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My powertop reports this for the two audio codec components. 

4.85 W    100.0%                      Device         Audio codec hwC0D3: Intel
4.85 W    100.0%                      Device         Audio codec hwC0D0: Realtek

I think 10 W for audio is too high. Can somebody please suggest me a way to reduce the power consumption?

It'd be nice if someone could educate me on this, I have an idea about codecs in general but I have no clue about their internals? Why is it that these two components keep running always even when I am not listening to audio?

Vamsi Emani
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1 Answers1

12

Unfortunately this is a know bug as explained in:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/877560

Here you have a few workarounds (cited from the bug comments):

1. Manually force power save for the audio codec

Before proceeding, in a terminal launch the following:

cat /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save*

if the result is different from:

1
Y

then try the following commands

echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save
echo Y | sudo tee /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save_controller
pkill pulseaudio

and then log out and log in again to get pulseaudio restarted.

2. Let the silence fall

If you mute your mic and your speakers, the device will be deactivate. It sounds strange, but it actually works for me.

3. Wait for Raring

According to the bug report, the problem is gone with kernel 3.7, and Raring will probably mount kernel 3.8.

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Michele
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