Hey! I’ve been running Manjaro on a ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen2 for about a year and a half now, and it runs great. One thing I’ve started noticing though is that randomly, the sound out of my Thunderbolt dock (ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Workstation Dock Gen 2, gosh that’s a mouthful ) will randomly become garbled and distorted. The only fix (besides rebooting) is to toggle what type of Audio Device profile it uses. Note, it only happens with my Thunderbolt dock – my internal speakers are unaffected.
Here’s a video showing what I’m talking about (unmute for sound): https://imgur.com/a/OhzPLSU
Thanks in advance for any help!
The profile for the dock is initially set to Digital stereo (S/PDIF) output Analog Stereo Output
But what has me really puzzled is that there does not appear to be any digital S/PDIF connection available on this device
There only appears to be one analog audio jack for headphones, headset or microphone
And online data scans for this device only show an analog output (PCM) and microphone input
Lenovo ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock USB Audio
Card sysdefault:2 'USB'/'Lenovo ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock USB at usb-0000:08:00.0-2.1.1.2, full speed'
Mixer name : 'USB Mixer'
Components : 'USB17ef:3083'
Controls : 6
Simple ctrls : 3
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
Capabilities: cvolume cvolume-joined cswitch cswitch-joined
Capture channels: Mono
Limits: Capture 0 - 30
Mono: Capture 30 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Auto Gain Control',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off]
There are no controls for IEC958 digital audio, so it appears that this dock does not support digital audio over the HDMI or Displayport sockets
If you are using headphones or speakers plugged in to the audio jack you should probably be using the profile Analog Stereo Output
1 Like
Oh my goodness, I’m sorry – totally forgot to provide the output! Here it is:
System:
Kernel: 5.4.138-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.4-x86_64
root=UUID=ed8ca4e9-2572-4296-8eef-13f1234f4093 rw sysrq_always_enabled=1
apparmor=1 security=apparmor
resume=UUID=0e2ca42e-8e55-4ee9-8dd0-f6af0ba2f1e0 udev.log_priority=3
Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.22.4 tk: Qt 5.15.2 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM
Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20QVCTO1WW v: ThinkPad X1 Extreme 2nd
serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter>
Mobo: LENOVO model: 20QVCTO1WW v: SDK0J40697 WIN serial: <filter>
UEFI: LENOVO v: N2OET44W (1.31 ) date: 05/07/2020
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 70.6 Wh (100.0%) condition: 70.6/80.4 Wh (87.8%)
volts: 17.2 min: 15.4 model: SMP 01YU911 type: Li-poly serial: <filter>
status: Full cycles: 108
Memory:
RAM: total: 31.02 GiB used: 16.03 GiB (51.7%)
RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
Info: 6-Core model: Intel Core i7-9750H bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Kaby Lake note: check family: 6 model-id: 9E (158) stepping: A (10)
microcode: EA cache: L2: 12 MiB bogomips: 62431
Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/4500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800
4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 9: 800 10: 800 11: 800 12: 800
Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm acpi adx aes aperfmperf apic arat arch_perfmon art
avx avx2 bmi1 bmi2 bts clflush clflushopt cmov constant_tsc cpuid
cpuid_fault cx16 cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64 dtherm dts epb ept ept_ad erms est
f16c flexpriority flush_l1d fma fpu fsgsbase fxsr ht hwp hwp_act_window
hwp_epp hwp_notify ibpb ibrs ida intel_pt invpcid invpcid_single lahf_lm lm
mca mce md_clear mmx monitor movbe mpx msr mtrr nonstop_tsc nopl nx pae pat
pbe pcid pclmulqdq pdcm pdpe1gb pebs pge pln pni popcnt pse pse36 pti pts
rdrand rdseed rdtscp rep_good sdbg sep smap smep ss ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1
sse4_2 ssse3 stibp syscall tm tm2 tpr_shadow tsc tsc_adjust
tsc_deadline_timer vme vmx vnmi vpid x2apic xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveopt
xsaves xtopology xtpr
Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages
Type: l1tf
mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable
Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
Type: spec_store_bypass
mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp
Type: spectre_v1
mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional,
IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling
Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel CoffeeLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] vendor: Lenovo
driver: i915 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3e9b class-ID: 0300
Device-2: NVIDIA TU117M [GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile / Max-Q] vendor: Lenovo
driver: nvidia v: 470.57.02 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm bus-ID: 01:00.0
chip-ID: 10de:1f91 class-ID: 0300
Device-3: Chicony Integrated Camera type: USB driver: usbfs bus-ID: 1-8:2
chip-ID: 04f2:b67c class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 compositor: kwin_x11 driver:
loaded: modesetting,nvidia display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 5760x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 1520x285mm (59.8x11.2")
s-diag: 1546mm (60.9")
Monitor-1: DP-1.1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 82 size: 598x336mm (23.5x13.2")
diag: 686mm (27")
Monitor-2: DP-1.3 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 82 size: 598x336mm (23.5x13.2")
diag: 686mm (27")
Monitor-3: eDP-1-1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 142
size: 344x193mm (13.5x7.6") diag: 394mm (15.5")
OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 with Max-Q Design/PCIe/SSE2
v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.57.02 direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci bus-ID: 00:1f.3
chip-ID: 8086:a348 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: Lenovo ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock USB Audio type: USB
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus-ID: 3-2.1.1.2:7
chip-ID: 17ef:3083 class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter>
Device-3: Antlion Audio Antlion Wireless Microphone type: USB
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus-ID: 3-2.3.4:11
chip-ID: 2f96:0100 class-ID: 0300
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.4.138-1-MANJARO running: yes
Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.19 running: no
Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: yes
Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.33 running: no
Network:
Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: Lenovo driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k
port: efa0 bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:15bc class-ID: 0200
IF: enp0s31f6 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 2000
bus-ID: 52:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp82s0 state: up mac: <filter>
IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
broadcast: <filter>
IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
Device-3: Lenovo ThinkPad TBT 3 Dock type: USB driver: cdc_ether
bus-ID: 4-2.1.2:4 chip-ID: 17ef:3082 class-ID: 0a00 serial: <filter>
IF: enp9s0u2u1u2c2 state: up speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter>
IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
broadcast: <filter>
IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
IF-ID-1: vmnet1 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter>
IP v4: <filter> scope: global broadcast: <filter>
IP v6: <filter> scope: link
IF-ID-2: vmnet8 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter>
IP v4: <filter> scope: global broadcast: <filter>
IP v6: <filter> scope: link
WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
bus-ID: 1-14:4 chip-ID: 8087:0029 class-ID: e001
Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: see --recommends
Logical:
Message: No logical block device data found.
RAID:
Message: No RAID data found.
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 3.18 TiB used: 2.29 TiB (71.9%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO 1TB
size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2B2QEXE7 scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Crucial model: CT500MX500SSD4
size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 022 scheme: GPT
ID-3: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 type: USB vendor: Seagate model: BUP Slim SL
size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B type: N/A
serial: <filter> rev: 0304 scheme: MBR
Message: No optical or floppy data found.
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 897.1 GiB size: 882.02 GiB (98.32%)
used: 429.51 GiB (48.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
label: / uuid: ed8ca4e9-2572-4296-8eef-13f1234f4093
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
used: 280 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 label: N/A
uuid: 1440-5CC7
ID-3: /mnt/datadump raw-size: 1.82 TiB size: 1.82 TiB (100.00%)
used: 1.75 TiB (96.2%) fs: ntfs dev: /dev/sdb1 maj-min: 8:17
label: Data Dump uuid: 3218CA6518CA27A5
ID-4: /mnt/vm-storage raw-size: 465.76 GiB size: 233.73 GiB (50.18%)
used: 121.87 GiB (52.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
label: vm-storage uuid: df165fe1-db94-4799-9448-745a87e7a1a0
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 34.12 GiB used: 1.5 MiB (0.0%)
priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3 label: N/A
uuid: 0e2ca42e-8e55-4ee9-8dd0-f6af0ba2f1e0
Unmounted:
Message: No unmounted partitions found.
USB:
Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 16 rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
Device-1: 1-8:2 info: Chicony Integrated Camera type: Video driver: usbfs
interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA chip-ID: 04f2:b67c
class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
Device-2: 1-9:3 info: Synaptics Prometheus MIS Touch Fingerprint Reader
type: <vendor specific> driver: N/A interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
power: 100mA chip-ID: 06cb:00bd class-ID: ff00 serial: <filter>
Device-3: 1-14:4 info: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: Bluetooth driver: btusb
interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0029
class-ID: e001
Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 10 rev: 3.1
speed: 10 Gb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
Hub-4: 3-2:2 info: Lenovo USB2.0 Hub ports: 5 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s
chip-ID: 17ef:3080 class-ID: 0900
Hub-5: 3-2.1:3 info: Lenovo USB2.0 Hub ports: 5 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s
chip-ID: 17ef:3080 class-ID: 0900
Hub-6: 3-2.1.1:5 info: Lenovo USB2.0 HUB ports: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
power: 100mA chip-ID: 17ef:3081 class-ID: 0900
Device-1: 3-2.1.1.2:7 info: Lenovo ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock USB Audio
type: Audio,HID driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid interfaces: 4
rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 17ef:3083 class-ID: 0300
serial: <filter>
Device-2: 3-2.1.5:6 info: VIA Labs USB Billboard Device type: Billboard
driver: N/A interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 100mA
chip-ID: 2109:8818 class-ID: 1100 serial: <filter>
Hub-7: 3-2.3:8 info: Genesys Logic Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s
power: 100mA chip-ID: 05e3:0610 class-ID: 0900
Device-1: 3-2.3.1:9 info: MosArt USB 2.4G Keyboard type: Keyboard,Mouse
driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
power: 100mA chip-ID: 062a:38b3 class-ID: 0301
Device-2: 3-2.3.2:10 info: Logitech G502 Mouse type: Mouse,HID
driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
power: 300mA chip-ID: 046d:c07d class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter>
Device-3: 3-2.3.4:11 info: Antlion Audio Antlion Wireless Microphone
type: Audio,HID driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid interfaces: 3
rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 2f96:0100 class-ID: 0300
Device-4: 3-2.5:4 info: VIA Labs USB Billboard Device type: Billboard
driver: N/A interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 100mA
chip-ID: 2109:8818 class-ID: 1100 serial: <filter>
Hub-8: 4-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
Hub-9: 4-2:2 info: Lenovo USB3.1 Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
chip-ID: 17ef:307f class-ID: 0900
Hub-10: 4-2.1:3 info: Lenovo USB3.1 Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 5 Gb/s
chip-ID: 17ef:307f class-ID: 0900
Device-1: 4-2.1.2:4 info: Lenovo ThinkPad TBT 3 Dock
type: Ethernet Network,CDC-Data driver: cdc_ether interfaces: 2 rev: 3.0
speed: 5 Gb/s power: 288mA chip-ID: 17ef:3082 class-ID: 0a00
serial: <filter>
Device-2: 4-2.1.4:5 info: Seagate RSS LLC Backup Plus Portable Drive
type: Mass Storage driver: uas interfaces: 1 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s
power: 144mA chip-ID: 0bc2:ab24 class-ID: 0806 serial: <filter>
Hub-11: 4-2.3:6 info: Genesys Logic Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s
chip-ID: 05e3:0612 class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 72.0 C mobo: 50.0 C gpu: nvidia temp: 50 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 3274 fan-2: 2956
Info:
Processes: 361 Uptime: 5h 23m wakeups: 1 Init: systemd v: 248
tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0 alt: 8 clang: 12.0.1 Packages:
pacman: 1765 lib: 516 flatpak: 0 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.8 running-in: yakuake
inxi: 3.3.06
IIRC, I actually get the distortion regardless of which profile it’s set to. It just goes away when I switch it, in either direction. But I’ll keep it on Analog for now and see if the distortion comes up!
Fabby
12 August 2021 18:13
6
Is there a compelling reason for you to be on kernel 5.4 LTS instead of 5.10 LTS?
If not: have you tried 5.10 LTS already?
2 Likes
There actually is. I had serious issues with WiFi on this machine on kernels higher than 5.7, and the Linux client for veeam backup doesn’t support kernels higher than 5.8. And of course, 5.7 wasn’t LTS and has since ceased development.
So for now, I’m stuck on 5.4. Once the veeam issue is fixed (they’re working on it), I’ll try out higher kernels than that.
In the meantime, I’ve had the audio profile set to Analog since yesterday and there are no issues so far. If it distorts again while set on this profile, I’ll temporarily try a new kernel to see if the issue recurs.
Thanks for your help!
1 Like
Fabby
13 August 2021 18:32
8
I’ve marked this answer as the solution to your question as it is by far the best answer you’ll get.
The profile for the dock is initially set to Digital stereo (S/PDIF) output
and audio changes when profile is switched to Analog Stereo Output
But what has me really puzzled is that there does not appear to be any digital S/PDIF connection available on this device
There only appears to be one analog audio jack for headphones, headset or microphone
And online data scans for this device only show an analog output (PCM) and microphone input
Lenovo ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock USB Audio
Card s…
However, if you disagree with my choice, please feel free to take any other answer as the solution to your question or even remove the solution altogether: You are in control! (If you disagree with my choice, just send me a personal message and explain why I shouldn’t have done this or
system
14 August 2021 18:32
9
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