I'm including a system hardware report. I know it likely contains much more information than needed. I've placed it at the end of this post.

Previously, the audio was working fine. However, after I rebooted the computer, the only audio I get, is through the built in speakers. To my knowledge, I didn't change anything and only rebooted as a result of shutting down the computer for a few days.

PulseAudio controller shows, Headphones; Plugged in; Analog Stereo Duplex.

I don't understand what is so complicated in writing or accessing an audio device driver.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated,

Regards,

fusionstate.

System: Kernel: 5.4.0-99-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.7
wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal
Machine: Type: Desktop System: Dell product: Inspiron 5490 AIO v: N/A serial: <filter> Chassis:
type: 13 serial: <filter>
Mobo: Dell model: 0NYCKR v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI: Dell v: 1.8.0 date: 12/09/2020
CPU: Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-10210U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Kaby Lake
rev: C L2 cache: 6144 KiB
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 33599
Speed: 2835 MHz min/max: 400/4200 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3155 2: 3143 3: 3150
4: 3201 5: 3170 6: 3151 7: 3184 8: 3153
Graphics: Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0
chip ID: 8086:9b41
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (CML GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.0.3
direct render: Yes
Audio: Device-1: Intel vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3
chip ID: 8086:02c8
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-99-generic
Network: Device-1: Intel Wireless-AC 9462 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 4000 bus ID: 00:14.3
chip ID: 8086:02f0
IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Dell
driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168
IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives: Local Storage: total: 1.14 TiB used: 502.04 GiB (42.9%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Toshiba model: KBG40ZNS256G NVMe 256GB size: 238.47 GiB
speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter>
ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST1000LM035-1RK172 size: 931.51 GiB
speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
Partition: ID-1: / size: 90.21 GiB used: 23.18 GiB (25.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda4
USB: Hub: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 12 rev: 2.0 chip ID: 1d6b:0002
Device-1: 1-1:2 info: Pixart Imaging Optical Mouse type: Mouse
driver: hid-generic,usbhid rev: 2.0 chip ID: 093a:2510
Device-2: 1-4:3 info: HP SK-2885 keyboard type: Keyboard driver: hid-generic,usbhid
rev: 1.1 chip ID: 03f0:0324
Device-3: 1-6:4 info: Melfas LGD AIT Touch Controller type: HID
driver: hid-generic,hid-multitouch,usbhid rev: 2.0 chip ID: 1fd2:6103
Device-4: 1-10:5 info: Intel type: Bluetooth driver: btusb rev: 2.0 chip ID: 8087:0aaa
Hub: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 6 rev: 3.1 chip ID: 1d6b:0003
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 31.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 1419
Repos: No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list
1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg arch=amd64] https: //brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
1: deb http: //mintmirror.math.washington.edu/linuxmint-repo uma main upstream import backport
2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
6: deb http: //archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Info: Processes: 282 Uptime: 1d 17h 03m Memory: 11.53 GiB used: 2.93 GiB (25.4%)
Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9
Client: Unknown python3.8 client inxi: 3.0.38

I get this, and have set pavucontrol to open on startup.

Open pavucontrol, Select the configuration tab, select what you want.

I will suggest a different solution

So if you do not need to stream bluetooth, and happy to use non-bluetooth headphones or analog speakers
search how to disable pulseaudio.

The problem is now solved after removing Pulseaudio.

Thank you for the support,

regards,

fusionstate.