[Alsa-user] Help with Mic on Dell M4700

[Jason Harrop]

Hi, I've got a Dell M4700 running Ubuntu linux 16.04, and the latest ALSA
driver, but I can't get the internal microphone to work. I did have a USB
mic working, but not any more it seems...

My info is at
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=7b6f1e4385080462a3da3e69d8d540f66595cde4
but I've included an extract below.

I guess its a mixer problem, but if anyone can give me a specific
suggestion as to what to try next, I'd really appreciate it.

thanks .. Jason


Kernel release: 4.8.0-49-generic

!!ALSA Version
!!------------

Driver version: k4.8.0-49-generic
Library version: 1.1.0
Utilities version: 1.1.0


!!Loaded ALSA modules
!!-------------------

snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_intel


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

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


!!Soundcards recognised by ALSA
!!-----------------------------

0 [PCH ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
HDA Intel PCH at 0xf7730000 irq 32
1 [NVidia ]: HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
HDA NVidia at 0xf6080000 irq 17


!!PCI Soundcards installed in the system
!!--------------------------------------

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset
Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)

01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GK107 HDMI Audio Controller (rev
a1)

[Jason Harrop]

Any suggestions for the best place to seek help with this issue?

Also, which Linux distro is most likely to "just work" out of the box?

thanks .. Jason

Post by Jason Harrop
Hi, I've got a Dell M4700 running Ubuntu linux 16.04, and the latest ALSA
driver, but I can't get the internal microphone to work. I did have a USB
mic working, but not any more it seems...
My info is at http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=
7b6f1e4385080462a3da3e69d8d540f66595cde4 but I've included an extract
below.
I guess its a mixer problem, but if anyone can give me a specific
suggestion as to what to try next, I'd really appreciate it.
thanks .. Jason
Kernel release: 4.8.0-49-generic
!!ALSA Version
!!------------
Driver version: k4.8.0-49-generic
Library version: 1.1.0
Utilities version: 1.1.0
!!Loaded ALSA modules
!!-------------------
snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_intel
!!Sound Servers on this system
!!----------------------------
Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/pulseaudio)
Running - Yes
!!Soundcards recognised by ALSA
!!-----------------------------
0 [PCH ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
HDA Intel PCH at 0xf7730000 irq 32
1 [NVidia ]: HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
HDA NVidia at 0xf6080000 irq 17
!!PCI Soundcards installed in the system
!!--------------------------------------
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GK107 HDMI Audio Controller (rev
a1)

[Paul Menzel]

Dear Jason,

Post by Jason Harrop
I've got a Dell M4700 running Ubuntu linux 16.04, and the latest ALSA
driver, but I can't get the internal microphone to work. I did have a USB
mic working, but not any more it seems...

[
]

First the obvious, did you make sure, the microphone is not muted?

Have you tried a newer software stack? As you already use Ubuntu, you
could give Ubuntu 17.04 a try. Any other GNU/Linux distribution as
Fedora or Debian also work, and provide live images. You can prepare a
USB storage medium, and boot your system from it, without having to
install it.

If the problem persists, please contact the list alsa-devel, and also
report an issue to the Ubuntu bug tracker [1].


Thanks,

Paul


[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems

[Jason Harrop]

Thanks for your suggestions.

Yes, I've made sure the mic isn't muted in alsamixer.

I just tried Fedora 25, no joy there either.

The Dell Windows driver for this is IDT High-Definition Audio 92HD93 Driver
and is supported on the Latitude 3330/6430u/E5x30/E6x30 and Precision
M4700/M6700

ie Latitude E3300, E5430, E5530, E6230, E6330, E6430, E6530

ALSA support for IDT 92HD93 was added years ago by
http://www.spinics.net/lists/stable-commits/msg13678.html

sound/pci/hda/patch_sigmatel.c just uses patch_stac92hd83xxx

enum {
STAC_92HD83XXX_AUTO,
STAC_92HD83XXX_REF,
STAC_92HD83XXX_PWR_REF,
STAC_DELL_S14,
STAC_92HD83XXX_HP,
STAC_92HD83XXX_HP_cNB11_INTQUAD,
STAC_HP_DV7_4000,
STAC_92HD83XXX_MODELS
};

In HD-Audio-Models.txt we have

STAC92HD83*
===========
ref Reference board
mic-ref Reference board with power management for ports
dell-s14 Dell laptop
dell-vostro-3500 Dell Vostro 3500 laptop
hp-dv7-4000 HP dv-7 4000
hp_cNB11_intquad HP CNB models with 4 speakers
hp-zephyr HP Zephyr
hp-led HP with broken BIOS for mute LED
hp-inv-led HP with broken BIOS for inverted mute LED
auto BIOS setup (default)

so I tried model=dell-s14 but that didn't help.

I'm starting to suspect that the support has atrophied in the last couple
of years?

thanks .. Jason


On Sun, May 7, 2017 at 6:33 PM, Paul Menzel <

Post by Paul Menzel
Dear Jason,

Post by Jason Harrop
I've got a Dell M4700 running Ubuntu linux 16.04, and the latest ALSA
driver, but I can't get the internal microphone to work. I did have a

USB

Post by Jason Harrop
mic working, but not any more it seems...

[
]
First the obvious, did you make sure, the microphone is not muted?
Have you tried a newer software stack? As you already use Ubuntu, you
could give Ubuntu 17.04 a try. Any other GNU/Linux distribution as
Fedora or Debian also work, and provide live images. You can prepare a
USB storage medium, and boot your system from it, without having to
install it.
If the problem persists, please contact the list alsa-devel, and also
report an issue to the Ubuntu bug tracker [1].
Thanks,
Paul
[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems

[Jason Harrop]

I've concluded that the problem is a hardware issue with this particular
M4700 laptop, since on another one, the mic works under Ubuntu 16.04 and
SUSE. When I boot this laptop with the other's hard drive (ie the distro
in which the mic is working), the mic doesn't work. Both machines are
running the same BIOS version, so I'm putting it down to a hardware issue
and moving on.

Post by Jason Harrop
Thanks for your suggestions.
Yes, I've made sure the mic isn't muted in alsamixer.
I just tried Fedora 25, no joy there either.
The Dell Windows driver for this is IDT High-Definition Audio 92HD93
Driver and is supported on the Latitude 3330/6430u/E5x30/E6x30 and
Precision M4700/M6700
ie Latitude E3300, E5430, E5530, E6230, E6330, E6430, E6530
ALSA support for IDT 92HD93 was added years ago by
http://www.spinics.net/lists/stable-commits/msg13678.html
sound/pci/hda/patch_sigmatel.c just uses patch_stac92hd83xxx
enum {
STAC_92HD83XXX_AUTO,
STAC_92HD83XXX_REF,
STAC_92HD83XXX_PWR_REF,
STAC_DELL_S14,
STAC_92HD83XXX_HP,
STAC_92HD83XXX_HP_cNB11_INTQUAD,
STAC_HP_DV7_4000,
STAC_92HD83XXX_MODELS
};
In HD-Audio-Models.txt we have
STAC92HD83*
===========
ref Reference board
mic-ref Reference board with power management for ports
dell-s14 Dell laptop
dell-vostro-3500 Dell Vostro 3500 laptop
hp-dv7-4000 HP dv-7 4000
hp_cNB11_intquad HP CNB models with 4 speakers
hp-zephyr HP Zephyr
hp-led HP with broken BIOS for mute LED
hp-inv-led HP with broken BIOS for inverted mute LED
auto BIOS setup (default)
so I tried model=dell-s14 but that didn't help.
I'm starting to suspect that the support has atrophied in the last couple
of years?
thanks .. Jason

Post by Paul Menzel
Dear Jason,

Post by Jason Harrop
I've got a Dell M4700 running Ubuntu linux 16.04, and the latest ALSA
driver, but I can't get the internal microphone to work. I did have a

USB

Post by Jason Harrop
mic working, but not any more it seems...

[
]
First the obvious, did you make sure, the microphone is not muted?
Have you tried a newer software stack? As you already use Ubuntu, you
could give Ubuntu 17.04 a try. Any other GNU/Linux distribution as
Fedora or Debian also work, and provide live images. You can prepare a
USB storage medium, and boot your system from it, without having to
install it.
If the problem persists, please contact the list alsa-devel, and also
report an issue to the Ubuntu bug tracker [1].
Thanks,
Paul
[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems

[Paul Menzel]