"Speaker playback volume" controls headphone volume as well

[Nikola Snele]

When I plug in external speakers sound is lost. When I look at pavucontrol I can see that port is automatically changed from "analog speakers" to "analog headphones". If I manually set it back to "analog speakers" sound is back and is playing through external speakers. But every time I plug in the speakers this "automatic switching to analog headphones" happens and I am then unable to hear sound through external speakers.
In Natty this doesn't happen.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: linux-image-3.0.0-11-generic 3.0.0-11.18
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-11.18-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-11-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu1
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: nikola 1598 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: nikola 1598 F...m pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'SB'/'HDA ATI SB at 0xfddf4000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC888'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0888,14623fb9,00100001 HDA:11c11040,11c10001,00100200'
   Controls : 30
   Simple ctrls : 18
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'HDMI'/'HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfdeec000 irq 46'
   Mixer name : 'ATI R6xx HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:1002aa01,00aa0100,00100000'
   Controls : 4
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card1.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [on]
Date: Sun Sep 18 01:24:38 2011
GvfsMonitorLog: Monitoring events. Press Ctrl+C to quit.
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=b9315fc7-1622-4212-9664-ea799a61e4d4
HotplugNewDevices:

HotplugNewMounts:

InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Beta i386 (20110915)
MachineType: Micro-Star International EX610
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-11-generic root=UUID=311d9503-bfbd-4642-aab0-ca475516e8f1 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.0.0-11-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.0.0-11-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.60
RfKill:
 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: no
SourcePackage: linux
Symptom: storage
UdisksMonitorLog: Monitoring activity from the disks daemon. Press Ctrl+C to cancel.
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 04/14/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A163DAMS V3.09
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: MS-163D
dmi.board.vendor: MSI
dmi.board.version: Ver 1.000
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrA163DAMSV3.09:bd04/14/2008:svnMicro-StarInternational:pnEX610:pvrVer1.000:rvnMSI:rnMS-163D:rvrVer1.000:cvnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: EX610
dmi.product.version: Ver 1.000
dmi.sys.vendor: Micro-Star International

[Nikola Snele (n-schnelle)]

Definitely it is regression for me. I cannot use external speakers without manually changing output port.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

What you have on the back - and that you plug your speakers in - is listed as a headphone jack, so the decision to switch to analog headphones is correct.

I think the problem here is that for some reason the same DAC is chosen to control both internal speaker and headphones jack. As a result the "speaker" alsamixer volume actually controls Headphone volume as well.

[Salim (sboulkour)]

Some more people affected :
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11261998#post11261998

[Zack Evans (zevans23)]

So I have the opposite bug where I plug headphones in and I don't get any headphone sound even though the System Settings has "noticed" that I plugged them in.

However if I manually change it back to speakers, with the headphones in, adjust the volume, change it to headphones and adjust the volume again, THEN I get correct volume in headphones and mute speakers, as it should be.

I think there's something broken with DAC selection as bugs #829843 and #830641 seem to be a very similar problem!

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

@Nikola, I have now run the codec in an emulator, and it seems like this problem is fixed upstream. I would advice you to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/InstallingLinuxAlsaDriverModules to try the latest upstream code - but those are not yet available for oneiric. :-(

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

@Zack, if you have different hardware, please file a different bug for your issue(s) as the root cause is likely different. Thanks!

[Nikola Snele (n-schnelle)]

@David, Thank you. When oneiric packages become available in the ubuntu-audio-dev ppa I will test it and report back.

I hope the fix will be available in oneiric final release though.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Unfortunately not - we have already passed kernelfreeze (see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/OneiricReleaseSchedule ).

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

@Nikola, there is now a way to upgrade your HDA drivers under oneiric, so you can follow the instructions here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/UpgradingAlsa/DKMS
...to see if that helps. Thanks!

[Nikola Snele (n-schnelle)]

@David, now I hear sound on external speakers. But I have new problems.

First problem: I set volume to 100%. But when I plug in speakers volume is not the same so I have to go pavucontrol and manualy increase/decrease volume. Video of the problem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps7_zLvHUpQ

Second problem: Sometimes after I unplug external speakers, volume (loudness) of sound on laptop speakers is very low although it is set to 100%. Video of the problem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ebnQ1m6knQ

Thank you for all the help.

[Nikola Snele (n-schnelle)]

First problem I reported in previous comment is maybe expected behavior.

But second problem is a bug. I made second (better) video describing the bug: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqvZ7iwmTk8

This test is done with newest alsa-hda-dkms_0.201110091603~oneiric1_all.deb package from https://code.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-audio-dev/+archive/alsa-daily/+packages

Should I report this problem upstream?

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Hi and thanks for your comments and videos.

The "second problem" sounds like a separate bug, compared to the original problem. It would make more sense to track it as a separate bug against PulseAudio for something like "missing alsa volume sync on port change, if volume is exactly 100%", with alsa-info's attached at all three places: before switching port, after switching port (here you experience the problem), and after moving the slider (which corrects the problem again).

That said, I'm not sure I have time to track it down right now; around release time a lot of bugs are being filed.

[Nikola Snele (n-schnelle)]

David, I followed your advice and have opened new bug report with alsa-info attachments : https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/878362
When you have time, please help me with this bug. I'll be patient.

Bug originally reported in this current bug report is solved by installing newest alsa package from https://code.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-audio-dev/+archive/alsa-daily/+packages.

Thank you.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Ok, thanks for the feedback!

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

bug 857206 ?
---
Ubuntu Bug Squad volunteer triager
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Fabio, you're correct. It's the same bug. In addition, the kernel team are looking for volunteers to test the patch I wrote for that problem.
Any volunteers with affected hardware that would like to help out with testing?

[Zack Evans (zevans23)]

I have gone full circle. So over in my bug we have deduced that I can make different volume mixers work or not work correctly by forcing different "model" parameters.

This is equivalent to saying that there no suitable "model" for my complete hardware - or in other words - volume controls I see and DACs that the netbook actually has are not correctly mapped. Because really a "model" is a set of definitions of DACs and outputs.

So I will try the patch, try the build from the PPA mentioned above, and try changing the "model" parameter and make a matrix of how these interact.