ALSA Fails to detect any devices with kernel 6.8.0

[Kyrylo Bohdanenko]

Submitting this bug report from kernel 6.5.0 where it seems to work.

When running aplay -l on kernel 6.8 the output is empty. And pulseaudio also shows an error.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 24.04
Package: linux-image-6.8.0-28-generic 6.8.0-28.28
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.5.0-28.29-generic 6.5.13
Uname: Linux 6.5.0-28-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.28.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: kyrboh 1363 F.... wireplumber
 /dev/snd/seq: kyrboh 1358 F.... pipewire
CRDA: N/A
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Sat Apr 20 21:15:03 2024
InstallationDate: Installed on 2023-11-04 (169 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 22.04.3 LTS "Jammy Jellyfish" - Release amd64 (20230807.1)
MachineType: Dell Inc. XPS 15 9560
ProcFB: 0 i915drmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.5.0-28-generic root=UUID=db41af68-2c72-4fc6-a654-5b0f2be10d62 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
PulseList: Error: command ['pacmd', 'list'] failed with exit code 1: No PulseAudio daemon running, or not running as session daemon.
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-6.5.0-28-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-6.5.0-28-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 20240318.git3b128b60-0ubuntu2
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to noble on 2024-04-20 (0 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 11/10/2022
dmi.bios.release: 1.31
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.31.0
dmi.board.name: 05FFDN
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr1.31.0:bd11/10/2022:br1.31:svnDellInc.:pnXPS159560:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn05FFDN:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct10:cvr:sku07BE:
dmi.product.family: XPS
dmi.product.name: XPS 15 9560
dmi.product.sku: 07BE
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Kyrylo Bohdanenko (kyrboh)]

Here are the diagnostics files when running kernel 6.8

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/2062986

[Kyrylo Bohdanenko (kyrboh)]

Seems to be fixed with some update or kernel 6.8.0-31-generic

[Kyrylo Bohdanenko (kyrboh)]

Sorry, false alarm. Still not fixed with 6.8.0-31-generic (must have been some fluke). I'll continue my observations.

I did one experiment: sudo alsactl store on kernel 6.5. And here is what I get running the restore:

$ sudo alsactl -d restore
alsa-lib main.c:1554:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:0 use case configuration -2
alsactl: init_ucm:48: ucm open '-hw:0': -2
alsactl: set_controls:1499: device='hw:0', doit=0
alsactl: set_controls:1511: card-info-id: 'avsprobemb'
alsactl: set_controls:1546: list count: 0
alsactl: set_controls:1574: maxnumid=-1 maxnumid2=-1
alsactl: set_controls:1587: result code: 0
alsactl: set_controls:1499: device='hw:0', doit=1
alsactl: set_controls:1511: card-info-id: 'avsprobemb'
alsactl: set_controls:1587: result code: 0

[Kyrylo Bohdanenko (kyrboh)]

I noticed that this has to do with the driver that gets selected for the audio controller.

On kernel 6.5 I get this in lspci -v:

00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation CM238 HD Audio Controller (rev 31) (prog-if 80)
        Subsystem: Dell CM238 HD Audio Controller
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 32, IRQ 151
        Memory at edd28000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Memory at edd00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel, snd_soc_avs

On kernel 6.8 it is this:

00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation CM238 HD Audio Controller (rev 31) (prog-if 80)
        Subsystem: Dell CM238 HD Audio Controller
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 32, IRQ 159, IOMMU group 13
        Memory at edd28000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Memory at edd00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
        Kernel driver in use: snd_soc_avs
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel, snd_soc_avs

And sometimes when booting with kernel 6.8 the sound works, and then I get the similar output to kernel 6.5:

00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation CM238 HD Audio Controller (rev 31) (prog-if 80)
        Subsystem: Dell CM238 HD Audio Controller
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 32, IRQ 159, IOMMU group 13
        Memory at edd28000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Memory at edd00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel, snd_soc_avs

I don't really know why this happens, but I shall see if I can make kernel 6.8/alsa to prefer snd_hda_intel (or figure why it isn't using snd_hda_intel).

[Kyrylo Bohdanenko (kyrboh)]

I found a workaround for this issue: after certain times of issuing `alsa force-reload` the correct `snd-hda-intel` is being used for the audio. Makes me think this issue has to do with driver loading priority