.tag: Tag 12345
dmi.board.name: P870KM_KM1
dmi.board.vendor: Notebook
dmi.board.version: Not Applicable
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: No Enclosure
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr5.12:bd02/22/2017:svnNotebook:pnP870KM_KM1:pvrNotApplicable:rvnNotebook:rnP870KM_KM1:rvrNotApplicable:cvnNoEnclosure:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.family: Not Applicable
dmi.product.name: P870KM_KM1
dmi.product.sku: Not Applicable
dmi.product.version: Not Applicable
dmi.sys.vendor: Notebook
modified.conffile..etc.pulse.default.pa: [modified]
modified.conffile..etc.pulse.system.pa: [modified]
mtime.conffile..etc.pulse.default.pa: 2019-12-22T00:17:51.785216
mtime.conffile..etc.pulse.system.pa: 2019-12-22T00:16:08.693216

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

The other thing that changed in this area between 19.04 and 19.10 was the kernel, so we need to rule that out first before pursuing PulseAudio. Please try installing kernel 5.0.0 which is more like what was in Ubuntu 19.04:

  https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.0/

Then run 'uname -a' to confirm the older kernel is active. Does the bug still occur there?

[Raul Dias (rsd)]

I was looking at the wrong beast.
Upgrading kernel solved the problem.

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. While running an Ubuntu kernel (not a mainline or third-party kernel) please enter the following command in a terminal window:

apport-collect 1858200

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[Raul Dias (rsd)]

I think it is invalid as the solution already exists in the updated kernel.