HDA-intel ALC663 internal mic doesn't work

[Charly Mendez]

Hi,

I have an Asus M51Va laptop and sound works fine but the built-in microphone doesn't. The external mic input works fine but the internal mic doesn't work at all, I have to plug in an external one...

I use Ubuntu 9.04 and I had Alsa 1.0.18 and upgraded to Alsa 1.0.20 but the internal mic still not working

Here are the relevant outputs:

lspci | grep -i audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
01:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc RV635 Audio device [Radeon HD 3600 Series]

 aplay -l
**** Lista de PLAYBACK Dispositivos Hardware ****
tarjeta 0: Intel [HDA Intel], dispositivo 0: ALC663 Analog [ALC663 Analog]
  Subdispositivos: 1/1
  Subdispositivo #0: subdevice #0
tarjeta 0: Intel [HDA Intel], dispositivo 1: ALC663 Digital [ALC663 Digital]
  Subdispositivos: 1/1
  Subdispositivo #0: subdevice #0
tarjeta 0: Intel [HDA Intel], dispositivo 6: Si3054 Modem [Si3054 Modem]
  Subdispositivos: 0/1
  Subdispositivo #0: subdevice #0
tarjeta 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], dispositivo 3: ATI HDMI [ATI HDMI]
  Subdispositivos: 1/1
  Subdispositivo #0: subdevice #0

The microphone is the HDA Intel card, chipset ALC663.

I tried everything in several posts, I still couldn't get the built-in microphone to work.

I am sure it is not a hardware issue since I've tested this on Windows Vista and it works.

Is there anything else I can do?

Sorry for my bad english and Thank very much.

[AZaharia (f0rg3r)]

Thank you for submitting this bug report. I left it in the state of a question here: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+question/65752

What I don't understand from Charly Mendez's report is whether he tried to edit the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and /etc/modprobe.d/options files according to the steps pointed out by Rick Rijckenberg in the Launchpad question linked to above.

Among the other lines there, this particular one:

options snd-hda-intel model=m51va

should have did the magic, since Charly Mendez's laptop is an Asus M51Va.

My case is slightly different -- my model is Asus M51Vr and that line doesn't solve the problem.

[Mehul J. Rajput (mehulrajput)]

I also confirm this, the mic does not work. Even though my sound is working now with the suggestion given in the answers, but internal mic does not pick up anything.

[AZaharia (f0rg3r)]

For me (Asus M51Vr), the sound worked by default through the external speakers (Ubuntu 9.04, Alsa 1.0.18), without editing anything in /etc/modprobe.d; it was just the built-in microphone which caused the problems.

[Charly Mendez (cmendez0)]

Yes AZaharia, I also tried to edit the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and it doesn't work either. But I cannot find the file /etc/modprobe.d/options , so im not sure about this modification. I just can find those files:

/etc/modprobe.d$ ls
alsa-base.conf blacklist-firewire.conf blacklist-oss.conf
alsa-base.conf~ blacklist-framebuffer.conf blacklist-watchdog.conf
blacklist-ath_pci.conf blacklist-local.conf dkms.conf
blacklist.conf blacklist-modem.conf libpisock9.conf

I also tried with many modifications like options snd-hda-intel model=m51va or options snd-hda-intel model=laptop but nothings happens.

[AZaharia (f0rg3r)]

@Charly Mendez: If I remember correctly, I didn't find an "options" file either under /etc/modprobe.d; however, you can create it. When you restart alsa, you might receive a message that tells you that the file should be called options.conf. It's OK, you can do that.

However, it is my understanding that each time you modify these files (alsa-base.conf and options.conf) you need more that restarting alsa i.e. you need to reboot your PC.

[Charly Mendez (cmendez0)]

Hi AZaharia, sorry for the delay!
today i tried with the options.conf file and after several tries it finally worked with model=auto.
The mic volume is very low but it works.
With the options m51va it doesn't work, so you can try with "auto" for your case too, and check your BIOS configuration, maybe it helps you.
Thanks a lot and good luck!
charly

[Charly Mendez (cmendez0)]

For anyone who has the same problem, the configuration that solved the internal MIC problem with my ASUS M51VA laptop using Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty is:

adding in the file /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf these lines:

options snd-pcsp index=-2
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel
options snd-hda-intel model=auto
options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=1

you can do that with "sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf"

and adding in the file /etc/modprobe.d/options.conf these lines:

options snd-pcsp index=-2
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel
options snd-hda-intel model=auto
options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=1

you can do that with "sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/options.conf"

I wish it helps

[AZaharia (f0rg3r)]

Thanks for the tip. However, I tried that.

Editing both /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and /etc/modprobe.d/options.conf files and setting the model= option to all the available models, including `auto', listed under the "ALC662/663" section here: http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/sound/alsa/HD-Audio-Models.txt, followed by reboot. Same result.

So I still confirm the existence of this bug: the snd-hda-intel module with ALC 663 codec, Asus M51Vr laptop: internal microphone does not work.

[Perico (pdlp-001)]

If it helps somebody analzing the bug, microphone on ASUS M51Vr works for me with:

/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
options snd-pcsp index=-2
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel
options snd-hda-intel model=auto
options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=1 as suggested in this page, after upgrading ALSA driver to 1.0.20 or 1.0.21 as per http://monespaceperso.org/blog-en/2009/08/31/upgrade-alsa-1-0-21-on-ubuntu-jaunty-9-04/ .

The shortcoming is that gain has to be significantly reduced for there is terrible background noise, but at least internal mic picks-up the sounds and Skype trial call works.

Sound capture under System-Preferences_Sound is set as ALSA.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p alsa-base 381439

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

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.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[ajstrobus (ajstrobus)]

I hate you buntu!

[Tsanosa (andreatsanos)]

[SOLVED] !

I have follow last indication in this reference
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1085565
and now the audio is perfect !

[DeeKey (privateinf)]

[SOLVED] !

Solved for Asus with M/B M51VR on Ubuntu 10.04.2 LTS

Added to the file /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf the following lines:

options snd-pcsp index=-2
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel
options snd-hda-intel model=auto
options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=1