ASUS Zenbook UX433FN: sound stops working after a couple of seconds

[Mark]

Issue: whichever sound-related action (sound +/- media keys, spotify song, youtube vid in browser,...) I do, the sound works OK for about 2-3 seconds, and then stops and becomes silent.
The interesting thing is that when I stop playing the audio (ie close the browser tab with a song), after a while when I try aain the sound works again. Yet still for just the few secs.

Environment:
up-to-date Ubuntu 18.04, tried -hwe, hwe-edge kernels.

This is a regression, the sound used to work OK on this machine, and nothing significant related to sound has changed since.

Thank you for looking into this bug!
---
ProblemType: Bug
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.6
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: mmm 28065 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: KDE
CurrentDmesg: Error: command ['dmesg'] failed with exit code 1: dmesg: read kernel buffer failed: Operation not permitted
Dependencies:

DistroRelease: KDE neon 18.04
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-12-23 (2380 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.1)
Package: pulseaudio
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.18.0-25.26~18.04.1-generic 4.18.20
Tags: bionic wayland-session third-party-packages wayland-session
Uname: Linux 4.18.0-25-generic x86_64
UnreportableReason: Toto není oficiální KDE balík. Prosíme odstraňte všechny balíky třetích stran a zkuste to znovu.
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm libvirtd lpadmin netdev plugdev sudo video
_MarkForUpload: True
dmi.bios.date: 04/24/2019
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: UX433FN.306
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: UX433FN
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrUX433FN.306:bd04/24/2019:svnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:pnZenBookUX433FN_UX433FN:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnUX433FN:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.family: ZenBook
dmi.product.name: ZenBook UX433FN_UX433FN
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.

[Mark (markthecodehamster)]

I am not sure if this is a kernel/FW issue, as the soundcard is recognized and the sound playes at first.
On the other hand there were not changes/updates to alsa,pulseaudio and the sound used to work ok before.

These problems started to appear cca a month ago(?) but usually "some trick" made it work again (I didn't identify exactly what), like ++volume key after the sound stoped working, this does not help anymore.

[Mark (markthecodehamster)]

apport information

[Mark (markthecodehamster)]

apport information

[Mark (markthecodehamster)]

apport information

[Mark (markthecodehamster)]

apport information

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

If the problem started only a month ago then it wouldn't be pulseaudio because that hardly ever changes. Most likely it is the kernel, which gets updated more frequently.

Can you please try some older (or newer) kernel versions from here:

  https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/?C=M;O=D

and tell us if any are able to avoid the bug?

[Mark (markthecodehamster)]

Hi Daniel,

good riddance! Already the previous version of hwe-edge (which I had as auto-backup in /boot) works ok.

> an you please try some older (or newer) kernel versions from here:

# uname -a
Linux mmm-U2442 5.0.0-19-generic #20~18.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jun 20 12:17:14 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

If I understand this, the 5.0.0-19 -> 5.0.0-20 is only difference in Ubuntu additional patchset, so it should be easier to review the breaking patch (?)

Please note I'm having othert trouble with the kernel/microcode, therefore I'm running newest BIOS/FW
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/intel-microcode/+bug/1829620

Thank you very much for helping me with this bug,

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thanks.

It sounds like you are saying that the last working version was linux-hwe-edge 5.0.0-19 and the first broken version is linux-hwe-edge 5.0.0-20. Is that right?

I'm a little confused because you reported this bug using kernel 4.18.0-25-generic. Was there another regression in the 4.18 series?

[Mark (markthecodehamster)]

> the last working version was linux-hwe-edge 5.0.0-19 and the first broken version is linux-hwe-edge 5.0.0-20.

yes, correct.

> I'm a little confused because you reported this bug using kernel 4.18.0-25-generic. Was there another regression in the 4.18 series?

yes. Audio used to work on both hwe (4.18) and hwe-edge (5.0) versions, and is broken with the latest version on both.
For 5.0 I had the backup -19 version left over, so it was the easiest to test.

[Mark (markthecodehamster)]

This looks like it's a driver/kernel related issue, can you explain to me how the sound could be working for a couple of seconds and then stops?

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Hello,
do you still seeing this issue with the latest kernel on you system?
Thanks

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux-hwe-edge (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]