Loss of audio HP Zbook 16 Fury G10 (sof-firmware ?)

General system Gaming, sound and video
1

Hi, Had to reinstall in December and used the Ganymede iso. I normally run with a Panasonic TV screen plugged into the hdmi - so I did not notice this new fault for sometime. Whereas before I could choose which screens and speakers to use (TV or laptop) the OS seems to have lost all sight of the laptop Intel speakers and twin Bang & Olufsson microphones. The hdmi output works fine.

BraveAI said to install sof-firmware and alsa-ucm-conf. But it did not load. Eventually I found to make the file: /etc/modules-load.d/snd-sof.conf which simply says “snd-sof”

The modules now load but I still do not see the speakers nor mikes. No conflict is recognized in lsmod. How do I find out which other sof modules I need? Any ideas?

{Edit]

$ inxi -Ax

Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA AD104 High Definition Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.1
API: ALSA v: k6.18.9-arch1-2 status: kernel-api
Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off
Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.4.10 status: active

$ lsmod | grep snd

snd_seq_dummy 12288 0
snd_hrtimer 12288 1
snd_seq 135168 7 snd_seq_dummy
snd_seq_device 16384 1 snd_seq
snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi 16384 1
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 61440 1 snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi
snd_hda_intel 69632 1
snd_hda_codec 217088 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi
snd_hda_core 147456 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_hwdep 24576 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_sof 479232 0
snd_sof_utils 16384 1 snd_sof
snd_intel_dspcfg 45056 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_sof
snd_intel_sdw_acpi 16384 1 snd_intel_dspcfg
snd_soc_core 434176 1 snd_sof
snd_compress 32768 1 snd_soc_core
ac97_bus 12288 1 snd_soc_core
snd_pcm_dmaengine 20480 1 snd_soc_core
snd_pcm 212992 9 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_sof,snd_compress,snd_soc_core,snd_sof_utils,snd_hda_core,snd_pcm_dmaengine
snd_timer 57344 3 snd_seq,snd_hrtimer,snd_pcm
snd 159744 15 snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_sof,snd_timer,snd_compress,snd_soc_core,snd_pcm
soundcore 16384 1 snd

2

SOLVED

Short story: There is a BIOS setting to prevent the operating system from seeing the laptop audio. The checkbox must be ticked to allow the OS access to speakers and digital microphones.

Long Story: My Panasonic TV screen needs the legacy snd-hda-intel modules to operate. The new sof-firmware runs the laptop audio:

$ inxi -Ax

Audio:
Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake High Definition Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl bus-ID: 00:1f.3
Device-2: NVIDIA AD104 High Definition Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.1
API: ALSA v: k6.18.9-arch1-2 status: kernel-api
Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off
Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.4.10 status: active

As part of the sof-firmware there is a kernel driver called dsp. The job of this driver is to chose which sof modules are loaded on the present system. The following line is crucial to allow this:

$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/dsp-fix.conf
options snd-intel-dspcfg dsp_driver=3

dsp_driver=1 means load snd-hda-intel
dsp_driver=3 means load sof-audio-pci-intel

The sof modules are signed by Intel. In order to allow sof, Intel must check the signatures, therefore in the BIOS the Intel ATM must be allowed. (Active Technology Management , a service running on the Intel Management Engine. ME itself cannot be switched off and it runs on an out-of-band network connection.) If ATM is switched off then sof might not load correctly. ATM is a known security risk and has been exploited in the past.

However, there seems to be community and intel certified branches.
Big Brother is watching you!

3

Just disabled ATM. No change in function of the audio.

4

@manselton
If your issue is solved can you mark the one that solved your issue.

1 Like