HDMI sound drops outs after recent Slackware64-current upgrade.
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HDMI sound drops outs after recent Slackware64-current upgrade.
Long time Slackware user (1996) and lurker (2001ish), first time poster...
I normally use Slackware64-current for my computers for that bleeding-edge thrill. I recently installed S64-current on my Dell 7920 (dual Xeon 4114s) with an Intel ARC A770 GPU hooked up via HDMI to a 4K Hisense A6H. It was installed April 3rd. The system was running perfect, so I upgraded it on May 10th to the latest S64-current. Unfortunately, that broke some stuff... normally, I am pretty good at fixing any problems. In fact, since the 6.6.30 kernel broke gaming, I immediately regressed to 6.6.29 to fix that.
However, the upgrade also seems to have broken the sound over HDMI. Basically, the sound is cutting out... I only get about 10%-40% of the sound coming out the TV I am using as a monitor. I regressed back to the 6.6.24 kernel* packages that were originally working. Looking at the other packages that were upgraded in S64-current between Apr 3rd and May 10th, nothing else seems sound related, except pipewire (1.0.4->1.0.6) and wireplumber (0.5.1->0.5.2), but I'm still using pulseaudio.
Sound going out the 7920's motherboard's sound card is fine. I also have a laptop (Thinkpad P71 with a NVidia GPU), also running S64-current (May 10th)... also displaying on the same Hisense A6H via HDMI... that sound is fine.
While trying to figure out the problem, I inadvertently booted my Dell 7920 into Window 10 Pro... and surprisingly, the sound is also dropping out there over HDMI as well.
I immediately thought it must be a hardware problem... so I swapped out the ports, the HDMI cable and triple checked my settings. It just seems so strange that I would suddenly have a hardware problem right as I reboot for my upgraded Slackware.
I AM STUMPED. Bear with me, since I acknowledge that this sounds like a hardware issue, but I am posting here because I'm curious if there was any package that got upgraded between Apr 3rd and May 10th that would affect the sound using the A770's HDMI for sound.
Can't really help, this is just a rant so, moderators feel free to act accordingly: whomever invented and made HDMI "the standard" should be sent to a desert island.
Sounds silly but, did you try to unplug everything from the wall for at least 3 minutes? Monitor, computer, the receiver (if any) in-between? Maybe try another monitor or a tv until the imaginary settings (that your hdmi ports got an accidental handshake on) are flushed away.
Can't really help, this is just a rant so, moderators feel free to act accordingly: whomever invented and made HDMI "the standard" should be sent to a desert island.
Sounds silly but, did you try to unplug everything from the wall for at least 3 minutes? Monitor, computer, the receiver (if any) in-between? Maybe try another monitor or a tv until the imaginary settings (that your hdmi ports got an accidental handshake on) are flushed away.
Actually, yes, I did try that a few times.
I'm not so sure it feels like a HDMI handshake problem, but more like an IRQ problem. I thought perhaps something might have reshuffled resources after the software upgrade. Unfortunately, things sometimes configure themselves automagically today so I suspect software that might reconfigure hardware. Unfortunately, it's been years since I built my own kernels, so I'm a bit rusty on the modules and firmware of the kernel and the lower level daemons and such.
I did figure out this problem. It was one of three very persnickety BIOS settings that I have not narrowed down yet... I suspect it has to do with the PCIE settings that make way for Thunderbolt 4... It seems to have interfered with my ASUS BT400 Bluetooth, as well.
Why the -current upgrade and reboot process triggered this, I don't know. Perhaps a VERY coincidental stray gamma ray tweaked my BIOS.
I will say this... I don't love the Dell 7920 BIOS. UI really needs a mouse, but the mouse movement is jerky, some items are hard to find, others are phrased badly... and at least one setting just doesn't stick between reboots (I suppose I should submit a bug report), but doesn't seem to make much of a difference. And, of course, it doesn't allow me to get resizable BAR, even though the mundane options seem to go on and on.
Anyway, I'll probably break everything again later today when I once again upgrade to the edge of the -current blade. We'll see.
I'm quite curious. Are you strictly Pulseaudio or have Pipewire enabled? It's easy to try both thankfully (enable/disable toggle scripts) but I will be overjoyed when Pulse finally is buried and forgotten and Pipewire, or something like it is the standard.
To be clear, I did figure out the main problem. A bad BIOS setting. I'm about to upgrade -current again, with the morbid curiosity to see if somehow my BIOS setting gets bonked again... then I will likely mark as solved.
Quote:
Originally Posted by enorbet
I'm quite curious. Are you strictly Pulseaudio or have Pipewire enabled? It's easy to try both thankfully (enable/disable toggle scripts) but I will be overjoyed when Pulse finally is buried and forgotten and Pipewire, or something like it is the standard.
I've read that here and there for some time. Historically, I haven't had an issue with Pulseaudio... but I did switch to Pipewire, as I was also having sound drop outs with my bluetooth headphones. I also upgraded my motherboard firmware and the firmware on my Arc A770... and regressed through Linux kernels back to 6.6.24.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pixxt
Simple suggestion, Try another HDMI cable? I had more problems with HDMI cables being or going wonky than almost any other connector.
Actually, I tried my other HDMI cable and bought a third one... swapped the HDMI ports on the TV... then tried a Displayport->HDMI adapter.
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