No Sound

[noelw]

Morning all. My old mintmac died, my fault. Got another a bit newer. Again i have no sound, dummy output it says. I tried to sort it as i did on the last occasion but to no avail with this one. Maybe the fact i am 3 years older has something to do wit it. Opened alsamixer and it said it was Cirrus Logic cs8409 sound. Managed to download the driver from github but all it did was make the speakers squeal, disturbingly so. So i thought i had better ask for help with this one. Details below and thanks to all.
System:
Kernel: 6.8.0-57-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.3.0
Desktop: Cinnamon v: 6.4.8 tk: GTK v: 3.24.41 wm: Muffin dm: LightDM
Distro: Linux Mint 22.1 Xia base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Apple product: iMac18,3 v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 9
v: Mac-BE088AF8C5EB4FA2 serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Apple model: Mac-BE088AF8C5EB4FA2 v: iMac18,3 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Apple
v: 529.140.2.0.0 date: 06/23/2024
CPU:
Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-7700K bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Kaby Lake rev: 9 cache:
L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 8 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/4500 cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800
8: 800 bogomips: 67200
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD Ellesmere [Radeon RX 470/480/570/570X/580/580X/590] vendor: Apple driver: amdgpu
v: kernel arch: GCN-4 pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,DP-2,DP-3
bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:67df temp: 42.0 C
Device-2: Apple FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in) driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-5:3 chip-ID: 05ac:8511
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x2160 s-dpi: 96
Monitor-1: eDP-1 mapped: eDP model: Apple iMac res: 3840x2160 dpi: 163 diag: 685mm (27")
API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: kms_swrast
surfaceless: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi inactive: wayland
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 24.2.8-1ubuntu1~24.04.1 glx-v: 1.4
direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon RX 480 Graphics (radeonsi polaris10 LLVM 19.1.1 DRM 3.57
6.8.0-57-generic) device-ID: 1002:67df
Audio:
Device-1: Intel 100 Series/C230 Series Family HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a170
Device-2: AMD Ellesmere HDMI Audio [Radeon RX 470/480 / 570/580/590] driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:aaf0
API: ALSA v: k6.8.0-57-generic status: kernel-api
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
Network:
Device-1: Broadcom BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC vendor: Apple driver: brcmfmac v: kernel
pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:43ba
IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Broadcom NetXtreme BCM57766 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe driver: tg3 v: kernel pcie:
speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: N/A bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:1686
IF: enp4s0f0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Apple Bluetooth USB Host Controller driver: btusb,hid-generic,usbhid type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-6:4 chip-ID: 05ac:8296
Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block:
hardware: no software: yes address: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 465.92 GiB used: 16.42 GiB (3.5%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Apple model: SSD SM0512L size: 465.92 GiB speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4
serial: <filter> temp: 28.9 C
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 457.04 GiB used: 16.41 GiB (3.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
ID-2: /boot/efi size: 510.9 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 43.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 42.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Repos:
Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2142
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
1: deb http: //mirror.internode.on.net/pub/linuxmint-packages xia main upstream import backport
2: deb http: //mirror.overthewire.com.au/ubuntu noble main restricted universe multiverse
3: deb http: //mirror.overthewire.com.au/ubuntu noble-updates main restricted universe multiverse
4: deb http: //mirror.overthewire.com.au/ubuntu noble-backports main restricted universe multiverse
5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-security main restricted universe multiverse
Info:
Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.52 GiB used: 1.42 GiB (9.1%)
Processes: 252 Power: uptime: 6m wakeups: 0 Init: systemd v: 255 target: graphical (5)
default: graphical
Compilers: gcc: 13.3.0 alt: 12 Client: Unknown python3.12 client inxi: 3.3.34

 

[noelw]

his tells me intel
noel@noel-iMac:~$ inxi -A
Audio:
Device-1: Intel 100 Series/C230 Series Family HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
Device-2: AMD Ellesmere HDMI Audio [Radeon RX 470/480 / 570/580/590]
driver: snd_hda_intel
API: ALSA v: k6.8.0-57-generic status: kernel-api
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active
noel@noel-iMac:~$

 

[noelw]

I managed to get sound but every now and then the speakers will squeel.

 

[theLegionWithin]

I managed to get sound but every now and then the speakers will squeel.

if the problem is intermittent, I'd suspect a hardware issue - do you have external speakers to use instead for testing?

i looked at a teardown for an iMac 18.3 (to get at the speakers) and it looks complicated. routing the audio to another device is probably the best bet

 

[noelw]

Thanks for your response. The speakers i am using are powered and plugged into the headphone jack. The onboard speakers do not work as well. As i said was all good with my previous imac. I should say all was good when i first got it with macos on it.

 

[Condobloke]

This is a long shot, but if you click on menu and type in... driver manager.....allow it to scan.....Does it return any suggestions etc etc ?

 

[theLegionWithin]

Thanks for your response. The speakers i am using are powered and plugged into the headphone jack. The onboard speakers do not work as well. As i said was all good with my previous imac. I should say all was good when i first got it with macos on it.

hmm - so the internal speakers did work prior to installing mint? @dos2unix wrote up a nice bit of audio troubleshooting recently --> https://www.linux.org/threads/troubleshooting-audio-problems-in-linux.55508/ - that might point you in the right direction.

alternately, maybe try another distro (live environment) to see what happens.

 

[noelw]

This is a long shot, but if you click on menu and type in... driver manager.....allow it to scan.....Does it return any suggestions etc etc ?

None at all. Tells me no drivers needed.

 

[Condobloke]

Another distro to try, which I have heard good things about, is MX Linux

As per @theLegionWithin's suggestion, boot it to a live environment, and test to see that everything works, including Sound, of course.

MX Linux – Midweight Simple Stable Desktop OS

mxlinux.org

 

[Condobloke]

@noelw, just saw your latest post. It is possible the necessary driver is just niot present in the kernel.

AS well as looking at MX Linux, you could also wait for @Brickwizard to see this post, and see what he can suggest. Because I just mentioned his name, he will see the post next time he comes online

 

[osprey]

Thanks for your response. The speakers i am using are powered and plugged into the headphone jack. The onboard speakers do not work as well. As i said was all good with my previous imac. I should say all was good when i first got it with macos on it.

The problem of sound described is very likely due to the fact that the powered speakers are running from the headphone socket rather a line out socket, since the system does have sound. Having sound, the drivers sound like they are working as intended.

There's a significant difference between the two sockets with the headphone socket being designed for headphones. It is an already amplified signal to drive headphones and its volume is usually controlled from the computer or device. It produces a signal with a higher voltage than the line out socket.

The line out socket, on the other hand is designed as a clean signal, usually unamplified, though sometimes minimally so, which relies on the amplification supplied by the external powered speakers. As a clean signal, it's quality will depend on the quality of the powered speaker's amplification, but won't be "contaminated" by any other amplification.

With a powered speaker arrangement running from the headphone socket one is in danger of overdriving the speakers because of the doubling of the amplification controls.

To keep the speakers sounding reasonably well with powered speakers from the headphone socket one needs to experiment with fine control of the volumes from the two sources of control, but because of the extra electronic load in the system may never reach the cleanest of sounds possible.

 

[noelw]

Another distro to try, which I have heard good things about, is MX Linux

As per @theLegionWithin's suggestion, boot it to a live environment, and test to see that everything works, including Sound, of course.

MX Linux – Midweight Simple Stable Desktop OS

mxlinux.org

Will give it a try in the morning. Fingers crossed and thank you.

 

[noelw]

Another distro to try, which I have heard good things about, is MX Linux

As per @theLegionWithin's suggestion, boot it to a live environment, and test to see that everything works, including Sound, of course.

MX Linux – Midweight Simple Stable Desktop OS

mxlinux.org

Will give it a try in the morning. Fingers crossed and thank you and to others as well.

 

[Brickwizard]

Not a lot I can say, the 18.3 iMac has been a problem for Linux sound since 2017 [first released] there are loads of similar questions across all fora and distributions, I have seen all sorts of suggestions from downgrading alsa to an old version [if you can still find it] to turning off apci , but on none of the post I have read have I see a solution marked as worked, so sorry all I

 

[Condobloke]

Noel. as a last resort you could try going back to the older sound server which was called Pulse Audio.

apt purge pipewire pipewire-bin
systemctl enable --user pulseaudio
sudo reboot

One line at a time....press enter between each one etc

 

[Mike-BTU]

Noel. as a last resort you could try going back to the older sound server which was called Pulse Audio.

apt purge pipewire pipewire-bin
systemctl enable --user pulseaudio
sudo reboot

One line at a time....press enter between each one etc

Would that also purge pipewire-pulse?

 

[Condobloke]

pipewire pulse is compatible with pulse audio.

I am of the opinion it would not be purged, as it is a separate app

Both pipewire and pipewire-pulse can be installed individually from the Software Manager in Linux Mint 22.1

 

[MikeWalsh]

To keep the speakers sounding reasonably well with powered speakers from the headphone socket one needs to experiment with fine control of the volumes from the two sources of control...

Couldn't agree more. This is the very issue I had myself when first using powered speakers more than 15 years ago. Not having a line-out port I, too, use the headphone socket.

I've long since learned the exact point at which to set the sub's volume control - this contains the amplifier for it and the full-range satellite speakers - at the start of a session. Having switched on & set the volume, I then ignore it......and adjust the volume from within Puppy for the rest of the session.

I do have to be careful with Puppy's native Retrovol (written, coded, compiled and built by Puppy member pizzasgood over 16 years ago). A direct GUI control for ALSA, it has three main modes; 'Linear', 'Logarithmic' & 'Exponential'.....each providing double the amplification of the previous one. 'Exponential' is quite capable of blowing your speaker's voice coils by itself, without further assistance from the speakers' own amplification!

And that's why I tend to stick with 'Logarithmic'. Lower risk of overload, y'see....


Mike.

 

[Mike-BTU]

pipewire pulse is compatible with pulse audio.

I am of the opinion it would not be purged, as it is a separate app

Both pipewire and pipewire-pulse can be installed individually from the Software Manager in Linux Mint 22.1

The reason I ask is pipewire-pulse is causing audio dropouts in Debian 12. I've mentioned this before, but not this detail. The intermittent audio dropouts happen in every app that sends audio to the headphone jack.

I tried removing that and PipeWire, but one app requires it. You wouldn't believe all the things I've done to make it go away. But I hear that Debian 13 is coming out this year. Surely it'll solve it.

It can't be hardware, because when I boot to Manjaro, the problem vanishes.

I've only found a handful of Debian users have the problem that I do.

 

[Condobloke]

@Mike-W0BTU, have you tried changing the kernel ?