Headset/headphones play only left channel after update

Support Sound
1

After recent update any 3.5 mm device (either headset or headphones) plays only in left channel.

What I did:

  1. Checked it is not HW problem:
  • tried booting in Windows - two channels work as expected
  • tried booting in latest Manjaro LIVE - two channels work as expected
  • tried different devices (headset with microphone, headphones without microphone) - everywhere only left channel works
  1. Tried ‘easy win’ solutions:
  • switched kernels (6.1 LTS, 6.2, 6.3) - everywhere only left channel works
  • switched to wireplumber - not helped
  • tried tweaking settings in pavucontrol. Here it gots interesting - seems, right channel plays, but extremely quiet. If I set Left channel to 14% and Right channel to 153%, the sound is back to stereo, but too low. Not sure how to fix it.
System:
  Kernel: 6.3.5-2-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.1.1
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.3-x86_64
    root=UUID=11eac0f6-670c-4ca3-b29c-16743d74e35a rw ibt=off quiet
    udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: GNOME v: 44.1 tk: GTK v: 3.24.37 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM v: 44.1
    Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Convertible System: Dell product: Latitude 9520 v: N/A
    serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 31 serial: <filter>
  Mobo: Dell model: 09825N v: A03 serial: <filter> UEFI: Dell v: 1.20.1
    date: 02/21/2023
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 71.7 Wh (100.0%) condition: 71.7/86.3 Wh (83.1%)
    volts: 12.6 min: 11.4 model: BYD DELL 89GNG17 type: Li-poly serial: <filter>
    status: full
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse MX Master 3
    serial: <filter> charge: 100% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
    status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: model: 11th Gen Intel Core i7-1185G7 socket: U3E1 bits: 64
    type: MT MCP arch: Tiger Lake gen: core 11 level: v4 note: check built: 2020
    process: Intel 10nm family: 6 model-id: 0x8C (140) stepping: 1
    microcode: 0xAA
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 tpc: 2 threads: 8 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 320 KiB desc: d-4x48 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 5 MiB desc: 4x1.2 MiB
    L3: 12 MiB desc: 1x12 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1283 high: 1800 min/max: 400/4800 base/boost: 1800/4800
    scaling: driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave volts: 0.7 V
    ext-clock: 100 MHz cores: 1: 1800 2: 890 3: 1800 4: 1040 5: 911 6: 995
    7: 1033 8: 1800 bogomips: 28888
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced / Automatic IBRS, IBPB:
    conditional, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel TigerLake-LP GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] vendor: Dell
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-12.1 process: Intel 10nm built: 2020-21
    ports: active: HDMI-A-1,eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, HDMI-A-2, HDMI-A-3
    bus-ID: 0000:00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9a49 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Microdia Integrated_Webcam_HD driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 3-6:4 chip-ID: 0c45:672d
    class-ID: 0e02
  Display: server: X.org v: 1.21.1.8 with: Xwayland v: 23.1.1
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa
    dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x1080 s-size: <missing: xdpyinfo>
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-1 pos: primary,left model: HP E231
    serial: <filter> built: 2015 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 96 gamma: 1.2
    size: 509x286mm (20.04x11.26") diag: 584mm (23") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  Monitor-2: eDP-1 pos: right model: AU Optronics 0xfb91 built: 2020
    res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 147 gamma: 1.2 size: 331x186mm (13.03x7.32")
    diag: 380mm (14.9") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 23.0.3 renderer: Mesa Intel Xe Graphics (TGL GT2)
    direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Tiger Lake-LP Smart Sound Audio vendor: Dell
    driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl
    alternate: snd_hda_intel,snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl bus-ID: 0000:00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:a0c8 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.3.5-2-MANJARO status: kernel-api
    tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.70 status: off with: 1: wireplumber status: off
    2: pipewire-alsa type: plugin tools: pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
  Server-3: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active (root, process)
    tools: pacat,pactl,pavucontrol
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 0000:00:14.3
    chip-ID: 8086:a0f0 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: br-9f02dac196dc state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-2: docker0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-3: tun0 state: unknown speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full mac: N/A
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-10:5 chip-ID: 8087:0026
    class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: see --recommends
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller driver: vmd
    v: 0.6 port: N/A bus-ID: 0000:00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:9a0b rev: class-ID: 0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 282.87 GiB (59.3%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Western Digital
    model: PC SN530 NVMe WDC 512GB size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 21113012 temp: 38.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 327.11 GiB size: 327.11 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 282.79 GiB (86.4%) fs: f2fs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6
    maj-min: 259:6
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 190 MiB size: 186 MiB (97.89%)
    used: 91.1 MiB (49.0%) fs: vfat block-size: 512 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
    maj-min: 259:1
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 44.0 C mobo: 41.0 C sodimm: Mem C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 1354
Info:
  Processes: 412 Uptime: 23m wakeups: 190 Memory: available: 31.08 GiB
  used: 4.55 GiB (14.6%) Init: systemd v: 253 default: graphical
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 13.1.1 clang: 15.0.7 Packages: pm: pacman
  pkgs: 1637 libs: 499 tools: gnome-software,pamac pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
  Shell: Zsh (sudo) v: 5.9 running-in: tmux: inxi: 3.3.27

alsa-info.sh is here

2

Have you looked in alsamixer ?

3

Hello @giant-locked :wink:

Probably caused by a firmware update? Please check the log:

grep "2023-06-05" /var/log/pacman.log

Maybe downgrading sof-firmware helps for the time being?

4

For some reason it returns:

cannot open mixer: Host is down

Yeah, it was updated:

> grep “2023-06” /var/log/pacman.log | grep “sof-firmware”
[ALPM] upgraded sof-firmware (2.2.4-1 → 2.2.5-1)

Will try downgrading and will let you know if it helps

5

alsa-info.sh data shows ALSA control settings in text format

!!-------Mixer controls for card sofsoundwire 
Card sysdefault:0 'sofsoundwire'/'Intel Soundwire SOF'
  Mixer name	: 'Intel Tigerlake HDMI'
  Components	: 'HDA:80862812,80860101,00100000 cfg-spk:2 cfg-amp:1 hs:rt711 spk:rt1308 mic:rt715'
  Controls      : 65
  Simple ctrls  : 39
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',1
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',2
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headset Mic',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'PGA1.0 1 Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 32
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'PGA2.0 2 Master',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 80
  Front Left: Capture 50 [62%] [0.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 50 [62%] [0.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'PGA3.0 3 Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 32
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'PGA30.0 30',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 32
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'PGA31.0 31',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 32
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'PGA5.0 5 Master',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 80
  Front Left: Capture 50 [62%] [0.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 50 [62%] [0.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'PGA6.0 6 Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 32
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'PGA7.0 7 Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 32
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'PGA8.0 8 Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 32
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 32 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'rt1308-1 DAC L',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'rt1308-1 DAC R',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'rt1308-1 RX Channel Select',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'LR' 'LL' 'RL' 'RR'
  Item0: 'LR'
Simple mixer control 'rt711 ADC 08',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 63
  Front Left: Capture 51 [81%] [21.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 51 [81%] [21.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'rt711 ADC 09',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 63
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [-17.25dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [-17.25dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'rt711 ADC 22 Mux',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'MIC2' 'LINE1' 'LINE2' 'DMIC'
  Item0: 'MIC2'
Simple mixer control 'rt711 ADC 23 Mux',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'MIC2' 'LINE1' 'LINE2' 'DMIC'
  Item0: 'MIC2'
Simple mixer control 'rt711 AMIC',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'rt711 DAC Surr',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-65.25dB]
Simple mixer control 'rt711 DMIC1',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'rt711 DMIC2',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'rt715',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right - Rear Left - Rear Right - Front Center - Woofer - Side Left - Side Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 63
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [-17.25dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 23 [37%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Rear Left: Capture 0 [0%] [-17.25dB] [on]
  Rear Right: Capture 23 [37%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Center: Capture 0 [0%] [-17.25dB] [on]
  Woofer: Capture 23 [37%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Side Left: Capture 0 [0%] [-17.25dB] [on]
  Side Right: Capture 23 [37%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'rt715 ADC 22 Mux',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'MIC1' 'MIC2' 'LINE1' 'LINE2' 'DMIC1' 'DMIC2' 'DMIC3' 'DMIC4'
  Item0: 'LINE1'
Simple mixer control 'rt715 ADC 23 Mux',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'MIC1' 'MIC2' 'LINE1' 'LINE2' 'DMIC1' 'DMIC2' 'DMIC3' 'DMIC4'
  Item0: 'LINE2'
Simple mixer control 'rt715 ADC 24 Mux',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'MIC2' 'DMIC1' 'DMIC2' 'DMIC3' 'DMIC4'
  Item0: 'MIC2'
Simple mixer control 'rt715 ADC 25 Mux',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'MIC1' 'DMIC1' 'DMIC2' 'DMIC3' 'DMIC4'
  Item0: 'MIC1'
Simple mixer control 'rt715 DMIC1 Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%]
  Front Right: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'rt715 DMIC2 Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%]
  Front Right: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'rt715 DMIC3 Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%]
  Front Right: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'rt715 DMIC4 Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%]
  Front Right: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'rt715 LINE1 Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%]
  Front Right: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'rt715 LINE2 Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%]
  Front Right: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'rt715 MIC1 Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%]
  Front Right: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'rt715 MIC2 Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%]
  Front Right: 0 [0%]
6

Then these look interesting.

Also this may be a problem:

7

Exactly, thank you.
I installed pulseaudio-alsa (which removed pipewire-alsa for me, not sure why it was installed and how it all worked before the update), then increased volume for device ‘rt711 DAC Surr’ in alsamixer - now everything works… except microphone on headset :smiley:
The same trick - raising all capture devices’ - did not work (