Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS, Dummy output, no sound

Question

I connected my PC to my TV via HDMI and had to set the default video and audio outputs to the TV, everything worked fine, but after I disconnected, the video playback speed was at 0.5x and the audio was not working. I don't really remeber how I fixed the video playback speed, just that it was pretty simple, but the audio never worked again.

I've tried the answers provided in these questions:

But none was able to get my audio back working.

Audio via bluetooth devices works fine. Please help, I'm new to Ubuntu, and Linux in general, and this is starting to get really annoying.

agc · Answer 1 · 2018-12-30T15:57:05.203

33

Similar instance of problem here on a v18.04 box; alsa output works, but pulse is just Dummy Ouput.

This seems to bring back pulseaudio without rebooting. First close any programs using pulseaudio, then as a regular user run:

pulseaudio --kill; sleep 2s; sudo alsa force-reload ; pulseaudio --start

Then play a sound file.

edited Dec 30 '18 at 15:57

answered Dec 27 '18 at 13:34

agc

563

1

It helped me ubuntu 18.04 – lovalim Feb 15 '19 at 05:10
Also helped on Ubuntu 18.10 – Odysseas May 30 '19 at 20:04
Thanks it helped. – lovalim Jul 19 '19 at 11:49
Worked, and I didn't even have to close all programs using pulseaudio. – NumerousHats Sep 11 '19 at 11:40
Worked like magic! Thank you – Ahmed Ibrahim Oct 02 '19 at 15:23
Worked in 16.04 – Ott Toomet Mar 11 '20 at 01:07
did not work for me Asus – user40491 Apr 23 '20 at 18:20
1

This worked for me in 20.04 – Pedro Rolo Apr 25 '20 at 15:50
+1 I tried so much else, which did not work, but this worked for me on 20.04. I think the trick was "First close any programs using pulseaudio"! – Scz May 03 '20 at 14:36
worked as charm, 18.04, thinkpad W520 – Bashar Al-Abdulhadi Oct 17 '20 at 17:44
In my case (18.04, Dell Latitude 3410), this didn't help. In fact, the alsa force-reload command actually ran a 'modprobe -r' that hung, and then the restart hung, because the task was not going away. I think I had to shut down the laptop from the power button. Also note pulseaudio restarts by itself, not sure it needs to be manually restarted. – fencekicker Jul 28 '22 at 19:41

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited May 02 '20 at 18:04

3

I have a similar problem on a Dell XPS-13-9350 running Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS. I've updated to the most recent released Linux kernel.

After a reboot, the system does not detect my sound card, and shows "Dummy Output" as the sound output, and I have no sound of any kind. But, then in a terminal window I run:

pactl load-module module-detect

Settings → Sound then shows "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo" as the sound output and all sound works fine until I reboot again. I have to run the pactl command every time after a reboot.

edited May 02 '20 at 18:04

jokerdino

41,320

answered Dec 26 '19 at 18:01

MattB

191

Thanx... this command worked for me (Ubuntu 20.04 on dell vostro 2520). – Deepak May 09 '20 at 11:07

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 22 '20 at 12:45

2

Add this follow lines to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

options snd-hda-intel model=generic
options snd-hda-intel dmic_detect=0

Then reboot the system

answered Mar 22 '20 at 12:45

Night King

21

This is the only answer that worked for me. – Kumar Roshan Mehta Feb 15 '21 at 09:48
I have a Dell Latitude 3410 with Ubuntu 18.04 (that came with it), and saw this problem after the first kernel update. The second line in the answer helped me fix sound. I'm not sure modifying alsa-base.conf is that good an idea, because it's part of the alsa-base package, and a later update might come with an updated config file. You can add the interesting lines in a new file in /etc/modprobe.d, then you don't need to worry if updates might overwrite your changes (or that you might be missing configuration updates). – fencekicker Jul 28 '22 at 19:37

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 10 '20 at 16:37

0

I had the same problem with Asus PRIME H310M-R R2.0 motherboard. MattB, your solution solved my problem too, thank you. So I added it to end of PulseAudio configuration file:

echo "load-module module-detect" | sudo tee -a /etc/pulse/default.pa

Now you don't have to run it each time after reboot.

answered Feb 10 '20 at 16:37

st0at

11

I was just looking at my /etc/pulse/default.pa file, and it already contains the "load-module module-detect" command but its wrapped in ".ifexists module-udev-detect.so; load-module module-udev-detect; .else load-module module-detect; .endif – MattB May 10 '20 at 17:08
As I remember my config file also had this line but somewhere in the middle and maybe also wrapped in some if sentence. I just added it in the end and sound started working. It solved my problem so I skipped going deeper into details. – st0at May 11 '20 at 18:13

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 08 '22 at 16:43

Maybe It's Bad Kernel

run uname -a in a terminal and it shows 4.15.0-177-generic, then you have the bad kernel version.

Reboot and get into your grub menu and select any version prior to 4.15.0-177. I selected 4.15.0.176 and audio, wifi, and Bluetooth are all back on.

Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS, Dummy output, no sound

5 Answers5

Maybe It's Bad Kernel

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