Comment 67 for bug 1609750

I don't have problems running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with (original, non-HWE kernel) 5.4 series kernel these days. Granted, I've probably indeed modified the default.pa as indicated above, and have had a state file which I've restored - but the kernel is default, and the audio works fine without any manual state restores on every boot and I can switch between internal and HDMI audio fine.

I've mostly used the HDMI audio though in recent years so I cannot say if there would be problems with internal audio in prolonged use.

The reason for not upgrading beyond 5.4 kernel used to be that 5.8 kernel regressed with these low tier Intel graphics, but I recall that was fixed in later ones so the current Ubuntu 20.04 HWE kernel (5.11) that comes on eg 20.04.3 installation media might be worth trying again if wanting excitement to life.

It'd be nice to experiment with out-of-the-box functionality too, which would be likely easiest done with live USB sticks.

Overall, I think there might not be any kernel bug left here, only userspace ones. Although it might have easily regressed in more recent kernels given the low amount of users.