Audio will not be routed to the headphones at all if the machine boots with the headphones plugged in

[Seija K.]

Whenever I boot up my laptop with headphones already plugged in via the headphone jack, and attempt to play audio, no audio will play, even though the volume is up. I have to unplug my headphones and plug it back in for the audio to play to my headphones.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. With the machine powered off, plug in headphones into the audio jack
2. Power on the machine and log in
3. Open Audacity, or (in my case), open up a YouTube video and turn up the sound
4. Notice no audio plays

Expected Results:
Audio plays through the headphones without issue

Actual Results:
No audio plays at all.

This bug is present in 18.04.4, 19.10, AND the current beta of 20.04

Description: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS
Release: 18.04

pulseaudio:
  Installed: 1:11.1-1ubuntu7.4
  Candidate: 1:11.1-1ubuntu7.4
  Version table:
 *** 1:11.1-1ubuntu7.4 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:11.1-1ubuntu7 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: pulseaudio 1:11.1-1ubuntu7.4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.3.0-45.37~18.04.1-generic 5.3.18
Uname: Linux 5.3.0-45-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.14
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: gdm 1181 F.... pulseaudio
                      seija 1504 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: seija 1504 F...m pulseaudio
Date: Sun Apr 5 13:01:13 2020
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-04-04 (1 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20200203.1)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
PulseList:
 Error: command ['pacmd', 'list'] failed with exit code 1: Home directory not accessible: Permission denied
 No PulseAudio daemon running, or not running as session daemon.
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
Symptom: audio
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 05/15/2019
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.2.3
dmi.board.name: 09YTN7
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr1.2.3:bd05/15/2019:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron5570:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn09YTN7:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct10:cvr:
dmi.product.family: Inspiron
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 5570
dmi.product.sku: 0810
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 1583801, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Feel free to continue to report any other bugs you may find.