Hello everyone!
I have an Acer Nitro Lite 16 laptop with the following specs:
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CPU: Intel Core i5-13420H (13th gen, Raptor Lake)
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GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6GB
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Audio chip: Realtek ALC256
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OS: Ubuntu 25.10
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Kernel: 6.17.0-19-generic
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Audio driver: sof-hda-dsp (SOF)
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Audio server: PipeWire 1.0.x
Problem:
Every time I boot the laptop with headphones plugged in, the sound is muffled/underwater - voices are barely intelligible.
Also during boot (splash screen with Ubuntu logo first 1-3 seconds) I hear strange clicking sounds in the headphones (or it’s mic or something).
The only fix is to unplug and replug the headphones after the Ubuntu has fully loaded - then the sound becomes perfectly clear immediately.
Audio on the laptop without headphones sounds without any issues, so it’s issue with plugged headphones during boot time.
Card info:
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Card: alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic
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Active Profile: HiFi (HDMI1, HDMI2, HDMI3, Headphones, Mic1, Mic2)
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ALSA components: HDA:10ec0256,1025187d,00100002
My initial thoughts:
It seems like the headphone jack / codec is being initialized incorrectly at boot time, even during the first 1-3 seconds of the boot splash screen I can hear strange clicking sounds in the headphones, which suggests the hardware is not being set up properly from the very beginning.
Once the OS is fully loaded, if I unplug and replug the headphones, the sound immediately becomes perfect. This makes me think the jack detection event on replug triggers a correct re-initialization of the codec. Is there a way to fix the codec/jack initialization at boot level so the headphones work correctly from the start without having to replug them every time?
Any help is appreciated. Thank you!