Sound is on maximum and mixer doesn't change the sound level in KDE or Gnome (asus notebook)

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1

Hi! Many thanks for Manjaro I like it!

The issue:

  1. I have ASUS Laptop UX550V (with Intel HD Audio on board) and Manjaro KDE 5.21.3.

  2. When I’m in KDE Plasma (also tested in Gnome) and I’m trying to change the volume level by pressing Meta+VolumeUpDown or using mixer the sound volume stays on maximum.

  3. When I press Meta+VolumeDown many times until the minimum then in the minimum point the sound disapperes. So maximum level of volume was replaced to disbled volume.

  4. Only way that I’ve found to change volume level is to run “alsamixer” and then select my “HDA Intel” and then change the PCM channel level. It works as expected but after some time it will reset to the maximum.

  5. All drivers are default. I’ve tested both proprietary and free drivers.

  6. I tested the audio on Windows and all working perfect. Also I tried Kubuntu 20 and I see the same issue. So it looks like something is not working properly in Linux.

Please help, how I can fix it and change the volume level ordinarly by Meta+Volume keys or mixer?

Thanks!

2

Welcome to Manjaro Forum

Please post system information to confirm if laptop model is UX550VD or UX550VE
and to show which sound servers are active on your system

inxi -Fazy
3

Thanks! The model is UX550VD. The output of inxi -Fazy:

Summary 
System:
  Kernel: 5.9.16-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.9-x86_64 
  root=UUID=ea579cd4-a229-48f5-8563-1af4eb301a8f ro quiet udev.log_priority=3 
  Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.21.3 tk: Qt 5.15.2 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM 
  Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: UX550VD v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: UX550VD v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: American Megatrends v: UX550VD.307 date: 04/19/2019 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 22.0 Wh (96.1%) condition: 22.9/73.8 Wh (31.0%) 
  volts: 15.4 min: 15.4 model: ASUSTeK ASUS Battery type: Li-ion serial: N/A 
  status: Not charging cycles: 507 
CPU:
  Info: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-7700HQ bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake family: 6 model-id: 9E (158) stepping: 9 microcode: DE 
  cache: L2: 6 MiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 44817 
  Speed: 900 MHz min/max: 800/3800 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 900 2: 900 3: 900 
  4: 900 5: 900 6: 900 7: 900 8: 900 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled 
  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 HD Graphics 630 vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:591b class-ID: 0300 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] vendor: ASUSTeK 
  driver: nvidia v: 460.56 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm bus-ID: 01:00.0 
  chip-ID: 10de:1c8d class-ID: 0302 
  Device-3: IMC Networks USB2.0 VGA UVC WebCam type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
  bus-ID: 1-4:2 chip-ID: 13d3:5755 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter> 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.10 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: 
  loaded: modesetting,nvidia alternate: fbdev,intel,nouveau,nv,vesa 
  display-ID: :0 screens: 1 
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2") 
  s-diag: 582mm (22.9") 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 630 (KBL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.3.4 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel CM238 HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a171 class-ID: 0403 
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.9.16-1-MANJARO running: yes 
  Sound Server-2: JACK v: 0.125.0 running: no 
  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.23 running: yes 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless 8265 / 8275 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: e000 
  bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:24fd class-ID: 0280 
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 
  bus-ID: 1-9:3 chip-ID: 8087:0a2b class-ID: e001 
  Report: This feature requires one of these tools: hciconfig/bt-adapter 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 157.46 GiB (33.0%) 
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: MZVLW512HMJP-00000 
  size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s 
  lanes: 4 rotation: SSD serial: <filter> rev: CXY7501Q temp: 40.9 C 
  scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 107.42 GiB size: 105.23 GiB (97.96%) 
  used: 15.83 GiB (15.0%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p7 maj-min: 259:7 
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 260 MiB size: 256 MiB (98.46%) 
  used: 32.2 MiB (12.6%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 
Swap:
  Alert: No Swap data was found. 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 49.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2900 
Info:
  Processes: 274 Uptime: 20h 27m wakeups: 4 Memory: 15.52 GiB 
  used: 8.91 GiB (57.4%) Init: systemd v: 247 tool: systemctl Compilers: 
  gcc: 10.2.0 Packages: pacman: 1223 lib: 384 Shell: xonsh v: 0.9.27 
  running-in: yakuake inxi: 3.3.03
4

Have you installed pipewire? This topic may be useful.

Also check if you have pipewire-media-session installed. Also check
systemctl --user status pipewire-media-session.service

And enable and start if not active (running). I discovered that it is needed to install and activate pulse-pa. But this is in case you already switched to pipewire.

5

inxi data shows you have 2 active sound servers

  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.23 running: yes

AFAIK the 2 sound servers do not work well together
so users need to choose either:

  • Mask pipewire.socket and stop pipewire.service to continue using PulseAudio
systemctl --user mask --now pipewire.socket && systemctl --user stop pipewire.service

OR

  • install manjaro-pipewire to get the additional dependency files for Pipewire and remove PulseAudio packages
6

Also check if you have pipewire-media-session installed. Also check
systemctl --user status pipewire-media-session.service

@pixel The service was stopped.

systemctl --user mask --now pipewire.socket && systemctl --user stop pipewire.service

@nikgnomic No impact. Also after reboot.

install manjaro-pipewire to get the additional dependency files for Pipewire and remove PulseAudio packages

@nikgnomic I tried to use the link on other topic from @pixel

Commands 
#uninstall pulse
sudo pacman -Rdd pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa pulseaudio-bluetooth pulseaudio-ctl pulseaudio-equalizer pulseaudio-jack pulseaudio-lirc pulseaudio-rtp pulseaudio-zeroconf pulseaudio-equalizer-ladspa 

# install pipeware
sudo pacman -S manjaro-pipewire gst-plugin-pipewire xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-kde

systemctl --user unmask --now pipewire.socket
systemctl --user start pipewire.service
systemctl --user start pipewire-media-session.service

# No impact on sound.

reboot

# Start (not started after reboot)
systemctl --user start pipewire.service
systemctl --user start pipewire-media-session.service

inxi -Fazy | grep Sound
#  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.9.16-1-MANJARO running: yes 
#  Sound Server-2: JACK v: 0.125.0 running: no 
#  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: no 
#  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.23 running: yes

No impact. Mixer is not working. Sound plays on maximum.
After this I have no Sound in Plasma System Settings and no any KDE sound tools.

If I do stop pipewire service the sound stops. Also I still can change the volume from alsamixer.

What I’m doing wrong?

7

I suggest you post response to these commands

systemctl --user -l --no-pager status pipewire*
systemctl --user -l --no-pager status pipewire-media-session*

so @pixel can see if the systemd sockets and services are in order

8

@nikgnomic There is an error with ofono:

systemctl --user -l --no-pager status pipewire*

● pipewire-pulse.socket - PipeWire PulseAudio
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire-pulse.socket; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2021-03-22 14:32:02 MSK; 38min ago
Triggers: ● pipewire-pulse.service
Listen: /run/user/1000/pulse/native (Stream)
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/app.slice/pipewire-pulse.socket

Mar 22 14:32:02 cmptr systemd[972]: Listening on PipeWire PulseAudio.

● pipewire-pulse.service - PipeWire PulseAudio
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire-pulse.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2021-03-22 14:32:52 MSK; 37min ago
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire-pulse.socket
Main PID: 1928 (pipewire-pulse)
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire-pulse.service
└─1928 /usr/bin/pipewire-pulse

Mar 22 14:32:52 cmptr systemd[972]: Started PipeWire PulseAudio.

● pipewire-media-session.service - Multimedia Service Session Manager
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire-media-session.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2021-03-22 14:32:25 MSK; 37min ago
Main PID: 1773 (pipewire-media-)
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire-media-session.service
└─1773 /usr/bin/pipewire-media-session

Mar 22 14:32:25 cmptr systemd[972]: Started Multimedia Service Session Manager.
Mar 22 14:32:25 cmptr pipewire-media-session[1773]: oFono: Registering Profile /Profile/ofono failed

● pipewire.service - Multimedia Service
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2021-03-22 14:32:25 MSK; 37min ago
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire.socket
Main PID: 1772 (pipewire)
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire.service
└─1772 /usr/bin/pipewire

Mar 22 14:32:25 cmptr systemd[972]: Started Multimedia Service.

● pipewire.socket - Multimedia System
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.socket; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2021-03-22 14:32:02 MSK; 38min ago
Triggers: ● pipewire.service
Listen: /run/user/1000/pipewire-0 (Stream)
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/app.slice/pipewire.socket

Mar 22 14:32:02 cmptr systemd[972]: Listening on Multimedia System.

systemctl --user -l --no-pager status pipewire-media-session*

● pipewire-media-session.service - Multimedia Service Session Manager
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire-media-session.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2021-03-22 14:32:25 MSK; 38min ago
Main PID: 1773 (pipewire-media-)
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire-media-session.service
└─1773 /usr/bin/pipewire-media-session

Mar 22 14:32:25 cmptr systemd[972]: Started Multimedia Service Session Manager.
Mar 22 14:32:25 cmptr pipewire-media-session[1773]: oFono: Registering Profile /Profile/ofono failed

9

I am not an expert. I only went through change to pipewire yesterday.

If you mask something it will not run and you will not be able to start it.

First I removed pulseaudio. It informed about dependencies so first I removed them. Command
sudo pacman -Rns pulseaudio
will first display those dependencies

Then I installed:

pamac search -i 'pipewire|pulseaudio'
pipewire-pulse                                                                              1:0.3.23-1  extra 
    Low-latency audio/video router and processor - PulseAudio replacement
pipewire-media-session                                                                      1:0.3.23-1  extra 
    Low-latency audio/video router and processor - Session manager
pipewire-jack                                                                               1:0.3.23-1  extra 
    Low-latency audio/video router and processor - JACK support
pipewire-alsa                                                                               1:0.3.23-1  extra 
    Low-latency audio/video router and processor - ALSA configuration
pipewire                                                                                    1:0.3.23-1  extra 
    Low-latency audio/video router and processor
manjaro-pipewire                                                                            20210109-1  community 
    Meta package for pipewire support.
libpipewire02                                                                               0.2.7-1     extra 
    User space API to deal with multimedia pipelines (0.2)
lib32-libpulse                                                                              14.2-2      multilib 
    A featureful, general-purpose sound server (32-bit client libraries)

and pipewire-media-session and pulse-pa

I unmasked, enabled and started all related services and sockets

systemctl --user list-unit-files | grep -E 'pulseaudio|pipewire'
pipewire-media-session.service                                          enabled   enabled      
pipewire-pulse.service                                                  enabled   enabled      
pipewire.service                                                        enabled   enabled      
pipewire-pulse.socket                                                   enabled   enabled      
pipewire.socket                                     enabled   enabled

You do it like this, for example

systemctl --user unmask pipewire.service
systemctl --user enable pipewire.service --now
systemctl --user start pipewire.service --now

Then I checked for errors:

systemctl --user status pipewire*

Also check different sound sources and applications like, mp3 or video from disk from audacious and youtube Firefox. In Audacious you have options: output alsa or pulseaudio. I have set pulseaudio because it works with pipewire-pulse I think.

Also check your system settings
https://forum.manjaro.org/uploads/default/original/3X/e/3/e304815b9751a867dddca95c2a3c400cd037c593.png

I also get this error but it doesn’t affect my sound. It works ok in my system now.

Also there are some files in
/home/user/.config/pipewire/media-session.d/

check if you have something with Off in those files.

I had some entries with Off and I deleted them.

Follow this:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PipeWire

10

I’ve tried to remove all packages and services that related to pulseaudio. I’ve installed all packages and enable+start all services that was described above and related to pipewire. After reboot everything is active but I have no Sound in KDE System Settings and the volume still on maximum without any changes.

I’m going to do the opposite: delete pipewire and install pulseaudio… I will report about result. Any advices still are welcome!

12

What do you mean by mixer?
alsamixer that you run from terminal?

Only way that I’ve found to change volume level is to run “alsamixer” and then select my “HDA Intel” and then change the PCM channel level. It works as expected but after some time it will reset to the maximum.

So, if alsamixer changes it, it is seems that some other system like pulseaudio was changing it back. Maybe uninstalling pulseaudio and pipewire and installing kmix and trying for some time would show if the problem still occur. If not it could mean that it is not hardware or alsa problem.

Anyway, you should provide more command outputs because they show your setting and errors if there are any.

13

When I run alsamixer I see:

image
image819×782 16.8 KB

When I press Meta+Volume keys I see:

image

AND while I’m pressing the keys I see in alsamixer that keys change the volume level only in “Master” channel without any real changes in sound level I’m hearing.

Experimentally I know that the real volume level could be changed in alsamixer by changing the level in PCM channel. So the issue could be: how to change the channel that changes KMix? There is no settings in Kmix for this.

14

I’ve tried to remove pipewire and install pulseaudio.

Then I’ve found:

And tried to add

load-module module-alsa-sink control=PCM

to my /etc/pulse/default.pa.

The result is Core dumped error in pulseaudio service when running sudo pulseaudio -vvvv.

Fail.

Now I’m with pulseaudio without any positive changes around sound volume adjusting.

PS: also I noticed that if I remove pipewire the kde task manager will fail on start because it has a dependency on libpipewire.so

15

@nikgnomic @pixel Is there a way to do the same in pipewire i.e. set the PCM instead of Master?

16

I am sorry but I am not knowledgeable enough to help.

I would google for something like:
kmix change master channel
alsa change master channel

for example

You can try and ask for help also on other Linux forums like for example
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/
or

Usually arch users are more advanced.

17

Thanks @pixel ! May be this can help me:

qdbus org.kde.kmix /Mixers setCurrentMaster <mixer> <control>
18

After around 10 hours of searching and trying I have no complete solution but the current workaround is to go to KDE System Settings - Custom Shortcuts and add shortcuts to Volume Up keys and Volume Down as the commands:

amixer -c 0 set PCM 5%+  # Volume Up
amixer -c 0 set PCM 5%-  # Volume Down

where -c 0 means the number of sound card. To find the number with guarantee try to brute force alsamixer -c <number> that has PCM mixer you need and the alsamixer changes are affect the volume.

After the setting custom shortcuts you should start playing music then open alsamixer -c <your number> then press Volume keys and you should see the volume changes in alsamixer and hearing the sound volume changes.

And to showing the KMix animation and play sound add triggering the KMix to the shortcut command:

amixer -c 0 set PCM 5%+ && qdbus org.kde.kmix /kmix/KMixWindow/actions/increase_volume trigger  # Volume Up
amixer -c 0 set PCM 5%- && qdbus org.kde.kmix /kmix/KMixWindow/actions/decrease_volume trigger  # Volume Down
19

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