No sound from headphones when they're plugged to the front of the PC case

Hello
i just installed Manjaro on a new PC;
i have sound from the monitor and i am able to switch to the headphones when they’re plugged directly to the motherboard,but not in the front 3.5mm jack port.

i tried messing with alsamixer and un-mute everything but to no avail.

looking around,i see it is quit a common issue in linux.

inxi -Fazy --no-host
System:
  Kernel: 6.1.53-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
    clocksource: tsc available: acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1-x86_64
    root=UUID=2c155c12-a203-4f76-83f3-c5a47e892804 rw quiet splash
    resume=UUID=906e149c-5c8b-4b11-91fd-041805a54c5a udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.8 tk: Qt v: 5.15.10 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 2 dm: SDDM
    Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI D4 v: Rev 1.xx
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 0809
    date: 01/06/2023
CPU:
  Info: model: 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700K bits: 64 type: MST AMCP
    arch: Raptor Lake gen: core 13 level: v3 note: check built: 2022+
    process: Intel 7 (10nm) family: 6 model-id: 0xB7 (183) stepping: 1
    microcode: 0x119
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 16 mt: 8 tpc: 2 st: 8 threads: 24 smt: enabled
    cache: L1: 1.4 MiB desc: d-8x32 KiB, 8x48 KiB; i-8x32 KiB, 8x64 KiB
    L2: 24 MiB desc: 8x2 MiB, 2x4 MiB L3: 30 MiB desc: 1x30 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 817 high: 1100 min/max: 800/5300:5400:4200 scaling:
    driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800
    5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 928 9: 800 10: 800 11: 1100 12: 800 13: 800 14: 800
    15: 800 16: 800 17: 800 18: 800 19: 800 20: 800 21: 800 22: 800 23: 800
    24: 800 bogomips: 164088
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  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_rstack_overflow 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 IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB
    filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA104 [GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GDDR6X] vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: nvidia v: 535.104.05 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 535.xx+
    status: current (as of 2023-09) arch: Ampere code: GAxxx
    process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-23 pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:24c9 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.8 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X:
    loaded: nvidia gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 108 s-size: 602x342mm (23.70x13.46")
    s-diag: 692mm (27.26") monitors: <missing: xrandr>
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia platforms: gbm: drv: nvidia
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 vendor: nvidia v: 535.104.05 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
    memory: 7.81 GiB
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.264 layers: 1 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: NVIDIA
    GeForce RTX 3060 Ti driver: nvidia v: 535.104.05 device-ID: 10de:24c9
    surfaces: xcb,xlib
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    alternate: snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:7a50
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA GA104 High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228b class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.53-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.80 status: off with: pipewire-media-session
    status: active tools: pw-cli
  Server-3: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active with: pulseaudio-alsa
    type: plugin tools: pacat,pactl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: N/A bus-ID: 00:14.3
    chip-ID: 8086:7a70 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Ethernet I226-V vendor: ASUSTeK driver: igc v: kernel pcie:
    gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: N/A bus-ID: 06:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:125c
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
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: 1-14:5 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 Intel
    driver: vmd v: 0.6 port: N/A bus-ID: 00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:a77f rev:
    class-ID: 0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 15.51 GiB (1.7%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 990 PRO 1TB
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1B2QJXD7 temp: 41.9 C
    scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 922.42 GiB size: 906.86 GiB (98.31%) used: 15.51 GiB (1.7%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 288 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: yes
    compressor: zstd max-pool: 20%
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 32.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 49 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 0%
Info:
  Processes: 403 Uptime: 1h 38m wakeups: 0 Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est.
  available: 31.09 GiB used: 3.48 GiB (11.2%) Init: systemd v: 254
  default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 13.2.1 clang: 16.0.6
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1131 libs: 339 tools: pamac pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
  Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 default: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.30

Pssst…

$ man inxi
[..]
       --no-host
       Turns off hostname in System line. This is default when using -z, for anonymizing inxi output for posting on forums or IRC.
[..]

So … its not the front of the PC case, but a plug on the monitor?

Does it work with other systems?

i did not not plug the headphones to the monitor.
back panel is fine,front panel is not.

it works fine on a laptop with Manjaro,and i tried 2 kind of headphones.

Have you opened your PC to double check if it’s connected?
Or another idea is to do a search with the name of the case and motherboard.

When I got my desktop built, usb3 at the front and wifi didn’t work out of the box, after searching, turned out that the motherboard required me to add “iommu=soft” to grub. Hope you find a fix.

1 Like

Since you’re using KDE, please screenshot the Audio section of system settings. At least we can see which card is using which profile opening which port.


i just ran alsa-info and saw this:

!Sound Servers on this system
!!----------------------------

PipeWire:
      Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/pipewire)
      Running - Yes

Pulseaudio:
      Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/pulseaudio)
      Running - Yes

Jack:
      Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/jackd)
      Running - No

is jack related to my issue?

i suspect my solution is here:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=2011484#p2011484
but i don’t know how to apply it to my system.

OK, this shows that you only have audio through HDMI and a built-in card which is currently inactive. I think you really need to open the case and check the wiring, hopefully you still have both the motherboard and the case documentation.

JACK seldom causes issue. If ever, you won’t be able to hear audio from any port. The fact that the back one still works rules out the possibility of JACK interfering. However, I suggest to only use either PipeWire (which can emulate both PulseAudio and JACK) or PulseAudio and JACK (and make sure if you really need JACK in the first place, if not just PulseAudio then). This will minimize the chance for any to disrupt the routing in any way possible.

Anyway, back to your KDE audio settings, a typical audio jack enabled card should have this profile:


I’m using PipeWire, which is why it’s named like that. The PulseAudio equivalent is usually Built-in Analog Stereo, but the Profile and Port should be similar.

is jack related to my issue?

JACK is not running and cannot be causing an issue

If audio issue is within ALSA, replacing PulseAudio + JACK with PipeWire will not help

I suggest update motherboard BIOS to latest version 1402
TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI D4|Motherboards|ASUS Global

When you were “messing around” with alsamixer did you set Auto-Mute Mode to Disabled ?

Do audio GUI controls show if headphones are plugged-in or unplugged?

Solution suggested in Arch forum of loading a manually configured sink would only work for PulseAudio
further information from ALSA would be required to specify the ALSA device and control

aplay -l; amixer -c0 info; amixer -c0

currently automute is enabled.
but i don’t get audio from headphones either way.

GUI doesn’t show that the headphones are connected.

aplay -l                                                                                                           ✔  7m 18s  
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC1220 Analog [ALC1220 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: ALC1220 Digital [ALC1220 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [VG27AQML1A]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
amixer -c0 info 
Card sysdefault:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0x4204220000 irq 188'
  Mixer name    : 'Realtek ALC1220'
  Components    : 'HDA:10ec1168,1043887c,00100101'
  Controls      : 47
  Simple ctrls  : 21
amixer -c0                                                                                                                    ✔ 
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono: Playback 60 [69%] [-20.25dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-65.25dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-65.25dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 163 [64%] [-18.40dB]
  Front Right: Playback 163 [64%] [-18.40dB]
Simple mixer control 'Front',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Front Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 13 [42%] [-15.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 13 [42%] [-15.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Front Mic Boost',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 'Surround',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Center',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'LFE',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 8 [26%] [-22.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 8 [26%] [-22.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Line Boost',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 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Default PCM',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 63
  Front Left: Capture 52 [83%] [21.75dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 52 [83%] [21.75dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',1
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 63
  Front Left: Capture 16 [25%] [-5.25dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 16 [25%] [-5.25dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Auto-Mute Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Disabled' 'Enabled'
  Item0: 'Disabled'
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Front Mic' 'Rear Mic' 'Line'
  Item0: 'Front Mic'
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',1
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Front Mic' 'Rear Mic' 'Line'
  Item0: 'Line'
Simple mixer control 'Loopback Mixing',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Disabled' 'Enabled'
  Item0: 'Enabled'
Simple mixer control 'Rear Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Rear Mic Boost',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]

and i meant to put this original problem/solution from Arch:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=272523

OK,my bad,I’m sorry;
I’ve built and repaired countless PCs and couldn’t have imagined that i messed something in my proper build:
the audio cable wasn’t well seated on the motherboard.

now i have great sound from the front headphones.

Thanks.

1 Like

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