Noisy (pop noise + white noise) headphone audio on Dell XPS 13 (2015)

[Hui Wang]

This was reported through community and brought up to support. They fixed the bug via kernel bug tracker.

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=99851

We should backport to 3.13, 3.16 and 3.19

This bug is used for tracking purposes. Please do not triage.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug is awaiting verification that the kernel in -proposed solves the problem. Please test the kernel and update this bug with the results. If the problem is solved, change the tag 'verification-needed-trusty' to 'verification-done-trusty'.

If verification is not done by 5 working days from today, this fix will be dropped from the source code, and this bug will be closed.

See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you!

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug is awaiting verification that the kernel in -proposed solves the problem. Please test the kernel and update this bug with the results. If the problem is solved, change the tag 'verification-needed-vivid' to 'verification-done-vivid'.

If verification is not done by 5 working days from today, this fix will be dropped from the source code, and this bug will be closed.

See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you!

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package linux - 3.19.0-26.28

---------------
linux (3.19.0-26.28) vivid; urgency=low

  [ Luis Henriques ]

  * Release Tracking Bug
    - LP: #1483630

  [ Upstream Kernel Changes ]

  * Revert "Bluetooth: ath3k: Add support of 04ca:300d AR3012 device"

linux (3.19.0-26.27) vivid; urgency=low

  [ Luis Henriques ]

  * Release Tracking Bug
    - LP: #1479055
  * [Config] updateconfigs for 3.19.8-ckt4 stable update

  [ Chris J Arges ]

  * [Config] Add MTD_POWERNV_FLASH and OPAL_PRD
    - LP: #1464560

  [ Mika Kuoppala ]

  * SAUCE: i915_bpo: drm/i915: Fix divide by zero on watermark update
    - LP: #1473175

  [ Tim Gardner ]

  * [Config] ACORN_PARTITION=n
    - LP: #1453117
  * [Config] Add i40e[vf] to d-i
    - LP: #1476393

  [ Timo Aaltonen ]

  * SAUCE: i915_bpo: Rebase to v4.2-rc3
    - LP: #1473175
  * SAUCE: i915_bpo: Revert "mm/fault, drm/i915: Use pagefault_disabled()
    to check for disabled pagefaults"
    - LP: #1473175
  * SAUCE: i915_bpo: Revert "drm: i915: Port to new backlight interface
    selection API"
    - LP: #1473175

  [ Upstream Kernel Changes ]

  * Revert "tools/vm: fix page-flags build"
    - LP: #1473547
  * Revert "ALSA: hda - Add mute-LED mode control to Thinkpad"
    - LP: #1473547
  * Revert "drm/radeon: adjust pll when audio is not enabled"
    - LP: #1473547
  * Revert "crypto: talitos - convert to use be16_add_cpu()"
    - LP: #1479048
  * module: Call module notifier on failure after complete_formation()
    - LP: #1473547
  * gpio: gpio-kempld: Fix get_direction return value
    - LP: #1473547
  * ARM: dts: imx27: only map 4 Kbyte for fec registers
    - LP: #1473547
  * ARM: 8356/1: mm: handle non-pmd-aligned end of RAM
    - LP: #1473547
  * x86/mce: Fix MCE severity messages
    - LP: #1473547
  * mac80211: don't use napi_gro_receive() outside NAPI context
    - LP: #1473547
  * iwlwifi: mvm: Free fw_status after use to avoid memory leak
    - LP: #1473547
  * iwlwifi: mvm: clean net-detect info if device was reset during suspend
    - LP: #1473547
  * drm/plane-helper: Adapt cursor hack to transitional helpers
    - LP: #1473547
  * ARM: dts: set display clock correctly for exynos4412-trats2
    - LP: #1473547
  * hwmon: (ntc_thermistor) Ensure iio channel is of type IIO_VOLTAGE
    - LP: #1473547
  * mfd: da9052: Fix broken regulator probe
    - LP: #1473547
  * ALSA: hda - Fix noise on AMD radeon 290x controller
    - LP: #1473547
  * lguest: fix out-by-one error in address checking.
    - LP: #1473547
  * xfs: xfs_attr_inactive leaves inconsistent attr fork state behind
    - LP: #1473547
  * xfs: xfs_iozero can return positive errno
    - LP: #1473547
  * fs, omfs: add NULL terminator in the end up the token list
    - LP: #1473547
  * omfs: fix sign confusion for bitmap loop counter
    - LP: #1473547
  * d_walk() might skip too much
    - LP: #1473547
  * dm: fix casting bug in dm_merge_bvec()
    - LP: #1473547
  * hwmon: (nct6775) Add missing sysfs attribute initialization
    - LP: #1473547
  * hwmon: (nct6683) Add missing sysfs attribute initialization
    - LP: #1473547
  * target/pscsi: Don't leak scsi_host if hba is VIRTUAL_HOST
    - LP: #1473547
  * net...

[Eugene San (eugenesan)]

Seems like Xenial is also affected by that issue, at least when audio device is idling.
Should I create a new bug report for Xenial?

[Anthony Wong (anthonywong)]

Hi Eugene, can you check the original upstream bug at https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=99851 and see if your problem is the same?

[Eugene San (eugenesan)]

@anthonywong
Referenced report seems as unrelated.

On my machine, the sound is clear and loud but 10 seconds after playback ends the noise starts.

I am not familiar with specific design of the soundcard but It looks/sounds like when it suspended by the driver, analog amplifier left active picking all kind of interferences from ground line.

Kernel versions 4.4.0-1x and 4.6.0RCx are affected.

[Hui Wang (hui.wang)]

Please generate two alsa-info.txt, one without the noise and another with the noise.

Please refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/AlsaInfo

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

utopic has seen the end of its life and is no longer receiving any updates. Marking the utopic task for this ticket as "Won't Fix".

[Eugene San (eugenesan)]

Attaching requested alsa-info.txt pair and the diff.

Besides constant noise there are terrible clicks and pops during system startup and shutdown.
I've attached corresponding audio recordings.

[Hui Wang (hui.wang)]

Let us test if disable power_save_node help or not.

edit /etc/modprobe.d/snd_hda_intel.conf to add:
options snd_hda_intel patch=onboard-patch

and specified the hint in /lib/firmware/onboard-patch:

$ cat /lib/firmware/onboard-patch
[codec]
0x10ec0256 0x10280704 0

[hint]
power_save_node = 0

Reboot the system, and check if the hint is set successfully.
$ cat /sys/class/sound/hwC0D0/hints
power_save_node = 0

If there is still noise, please upload an alsa-info.txt as well.

[Eugene San (eugenesan)]

They patch was applied successfully but that did not help.
Just to be sure I've tested with Kernels 4.4.0-21 and 4.6.0-999.

Attaching new alsa-info.txt.

[Hui Wang (hui.wang)]

Is the problem like that: when playing something from speaker, there is no noise. While let speaker standby, there is noise?

[Eugene San (eugenesan)]

Yes.
There is no noise or any other distortion when sound card is playing.
The noise starts 5-10 seconds after the playback is stopped.
In addition there are very loud clicks and pops during boot and shutdown.