[Bug 1912673] Re: sounds not working on Dell XPS 17 (9700)

** Tags added: hirsute

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Title:
sounds not working on Dell XPS 17 (9700)

Status in linux package in Ubuntu:
Confirmed
Status in linux package in Debian:
Fix Released

Bug description:
My investigation process:

Dell XPS 17 (9700) comes with Windows 10 preinstalled, where sounds
worked.

I installed Ubuntu 20.04 LTS fresh, sounds did not work on speakers or 3.5mm headphones,
using linux-image-5.4.0-42-generic, I did not try blutooth.

I sudo apt upgrade, dist-upgrade to get kernels

linux-image-5.8.0-38-generic
linux-image-5.8.0-40-generic

Sounds did not work.
I download linux-image-unsigned-5.10.9-051009-generic.
Sounds did not work.

I upgrade Dell XPS 9700 firmware from 1.3 to 1.63.
Sounds did not work.

After googling I found this solution in the comments:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1270442/no-sound-on-xps-17-9700

"""

    Download and install dkms module:

    https://launchpad.net/~canonical-hwe-team/+archive/ubuntu/pc-oem-
dkms/+packages

    Alternatively, you can install linux-oem-20.04, it will install
the 5.6 kernel with the above driver. Your system may be more stable
with 5.4 kernel since it is in wide use.

    Manually install sof-firmware from Arch Linux:

    https://archlinux.pkgs.org/rolling/archlinux-extra-x86_64/sof-
firmware-1.5.1-1-any.pkg.tar.zst.html

    You will need to delete the existing "sof" and "sof-tplg" files
from the Ubuntu linux-firmware package first. Note if this package
gets updated from Canoncial and they don't update these, you will have
to delete and then reextract. Files go into the
/usr/lib/firmware/intel/sof and /usr/lib/firmware/intel/sof-tplg
folders.

    Manually install the ucm2 files:

    http://xps17.ddns.net/sof-soundwire.zip

    These go into /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/sof-soundwire. Delete the
contents of the existing sof-soundwire folder (if you have it) and
replace them with the ones from the archive.

    Reboot. You should now have all your audio devices available. If speakers do not play, you may need to run alsamixer (non-root) from a terminal and unmute and set the mixer levels all the way up.
"""


This solution worked for me on linux-image-5.6.0-1042-oem AFTER
manually opening alsa-mixer and changing soundcard to sof. The sound
would otherwise just show 'dummy'.

My sounds still do not work on 5.8 or 5.10, full name listed above. I
did not get to test this temporary fix with 5.4.

my full alsa-info:
http://alsa-project.org/db/?f=6a638be0cfbe8ed08a010eb26a7702e324dce5ff

based on some google research, this seems to be a common problem:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/hj8oxw/xps_17_9700_no_audio_on_linux_also_hardware_is/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/hge2yo/no_audio_on_linux_ubuntu_2004_xps_17_9700_realtek/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/j2kdjw/xps_17_9700_on_linux_audio_issue/
etc...

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: pulseaudio 1:13.99.1-1ubuntu3.10
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.6.0-1042.46-oem 5.6.19
Uname: Linux 5.6.0-1042-oem x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.14
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: neoh 1786 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC1D0p: neoh 1786 F...m pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: neoh 1786 F.... pulseaudio
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Thu Jan 21 12:08:45 2021
InstallationDate: Installed on 2021-01-20 (1 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200731)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 12/30/2020
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.6.3
dmi.board.name: 0CXCCY
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A03
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr1.6.3:bd12/30/2020:svnDellInc.:pnXPS179700:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0CXCCY:rvrA03:cvnDellInc.:ct10:cvr:
dmi.product.family: XPS
dmi.product.name: XPS 17 9700
dmi.product.sku: 098F
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
---
ProblemType: Bug
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.14
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Dependencies:

DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
InstallationDate: Installed on 2021-01-20 (1 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200731)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
Package: linux
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
TERM=xterm-256color
PATH=(custom, no user)
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.6.0-1042.46-oem 5.6.19
Tags: focal
Uname: Linux 5.6.0-1042-oem x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip docker lpadmin lxd plugdev sambashare sudo
_MarkForUpload: True

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