No sound for Realtek ALC256

rohshall

I don't see any outputs variable that I can set to get the sound working:

$ mixerctl -a inputs.dac=174,174 inputs.reclvl=92,92 inputs.reclvl.mute=off record.monitor=0,0 inputs.dac2.mute=off outputs.master.mute=off outputs.dacsel=DAC00 record.source=ADC02

My audio config:

$ audiocfg list 0: [*] audio0 @ hdafg0: Realtek ALC256 playback: 16, 2ch, 48000Hz record: 16, 2ch, 48000Hz (PR) slinear_le 16/16, 2ch, { 44100, 48000, 96000, 192000 } (PR) slinear_le 20/32, 2ch, { 44100, 48000, 96000, 192000 } (PR) slinear_le 24/32, 2ch, { 44100, 48000, 96000, 192000 } ( ) ac3 16/16, 2ch, { 44100, 48000, 96000, 192000 } 1: [ ] audio1 @ hdafg1: Intel HDMI/DP playback: 16, 2ch, 48000Hz record: 16, 2ch, 48000Hz (P-) slinear_le 16/16, 2ch, { 48000 } (P-) slinear_le 16/16, 4ch, { 48000 } (P-) slinear_le 16/16, 6ch, { 48000 } (P-) slinear_le 16/16, 8ch, { 48000 } (PR) slinear_le 16/16, 2ch, 48000-48000Hz

audiocfg test 0 does not output anything. I also tested that no sound was coming from the headphones.

dmesg:
$ grep audio /var/run/dmesg.boot hdaudio0 at pci0 dev 31 function 3: HD Audio Controller hdaudio0: interrupting at msi3 vec 0 hdaudio0: HDA ver. 1.0, OSS 9, ISS 7, BSS 0, SDO 1, 64-bit hdafg0 at hdaudio0: Realtek ALC256 audio0 at hdafg0: playback, capture, full duplex, independent audio0: slinear_le:16 2ch 48000Hz, blk 1920 bytes (10ms) for playback audio0: slinear_le:16 2ch 48000Hz, blk 1920 bytes (10ms) for recording spkr0 at audio0: PC Speaker (synthesized) hdafg1 at hdaudio0: Intel HDMI/DP audio1 at hdafg1: playback, capture, full duplex, independent audio1: slinear_le:16 2ch 48000Hz, blk 1920 bytes (10ms) for playback audio1: slinear_le:16 2ch 48000Hz, blk 1920 bytes (10ms) for recording spkr1 at audio1: PC Speaker (synthesized)

533k3R

Might see if "hdaudioctl list" says anything. Then investigate if there is any reconfiguration you can do.
There is "man hdaudioctl" available.

nia

You tried changing the DAC?

rohshall

I see both the audio codecs:

doas hdaudioctl list codecid 0x00 nid 0x01 vendor 0x10EC product 0x0256 subsystem 0x08101028 device hdafg0 codecid 0x02 nid 0x01 vendor 0x8086 product 0x280B subsystem 0x08101028 device hdafg1

I took help of the AI, it correctly guided me:

The "Pin Patching" Fix (The main solution)

On the ALC256, the internal speakers are often attached to a "pin" that the BIOS reports as "disconnected." You need to manually tell the kernel to treat that pin as a speaker.

A. Generate a template file: Use the hdaudioctl utility to dump your current configuration to an XML file:

hdaudioctl get 0 0 > hdaudio_alc256.xml

(Note: 0 0 refers to the first HDA controller and first codec. If your dmesg shows different numbers, adjust accordingly.)

B. Edit the XML file: Open hdaudio_alc256.xml in a text editor. You are looking for a <pin> configuration that corresponds to the internal speakers. For the ALC256, this is almost always NID 20 (hex 0x14).

Look for an entry like this:

<pin nid="20" ...>

You need to change the config value. The goal is to change the "Connectivity" bits (the first hex digit) to show it is a fixed device.

In the thread, the successful fix usually involves changing the config string for NID 20 to: 0x90170110

C. Apply the new configuration:

hdaudioctl set 0 0 hdaudio_alc256.xml

Then, you must detach and re-attach the audio driver to see the changes (or simply reboot after making the change permanent):

drvctl -d audio0 drvctl -r -a hdaudiobus hdaudio0 mv hdaudio_alc256.xml /etc/hdaudio_alc256.xml

Add the command to /etc/rc.local so it runs on startup:

Add this to /etc/rc.local
hdaudioctl set 0 0 /etc/hdaudio_alc256.xml