[Latitude 7490, Realtek ALC3246, Black Headphone Out, Front] No sound at all

[Vasilis]

After upgrade from 19.10 to 20.04 (xubuntu) I've lost the sound on the headphones.
The internal loud speakers works ok when the headphones are not plugged in.

More specifically:
If I open the pavucontrol without the headphones plugged in I see that is correctly mentioning the output as Port: "Speakers (plugged-in)" and everything works ok, I have sound from the speakers.

The moment I plug in the headphones, for a fraction of a second I can hear sound on the headphones, and then the output port switches to "headphones" which is the moment I lose the sound.

The fraction that I hear the sound is when the jack is half-inserted and I get the sound on one channel only. When is fully inserted, the computer detects it and makes the switch.

I've tried also in alsamixer all possibilities I could imagine, playing with mute/unmute and gain of each channel, with no success

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-29.33-generic 5.4.30
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-29-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: bnv 1312 F.... pulseaudio
                      bnv 21367 F.... alsamixer
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0c: bnv 1312 F...m pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: bnv 1312 F...m pulseaudio
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Fri May 8 15:41:08 2020
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-08-08 (274 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 19.04 "Disco Dingo" - Release amd64 (20190416)
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_DevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: bnv 1312 F.... pulseaudio
                      bnv 21367 F.... alsamixer
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0c: bnv 1312 F...m pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: bnv 1312 F...m pulseaudio
Symptom_Jack: Black Headphone Out, Front
Symptom_Type: No sound at all
Title: [Latitude 7490, Realtek ALC3246, Black Headphone Out, Front] No sound at all
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 11/08/2019
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.13.1
dmi.board.name: 0KP0FT
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr1.13.1:bd11/08/2019:svnDellInc.:pnLatitude7490:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0KP0FT:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct10:cvr:
dmi.product.family: Latitude
dmi.product.name: Latitude 7490
dmi.product.sku: 081C
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

The log has those errors

[22342.556235] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: ERROR Transfer event TRB DMA ptr not part of current TD ep_index 1 comp_code 1
[22342.556246] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Looking for event-dma 0000000469ddc2e0 trb-start 0000000469ddc2f0 trb-end 0000000469ddc2f0 seg-start 0000000469ddc000 seg-end 0000000469ddcff0
[22888.731315] perf: interrupt took too long (5034 > 4968), lowering kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate to 39500

unsure if that's a kernel issue ?

[Vasilis (vasilis-vlachoudis)]

Checking a bit more, I've realized the following:
- After a reboot, the microphone is not detected and nothing is proposed in pavucontrol

- If I plug any headphone (3-pins without mic) then the "Internal microphone" device appears. Which doesn't also don't work (neither output nor input). After unplugging the headphone, sometimes the mic starts working despite manually selecting it. I cannot find the combination to make the mic work all the time.

- If I plug a headset with (4-pins including mic) when the Input device is changed to Port: Headset Microphone (plugged in) in pavucontrol, and I get sound on the headphones only on the left channel.
Strangely enough if I change the microphone setting I lose the sound again, why the input should affect the output.

- USB headset with microphone works both ok.