No audio on a mini PC

    Now what needs to happen is to email the alsa-devel mailing list with a plain-text email (not html) that has a good description of the problem, some log examples (via pastebin links) of before/after, and the contents of the files that you generated. Then hopefully one of the names on the list can spot what kind of exception/quirk needs to be added to eliminate the workaround. If you do that and you're given a patch to test, ping us back because it's fairly simple to spin an LE image with the patch and have you test it.

    I wanted to say thank you for this thread and help that search engines rank that real solution higher. With my HP ProDesk 400 G5 (i3) I had the same "no sound via HDMI" issue, also in a parallel Kubuntu 22.04 install. Then it was clear that it is a general Linux issue and not restricted to LibreELEC. After learning about alsa's hdajackretask tool, I managed to get sound in Kubuntu by connecting the three pins that were shown as unconnected. I also selected "auto model" in hdajackretask which at least did not hurt. Hdajackretask then just added two files to the system to keep the settings persistent. After verifying that those files reliably enable HDMI audio output surviving reboots, I copied the files over to the LibreELEC install to the corresponding locations given in this thread. However, I had to create the "firmware" folder first to put the hdajackretask file in. After a reboot, it worked immediately, i.e. the output devices showed up in the config dialog.

    Thank you for that information, that was quite a long search to get there! I could ignore all the other tips regarding cabling etc. as another parallel install of Windows 11 (yes, 3 OSes on the machine) showed that it works in priniciple and that it has to be a Linux issue.

    Now I have to figure out where I would file that bug with the alsa people. Maybe it has to do with the Conexant CX20632 HDA sound chip in the HP device that is maybe not that common. Any hints where to submit that issue that the device quirks are added upstream?

    Best regards
    weaker

    Quote from weaker

    Maybe it has to do with the Conexant CX20632 HDA sound chip in the HP device that is maybe not that common. Any hints where to submit that issue that the device quirks are added upstream?

    I am not hardware engineer, but I would suspect that HDMI audio is not about passing through audio from sound card. Your HDMI sound is controlled by video card driver.

    Edited once, last by tokul (March 5, 2024 at 1:46 PM).

    Quote from weaker

    Now I have to figure out where I would file that bug with the alsa people. Maybe it has to do with the Conexant CX20632 HDA sound chip in the HP device that is maybe not that common. Any hints where to submit that issue that the device quirks are added upstream?

    I was asking a developer, who is some sort of a Linux audio guru. His answer:

    Quote

    If it doesn't work at ubuntu either then it's best he reports it to ubuntu folks, then they can take action.

    no idea what hdajackretask is, never heard of that before

    Hi, I tried the same as in this post, but unfortunately it didn't work. When I start Ubuntu 24.04 on the ame machine (live usb os) audio over HDMI works immediately. I tried the hdajackretask thing, but it still won't work. I just updated from LibreELEC 11 to 12 today and a few minutes ago everything was still working. Thanks!

    Maybe someone else has an idea why audio over HDMI no longer works and how to solve it.

    The debug log is here: https://paste.libreelec.tv/lucky-louse.log

    Okay, that's interesting. I saw that the pulseaudio service was running by default in my case. I read here that ALSA should be used instead of Pulseaudio on standalone devices. I have stopped Kodi and the Pulseaudio service, looked around a bit and then started the Kodi service. HDMI was then displayed as an output device again. After I selected this, audio was available again :huh:

    Code
    systemctl stop kodi
systemctl stop pulseaudio
...
systemctl start kodi

    1. It's no debug log, please reboot with kodi debug log enabled. Edit: Sorry, was already a debug logg.

    2. If stopping pulseaudio is still required post a second debug log too.

    No problem, here is it: https://paste.libreelec.tv/harmless-marlin.log

    I had this file: /storage/.config/system.d/pulseaudio.service. I deleted it, but the PulseAudio service still started automatically. Then I created this file again and modify the content, because I don't know exactly where to deactivate PulseAudio permanently. The content of /storage/.config/system.d/pulseaudio.service is

    Quote from Abacus

    because I don't know exactly where to deactivate PulseAudio permanently.

    systemctl mask pulseaudio,service

    LE is configured to run with both ALSA+pulseaudio. What did you changed in the pulseaudio.service copy before?

    PS: remove or disable tigervnc. It is only working with X11 of Generic-legacy

    Thanks for the tips to disable PulseAudio and TigerVNC :thumbup:

    I have commented out this line:

    Code
    #ExecStart=/usr/bin/pulseaudio --system --disallow-exit --exit-idle-time=-1 --disable-shm --enable-memfd --realtime

    and added these:

    Code
    ExecStart=/usr/bin/true
Restart=no
    Quote from Abacus

    have commented out this line:

    [...]

    So there is no log without your changes?

    If you are still interested in using chrome and/or tigervnc you may "update" to Generic-legacy image (only require to erase /storage/.kodi/addons/packages and manual reinstall a few binary addons). This will drop HDR support (if the chip set has the capability)

    Quote from mglae

    So there is no log without your changes?

    This is before my changes: https://paste.libreelec.tv/verified-herring.log

    and this is after my changes: https://paste.libreelec.tv/harmless-marlin.log

    Quote from mglae

    If you are still interested in using chrome and/or tigervnc you may "update" to Generic-legacy image (only require to erase /storage/.kodi/addons/packages and manual reinstall a few binary addons). This will drop HDR support (if the chip set has the capability)

    Thank you very much, not at the moment but I have made a note of it in case I need it :thumbup:

    verified-herring.log contains:

    Code
    /storage/.config/system.d:
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           408 May 17 23:09 pulseaudio.service

    harmless-marlin.log contains:

    Code
    /storage/.config/system.d:
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           425 May 18 09:21 pulseaudio.service

    ?

    Yes, my first try to simply delete the file wasn't successful. Then I restored the file and only changed the content.

    I reset the file to its original state and created another debug log. This is the file:

    After a restart, here is the debug log: https://paste.libreelec.tv/rapid-frog.log

    As expected, the sound via HDMI is no longer displayed. (Until now, I have not yet executed the command systemctl mask pulseaudio.service)