Mic randomly not working (and flickering of panel)

apollo465 · July 23, 2025, 3:49pm

Hi,

Since yesterday, I’m getting issues randomly with my mic on Zoom (which is a big issue since I teach online). Basically, I can see the mic but it does not record my voice and I have to reboot my computer for it to work again. I forgot to unplug the mic to see if it works without rebooting (I will do next time). When it happens, I usually get the icons flickering in the panel, it’s so fast that I can’t what icon is trying to appear. My laptop is a Prestige 16Evo A13M-407US 16" QHD+. I just got it 10 days ago and it was working perfectly fine until yesterday. How can I find out what’s wrong? Thanks a lot.

DuctTape · July 23, 2025, 4:27pm

Did you do an update yesterday? If so can you roll back to the last working snapshot and try if your problem is gone? If nothing on the system got changed I would suspect a hardware problem. Sounds a bit like a connectivity issue in the cable or the cable attachment/plug, etc.

apollo465 · July 23, 2025, 5:27pm

Thanks for your help. No, the only update was for 2 unrelated applications. The funny thing is that the sound is still coming through the headphones, but the mic will not work. I tried to switch to the mic of the external webcam but it did not work either. It could be related to the fact that it happened after the laptop was on sleep mode so it might be related to that.

apollo465 · July 24, 2025, 10:52am

So it happens when the computer wakes up from sleep. If I unplug and plug back the headphones, and test it through Zoom then it works and the flickering in the panel stops. I might try to plug it directly to the computer and not through multi USB dongle.

apollo465 · July 25, 2025, 10:40am

Same thing is unfortunately happening if I connect the headset directly to one of the USB port of the laptop. Not sure what to try next…

DuctTape · July 25, 2025, 11:17am

That was kind of expected because the mic of the webcam is also not working after waking up.
Are the microphones still detected/visible in your sound settings after sleep or hibernation?

Can you post the output of

inxi -Aa

wpctl status

before and after sleeping/hibernation?

apollo465 · July 27, 2025, 12:15pm

Thanks here it is:
Before sleep:

> Audio:
>   Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS vendor: Micro-Star MSI
>     driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl alternate: snd_hda_intel, snd_soc_avs,
>     snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl bus-ID: 0000:00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:51ca
>     class-ID: 0401
>   Device-2: Logitech Logitech H570e Stereo
>     driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
>     lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-1.2:15 chip-ID: 046d:0a56 class-ID: 0300
>     serial: 00000000
>   Device-3: Logitech C922 Pro Stream Webcam driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
>     type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 3-1.4:8
>     chip-ID: 046d:085c class-ID: 0102 serial: E4EB8F5F
>   API: ALSA v: k6.15.6-1-default status: kernel-api with: aoss
>     type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
>   Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.6 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
>     status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
>     4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
> 
> wpctl status
> PipeWire 'pipewire-0' [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, cookie:2844351291]
>  └─ Clients:
>         32. WirePlumber                         [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1967]
>         33. pipewire                            [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1968]
>         34. libcanberra                         [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1908]
>         47. WirePlumber [export]                [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1967]
>         48.                                     [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1908]
>         71. KDE Connect Daemon                  [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2236]
>         92. wpctl                               [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:66841]
>         96.                                     [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1908]
>        101. plasmashell                         [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2049]
>        102. libcanberra                         [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2049]
>        103. xdg-desktop-portal                  [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1856]
>        104. veracrypt                           [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2307]
>        105. veracrypt                           [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2306]
>        113. Vivaldi input                       [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:829]
>        114.                                     [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2075]
>        117. veracrypt                           [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2456]
>        118. ZOOM VoiceEngine                    [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2464]
>        123.                                     [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2049]
>        124. ZOOM VoiceEngine                    [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2464]
>        138. Chromium input                      [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:142]
> 
> Audio
>  ├─ Devices:
>  │      50. C922 Pro Stream Webcam              [alsa]
>  │      51. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS              [alsa]
>  │     100. Logitech H570e Stereo               [alsa]
>  │  
>  ├─ Sinks:
>  │      43. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS HDMI / DisplayPort 3 Output [vol: 1.00]
>  │      83. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS HDMI / DisplayPort 1 Output [vol: 1.00]
>  │  *  141. Logitech H570e Stereo Analog Stereo [vol: 0.85]
>  │     156. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS HDMI / DisplayPort 2 Output [vol: 1.00]
>  │     163. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS Headphones   [vol: 1.00]
>  │  
>  ├─ Sources:
>  │      35. C922 Pro Stream Webcam Analog Stereo [vol: 0.85]
>  │      46. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS Stereo Microphone [vol: 1.00]
>  │  *   69. Logitech H570e Stereo Analog Stereo [vol: 0.89]
>  │     143. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS Digital Microphone [vol: 1.00 MUTED]
>  │  
>  ├─ Filters:
>  │  
>  └─ Streams:
> 
> Video
>  ├─ Devices:
>  │      55. C922 Pro Stream Webcam              [v4l2]
>  │      56. C922 Pro Stream Webcam              [v4l2]
>  │      57. FHD Camera                          [v4l2]
>  │      58. FHD Camera                          [v4l2]
>  │      59. FHD Camera                          [v4l2]
>  │      60. FHD Camera                          [v4l2]
>  │      66. C922 Pro Stream Webcam              [libcamera]
>  │      67. FHD Camera: FHD Camera              [libcamera]
>  │      68. FHD Camera: FHD IR Camera           [libcamera]
>  │  
>  ├─ Sinks:
>  │  
>  ├─ Sources:
>  │     107. C922 Pro Stream Webcam (V4L2)      
>  │  *  109. FHD Camera (V4L2)                  
>  │     111. FHD Camera (V4L2)                  
>  │  
>  ├─ Filters:
>  │  
>  └─ Streams:
> 
> Settings
>  └─ Default Configured Devices:
>          0. Audio/Sink    alsa_output.usb-Logitech_Inc_Logitech_H570e_Stereo_00000000-00.analog-stereo
>          1. Audio/Source  alsa_input.usb-Logitech_Inc_Logitech_H570e_Stereo_00000000-00.analog-stereo

And after sleep:

> wpctl status
> PipeWire 'pipewire-0' [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, cookie:2844351291]
>  └─ Clients:
>         32. WirePlumber                         [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1967]
>         33. pipewire                            [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1968]
>         34. libcanberra                         [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1908]
>         47. WirePlumber [export]                [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1967]
>         48.                                     [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1908]
>         71. KDE Connect Daemon                  [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2236]
>         92. wpctl                               [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:66841]
>         96.                                     [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1908]
>        101. plasmashell                         [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2049]
>        102. libcanberra                         [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2049]
>        103. xdg-desktop-portal                  [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:1856]
>        104. veracrypt                           [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2307]
>        105. veracrypt                           [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2306]
>        113. Vivaldi input                       [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:829]
>        114.                                     [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2075]
>        117. veracrypt                           [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2456]
>        118. ZOOM VoiceEngine                    [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2464]
>        123.                                     [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2049]
>        124. ZOOM VoiceEngine                    [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:2464]
>        138. Chromium input                      [1.4.6, arnaud@localhost.localdomain, pid:142]
> 
> Audio
>  ├─ Devices:
>  │      50. C922 Pro Stream Webcam              [alsa]
>  │      51. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS              [alsa]
>  │     100. Logitech H570e Stereo               [alsa]
>  │  
>  ├─ Sinks:
>  │      43. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS HDMI / DisplayPort 3 Output [vol: 1.00]
>  │      83. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS HDMI / DisplayPort 1 Output [vol: 1.00]
>  │  *  141. Logitech H570e Stereo Analog Stereo [vol: 0.85]
>  │     156. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS HDMI / DisplayPort 2 Output [vol: 1.00]
>  │     163. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS Headphones   [vol: 1.00]
>  │  
>  ├─ Sources:
>  │      35. C922 Pro Stream Webcam Analog Stereo [vol: 0.85]
>  │      46. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS Stereo Microphone [vol: 1.00]
>  │  *   69. Logitech H570e Stereo Analog Stereo [vol: 0.89]
>  │     143. Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS Digital Microphone [vol: 1.00 MUTED]
>  │  
>  ├─ Filters:
>  │  
>  └─ Streams:
> 
> Video
>  ├─ Devices:
>  │      55. C922 Pro Stream Webcam              [v4l2]
>  │      56. C922 Pro Stream Webcam              [v4l2]
>  │      57. FHD Camera                          [v4l2]
>  │      58. FHD Camera                          [v4l2]
>  │      59. FHD Camera                          [v4l2]
>  │      60. FHD Camera                          [v4l2]
>  │      66. C922 Pro Stream Webcam              [libcamera]
>  │      67. FHD Camera: FHD Camera              [libcamera]
>  │      68. FHD Camera: FHD IR Camera           [libcamera]
>  │  
>  ├─ Sinks:
>  │  
>  ├─ Sources:
>  │     107. C922 Pro Stream Webcam (V4L2)      
>  │  *  109. FHD Camera (V4L2)                  
>  │     111. FHD Camera (V4L2)                  
>  │  
>  ├─ Filters:
>  │  
>  └─ Streams:
> 
> Settings
>  └─ Default Configured Devices:
>          0. Audio/Sink    alsa_output.usb-Logitech_Inc_Logitech_H570e_Stereo_00000000-00.analog-stereo
>          1. Audio/Source  alsa_input.usb-Logitech_Inc_Logitech_H570e_Stereo_00000000-00.analog-stereo
> arnaud@localhost:~> inxi -Aa
> Audio:
>   Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS vendor: Micro-Star MSI
>     driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl alternate: snd_hda_intel, snd_soc_avs,
>     snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl bus-ID: 0000:00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:51ca
>     class-ID: 0401
>   Device-2: Logitech Logitech H570e Stereo
>     driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
>     lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-1.2:15 chip-ID: 046d:0a56 class-ID: 0300
>     serial: 00000000
>   Device-3: Logitech C922 Pro Stream Webcam driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
>     type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 3-1.4:8
>     chip-ID: 046d:085c class-ID: 0102 serial: E4EB8F5F
>   API: ALSA v: k6.15.6-1-default status: kernel-api with: aoss
>     type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
>   Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.6 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
>     status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
>     4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Audio:
>   Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS vendor: Micro-Star MSI
>     driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl alternate: snd_hda_intel, snd_soc_avs,
>     snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl bus-ID: 0000:00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:51ca
>     class-ID: 0401
>   Device-2: Logitech Logitech H570e Stereo
>     driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
>     lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-1.2:15 chip-ID: 046d:0a56 class-ID: 0300
>     serial: 00000000
>   Device-3: Logitech C922 Pro Stream Webcam driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
>     type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 3-1.4:8
>     chip-ID: 046d:085c class-ID: 0102 serial: E4EB8F5F
>   API: ALSA v: k6.15.6-1-default status: kernel-api with: aoss
>     type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
>   Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.6 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
>     status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
>     4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl

knurpht · July 27, 2025, 12:51pm

Please use “</>” in the editor. I will now edit your post to make it more readable

oldcpu · July 28, 2025, 4:44am

This is a mystery.

I saw “H570e” in one of the outputs. I assume this is a Logitech H570e headset where you have the issues?

I am wondering if the issue is at a lower level or if it is a more subtle state problem. Even though the system registers the device, the actual audio path is broken. This could mean:

The snd-usb-audio driver might be in a bad state where it accepts commands but doesn’t process audio data.
The USB device itself (Logitech H570e) might be “stuck” in a low-power or non-functional state after resume, even if the USB host controller and driver believe it’s active. There’s a desynchronization between the hardware’s actual state and the kernel/PipeWire’s reported state.

Why Re-plugging Works? Perhaps re-plugging a USB device forces a full hardware reset and re-initialization of the device and its connection to the USB host controller. This “hard reset” is often enough to kick the device out of its bad state and re-establish a functional audio path, even if the software thought it was fine all along.

Why the Flickering Icons Happen: Some speculation on my part as to why the device appears “normal” to wpctl.

KDE Plasma’s Audio Indicator: The audio icon in the KDE panel reacts to actual audio activity and changes in default devices/ports. If applications (like Zoom) try to use the mic and get no data, or if PipeWire internally detects an issue despite outwardly reporting the device is fine, it might cause the panel to try to reflect a changing “active” state or problem, leading to flickering. It’s like the system is constantly trying to “re-confirm” the mic’s status and getting inconsistent answers at a very low level.
Brief Dropouts: Even if wpctl status doesn’t capture the problem, it could be (speculation by me) that the device might be briefly dropping offline and coming back up too quickly for wpctl to show a change, but fast enough to cause UI flickering.
Some more speculation:
1. USB Autosuspend/Power Management (I speculate that this is most likely): Even if the device doesn’t vanish, aggressive power saving on the USB port itself can cause this. The device might not “fully” wake up. The fix of unplugging and replugging points strongly to this.
2. Specific USB Audio Device Quirk: Another possibility is the Logitech H570e might have a known firmware or hardware quirk that makes it susceptible to resume issues on Linux. I think this is a remote possibility only
3. Kernel Module Interaction: Its always remotely possible that the snd-usb-audio module might have a subtle bug in its resume path that leaves the device in a non-functional state, despite appearing present. However I think that highly unlikely. I would bet against that.

Having typed the above, and considered further, I pulled the following test off of an AI bot. I am always VERY cautious with AI bot recommendations.

I believe it should be harmless to test (not as part of an official zoom chat but test sometime else on your own when you have time)

1. Temporarily Disable USB Autosuspend for the H570e (Test):
◦ This is a common and often effective workaround for USB resume issues.
◦ How to test:
First, identify the USB device path for the Logitech H570e. Run lsusb -v and look for Logitech H570e Stereo (ID 046d:0a56). Note its Bus and Device numbers (e.g., Bus 003 Device 015).
Then, try to temporarily disable autosuspend. This is an example, the path will vary based on bus/device ID:
echo 'on' | sudo tee /sys/bus/usb/devices/usbX/X-Y/power/control
(Replace usbX/X-Y with the actual path, e.g., /sys/bus/usb/devices/usb3/3-1.2).
More precisely, you want to set power/autosuspend_delay_ms to -1 or ensure power/control is on.
Maybe a simpler, temporary way to suspend for a single device: sudo sh -c 'echo -1 > /sys/bus/usb/devices/YOUR_USB_PATH/power/autosuspend_delay_ms' (YOUR_USB_PATH could be 3-1.2 from the bus-ID in inxi -Aa).
After setting this, try suspend/resume. If it fixes it, then a udev rule (as mentioned in the previous response) can make it permanent.

**2. Test with a Different USB Port:**

You could try plugging the H570e into a different USB port on the laptop. Sometimes, specific ports or internal USB hubs have different power management characteristics.

3. Check for BIOS/UEFI Settings:
Briefly check the laptop’s BIOS/UEFI settings for any options related to “USB Power Management,” “Deep Sleep,” “ErP Ready,” or “S3/S4/S5 states.” Sometimes disabling “Deep Sleep” or ensuring USB devices stay powered during suspend can help. Be cautious when changing BIOS settings. This IMHO is pretty speculative.

4. Test with a Live USB:
If possible, boot into a live environment of LEAP-15.6 to see if the problem persists with a clean ‘install’. This helps determine if it’s a kernel bug recently introduced …

The fact that PipeWire thinks everything is fine, but the mic isn’t working, suggests to me that the problem is likely below PipeWire in the stack, probably at the kernel driver or hardware level during resume.

Good luck.

system · August 27, 2025, 4:45am

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