[Lenovo Thinkpad X220, Conexant CX20590] No microphone input

[Christian Stefanescu]

I get no microphone input on my fresh install of 12.10 on a Lenovo X220 (Intel i7 CPU). When I open up the volume control panel, I see no movement in the indicator as I speak into the microphone and also there's no sound coming through on the other end in a Skype conversation

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: pulseaudio 1:2.1-0ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-17.28-generic 3.5.5
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-17-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu6
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: chris 1823 F.... pulseaudio
Date: Sat Oct 27 19:29:17 2012
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-10-15 (12 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Beta amd64 (20120926)
MarkForUpload: True
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 05/31/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8DET47WW (1.17 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 429149G
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr8DET47WW(1.17):bd05/31/2011:svnLENOVO:pn429149G:pvrThinkPadX220:rvnLENOVO:rn429149G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 429149G
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X220
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
modified.conffile..etc.pulse.daemon.conf: [modified]
mtime.conffile..etc.pulse.daemon.conf: 2012-10-27T19:26:56.816260
---
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu6
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: chris 1851 F.... pulseaudio
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-10-15 (19 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Beta amd64 (20120926)
MarkForUpload: True
Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu3
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-17.28-generic 3.5.5
Tags: quantal running-unity
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-17-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo vboxusers
dmi.bios.date: 05/31/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8DET47WW (1.17 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 429149G
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr8DET47WW(1.17):bd05/31/2011:svnLENOVO:pn429149G:pvrThinkPadX220:rvnLENOVO:rn429149G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 429149G
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X220
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
mtime.conffile..etc.modprobe.d.alsa.base.conf: 2012-11-04T10:01:06.836588

[Christian Stefanescu (st-chris)]

Removing pulseaudio, since I don't know what exactly is affected.

[Book 'em Dano (heymrdjd)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. We need some more information from you before we can start working on this bug.

Please include the information requested from the "Reporting Sound Bugs" section of https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems as separate attachments.

If you are using Karmic or later this information can be gathered for you automatically using the command 'apport-collect -p alsa-base' 1072146 where BUGNUMBER is the number of the bug you've reported.

[Book 'em Dano (heymrdjd)]

The correct syntax for the above mentioned command is:

apport-collect -p alsa-base 1072146

[Christian Stefanescu (st-chris)]

apport information

[Christian Stefanescu (st-chris)]

apport information

[Christian Stefanescu (st-chris)]

apport information

[Christian Stefanescu (st-chris)]

apport information

[Christian Stefanescu (st-chris)]

apport information

[Christian Stefanescu (st-chris)]

apport information

[Christian Stefanescu (st-chris)]

apport information

[Daniel Letzeisen (dtl131)]

I'm guessing it's an inverted mic, since other Lenovo machines using that codec have that problem. For what to do next, see: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/1002978

[Christian Stefanescu (st-chris)]

Unfortunately the trick with the L/R channel muting worked (on both "Internal Microphone" and "Microphone" devices I can see in pavucontrol). I tried to install the alsa-hda-dkms .deb provided in that ticket, but it doesn't seem to install cleanly. I'm pasting the output from dpkg -i and also the referenced make.log file

Preparing to replace alsa-hda-dkms 0.1 (using alsa-hda-dkms_0.1_all.deb) ...

------------------------------
Deleting module version: 0.1
completely from the DKMS tree.
------------------------------
Done.
Unpacking replacement alsa-hda-dkms ...
Setting up alsa-hda-dkms (0.1) ...
Loading new alsa-hda-0.1 DKMS files...
First Installation: checking all kernels...
Building only for 3.5.0-17-generic
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 3.5.0-17-generic
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 3.5.0-17-generic (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/alsa-hda/0.1/build/make.log for more information.
dpkg: error processing alsa-hda-dkms (--install):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 10
Errors were encountered while processing:
 alsa-hda-dkms

[Christian Stefanescu (st-chris)]

Sorry, what I meant to say is that the trick with the L/R channel muting did NOT work.

[Christian Stefanescu (st-chris)]

This is highly irritating, because at some point after the fresh installation the microphone worked perfectly fine, including Skype and everything. Could it be that a reinstallation would help? I already tried the 12.04 LTS Live-USB and it didn't seem to work there either.

[Christian Stefanescu (st-chris)]

Attaching the output of alsa-info: http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=7ba1fbc700830addb8f8170b9094a410cd386c54

[Timothy Soehnlin (timothy-soehnlin)]

I am experiencing the same scenario. My x220 had properly working microphone/sound up until about 4-6 weeks ago. Something I did/installed seems to have brought this problem about. I can follow the instructions for verifying the inverted microphone, but oddly my situation is reversed. I need to completely mute the left channel (not the right as indicated in the inverted microphone ticket).

As well, I was unable to install the the .deb file from the inverted microphone ticket, the issue being that it seems that the fixes in the .deb file may already be in my kernel.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Zeta Syanthis (zetasyanthis)]

I don't suppose there's any hope in asking if this'll get traction anytime soon. This used to work, and it's a major pain. ^^;

[Zeta Syanthis (zetasyanthis)]

Updated alsa-info output with 16.04.

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=51053bf1ee821f15f294540d92e85ce9c83fb550