[SOLVED] PulseAudio doesn't detect HDA Intel, only HDA NVidia

Question

Hi,
I get sound only through my monitor (DP - HDA Nvidia), my external speakers or headphones (HDA Intel) are not recognized by PulseAudio. Both worked in the past, I don't know what broke it.
 aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC1150 Analog [ALC1150 Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: ALC1150 Digital [ALC1150 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
but in pacmd "list-cards" shows only NVidia...
I do not have ~/.asound.conf, but I do have /etc/asound.conf (I never changed this):
# Use PulseAudio by default
pcm.!default {
type pulse
fallback "sysdefault"
hint {
show on
description "Default ALSA Output (currently PulseAudio Sound Server)"
ctl.!default {
type pulse
fallback "sysdefault"
# vim:set ft=alsaconf:
Also, when I do "pulseaudio --kill" it seems to restart automatically and journalctl -f shows "[pulseaudio] pid.c: Daemon already running."...
If you need any more info on this, I'll provide it as soon as possible...
Thanks!
Last edited by predmijat (2015-04-27 18:17:53)

Answer 1

Here, I dug up an old file I have kicking around.
Put it in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf
Name it anything you want instead of "alsa.conf" as long as the file name ends in ".conf"
options snd_hda_intel enable=1,0 vid=8086,10de pid=3b56,0bea
options snd_hda_intel index=0 vid=8086 pid=3b56
The VID and PID numbers are from my hardware.  You will have to replace them from your hardware.  Do:
lspci -nn | grep -i audio
And you will see both your on-board and nVidia audio devices.  Look for [xxxx:xxxx] in the listing.  The first xxxx is your VID - vendor, and the second xxxx is your PID - product/part.
In the "enable=1,0" line put the two VID's first with you on-board being the first VID and then put your two PID's with your on-board being the first PID.  Then in the "index=0" line put your on-board VID and PID.
This will disable the nVidia audio and just enable your on-board audio.  It will explicitly set your on-board audio to be the first audio device on your system.  This will fix a race condition.
Remember, you must put in the appropriate VID and PID's for your specific hardware.
PulseAudio builds on top of ALSA so you are configuring your ALSA devices at a lower level before Pulse starts and when Pulse starts it adds its layer on top of that.
Another assumption is that both audio devices are using snd_hda_intel which is a pretty safe assumption.  Use "lsmod" to confirm this.