No audio on RPi4 after restore from RPi3 backup (and volume indicator stuck)

Anke · November 21, 2020 at 3:50 PM

I restored a Libreelec made backup on RPi3 to the new RPi4.

(both running same, current Libreelec)

Backup/Restore worked perfectly.

I cannot get the audio over HDMI to work anymore. I suspect it died after the restore.

The odd symptom is:

While the Kodi is quiet, adjusting volume animates the volume indicator.

While playing a video, (so sound is heard) adjusting volume shows no change on the indicator.

Maybe a RPi3 related setting/file were restored ?

How should I troubleshoort?

**Da Flex** · November 21, 2020 at 4:53 PM Official Post

Maybe output devices have a slightly different naming on RPi4. Go to audio settings, switch to a different output device and reboot.

Anke · November 21, 2020 at 7:44 PM

I did select analog(that works) , rebooted, (heard analog audio) had four choices; analog, analog+HDMI, HDMI, and BT. - chose HDMI, and it still does not work, nor does analog+HDMI work for HDMI.

**Da Flex** · November 21, 2020 at 8:00 PM Official Post

Login by SSH and

cd /storage/.kodi/userdata

mv guisettings.xml guisettings.xml.backup

reboot

Restore your settings file if HDMI audio doesn't work.

Anke · November 24, 2020 at 9:20 PM

Quote from Da Flex

Login by SSH and
cd /storage/.kodi/userdata
mv guisettings.xml guisettings.xml.backup
reboot
Restore your settings file if HDMI audio doesn't work.

Thank you.

It did not fix the problem.

Also, two interesting thing I've noticed:

1: Even the projector can't make sound.

2: the HDMI->SPDIF extractor does not even lit it's LED

both very simple ways to conform that there is no audio on HDMI.

**Da Flex** · November 24, 2020 at 9:30 PM Official Post

Then do the next step, and remove (backup as before) the complete userdata folder. It will be re-created after the next boot with default settings.

Anke · November 24, 2020 at 9:45 PM

nope, it did not help.

My next test will be to flash a fresh Libreelec to another SD, and ultimately RaspBerry Pi distro - if none of them work, then it is some bizzare hardware failure (This RPi4 it is less than a week old, so it might be...)

**Da Flex** · November 24, 2020 at 9:56 PM Official Post

Sounds like a plan. Take into account that HDMI data rate is higher on RPi4 (compared to your old RPi3). So eventually you have to get a new HDMI cable, which is conform to HDMI 2.0 or 2.1 standard (ready for 4K data rate).

Anke · November 25, 2020 at 10:13 PM

I have not found any monitor, audio receiver, or distro that works in terms of HDMI sound.

This is onlly normal HD 1080, I bet 2.1 is backward compatible with 2.0 anyway - the projector can handle 3D - so I doubt there is any unusual datarate when having stereo over HDMI (I usually use 5.1, but tried to get stereo working once I realized that nothing worked..)

The standard Raspberry Pi distro/(desktop) is not making any sound on HDMI either.

I mailed the reseller: raspberrypi.dk

Will let you know how it goes..

**chewitt** · November 26, 2020 at 1:51 AM Official Post

If multiple distros that work "out of box" with pi hardware fail to get audio out of the board, it sounds like a hardware problem. It's rare, but does happen.