[Inspiron 5379, Realtek ALC3253, Speaker, Internal] No sound at all. Also not working for external headphones or internal microphone

[Robert Vallance]

Description: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS
Release: 18.04

No sound playing on internal speakers, headphones (bluetooth which now no longer connect, or when plugged in through a wire) or wired earphones. Internal microphone also not working. Issue seems to have arisen following latest software update within Ubuntu 18.04. These all work fine on the Windows partition I also have on the Dell Inspiron 5379 machine.

Attempts tried that had no effect:
1. Muting and un-muting speakers through settings (internal speakers are recognised but not playing).
2. Muting and un-muting, changing sound levels and sound card in alsamixer.
4. Running sudo alsa force-reload
5. Updating Ubuntu software and rebooting.
6. Checking input and output devices on pavucontrol (can see built-in audio analogue stereo sound slider is responding to e.g. youtube videos, but no sound actually produced.
7. Running rm -r ~/.config/pulse; pulseaudio -k, then rebooting.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-99.100-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-99-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.14
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: robertv 6001 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1: robertv 6001 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sat May 2 14:51:24 2020
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-09-16 (593 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 failed
Symptom_Card: Built-in Audio - HDA Intel PCH
Symptom_DevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: gdm 1179 F.... pulseaudio
                      robertv 6001 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1: gdm 1179 F.... pulseaudio
                      robertv 6001 F.... pulseaudio
Symptom_Jack: Speaker, Internal
Symptom_Type: No sound at all
Title: [Inspiron 5379, Realtek ALC3253, Speaker, Internal] No sound at all
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 03/05/2020
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.13.0
dmi.board.name: 0CG9YN
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr1.13.0:bd03/05/2020:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron5379:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0CG9YN:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct10:cvr:
dmi.product.family: Inspiron
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 5379
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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