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My HP Pavilion laptop comes with Windows 10 and B&O ( Bang and Olufsen for sound ) pre-installed. While it is working fine in 21.10, the sound is barely audible even at 100%.

I have to use headphones to listen properly. It is manageable, yes. But it would be nice if I can get better sound/volume at 100%.

Is there any workaround possible? Every topic I see is about sound not working or sparkle in sound. Thanks.

Update 1:

I tried using ALSA tools based on another topic, but not sure how to use it for my model HP Pavilion -ec 2xxx model using Ryzen 5600 H and Nvidia Geforce GTX 1650. I am on 22.04 now.

Update 2:

enter image description here

Update 3:

Found this on searching ALC 285

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Realtek-ALC-215-285-289

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/1857552

Update 4:

Tried Ubuntu 23.04 using Ventoy USB (live session). The low volume issue exists.

Update 5:

HDAJackRetask screenshot

enter image description here

Update 6 :

Tried 23.10 daily build yesterday using Ventoy. It has kernel 6.3. The sound issue was still there.

user227495
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  • Edited the question with up to date info as per the comment suggestion. Thanks. – user227495 Jul 10 '23 at 09:41
  • I have HP pavilion EC series laptop with b&o tuned speakers (what b&o can do if speakers are not good) and I must admit that speakers are very weak. Weaker than my mobile phone. I always go beyond 100% using the inbuilt over amplification option. When you say you can barely hear I don't know if you can't hear anything at all but I would prefer external speakers if you want to watch videos especially on HP pavilion laptops. – ProPlayerMaxUltra Jul 10 '23 at 10:42
  • It works decently on Windows and some videos on Ubuntu. But comparatively, the sound is 50% when compared to the volume output in Windows 10. – user227495 Jul 10 '23 at 10:45
  • Sounds like wrong coefficients set in the card. You can try to fix this using hda-verb tool. Also you can try to disable Fast boot in BIOS to make it to do full hw initialization and add options snd-hda-intel model=auto to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf. In my case fixing sound problem also required upgrading BIOS to the latest version. – Sam O'Riil Jul 11 '23 at 11:37
  • Hi @SamO'Riil , took a while to go through the suggestions. 1. There is no Fast Boot option in BIOS. Not sure what to use with hda-verb . In options snd-hda-intel , are we not supposed to use a model number? – user227495 Jul 12 '23 at 17:24
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    @user227495 It might be named differently, but something like that is present in BIOS since long time ago, it literally does fast boot by skipping some hw init to let OS deal with it. Options in snd-hda-intel basically says driver what quirk to use. "Auto" means "keep BIOS's settings". Regarding hda-verb, if it's the case just google them for this codec. Another option is to spy which hda-verbs uses Windows driver. – Sam O'Riil Jul 13 '23 at 11:22
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    But the first thing to try would be more modern kernel I guess. Like try 6.4 from mainline PPA: https://code.launchpad.net/~cappelikan/+archive/ubuntu/ppa – Sam O'Riil Jul 13 '23 at 11:29
  • Thanks @SamO'Riil , I use a variety of advanced programs including Android Studio. Is it ok to use an advanced kernel? Will it affect those programs? – user227495 Jul 13 '23 at 14:46
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    No, @user227495. It shouldn't break anything like that. It may break something using kernel modules like Virtualbox or nVidia proprietary drivers though. But that's not a problem actually if all you want is just to check a new kernel, because old one stays here and you can choose it in the GRUB menu on boot. Install, try, if it works - think about new problems, if it doesn't - just remove it and roll back to the stock one. Note: usually mainline kernel requires secure boot disabled unless you bothered to sign it yourself and install appropriate MOK on your computer. – Sam O'Riil Jul 13 '23 at 15:39
  • I updated to the latest BIOS, and added the line to alsa-base.conf and ran sudo update-initramfs -u. Still I get the same volume. I have both VirtualBox and Nvidia drivers. Don't know whether I should break them all. Thanks. – user227495 Jul 14 '23 at 09:46

2 Answers2

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You could install pavucontrol, which has a GTK interface and is the most comprehensive graphical audio control I know of.

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It has different tabs, which will lets you control any in or output device on your applications.

A level below the "pulse audio control" is a terminal app called alsamixer which also lets you control your sound:

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Basically you can mute/unmute a channel and change the volume.

Update

Some more info about low volume is discussed here

Another discussion about B&O can be found on Ask Ubuntu

kanehekili
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  • Thanks, I already tried both. The volume is 100% and still low. Not sure what is a way out of it. – user227495 Jul 10 '23 at 07:18
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    Ubuntu 21.10 is EOL - you should upgrade to 22.04. Chances are that you get newer firmware, which might support your hardware better. – kanehekili Jul 10 '23 at 09:38
  • Is it safe to use more than 100%? I had a bad experience when I did that with VLC. Lost the hardware. I am using the 2nd link you added, but not sure my hardware matches with the options snd-hda-intel model=alc295-hp-x360 change. Checking the first Unix Stackexchange link now. Appreciate the effort. – user227495 Jul 10 '23 at 09:51
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You can rightclick on the loudspeaker-symbol (or alt+d) and configure the volume. You can raise the Maximum volume there. See pictureenter image description here.

That's how it works for me ( HP Envy 17 B&O ) in Kubuntu 20.04. I guess it will work the same in Ubuntu 21.10, but since I don't run that OS I'm not sure.

If that doesn't work the same, go to system-setting--->audio. see picture enter image description here.

Joepie Es
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