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When I plug in a headset or headphones, the "unknown audio device" dialogue pops up as usual - but is then unresponsive. Clicking on any of the options, including "cancel" or "Sound Settings..." does nothing. The Close icon (red x) is also unresponsive - but minimise does work, alt-f4 does not close the window.

This used to work normally, but stopped in the last couple of weeks (I can't be more specific - ie I don't know if it stopped with a particular update). I regularly use headphone and headsets, and this dialogue has always worked in the past.

Unknown Audio Device dialogue

  • Is there something that causes the dialogue to be unresponsive I can fix?
  • Is there an alternative way to enable my headset and microphone when needed?
  • What settings/command/log output would be useful to diagnose this problem (I don't really know what extra information to provide - is there an equivalent of xrandr for audio devices?).

System info: Ubuntu 16.04 Dell XPS 13 (9350 - early 2017) with a single all in one headphone/headset jack.

PS - Web searches just return answers such as these ones about setting a default - I don't want to set a default - I want to fix the newly unresponsive dialogue box (unless setting a default is a way to do that).

Edit: More diagnosis and information:

Unplugging everything from my computer, rebooting and re-introducing them one by one has mysteriously unstuck the problem, and/or pointed the finger at an HP port replicator.

  1. Unplugging everything and rebooting fixed the problem (dialogue no longer unresponsive.
  2. Plugging in external display using usb3-c (display port) didn't matter (dialogue still working). I tried this because some audio can get piped through display port.
  3. Plugging in the HP port replicator (which seems to register a new audio device - see below) also didn't seem to matter (dialogue still responsive when I plug/unplug headphones).

Running the following command (as blindly copied from this question)

sudo lshw -c sound

outputs the following (with the HP port replicator plugged in).

*-usb:3
       description: Video
       product: Integrated_Webcam_HD
       vendor: CKFGH10F301030003630
       physical id: 5
       bus info: usb@1:5
       version: 63.18
       serial: 200901010001
       capabilities: usb-2.01
       configuration: driver=uvcvideo maxpower=500mA speed=480Mbit/s
  *-usb
       description: Audio device
       product: HP 3005pr USB3.0 Port Replicator
       vendor: DisplayLink
       physical id: 1
       bus info: usb@2:2.1
       version: 1.57
       serial: 0299509
       capabilities: usb-3.00 audio-control
       configuration: driver=cdc_ncm maxpower=8mA speed=5000Mbit/s
  *-multimedia
       description: Audio device
       product: Intel Corporation
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 1f.3
       bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3
       version: 21
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=32
       resources: irq:286 memory:dc428000-dc42bfff memory:dc400000-dc40ffff
Andrew M
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  • Possible duplicate of https://askubuntu.com/questions/775090/default-headphone-device-when-plugging-in-unknown-audio-device?noredirect=1&lq=1 – ThunderBird Feb 07 '18 at 21:34
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    @YufenyuyVeyehDider No, that question is about setting a default. This question is about the dialogue hanging and becoming unresponsive. – Andrew M Feb 08 '18 at 09:06

1 Answers1

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I'm none the wiser as to the precise cause - but the following mitigating steps prevent it from occurring.

Always plug in the headset, and select "headset" on the options pop up before plugging in any USB audio devices (in my case, port replicator/hub with a mysterious microphone)

Andrew M
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