Turned Chromebook into Manjaro, now I can only see "Dummy Output" for sound

Support Audio
1

I’ve installed Manjaro on an old Chromebook, and I can’t get any sound. Hooking it up to a TV via HDMI doesn’t produce any sound either. I’ve tried following other threads about this issue but nothing has worked so far. If anyone can help me, it would be greatly appreciated. Here are some outputs that ought to be useful:

$ pactl list sinks
Sink #34
	State: SUSPENDED
	Name: auto_null
	Description: Dummy Output
	Driver: PipeWire
	Sample Specification: float32le 2ch 48000Hz
	Channel Map: front-left,front-right
	Owner Module: 4294967295
	Mute: no
	Volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB,   front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	        balance 0.00
	Base Volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	Monitor Source: auto_null.monitor
	Latency: 0 usec, configured 0 usec
	Flags: DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY 
	Properties:
		node.name = "auto_null"
		device.description = "Dummy Output"
		audio.rate = "48000"
		audio.channels = "2"
		audio.position = "FL,FR"
		media.class = "Audio/Sink"
		factory.name = "support.null-audio-sink"
		node.virtual = "true"
		monitor.channel-volumes = "true"
		factory.id = "19"
		clock.quantum-limit = "8192"
		client.id = "32"
		node.driver = "true"
		port.group = "stream.0"
		node.loop.name = "data-loop.0"
		library.name = "audioconvert/libspa-audioconvert"
		object.id = "34"
		object.serial = "34"
	Formats:
		pcm

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: sofrt5682 [sof-rt5682], device 0: smart373-spk (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: sofrt5682 [sof-rt5682], device 1: Headset (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: sofrt5682 [sof-rt5682], device 2: HDMI1 (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: sofrt5682 [sof-rt5682], device 3: HDMI2 (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: sofrt5682 [sof-rt5682], device 4: HDMI3 (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: sofrt5682 [sof-rt5682], device 5: HDMI4 (*) []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

…and the output from alsa-info.sh is here

2

Hello @passmoreba and welcome to the Manjaro Community! :vulcan_salute:

Whilst I have no experience with Chromebooks, the output of inxi -zv8 will likely be helpful, so we know generally what hardware we’re dealing with. Hopefully someone will be able to help.

Cheers! :smiley:

3

Unfortunately Chromebooks are closer to android phones than to generic laptops. Customized firmware and proprietary drivers discourage trying to install linux (because Google wants us to use their os). People still do it but the mileage with what works and what not varies.

I wish you good luck. Maybe someone will come with an idea.

3 Likes
4

Chromebook users have used this to fix audio

Chrultrabook forum also has this for a similar motherboard:

4 Likes
5

Generally when googling info for a chromebook it is important to know the codename of the board so that you can find specific recipes.
You got a Voxel :wink: The link above should solve the problem. Preferably use pulseaudio and not pipewire.

3 Likes
6

Before running any audio-fix script, I would save its output and check exactly which Chromebook model or board it detected. These SOF/rt5682 machines often need model-specific UCM or topology files, and a script can be the practical fix, but it is still better to know what it changed so you can undo it after a kernel or PipeWire update. Posting inxi -Axxxz plus the exact Chromebook model name would also make it easier for someone with the same board to compare.

1 Like
8 
!!################################
!!ALSA Information Script v 0.5.4
!!################################

!!Script ran on: Sat Jun 13 09:42:34 UTC 2026

!!DMI Information
!!---------------

Manufacturer:      Google
Product Name:      Voxel
Product Version:   rev3
Firmware Version:  MrChromebox-2603.2
System SKU:        sku393217
Board Vendor:      Google
Board Name:        Voxel

Changing a software audio server would not help if audio devices are not working in ALSA kernel API

2 Likes
9

I am taking great interest in this thread, as I know some Chromebook users who are looking for some sort of way to improve them.

1 Like
10

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11

MrChromebox has good support for Linux on chromebook systems, but the audio devices need driver patches, firmware and topology files from WeirdTreeThing.
Patches and additional firmware might be incorporated into ALSA and related packages in the future, so audio works “out-of-the-box”, but the chrultrabook community is the best place for chromebook support at the moment

ALC5628 – Realtek

I2S/PCM Audio DAC with Headphone and Mono Class-D Speaker Amplifier

The ALC5628 is a highly-integrated I2S/PCM interface audio DAC with multiple input/output ports and is designed for Multimedia and Communication handheld devices

The Dummy Output auto_null sink is only created by PipeWire (or PulseAudio) if it cannot detect a working ALSA output

aplay -l information in original post suggests ALSA audio devices are not detected correctly: (*) []
Subdevices: 1/1 confirms it is not connected to PipeWire (it would be ‘0/1’ if it was playing audio from PipeWire)

alsa-info.sh script in original post shows this device has 176 simple controls in amixer or alsamixer. Device has mono DACs so there are 88 simple controls for left and right stereo channels