HDMI Audio output to AVR from 2011 Dell laptop okay in 22.04.3 but not later versions

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1

Already compared to other searches for HDMI or no audio in 24.10, but couldn’t find the same combination as mine.

Problem Description:
Using an old 2011 Dell laptop, I am able to use HDMI to get sound with my AVR system when using 22.04.3 with a live USB. Working device was card 0, device 7 (appears to be card 1 when running 24.10 from hard drive). Rebooting to the installed OS from the hard drive with 24.10, I’ve been having no audio output over the speakers.

What I’ve Tried:
Removed pipewire and used pulseaudio to keep settings as close to 22.04.3 as possible
Used pulseaudio -k after extending display to monitor thru AVR to activate HDMI sound in 22.04.3, but same step didn’t work in latest
I’ve tried muting/unmuting in alsamixer for the HDMI output.
Speaker-test command to all aplay -l devices was unsuccessful.
I can actively use a live USB with 22.04.3 to compare settings if needed.

Can anyone advise what else I can try?

Here are some outputs:

$ uname -a
Linux XPS-L702X 6.11.0-19-generic #19-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Wed Feb 12 21:43:43 UTC 2025 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ lspci -v | grep -A7 -i "audio"
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 0571
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 39
	Memory at f3c00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
	Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel

--
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GF116 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 0571
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
	Memory at f2000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
	Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel

$   pactl list sources |egrep 'Name:|Description:'
	Name: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo.monitor
	Description: Monitor of Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
	Name: alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-surround-extra1.monitor
	Description: Monitor of GF116 High Definition Audio Controller Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 2)

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC665 Analog [ALC665 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: ALC665 Digital [ALC665 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 0 [DENON-AVRHD]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Note: with 22.04.3 live USB, [DENON-AVRHD] does not appear

$ systemctl --user status pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber
○ pipewire.service
     Loaded: masked (Reason: Unit pipewire.service is masked.)
     Active: inactive (dead)

○ pipewire-pulse.service
     Loaded: masked (Reason: Unit pipewire-pulse.service is masked.)
     Active: inactive (dead)

○ wireplumber.service - Multimedia Service Session Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/wireplumber.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: inactive (dead)

$ sudo dmesg | grep -i "audio\|sound\|pulse\|alsa"
[    7.729429] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
[    7.730576] snd_hda_intel 0000:01:00.1: Handle vga_switcheroo audio client
[    7.772128] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0: ALC665: SKU not ready 0x598301f0
[    7.772443] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0: autoconfig for ALC665: line_outs=1 (0x15/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0) type:speaker
[    7.772451] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:    speaker_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[    7.772455] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:    hp_outs=2 (0x1b/0x19/0x0/0x0/0x0)
[    7.772460] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:    mono: mono_out=0x0
[    7.772462] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:    dig-out=0x1e/0x0
[    7.772466] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:    inputs:
[    7.772469] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:      Mic=0x1a
[    7.772473] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0:      Internal Mic=0x12
[    7.778796] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=3 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input10
[    7.778891] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=7 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input11
[    7.779010] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=8 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input12
[    7.779101] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=9 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1/input13
[    7.803601] input: HDA Intel PCH Mic as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input14
[    7.803708] input: HDA Intel PCH Headphone as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input15
[    7.827730] input: HDA Intel PCH Headphone as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input16
[    7.831719] input: HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=3 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input17
2

There are various bugs at launchpad, search like for dell audio

but there are special sets including software for AVR on Windows that could be bought even today although probably for Windows7/8 maybe 10.

Professional recording or audio scene probably has something to say about this more how they make things, but if there is some tweaking needed for newer Ubuntu that’s probably also some vendor setup with drivers or media SDK(if supported) and if more recent setup is working and older not, that’s also Dell issue if is issuing newer setups… so launchpad and Dell could say more… or some pro movie industry… how to make their blogs on skateboard down the hill… pipewire has own docs and also in Debian there is section for pipewire, but first search for similar bugs could it deliver

1 Like
3

Thanks, I will check what you mentioned.

Just in case there was a misunderstanding since you referenced professional recording equipment, by AVR I meant AV reciever, or a home theater system.

4

Update on what I found and resolved my main problem:

Not sure what changed since 22.04.3, but currently I suspect the behavior is due to the Denon AVR being recognized as a monitor which uses the nouveau driver (needed since it’s connected over HDMI using the GPU), while audio relies on intel drivers. The AVR itself is not a monitor.

As an alternative, I connected my PC to the TV, which then sends audio to the AVR via HDMI-ARC. This at least provided me sound.

One issue is I could only get stereo, not surround sound. I ended up using VLC to send audio via pass through (setting in both PAV and VLC for using Dolby Surround over Stereo), and it works well enough for now.