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I noticed a problem a over the summer after upgrading from Debian 9 stable to Debian 10 testing: PulseAudio no longer recognized my Intel HDA audio devices. At the time I was able to switch to my monitor's audio connected via nVidia HDMI so I sidestepped the problem hoping that a future update would fix it. They haven't. Fast forward a few months and I've rearranged my workspace and now need to get the Intel HDA working again.

Here's what I've looked at so far...

Debian 10 Testing

The kernel sees it:

# dmesg | grep HDA
[ +0.005509] input: HDA Intel PCH Front Mic as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input17
[ +0.000073] input: HDA Intel PCH Rear Mic as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input18
[ +0.000057] input: HDA Intel PCH Line as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input19
[ +0.000054] input: HDA Intel PCH Line Out Front as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input20
[ +0.000052] input: HDA Intel PCH Line Out Surround as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input21
[ +0.000051] input: HDA Intel PCH Line Out CLFE as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input22
[ +0.000053] input: HDA Intel PCH Line Out Side as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input23
[ +0.000058] input: HDA Intel PCH Front Headphone as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input24
[followed by NVidia HDMI audio devices that are recognized]

# lspci -nnk | grep -A2 Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller [8086:1e20] (rev 04)
 Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller [1458:a002]
 Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
 Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
[followed by NVidia HDMI audio devices that are recognized]

ALSA sees it:

# aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: Generic Analog [Generic Analog]
 Subdevices: 0/1
 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: Generic Digital [Generic Digital]
 Subdevices: 1/1
 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
[followed by NVidia HDMI audio devices that are recognized]

# aplay -L | grep PCH
default:CARD=PCH
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Analog
sysdefault:CARD=PCH
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Analog
front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Analog
surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Analog
surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Analog
surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Analog
surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Analog
surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Analog
surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Analog
iec958:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Digital
dmix:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Analog
dmix:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Digital
dsnoop:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Analog
dsnoop:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Digital
hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Analog
hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Digital
plughw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Analog
plughw:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
 HDA Intel PCH, Generic Digital

speaker-test plays audio normally as does aplay -D default:CARD=PCH /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav

However PulseAudio doesn't see the device at all:

$ pacmd list-sinks
1 sink(s) available.
 * index: 0
 name: <auto_null>
 driver: <module-null-sink.c>
 flags: DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY
 state: SUSPENDED
 suspend cause: IDLE
 priority: 1000
 volume: front-left: 55705 / 85% / -4.24 dB, front-right: 55705 / 85% / -4.24 dB
 balance 0.00
 base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
 volume steps: 65537
 muted: no
 current latency: 0.00 ms
 max request: 344 KiB
 max rewind: 344 KiB
 monitor source: 0
 sample spec: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
 channel map: front-left,front-right
 Stereo
 used by: 0
 linked by: 0
 configured latency: 0.00 ms; range is 0.50 .. 2000.00 ms
 module: 16
 properties:
 device.description = "Dummy Output"
 device.class = "abstract"
 device.icon_name = "audio-card"

When I go to Sound Settings, all I'm seeing is the Dummy Output device. (The nVidia devices are no longer listed here because in rearranging things, I'm using a different monitor without audio so there's no HDMI audio device connected currently.)

I've tried to clearing out the PulseAudio configuration thinking I might have some legacy cruft around via:

rm ~/.pulse/* ~/.config/pulse/*

Debian 9 Stable

I have another partition on this machine which is still running Debian 9 stable, where the Intel HDA works under PulseAudio, and there do appear to be differences in the ALSA drivers vs. Debian 10 so below are the differences I noticed...

# aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC887-VD Analog [ALC887-VD Analog]
 Subdevices: 1/1
 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: ALC887-VD Digital [ALC887-VD Digital]
 Subdevices: 0/1
 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

# aplay -L | grep PCH

sysdefault:CARD=PCH
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Analog
front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Analog
surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Analog
surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Analog
surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Analog
surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Analog
surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Analog
surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Analog
iec958:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Digital
dmix:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Analog
dmix:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Digital
dsnoop:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Analog
dsnoop:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Digital
hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Analog
hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Digital
plughw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Analog
plughw:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
 HDA Intel PCH, ALC887-VD Digital

And of course, Debian 9 sees Intel HDA in PulseAudio:

$ pacmd list-sinks
1 sink(s) available.
 * index: 2
 name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.iec958-stereo>
 driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
 flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY FLAT_VOLUME DYNAMIC_LATENCY
 state: RUNNING
 suspend cause: 
 priority: 9958
 volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB, front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
 balance 0.00
 base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
 volume steps: 65537
 muted: no
 current latency: 24.26 ms
 max request: 4 KiB
 max rewind: 344 KiB
 monitor source: 3
 sample spec: s16le 2ch 48000Hz
 channel map: front-left,front-right
 Stereo
 used by: 1
 linked by: 1
 configured latency: 25.00 ms; range is 0.50 .. 1837.50 ms
 card: 1 <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0>
 module: 7
 properties:
 alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
 device.api = "alsa"
 device.class = "sound"
 alsa.class = "generic"
 alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
 alsa.name = "ALC887-VD Digital"
 alsa.id = "ALC887-VD Digital"
 alsa.subdevice = "0"
 alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
 alsa.device = "1"
 alsa.card = "0"
 alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"
 alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0xf5130000 irq 30"
 alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
 device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
 sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
 device.bus = "pci"
 device.vendor.id = "8086"
 device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
 device.product.id = "1e20"
 device.product.name = "7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller"
 device.form_factor = "internal"
 device.string = "iec958:0"
 device.buffering.buffer_size = "352800"
 device.buffering.fragment_size = "176400"
 device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
 device.profile.name = "iec958-stereo"
 device.profile.description = "Digital Stereo (IEC958)"
 device.description = "Built-in Audio Digital Stereo (IEC958)"
 alsa.mixer_name = "Realtek ALC887-VD"
 alsa.components = "HDA:10ec0887,1458a002,00100302"
 module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
 device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
 ports:
 iec958-stereo-output: Digital Output (S/PDIF) (priority 0, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
 properties:

 active port: <iec958-stereo-output>

So the question is obviously: how do I get the Intel HDA audio working again in PulseAudio with Debian 10? Is this something I can fix from a configuration standpoint or is this a driver issue that needs to be fixed either by the ALSA or PulseAudio maintainers?

Should anyone else run into this, here's a workaround to force PulseAudio to use the ALSA device...

First, confirm you know the correct sound card and device you want by playing some audio directly via ALSA:

aplay -D plughw:<CARD#>,<DEVICE#> /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav

In my case I wanted the optical audio output so based on my aplay -l output as seen in my question above it was:

aplay -D plughw:0,1 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav

Make a note of the card and device number and add an entry to /etc/pulse/default.pa (replace 0,1 with what worked for you in the previous step):

load-module module-alsa-sink device=plughw:0,1

I added this line immediately before the .ifexists module-udev-detect.so line in the file (i.e. underneath the ### Load audio drivers statically comment)

Then run the following as the user your desktop session is logged in as (i.e. not as root):

pulseaudio --kill
pulseaudio --start

Then you should be able to open Sound Settings to see and select the card:

At this point, you should have audio playback through PulseAudio working again. (Something I noticed is that pacmd list-cards will still not list the card even though it now works) Reminder: this is a workaround and not the long term fix so be sure to make a note to yourself to undo this at some point in the future to see if it's been fixed properly. But it gets audio working for the time being.

I ended up here because of the very same problem, after upgrading from Stretch, the audio disappeared. Similar symptoms and outputs (Nvidia card and Intel HDA sound). While following instructions, though, I've found that I couldn't get this step to work:

root@desk:~# aplay -D plughw:0,0 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav
aplay: main:828: audio open error: Device or resource busy

I found that the culprit was timidity:

root@desk:~# fuser -v /dev/snd/*
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: timidity 1274 F...m timidity
/dev/snd/seq: timidity 1274 F.... timidity

Once I killed it, I could proceed editing /etc/pulse/default.pa and everything snapped into place. I'm still not sure if the issue was the missing PA sink or timidity taking over.

I've also considered filing a bug report, but I'm not sure where would be more appropriate. If you have any suggestions, I'll be happy to follow your lead and add my support to the report.

Thank you for sharing the solution!

I just had this exact issue, and uninstalling Timidity solved it. Literally, as the package was removed by apt, I saw a notification showing I have a sound card (interpreted as a volume change).