Volume up/down keys cause loud beep on some ThinkPad laptops

[Ian Redfern]

Pressing the hardware volume up/down buttons does indeed raise and lower the volume, but also emits a very loud beep. This is particularly unhelpful if you're trying to use the volume down button to play something quieter to avoid disturbing your neighbours/deafening yourself with your headphones.

The visual feedback works fine - I really don't also need audio feedback for the volume control, but there seems to be no way to turn it off.

Feisty Herd 5 with GNOME system beep disabled.

[Chris Rose (chris-vault5)]

Thank you for your bug report. I get the same on my ThinkPad T42 (edgy).

[Chris Rose (chris-vault5)]

Just tried this on a T41, aswell, same annoying beep :-)

[Ben Collins (ben-collins)]

I'm hesitant to think that it's the kernel emitting the beep. Boot to single user (Rescue Mode in grub menu) and try these keys from just the command line. If you still get a beep, then mark this bug Confirmed/Medium/Assigned to ubuntu-kernel-team.

Otherwise start checking the apps in the desktop environment you have.

[Chris Rose (chris-vault5)]

Sorry, the same beeps occur in single user mode too.

[Ian Redfern (ian-redfern)]

Some further investigation on a dual-boot X60:

The keys cause the same beep when used at the GRUB boot menu, as well as single-user mode, and in Windows.

There is a Windows ThinkPad-specific control panel option to turn off beep on the volume buttons. When used, it seems to turn it off for Linux as well - now all you get is a quiet click when changing the volume. I don't see anything in /proc/acpi/ibm that has the same effect though.

The system beep (e.g. from GNOME Terminal) is still excessively loud, and there seems to be no way to control it other than xset b off.

[danield (danield-andrew)]

I have a T41, running Feisty. I have been able to change volume beeps, hibernate beeps, and battery-alarm beeps through the pre-startup menu. When booting up, press the "Access IBM" button on the keyboard. You'll get to a menu; select "Settings" (I think it's called). Then select "Config", then "Alarms". You should be able to enable/disable may beeps.
This is different from the regular System beep. To control that, I use a method from http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/TurnOffBeep.
Good luck!

[Ethan Bissett (draimus-deactivatedaccount)]

I have an R30. I noticed this back in Feisty when I unmuted "PC Speaker" in gnome-volume-control. So I've left it muted ever since.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Beginning with the Hardy Heron 8.04 development cycle, all open Ubuntu kernel bugs need to be reported against the "linux" kernel package. We are automatically migrating this bug to the new "linux" package. However, development has already began for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. It would be helpful if you could test the upcoming release and verify if this is still an issue - http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . If the issue still exists, please update this report by changing the Status of the "linux" task from "Incomplete" to "New". We appreciate your patience and understanding as we make this transition. Thanks!

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[Ethan Bissett (draimus-deactivatedaccount)]

My R30 is currently running 8.10. As of Wednesday (Aug 27th) there has been no improvement in the volume keys. They do not respond.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Thanks Draimus. Can you specifically comment which version of the kernel you are using though? 'cat /proc/version_signature'. It's hard to know which kernel you updated to on the 27th.

[Ethan Bissett (draimus-deactivatedaccount)]

Just did an update 5min ago, rebooted, tried again. No volume key functionality.

/proc/version_signature = "Ubuntu 2.6.27-2.3-generic"

[Anatoly Kamchatnov (akamch)]

It was a matter of setting a BIOS option for me. I have R60. Lenovo has the following document describe various ThinkPad BIOS settings (X40, but that doesn't matter in this case). It sheds light on all the sources of all kinds of beeps. Specifically, for volume keys it's an option in the Config-Alarm section of the BIOS:
"Volume Beep [Disabled] is default, Enabled is an option. This option enables the beep to sound when you change the sound volume by pressing the Volume up/Volume down keys".

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Triaged a while ago but has not had any updated comments for quite some time. Please let us know if this issue remains in the current Ubuntu release, http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . If the issue remains, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

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[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

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