Hissing sound in headphones

[LGB [Gábor Lénárt]]

Ubuntu 16.04 on 64 bit produces hissing sound (just by my - far from being 'musical' - ear, it sounds like a sinus wave with frequency about 1KHz or so) on headphones. Interestingly, after boot this does not happen and usually can be hear only after the first application which makes any sound (but not always, sometimes it starts later). But if any time it starts, it remains, whatever I do, exiting the application (which makes the sound) even by killing pulseaudio process, etc. I've read a lot on this issue but usually - it seems - always notebook problems mentioned, however it's a desktop machine (Asrock FM2A88M extreme4+ motherboard, AMD A6-6400K CPU, integrated audio). It seems it uses snd_hda_intel kernel module though. I've tried advices mentioned by various resources throughout the net, disabling powersave problems, using hdajackretask from alsa-tools-gui, etc, but they didn't help.

Ubuntu 4.4.0-36.55-generic 4.4.16

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: linux-image-4.4.0-41-generic 4.4.0-41.61
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-41.61-generic 4.4.21
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-41-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: lgb 2128 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: lgb 2128 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun Oct 2 14:24:21 2016
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=c92777cb-b700-4a8e-b937-1ed4983fecb1
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-07-10 (449 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" - Release i386 (20150422)
MachineType: To Be Filled By O.E.M. To Be Filled By O.E.M.
ProcFB: 0 radeondrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-41-generic root=UUID=d203063e-78c0-425a-bee2-0e3ecb4ea74c ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-4.4.0-41-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-4.4.0-41-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.157.4
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 01/17/2014
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: P2.00
dmi.board.name: FM2A88M Extreme4+
dmi.board.vendor: ASRock
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrP2.00:bd01/17/2014:svnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:rvnASRock:rnFM2A88MExtreme4+:rvr:cvnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.product.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[LGB [Gábor Lénárt] (lgb)]

Quite odd ... But it seems there is sometimes a louder hissing sound, but the other one is more frequent issue: a not so loud but annoying one. This second _seems_ to be cause (I have no idea about the reason!!) by an XBox 360 controller. If it's plugged to the USB port, the sound can be heard in sync with the blinking "circular green LED" on the controller. After it stops blinking, the sound remains. If I unplug from the USB port, the annoying noise is stopped. Maybe it's not even a software issue, but some kind of hardware, interference, or whatever?

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Did this issue start happening after an update/upgrade? Was there a prior kernel version where you were not having this particular problem?

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v4.8 kernel[0].

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.8

[LGB [Gábor Lénárt] (lgb)]

$ uname -a
Linux oxygene 4.8.0-040800-generic #201610022031 SMP Mon Oct 3 00:32:57 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

The really same. Moreover, this hissing sound can be heard with BIOS/etc too, without any OS, it's even more louder then.

The issue started with this machine, I didn't have it with previous ubuntu versions ...

[LGB [Gábor Lénárt] (lgb)]

Sorry about my English, so I meant that I didn't own the machine itself, so I have no experience just since I use that PC, and it's only two weeks or so. Also, I've just discovered that the annoying sound is there even right after switching the machine on, without any OS loaded too.