Yep, didn't make any difference.

But I did update my kernel to the 5.5.2 version just as an experiment and the volume is much louder to a point which I'd happily consider OK.

But, as the volume got louder, so did the distortion...

Updating the kernel kinda' reminds me of the Nvidia woes that everyone has been having with recent kernel upgrades (out of date Nvidia drivers).

I'm wondering what drivers you're using in Kubuntu for the Intel Vid/Aud hardware on this system.

Were you using proprietary Intel drivers previously (when headphones worked properly)?

If you're using some Kubuntu-provided (via repos) drivers, you may want to try Intel's drivers instead.

Oh, I got all sorts of warnings/errors related to Nvidia during the installation, but since I'm running with integrated graphics, it didn't matter in the end. I'm kinda used to wonky Nvidia software on my laptops and I rarely use the dedicated GPU, so it doesn't bother me much.

But I also got some more cryptic error messages related to aspi and BIOS stuff on boot and shutdown. I didn't look them in depth in order to see if they are serious or stuff that I can just ignore for now.

In the weekend I'll probably try installing Manjaro to see if things improve.

Well, it never worked on Linux.

But I didn't know that you could download Intel drivers. I'll try that for sure. I always thought that Intel's drivers were just bundled in the kernel.

The important thing is that, at last, I got somewhere with this and I'm more optimistic about fixing it!

1 members found this post helpful.

OP

I too have re-read this thread. sorry ubuntu forums not helpful at this stage. but you do know more so maybe you ask there
"How do I tell if phonon is controlling my sound device please"
Tell them which version of Kubuntu are using.

2) Your link to the patch guy....I am not a coder....but it looks like he claims there was a need to change the co-efficient of IDs of the hardware. That has given me an idea. first show us the output to this command

I have a tower with front and back holes so mine is
Pin 0x14 (Green Line Out, Rear side): present = Yes
Pin 0x18 (Pink Mic, Rear side): present = No
Pin 0x19 (Pink Mic, Front side): present = No
Pin 0x1a (Blue Line In, Rear side): present = No
Pin 0x1b (Green Headphone, Front side): present = No

Ignore the Nos.I have only external desktop speakers inserted at the time...but you can please test yours with your 3.5 mm headphone inserted.....the usb headphone ejected please.

TRIVIA edit

The patch lists certain IDs 0x20, 0x12 0x46
with co-efficients of 0x2800 0x3000

Hopefully....one of the pins that shows your headphone is "present" in....will match one of the IDS above

1 members found this post helpful.

Well, I'll keep an eye on this thread.

Have a great week!

OP

I forgot to ask......have you tried other Linux distros?
which ones work with 3.5mm headphones?

OP
In post 27 I posted a link to current kernel which has no alc256 models.
I have found a link to one that has models 25x. Am on phone so will update later
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.1...io/models.html

EDIT @home....looking at that list for 25x you may have only these possible models to choose from
laptop-amic
headset-mode-no-hp-mic
all the rest are not 25x, or are for dell hp and non-samsung brands. And I am not keen suggesting we try them either.

so....Can I still get a reply to post 49 and 51....relative to me please. I have not checked if others need a reply.

Leaping ahead we are only going to try one kernel module config file.
Remember we copy and paste into a terminal not into a text editor

The first line will wait until you input your normal login password and then create a file
with contents as shown.....only if that file does not exist.

reboot and re-test speakers and then 3.5mm headphones please.

1 members found this post helpful.

Here's the hdajacksensetest output:

Yes: Ubuntu 18.04, Fedora 31 and Manjaro 18.x. The headphone jack never worked.

Hum, I'll be sure to look into it and try it out! Thanks!

1 members found this post helpful.

Right, I am fairly confident we can not pursue the patch as your IDs do not match the patch IDs.

OP

I have no plans to help you with Kubuntu as I am biased against KDE which is the desktop for that distro. IMHO its bloated and I live in Australia and have slow internet versus world internet speed. Generally speaking KDE packages are bigger so updates will be bigger. Generally speaking bigger packages tend to be slower to load.

I noticed how slow it was to boot up the Kubuntu 64 bit 19.10 but did so to check if phonon is still being used by KDE. It is.
phonon is a front end....but it adds complexity to sound issues. I won't expand on that at this stage but here is proof of phonon a front end pointing to another front end (PulseAudio=PA).

https://imgur.com/rhS6E8b

There are backends to phonon...you have installed phonon-backend-gstreamer which you will be able to see if you click on
menu type phonon -> Audio and Vido -> Backend.
But you can also install more backends for phonon.....which is why I am not enthused to use it.
eg phonon-backend-vlc phonon4qt5-backend-vlc
Note that the package names I have just quoted are actually from debian sources and not ubuntu sources.
That is because I did not want to install Kubuntu or stay in a slow live environment for too long.

Bottom line....if you stay with KDE you have Alsa -- PA and phonon.

I would like to know if you are aware I editted post 52 with instructions to try out a model string?

Also it is true....that different kernels will affect your sound devices. Alsa has components built into the kernel now a days. As I have made negative comments about KDE.....their good points are they are very feature rich....so some people can have very snazzy desktop effects using KDE while someone on a really basic desktop like openbox will have less bells and whistles.

Maybe if we resolve your sound issues you can then tell us how you use your computer or how you would like to...
I have not tried all distros but have tried numerous over the years....since 2001

Good luck

Yeah, not a KDE fan myself... not since v3.x. I would recommend Xubuntu, though.

Well, I find KDE acutally pretty snappy and far more, I don't know, "agile" than Gnome or Pantheon, which are the desktops I'm most familiar with. And I really like the customization aspect of it, so I don't see myself jumping to another environment.

Well, I'll be looking into this through the weekend then. Thanks for the input, this is the kind of stuff that I'd take a lot of time to figure out myself!

Didn't saw it, thanks for the heads up!

As I said, I like customization: as much as I'd like to use Gnome, their take against people having icons on desktop and whatnot really put me off. Pantheon is great performance-wise, but it is all about not fiddling with it, so KDE is what's left.

I'm not a new Linux user, I'm just fortunate enough to never, ever, have found this kind of hardware issue on my computers. In fact, I thought that the horror hardware support stories were really a thing of the past.

About my usage, I'm a developer and a tech journalist: lots and lots of text and code editing.

XFCE is really great, use it on virtual machines all the time.

OP

any news?

Headphone jack

www linux org /threads/samsung-notebook-7-force-headphone-jack-and-keyboard-lighting-issues.27304/#post-87920

Hey, I own a Notebook 7 and was having the same problem with the headphone jack (sound very low and distorted). I managed to solve based on the solution at https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic....98849#p1898849. Basicaly, I created the files at /lib/firmware/alc256-sound-patch.fw with the content

and at /etc/modprobe.d/alc256-sound-patch.conf with content

Reboot, and you should have sound working even after reboots.



The values may differ in the codec line, but it's all explained at the link I put. You may test before applying the patch with the command (the sound must be playing and headphones connected, but it will no persist after reboot)