Defaults to USB audio after every reboot

[Caleb McKay]

I manually set my audio output to the Line Out. Every reboot this settings is lost and the system defaults back to the USB output. I have several other distros to test - Ubuntu and its flavors are the only ones that have this problem. Something changed in 19.04 or 19.10 that broke this, and it continues to be an issue in 20.04.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-21.25-generic 5.4.27
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-21-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu26
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC2: caleb 1778 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC3: caleb 1778 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1: caleb 1778 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: caleb 1778 F.... pulseaudio
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: MATE
Date: Wed Apr 15 19:32:36 2020
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Title: USB sound card not detected
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 09/06/2018
dmi.bios.vendor: AMI
dmi.bios.version: F.30
dmi.board.name: 8437
dmi.board.vendor: HP
dmi.board.version: 1.3
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: HP
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAMI:bvrF.30:bd09/06/2018:svnHP:pnOMENbyHPDesktopPC880-p1xx:pvr:rvnHP:rn8437:rvr1.3:cvnHP:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.family: 103C_53311M HP Omen
dmi.product.name: OMEN by HP Desktop PC 880-p1xx
dmi.product.sku: 2TB61AV
dmi.sys.vendor: HP

[Hui Wang (hui.wang)]

You could temporarily remove the module-switch-on-connect from the /etc/pulse/default.pa, reboot and redo the test.

To check if switch-on-connect is loaded or not, run "pactl list modules | grep connect"

[Caleb McKay (caleb-9)]

Yes, I know I can modify a file and turn off switch on connect. Working around it isn't a problem, I still think it is a bug. It needs to either differentiate between detection on boot and detection during a hotplug, or it needs different behavior depending on if you are on a laptop or desktop. I can see how this option is great for laptop users. It is extremely frustrating, though, on a desktop where USB devices like headsets tend to stay plugged in all the time.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Could you report it upstream on https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/issues/ ?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Eric Adams (esa1975)]

I have a similar issue where the input and output are reset on each new session. This doesn't happen on other non-Ubuntu distros with GNOME 3.36.1. Let me know if there are any relevant details that would be helpful.

OS: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS x86_64
Host: XPS 15 9570
Kernel: 5.4.0-24-generic
Uptime: 30 mins
Packages: 2250 (dpkg), 18 (flatpak), 6 (snap)
Shell: bash 5.0.16
Resolution: 1920x1080, 1440x900
DE: GNOME
WM: Mutter
WM Theme: Adwaita
Theme: Yaru-dark [GTK2/3]
Icons: Yaru [GTK2/3]
Terminal: guake
CPU: Intel i7-8750H (12) @ 4.100GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 630
Memory: 5561MiB / 15756MiB

[Caleb McKay (caleb-9)]

I agree. I don't see this as an upstream issue because I have tried it on other distros - they worked as expected. USB hotplugging updates the audio device. However, a reboot simply restores whatever was last in use. For some reason, only on Ubuntu, it treats a reboot as plugging a new USB device. And this occurs on every flavor I tested - Ubuntu, Mate, Kubuntu and Xubuntu. In Kubuntu it can be slightly mitigated because you can set the default from the tray.