[ALC256 - Razer Blade 15 2018] Headphones not automatically detected

[Arne De Herdt]

Running the command alsamixer allows me to manually increase the sound levels for the headset, and sound plays properly through them. This requires me to disable the auto-mute feature.
I haven't rebooted my system yet to see if this is permanent.
But the UI doesn't show the heaphones at all and only sends sound through the main speakers of the laptop.

➜ ~ lspci -nnk | grep -i -A7 audio
00:1f.3 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a348] (rev 10)
 Subsystem: Razer USA Ltd. Device [1a58:2001]
 Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
 Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
00:1f.4 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a323] (rev 10)
 Subsystem: Razer USA Ltd. Device [1a58:2001]
 Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
 Kernel modules: i2c_i801

➜ ~ cat /proc/asound/card0/codec* | grep Codec
Codec: Realtek ALC256
Codec: Intel Kabylake HDMI

Using for example pavucontrol allows me to select the headphone, which are marked as unplugged, and I can play audio through them as long as I keep the application open.
If I reboot or close pavucontrol, everything is back to the original state and only the speakers work.

Additional Information:

➜ ~ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
Release: 18.04

What I expect to happen:

When I plug in my headphones, Ubuntu and the UI should see them and automatically redirect all sound through them.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-42.45-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-42-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.5
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: olivar 8320 F...m pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: olivar 8320 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: X-Cinnamon
Date: Thu Dec 6 13:02:14 2018
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-11-21 (15 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180725)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Symptom_AlsaPlaybackTest: ALSA playback test through plughw:PCH successful
Symptom_Card: Built-in Audio - HDA Intel PCH
Symptom_PulsePlaybackTest: PulseAudio playback test successful
Symptom_Type: Only some of outputs are working
Title: [HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH, playback] Playback problem
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 08/31/2018
dmi.bios.vendor: Razer
dmi.bios.version: 01.01
dmi.board.name: DANA_MB
dmi.board.vendor: Razer
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Razer
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnRazer:bvr01.01:bd08/31/2018:svnRazer:pnBlade:pvr1.04:rvnRazer:rnDANA_MB:rvr:cvnRazer:ct10:cvr:
dmi.product.family: 1A582001 Razer Blade
dmi.product.name: Blade
dmi.product.version: 1.04
dmi.sys.vendor: Razer

[Arne De Herdt (olivar)]

I've taken a screenshot of the alsamixer.
This configuration currently is the only way for me to get sound out of my headset and not the speakers:

* Enable master sound
* Enable headphones, and assign volume
* Enable speakers, but put volume to 0, don't mute
* disable auto-mute

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

What laptop model do you use? Upstream kernel driver has regular fixes like https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/next/linux-next.git/commit/sound/pci/hda/patch_realtek.c?id=c1732ede5 (the one should be in the current kernel already though)

[Arne De Herdt (olivar)]

I'm using a Razer Blade 15 2018

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for alsa-driver (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Mike Clark (mwclark)]

I have an identical setup and problem.

[John W Maynard (jwmaynar)]

Do you need any other input to get a fix in for this? I've tried a number of different 'model' settings for the ALC256 to try to get this to work to no avail.

[John W Maynard (jwmaynar)]

Can confirm this is still and issue in 19.04.

[Mike Clark (mwclark)]

Since it's still not working on 19.04, guess that answers my question as to whether to upgrade or not. I've confirmed that the acpid isn't seeing the plug in event by running:

netcat -U /var/run/acpid.socket

[Mike Clark (mwclark)]

Just an FYI, the netcat -U /var/run/acpid.socket is now seeing the headphone jack event. Everything appears to be working.

[Hui Wang (hui.wang)]

If the headphone doesn't work, please run:
sudo hdajacksensetest -a //without plugging the headphone

sudo hdajacksensetest -a //with plugging the headhone

Then upload the log.

[Mike Clark (mwclark)]

OK, stopped working again today. I think I undid everything I've been testing with hdajackretask (i.e. removed boot override) yesterday while it was still working and double-checked it today.

Here are the results from hdajacksensetest:

 mclark  ~  sudo hdajacksensetest -a //no headphones
Pin 0x12 (Internal Mic, Mobile-In): present = No
Pin 0x13 (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x14 (Internal Speaker): present = No
Pin 0x18 (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x19 (Black Mic, Right side): present = No
Pin 0x1a (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x1b (Not connected): present = Yes
Pin 0x1d (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x1e (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x21 (Black Headphone, Right side): present = No
 mclark  ~  sudo hdajacksensetest -a //headphones
Pin 0x12 (Internal Mic, Mobile-In): present = No
Pin 0x13 (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x14 (Internal Speaker): present = No
Pin 0x18 (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x19 (Black Mic, Right side): present = No
Pin 0x1a (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x1b (Not connected): present = Yes
Pin 0x1d (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x1e (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x21 (Black Headphone, Right side): present = No

If I'm interpreting this correctly, I only have a pin active on 0x1b. Wonder if I need to specify that in some config file.

[Mike Clark (mwclark)]

Posted alsa-info.sh to http://alsa-project.org/db/?f=aea8019642712707b206b1ebf30ceada504b58c2

[Igor Voldiner (gltchr)]

Having the same issue on the same machine and would be extremely happy if there is any help or advances in this regard.

[Alibek Manabayev (m-nny)]

I'm having same issue with same machine. Is there any news?

[AK (ak44)]

Also having the same issue, any workarounds besides getting a bluetooth headset?

[Zach Charo (zlau)]

Also encountering the same issue on this machine (2018 Razer Blade Base Model)

[Igor Voldiner (gltchr)]

I found a work-around that allows detection of headphones to work correctly.
by changing model name of the codec to "headset-mode" from "headset-mic" in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

However this did not solve the problem with headset mic, which is not working (tried all pins available from hdajackretask) for any of two of above specified model names.

Alsa-info output: http://alsa-project.org/db/?f=5066c1fc285a210c75e5ef61712c35c2cce9efca

[Igor Voldiner (gltchr)]

As a side note: headset mic was brought to life (tested for "headset-mode" model) on the 0x19 pin (as detected/configured by default) with specifically selecting "Not Present" for jack detection (in Advanced override tab).

[Ravi Joshi (ravi-joshi53)]

I am facing exactly the same issue. I have tried using 2-3 headphones (having inbuilt microphone as wel), but the OS is not recognizing any, as if the headphone jack is broken/faulty. These headpones are working well on another PC (Dell) though.

ravi@razer:~$ sudo hdajacksensetest -a //without plugging the headphone
Pin 0x12 (Internal Mic, Mobile-In): present = No
Pin 0x13 (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x14 (Internal Speaker): present = No
Pin 0x18 (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x19 (Black Mic, Right side): present = No
Pin 0x1a (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x1b (Not connected): present = Yes
Pin 0x1d (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x1e (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x21 (Black Headphone, Right side): present = No

ravi@razer:~$ sudo hdajacksensetest -a //with plugging the headhone
Pin 0x12 (Internal Mic, Mobile-In): present = No
Pin 0x13 (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x14 (Internal Speaker): present = No
Pin 0x18 (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x19 (Black Mic, Right side): present = No
Pin 0x1a (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x1b (Not connected): present = Yes
Pin 0x1d (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x1e (Not connected): present = No
Pin 0x21 (Black Headphone, Right side): present = No

Under the "Output Devices" tab in the pavucontrol, it shows "Headphones (unplugged)". Strangely, selecting "Headphones (unplugged)" from the dropdown menu makes sound in my headphone. In summary, headphones are not detected automatically. I can hear using headphones after selecting them inside pavucontrol, but even inside pavucontrol, headphones are shown as "Headphones (unplugged)"

I reported at AskUbuntu (https://askubuntu.com/q/1454505) but no response.