Only getting sound from headphones when inserted halfway

I just got an Asus N80vc notebook and am having a sound issue with the headphones. It has been suggested to add

options snd-hda-intel enable=1 model=g50v position_fix=0 

to /etc/modprobe.d/sound to get sound working, which I did. This got sound working for the speakers and mutes the sound when inserting the headphones. I tried just adding the model in yast’s sound configuration and that seemed to work so the model seems to be the important part. Anyway, the headphone don’t give me sound. The strange thing is, if I insert them halfway in I get sound on one channel but if I insert them all the way in there is no sound. This is also true for Ubuntu 8.10. The jack doubles as a digital output as well. Anyone know what’s going on?

Its hard to say … have you booted with another operating system than Ubuntu or openSUSE (such as MS-Windows) to see if the same problem occurs there? … the idea is to eliminate from consideration a possible hardware problem.

If the driver does not work properly, its possible you need to file a bug report, … but this likely bears more investigation first.

I can’t really provide an assessment without a lot more information. … and its possible my assessment will be worthless. I note the “g50v” is associated with a ALC662/663 and it works with the Asus G50V. Does your PC have an ALC662/663 ?

If you provide more information, I can take a look at your software and hardware audio configuration. You can do so in opensuse-11.1 by opening a terminal or konsole, and then with your PC connected to the internet, type “su” (no quotes - enter root password) to get root permissions, and then type twice: /usr/sbin/alsa-info.shthe first time that will update the script. The second time it will post your PCs configuration to a paste site and give you a URL. Please post the URL here. Just the URL.

If you have a version of openSUSE other than 11.1, I’ll have to give you a different method in which to run that script.

Please also post the output of typing the following commands in a terminal or konsole:
rpm -qa | grep alsa
rpm -qa | grep pulse
rpm -q libasound2
uname -a
cat /etc/modprobe.d/soundIts possible something will be obvious then, and maybe not. I won’t know until I look at it.

Thanks for the response. The sounds works in Windows and also with the latest version of Expressgate(Splashtop), which I thought was some linux variant. The sound card is listed as an Intel 82801I (ICH9 Family) under Yast. Under Control Center > Sound, I see HDA Intel ALC663 in the dropdown box. I am running 11.1.

The the address to the configuration info is: http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=fd0164dd6448cbe1aa6dc40e2c0d2c2249cbecaf

Here are the outputs to the commands:

>rpm -qa | grep alsa
alsa-oss-1.0.17-1.37
alsa-utils-1.0.18-6.4
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.18-6.12
alsa-1.0.18-8.7
alsa-plugins-1.0.18-6.12
>rpm -qa | grep pulse
pulseaudio-0.9.12-9.6
pulseaudio-module-gconf-0.9.12-9.6
pulseaudio-module-lirc-0.9.12-9.6
libpulse-mainloop-glib0-0.9.12-9.6
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.18-6.12
libpulse-browse0-0.9.12-9.6
pulseaudio-utils-0.9.12-9.6
pulseaudio-module-zeroconf-0.9.12-9.6
libpulse0-0.9.12-9.6
libpulsecore4-0.9.12-9.6
pulseaudio-esound-compat-0.9.12-9.6
pulseaudio-module-x11-0.9.12-9.6
vlc-aout-pulse-0.9.8a-0.pm.4
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth-0.9.12-9.6
>rpm -q libasound2
libasound2-1.0.18-8.7
>uname -a
Linux cobalt 2.6.27.19-3.2-pae #1 SMP 2009-02-25 15:40:44 +0100 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
>cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound
options snd-hda-intel model=g50v position_fix=1
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.Xk_oFFgpZED:82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

Hope this helps and thanks again.

Indeed your PC does have an ALC663, so its quite possible the settings you have n your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file are correct. In case you are curious, the other options, besides “g50v” for the ALC663 are:

ALC662/663
==========
  3stack-dig	3-stack (2-channel) with SPDIF
  3stack-6ch	 3-stack (6-channel)
  3stack-6ch-dig 3-stack (6-channel) with SPDIF
  6stack-dig	 6-stack with SPDIF
  lenovo-101e	 Lenovo laptop
  eeepc-p701	ASUS Eeepc P701
  eeepc-ep20	ASUS Eeepc EP20
  ecs		ECS/Foxconn mobo
  m51va		ASUS M51VA
  g71v		ASUS G71V
  h13		ASUS H13
  g50v		ASUS G50V
  asus-mode1	ASUS
  asus-mode2	ASUS
  asus-mode3	ASUS
  asus-mode4	ASUS
  asus-mode5	ASUS
  asus-mode6	ASUS
  auto		auto-config reading BIOS (default)

… but for now there is no need to mess with your settings.

One thing I do note is you have the 1.0.17/1.0.18 alsa driver version that came with the packaged openSUSE-11.1 (and the older 2.6.27.7 kernel, when in fact you have updated to the newer 2.6.27.19 kernel). Hence its possible installing rpms for 1.0.19 custom compiled for the 2.6.27.19 kernel might help.

The reference guide I will follow for installing an alsa update is here: Alsa-update - openSUSE

In your case, to update alsa, open a terminal or konsole, and type “su” (no quotes - enter root password when prompted) and then with your PC connected to the internet, copy and paste and execute, the following six zypper commands, one at a time in sequence:

zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/multimedia:/audio/openSUSE_11.1/ multimedia
zypper install alsa alsa-oss alsa-plugins alsa-plugins-pulse alsa-utils alsa-tools alsa-firmware libasound2
zypper rr multimedia
zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/multimedia:/audio:/KMP/openSUSE_11.1_Update/ multimedia
zypper install alsa-driver-kmp-pae
zypper rr multimedia

then restart your PC and test your headphones.

If you still have a problem, then we need to remove your custom edit to the /etc/modprobe.d/sound file, and try things without that custom setting.

Ok. I followed the instructions and everything installed fine. However the problem persists. Sound halfway inserted, but no sound when the headphones are fully inserted.

OK, … I see you have two choices to try getting this working under openSUSE …
(1) you can either investigate this a bit further, and only if further efforts fail write a bug report, or
(2) write a bug report immediately

If you wish to pursue this further before writing a bug report, what you could do is “challenge” the recommendation that you should be using “model=g50v position_fix=1”.

First off, reboot your PC, and then immediately after the reboot, with your PC connected to the internet, run the following dmesg/curl command to send your dmesg to a paste site, and then post here the URL (so we can look for strange boot messages):
dmesg > dmesg.txt && curl -F file=@dmesg.txt nopaste.com/a
post here the URL that you get. The idea is to look in that content to see if there are any hints as to why sound is not working properly (with the headphones) upon booting.

Next, dry some changes to your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file. First, change it to:

options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.Xk_oFFgpZED:82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

and restart your alsa sound driver with su -c ‘rcalsasound restart’ and enter root password when prompted, then restart your mixer, and then test your audio and headphones.

If that does not work, then try in your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file different settings with and without position_fix=1 …

ie try

options snd-hda-intel model=3stack-dig
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.Xk_oFFgpZED:82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

and restart your alsa sound driver with su -c ‘rcalsasound restart’ and enter root password when prompted, then restart your mixer, and then test your audio and headphones.

Also try that a second time with position_fix=1
ie try

options snd-hda-intel model=3stack-dig position_fix=1
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.Xk_oFFgpZED:82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

and restart your alsa sound driver with su -c ‘rcalsasound restart’ and enter root password when prompted, then restart your mixer, and then test your audio and headphones.

If that fails, replace 3stack-dig with each item in the list I provided above, with and without position_fix=1, until you find one that works, or until you have tried them all.

ie try, one at a time, 3stack-dig, 3stack-6ch, 3stack-6ch-dig, 6stack-dig, lenovo-101e, eeepc-p701, eeepc-ep20, ecs, m51va, g71v, h13, g50v, asus-mode1, asus-mode2, asus-mode3, asus-mode4, asus-mode5, asus-mode6, auto

Before doing that, you could also post the ouput of:
rpm -qa | grep alsa
rpm -q libasound2
so I can check you installed the correct rpms

If the above fails, you should probably write a bug report on openSUSE “sound”, … or simply start off by writing a bug report and do not bother with the above. Doing so will get the attention of an alsa/openSUSE developer who knows a LOT MORE about this than I do. Submitting Bug Reports - openSUSE … however the alsa/openSUSE dev will likely want you to do a lot of testing, to help them get to the bottom of this problems.

Thanks for the continued help. I think I’ll try to fix the problem before filing a bug report which I’m willing to do. I’ve seen this problem on a few posts without resolution so it would be nice to get a solution one way or another so it is documented online. Opensuse will be my primary OS on my laptop so getting the headphones working is fairly important. On a side note, as I mentioned, the headphones work on Splashtop which I believe is a linux variant. I had hoped to look at the configuration for that to get some insight but I can’t seem to find where that is. It’s installed under windows. This would seem to imply that there is a solution to this and it is implemented under Splashtop. Anyway, here is the link to the boot log.

dmesg.txt - nopaste.com (beta)

Also here are the outputs to the commands.

>rpm -qa | grep alsa
alsa-firmware-1.0.19.git20090317-1.1
alsa-driver-kmp-pae-1.0.19.20090319_2.6.27.19_3.2-3.1
alsa-plugins-1.0.19.git20090303-1.8
alsa-tools-1.0.19.git20090320-1.1
alsa-utils-1.0.19.git20090319-1.1
alsa-oss-1.0.17.git20080715-2.23
alsa-1.0.19.git20090304-2.1
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.19.git20090303-1.8
>rpm -q libasound2
libasound2-1.0.19.git20090304-2.1

In the meantime I will try the various options you suggested in the /etc/modprobe.d/sound file. Thanks.

Problem solved. The model m51va worked. Luckily it wasn’t too far down the list. I have verified that the speakers are muted when the headphones are inserted and I am getting both left and right channels in the headphones. Here’s the full /etc/modprobe.d/sound file.

options snd-hda-intel model=m51va position_fix=0
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.Xk_oFFgpZED:82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

Thanks so much for the help with getting this working.

Congratulations. I confess its not likely that I would have picked up the need to set position_fix=0 (or is that the default configuration and you were just forcing it as such) ?

Thanks for sharing your solution.

I had another thought on this. … You could, if you wish, still raise a bug report, noting that your sound was not automatically detected and configured, and you were forced to do it manually. Then provide the custom settings you applied and upload the output of the diagnostic script you ran.

Of course this won’t help you, as you have already fixed this for your PC.

But the openSUSE / alsa dev is VERY GOOD at taking that sort of information and sending updates upstream to update alsa, so that all Linux users benefit.

Guidance for raising Bug reports is raised here (if you decide to do so):
Submitting Bug Reports - openSUSE

Actually, I thought position_fix=0 was the default and that was what you were suggesting when you said without position_fix=1, so I manually forced it to ensure it was set. At this point, I’m not sure what the default value was in the original configuration.

I think I will follow up with a bug report. The fix seems simple enough and I couldn’t find it on the web so I would guess others may be in the same position as you suggest. Thanks again for the help and the quick responses.

You solved the problem before I had a chance to look at the dmesg. I did note this in the dmesg:

hda-intel: IRQ timing workaround is activated for card #0. Suggest a bigger bdl_pos_adj.

possibly the model selection you chose addressed that warning about the position adjust.