Audio Dummy Output for Linux Mint, Realtek chip

[marimomae]

Hey, I'm new to Linux.

I shall cross-post to Linux Mint forums. I apologize if this is not allowed.

My issue: All I see is dummy output, cannot get audio through headphones. HDMI output works.

Here's what I've tried for troubleshooting: In alsamixer, all volume levels are adjusted to "white," none are at zero or muted; Loopback Mixing is disabled (is that important? can it be enabled?). Disabling the firewall did not work, so I re-enabled. I have NOT yet tried blacklisting any drivers, because it's unclear to me how to go about trying that, but I did see some talk of other people trying that.

I will share code tags below, so feel free to skip to that, but for brevity, here's some important stuff up front: My distro is Linux Mint v 22.3 (Zena), I have rolled back from PipeWire to PulseAudio as I saw that recommended somewhere along the way. Card is HD-Audio Generic, chip is Realtek ALC269VC.

sudo lspci | grep -i audio returns:

c5:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Rembrandt Radeon High Definition Audio Controller
c5:00.5 Multimedia controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] ACP/ACP3X/ACP6x Audio Coprocessor (rev 63)
c5:00.6 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h/19h HD Audio Controller

sudo aplay -l
→ \**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices \****
card 0: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC269VC Analog [ALC269VC Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

sudo lsmod | grep snd returns:

snd_sof_amd_acp70      16384  0
snd_sof_amd_acp63      16384  0
snd_sof_amd_vangogh    16384  0
snd_sof_amd_rembrandt    16384  0
snd_sof_amd_renoir     16384  0
snd_sof_amd_acp        61440  5 snd_sof_amd_acp70,snd_sof_amd_rembrandt,snd_sof_amd_vangogh,snd_sof_amd_acp63,snd_sof_amd_renoir
snd_sof_pci            24576  5 snd_sof_amd_acp70,snd_sof_amd_rembrandt,snd_sof_amd_vangogh,snd_sof_amd_acp63,snd_sof_amd_renoir
snd_sof_xtensa_dsp     12288  1 snd_sof_amd_acp
snd_sof               405504  2 snd_sof_amd_acp,snd_sof_pci
snd_sof_utils          16384  1 snd_sof
snd_pci_ps             32768  0
snd_soc_acpi_amd_match    24576  3 snd_sof_amd_acp70,snd_sof_amd_acp63,snd_pci_ps
snd_soc_acpi_amd_sdca_quirks    12288  1 snd_soc_acpi_amd_match
snd_amd_sdw_acpi       16384  2 snd_sof_amd_acp,snd_pci_ps
soundwire_amd          49152  2 snd_sof_amd_acp,snd_pci_ps
snd_hda_codec_alc269   147456  1
snd_hda_scodec_component    20480  1 snd_hda_codec_alc269
snd_soc_sdca          118784  2 snd_soc_acpi_amd_sdca_quirks,soundwire_bus
snd_hda_codec_realtek_lib    65536  1 snd_hda_codec_alc269
snd_hda_codec_generic   122880  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek_lib,snd_hda_codec_alc269
snd_hda_codec_atihdmi    24576  1
snd_soc_core          417792  3 snd_sof,snd_soc_sdca,soundwire_amd
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     65536  1 snd_hda_codec_atihdmi
snd_compress           36864  1 snd_soc_core
ac97_bus               12288  1 snd_soc_core
snd_hda_intel          61440  4
snd_pcm_dmaengine      20480  1 snd_soc_core
snd_hda_codec         204800  6 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_realtek_lib,snd_hda_codec_alc269,snd_hda_codec_atihdmi
snd_hda_core          143360  7 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_realtek_lib,snd_hda_codec_alc269,snd_hda_codec_atihdmi
snd_rpl_pci_acp6x      16384  0
snd_acp_pci            12288  0
snd_intel_dspcfg       45056  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_sof
snd_amd_acpi_mach      12288  1 snd_acp_pci
snd_intel_sdw_acpi     16384  1 snd_intel_dspcfg
snd_acp_legacy_common    28672  1 snd_acp_pci
snd_hwdep              24576  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pci_acp6x          16384  0
snd_seq_midi           24576  0
snd_seq_midi_event     16384  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_pcm               200704  16 snd_sof_amd_acp,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pci_acp6x,snd_acp_legacy_common,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_sof,snd_soc_sdca,snd_compress,snd_soc_core,snd_sof_utils,soundwire_amd,snd_hda_core,snd_pci_ps,snd_pcm_dmaengine
snd_rawmidi            57344  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_pci_acp5x          16384  0
snd_seq               122880  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_rn_pci_acp3x       16384  0
snd_seq_device         16384  3 snd_seq,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi
snd_acp_config         24576  10 snd_rn_pci_acp3x,snd_sof_amd_acp70,snd_pci_acp6x,snd_pci_acp5x,snd_sof_amd_rembrandt,snd_sof_amd_vangogh,snd_sof_amd_acp63,snd_acp_pci,snd_pci_ps,snd_sof_amd_renoir
snd_timer              53248  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_soc_acpi           16384  5 snd_sof_amd_acp,snd_acp_legacy_common,snd_acp_config,snd_amd_acpi_mach,snd_pci_ps
snd                   143360  23 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_sof,snd_soc_sdca,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_realtek_lib,snd_compress,snd_hda_codec_alc269,snd_soc_core,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi
snd_pci_acp3x          16384  0
soundcore              16384  1 snd
hid                   262144  6 i2c_hid,usbhid,snd_soc_sdca,hid_generic,hid_logitech_dj,hid_logitech_hidpp

dmesg | grep -i firmware returns:

[    6.120114] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[    7.111819] amdgpu 0000:c5:00.0: amdgpu: [drm] Loading DMUB firmware via PSP: version=0x08005300
[    7.112027] amdgpu 0000:c5:00.0: amdgpu: Found VCN firmware Version ENC: 1.19 DEC: 7 VEP: 0 Revision: 0
[33690.169097] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[34714.168731] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[34783.801633] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[34847.802836] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[34928.181151] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[34964.031106] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35021.883797] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35052.096302] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35087.929786] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35123.778196] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35187.781187] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35246.142159] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35425.867311] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35517.005967] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35592.779485] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35667.008226] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35697.736481] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35722.823702] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35769.917243] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35832.903456] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35868.734446] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35910.215061] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[35968.069601] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[36015.164125] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[36067.910142] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[36130.876868] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[36166.205998] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[36202.050281] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[36243.014181] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[36405.827369] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[36447.807957] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[36494.911876] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[36525.128166] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[36544.064555] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[36623.947517] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234
[36686.924443] mt7921e 0000:04:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250523103234

Thanks for any patience with me in advance. As I said before, I am new to Linux and I don't really know what I'm doing.

 

[wizardfromoz]

I shall cross-post to Linux Mint forums. I apologize if this is not allowed.

It is not that it is not allowed, rather that it is bad forum etiquette, bad manners.

Linux Mint forum are not to know what we might be advising, nor they us, and some advice provided may be in conflict.

I would advise not posting there until you have given our people a few days, or even vice versa if you wish.

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[legends500]

nice post in my opinion

 

[Smilax]

Linux Mint 22.3 using PulseAudio here. Every time I've had this problem I didn't have the correct port selected on the Output Device tab.

 

[marimomae]

Linux Mint 22.3 using PulseAudio here. Every time I've had this problem I didn't have the correct port selected on the Output Device tab.

here is what I see

 

[GatorsFan]

In Ubuntu/Debian based OS's, the dummy output refers to a placeholder audio output device. When this is selected, it indicates that the system cannot detect the real audio hardware (such as a sound card or USB audio device). Instead of sending audio signals to an actual speaker or headphone, the audio data is effectively "lost" as it is sent to this virtual, non-functional Dummy output.
In some cases, editing the PulseAudio configuration file can fix this. Open the default.pa file using a text editor:

sudo nano /etc/pulse/default.pa

Add the following line at the end of the file:

load-module module-udev-detect

Save the file and reboot - is it working?

 

[marimomae]

Save the file and reboot - is it working?

I opened and edited default.pa
I scrolled to the bottom and pasted that line
It is still not working