NVidia Sound Output Device Missing

Question

I am using Ubuntu 20.04.

When I booted my PC, I could select my GPU's DisplayPort cable as an audio out.

Now it has disappeared, and I only see my motherboard's output device.

If I run pacmd list-cards, I still see the NVidia device:

$ pacmd list-cards

2 card(s) available.
    index: 0
    name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_07_00.1>
    driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
    owner module: 7
    properties:
        alsa.card = "0"
        alsa.card_name = "HDA NVidia"
        alsa.long_card_name = "HDA NVidia at 0xfc080000 irq 88"
        alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
        device.bus_path = "pci-0000:07:00.1"
        sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.1/0000:07:00.1/sound/card0"
        device.bus = "pci"
        device.vendor.id = "10de"
        device.vendor.name = "NVIDIA Corporation"
        device.product.id = "0fb8"
        device.product.name = "GP108 High Definition Audio Controller"
        device.string = "0"
        device.description = "GP108 High Definition Audio Controller"
        module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
        device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
    profiles:
        output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output (priority 5900, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 800, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround71: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 800, available: no)
        output:hdmi-stereo-extra1: Digital Stereo (HDMI 2) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround-extra1: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 2) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround71-extra1: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 2) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        output:hdmi-stereo-extra2: Digital Stereo (HDMI 3) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround-extra2: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 3) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround71-extra2: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 3) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        output:hdmi-stereo-extra3: Digital Stereo (HDMI 4) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround-extra3: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 4) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround71-extra3: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 4) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        output:hdmi-stereo-extra4: Digital Stereo (HDMI 5) Output (priority 5700, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround-extra4: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI 5) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        output:hdmi-surround71-extra4: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI 5) Output (priority 600, available: no)
        off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
    active profile: <off>
    ports:
        hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority 5900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "video-display"
        hdmi-output-1: HDMI / DisplayPort 2 (priority 5800, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "video-display"
        hdmi-output-2: HDMI / DisplayPort 3 (priority 5700, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "video-display"
        hdmi-output-3: HDMI / DisplayPort 4 (priority 5600, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "video-display"
        hdmi-output-4: HDMI / DisplayPort 5 (priority 5500, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "video-display"
    index: 1
    name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_09_00.4>
    driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
    owner module: 8
    properties:
        alsa.card = "1"
        alsa.card_name = "HD-Audio Generic"
        alsa.long_card_name = "HD-Audio Generic at 0xfc400000 irq 90"
        alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
        device.bus_path = "pci-0000:09:00.4"
        sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:09:00.4/sound/card1"
        device.bus = "pci"
        device.vendor.id = "1022"
        device.vendor.name = "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]"
        device.product.id = "1487"
        device.product.name = "Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller"
        device.string = "1"
        device.description = "Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller"
        module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
        device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
    profiles:
        input:analog-stereo: Analogue Stereo Input (priority 65, available: no)
        output:analog-stereo: Analogue Stereo Output (priority 6500, available: no)
        output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analogue Stereo Duplex (priority 6565, available: no)
        output:analog-surround-21: Analogue Surround 2.1 Output (priority 1300, available: no)
        output:analog-surround-21+input:analog-stereo: Analogue Surround 2.1 Output + Analogue Stereo Input (priority 1365, available: no)
        output:analog-surround-40: Analogue Surround 4.0 Output (priority 1200, available: no)
        output:analog-surround-40+input:analog-stereo: Analogue Surround 4.0 Output + Analogue Stereo Input (priority 1265, available: no)
        output:analog-surround-41: Analogue Surround 4.1 Output (priority 1300, available: no)
        output:analog-surround-41+input:analog-stereo: Analogue Surround 4.1 Output + Analogue Stereo Input (priority 1365, available: no)
        output:analog-surround-50: Analogue Surround 5.0 Output (priority 1200, available: no)
        output:analog-surround-50+input:analog-stereo: Analogue Surround 5.0 Output + Analogue Stereo Input (priority 1265, available: no)
        output:analog-surround-51: Analogue Surround 5.1 Output (priority 1300, available: no)
        output:analog-surround-51+input:analog-stereo: Analogue Surround 5.1 Output + Analogue Stereo Input (priority 1365, available: no)
        output:iec958-stereo: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output (priority 5500, available: unknown)
        output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output + Analogue Stereo Input (priority 5565, available: no)
        off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
    active profile: <output:iec958-stereo>
    sinks:
        alsa_output.pci-0000_09_00.4.iec958-stereo/#0: Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller Digital Stereo (IEC958)
    sources:
        alsa_output.pci-0000_09_00.4.iec958-stereo.monitor/#0: Monitor of Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller Digital Stereo (IEC958)
    ports:
        analog-input-front-mic: Front Microphone (priority 8500, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
        analog-input-rear-mic: Rear Microphone (priority 8200, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
            properties:
                device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
        analog-input-linein: Line In (priority 8100, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
            properties:
    analog-output-lineout: Line Out (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
        properties:

    analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
        properties:
            device.icon_name = &quot;audio-headphones&quot;
    iec958-stereo-output: Digital Output (S/PDIF) (priority 0, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
        properties:

Why can't I set my GPU as the output device anymore?

UPDATE: If I reboot my machine, I can see the GPU as an output device.

EDIT:

This fixed it

sudo apt-get install --reinstall alsa-base pulseaudio
pulseaudio -k && sudo alsa force-reload

Did this really fix the problem permanently for you? I have the same problem after upgrading to Ubuntu 20.04, the HDMI is listed but its "profile" is off. pulseaudio -k and then waiting a few seconds restores it after booting up. Every screenblank removes it again though so every time the TV times out or the display decides to blank I have to do pulseaudio -k again... getting tedious... — BjornW, Dec 17 '20 at 02:29

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 29 '20 at 10:54

You have already solved your problem.

Since you have not identified the source of your problem, I am posting this answer just in case it reappears in the future, and it is due to a similar problem I had, which took me quite some effort to solve.

The problem is described in Only "Dummy output" (sound) in Ubuntu 20.04 after reboot - Broken driver / module . alsa force-reload did not solve it. The cause of the problem was that, after each kernel update, the corresponding drivers were not updated. The accepted answer shows how to identify and solve the issue.

Avoid missing kernel linux-modules-extra-XX-generic when updating kernel shows how to get rid from the problem in the future once and for all.

If you find your problem reappears, and you can link it to a kernel update, you may find the info in the linked questions useful.

William Martens · Answer 2 · 2023-01-04T21:20:33.503

3

For anyone else who's having this problem, and the fix above didn't work: This often works;

sudo apt update    
sudo apt-get install pavucontrol -y

Currently tested on:

Ubuntu 20.04

And other Linux Distributions

Arch Linux
Debian
Qubes
Ubuntu (well, of course, it was the first os I tried this solution on)

Hope this can be of any help to someone in the future!

edited Jan 04 '23 at 21:20

answered Sep 29 '20 at 14:13

William Martens

1,003

NVidia Sound Output Device Missing

2 Answers2

And other Linux Distributions