PINE A64 | No sound with mainline kernel

[Sciamano72]

Creating a bug report/issue

Required Information

• DietPi version | G_DIETPI_VERSION_CORE=7 G_DIETPI_VERSION_SUB=6 G_DIETPI_VERSION_RC=2 G_GITBRANCH='master' G_GITOWNER='MichaIng' G_LIVE_PATCH_STATUS[0]='not applicable' G_LIVE_PATCH_STATUS[1]='applied' G_LIVE_PATCH_STATUS[2]='applied' G_LIVE_PATCH_STATUS[3]='applied' G_LIVE_PATCH_STATUS[4]='not applicable'

• Distro version | buster

• Kernel version | Linux DietPineA64 5.10.60-sunxi64 #21.08.1 SMP Wed Aug 25 18:29:57 UTC 2021 aarch64 GNU/Linux

• SBC model | PINE A64 (aarch64)

• Power supply used | 5V 2A UGreen

• SDcard used | SanDisk ultra 32Gb

Additional Information (if applicable)

• Software title | squeezelite
• Freshly installed
• Can this issue be replicated on a fresh installation of DietPi? Yes
• Bug report ID | echo $G_HW_UUID

Steps to reproduce

1. Enable Audio Card (no matter which one) in dietpi-config
2. Install squeezeboxserver + squeezelite
3. command 'squeezelite -l' which shows available cards will respond "null - Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)"
4. playing any audio file from squeezeboxserver (or locally, does not matter) does not result in any hearable output

Expected behaviour

• command 'squeezelite -l' should list available sound cards
• audio should be heard from the output

[MichaIng]

Many thanks for your report. Is the sound card listed by ALSA?

aplay -l

[Sciamano72]

Nope:

aplay: device_list:272: no soundcards found...

[MichaIng]

So there is simply no sound device found. I checked the current A64 kernel and device tree overlays and there is at least no overlay to enable onboard sound, means that it "should" be enabled by default.

I checked the Armbian forum but couldn't find something related so far: https://forum.armbian.com/forum/27-allwinner-a64-h5-h6-and-h616/

Does the kernel report any errors that may be related?

dmesg -l emerg,alert,crit,err
dmesg | grep -E 'audio|sound|snd'

[Sciamano72]

These are the errors I found (there are many others but they are CIFS-related):

root@DietPineA64:~# dmesg -l emerg,alert,crit,err
[    2.083430] sun8i-dw-hdmi 1ee0000.hdmi: Couldn't get regulator
[    2.083874] sun4i-drm display-engine: Couldn't bind all pipelines components
[    2.120296] phy id_det change to host
[    2.329316] phy id_det change to host

and

root@DietPineA64:~# dmesg | grep -E 'audio|sound|snd'
[    2.549955]   No soundcards found.
[    5.693445] input: sun50i-a64-audio Headset Jack as /devices/platform/sound/sound/card0/input1
[21091.840486] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio

[MichaIng]

Was this on a fresh DietPi system or did it work before?

[Sciamano72]

Sorry, did not receive the notification for your reply. It's a fresh DietPi system.

[MichaIng]

You tried a reboot, didn't you?

To me it looks like a related kernel module isn't loaded. Does this one load?

modprobe sunxi_codec

or this one:

modprobe snd-soc-simple-card

Interesting is that input: sun50i-a64-audio Headset Jack was detected, but only the input device, no output device.

[Sciamano72]

Yes, I've rebooted many times already.

root@DietPineA64:~# modprobe sunxi_codec
modprobe: FATAL: Module sunxi_codec not found in directory /lib/modules/5.10.60-sunxi64

root@DietPineA64: # modprobe snd-soc-simple-card
root@DietPineA64:~#

(No output on the last one)

[Sciamano72]

Ok, I don't know what I did, but now the soundcards show up (but still no sound):

root@DietPineA64:~# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: sun50ia64audio [sun50i-a64-audio], device 0: 1c22c00.dai-sun8i-codec-aif1 sun8i-codec-aif1-0 [1c22c00.dai-sun8i-codec-aif1 sun8i-codec-aif1-0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: sun50ia64hdmi [sun50i-a64-hdmi], device 0: 1c22800.i2s-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0 [1c22800.i2s-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

root@DietPineA64:~# squeezelite -l
Output devices:
  null                           - Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
  sysdefault:CARD=sun50ia64audio - sun50i-a64-audio, 1c22c00.dai-sun8i-codec-aif1 sun8i-codec-aif1-0 - Default Audio Device
  dmix:CARD=sun50ia64audio,DEV=0 - sun50i-a64-audio, 1c22c00.dai-sun8i-codec-aif1 sun8i-codec-aif1-0 - Direct sample mixing device
  dsnoop:CARD=sun50ia64audio,DEV=0 - sun50i-a64-audio, 1c22c00.dai-sun8i-codec-aif1 sun8i-codec-aif1-0 - Direct sample snooping device
  hw:CARD=sun50ia64audio,DEV=0   - sun50i-a64-audio, 1c22c00.dai-sun8i-codec-aif1 sun8i-codec-aif1-0 - Direct hardware device without any conversions
  plughw:CARD=sun50ia64audio,DEV=0 - sun50i-a64-audio, 1c22c00.dai-sun8i-codec-aif1 sun8i-codec-aif1-0 - Hardware device with all software conversions
  sysdefault:CARD=sun50ia64hdmi  - sun50i-a64-hdmi, 1c22800.i2s-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0 - Default Audio Device
  dmix:CARD=sun50ia64hdmi,DEV=0  - sun50i-a64-hdmi, 1c22800.i2s-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0 - Direct sample mixing device
  dsnoop:CARD=sun50ia64hdmi,DEV=0 - sun50i-a64-hdmi, 1c22800.i2s-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0 - Direct sample snooping device
  hw:CARD=sun50ia64hdmi,DEV=0    - sun50i-a64-hdmi, 1c22800.i2s-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0 - Direct hardware device without any conversions
  plughw:CARD=sun50ia64hdmi,DEV=0 - sun50i-a64-hdmi, 1c22800.i2s-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0 - Hardware device with all software conversions

I have also tried editing the squeezelite service to specify the output card ("-o hw:CARD=sun50ia64audio,DEV=0") but still can't hear any sounds :(

[MichaIng]

Good so far. Can you please try to re-select the right card via dietpi-config now? I guess sun50i-a64-audio is the 3.5mm jack while sun50i-a64-hdmi is HDMI audio. If there is still no sound, check if you find some muted volume toggles in alsamixer.

[Sciamano72]

I've re-selected sun50i-a64-audio in dietpi-config and checked in alsamixer that nothing is muted. Still no sound from the 3.5mm jack. I've also tried selecting the HDMI option, but then I couldn't find any way to verify whether sound worked or not as I can't plug the A64 to any HDMI-equipped device :-D

[MichaIng]

Can you show the available controls with values:

amixer -c 0 scontents

[Sciamano72]

Sure:

Logfile attached. Click to expand!

root@DietPineA64:~# amixer -c 0 scontents
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 63
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 43 [68%] [-20.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 43 [68%] [-20.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone Source',0
  Capabilities: penum
  Items: 'DAC' 'Mixer'
  Item0: 'Mixer'
  Item1: 'Mixer'
Simple mixer control 'Line In',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch cswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 7
  Front Left: Playback 4 [57%] [1.50dB] [on] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 4 [57%] [1.50dB] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Line Out',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 17 [55%] [-21.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 17 [55%] [-21.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Line Out Source',0
  Capabilities: penum
  Items: 'Stereo' 'Mono Differential'
  Item0: 'Stereo'
  Item1: 'Stereo'
Simple mixer control 'Mic1',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch cswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 7
  Front Left: Playback 4 [57%] [1.50dB] [on] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 4 [57%] [1.50dB] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic1 Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 7
  Mono: 3 [43%] [30.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Mic2',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch cswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 7
  Front Left: Playback 3 [43%] [0.00dB] [on] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 3 [43%] [0.00dB] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic2 Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 7
  Mono: 4 [57%] [33.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Mixer',0
  Capabilities: cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mixer Reversed',0
  Capabilities: cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'ADC',0
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 192
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB]
Simple mixer control 'ADC Digital DAC',0
  Capabilities: pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback [off]
  Front Right: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'ADC Gain',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cvolume-joined
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: Capture 0 - 7
  Mono: Capture 3 [43%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'AIF1 AD0',0
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 192
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB]
Simple mixer control 'AIF1 AD0 Stereo',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Stereo' 'Reverse Stereo' 'Sum Mono' 'Mix Mono'
  Item0: 'Stereo'
  Item1: 'Stereo'
Simple mixer control 'AIF1 DA0',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 192
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB]
Simple mixer control 'AIF1 DA0 Stereo',0
  Capabilities: penum
  Items: 'Stereo' 'Reverse Stereo' 'Sum Mono' 'Mix Mono'
  Item0: 'Stereo'
  Item1: 'Stereo'
Simple mixer control 'AIF1 Data Digital ADC',0
  Capabilities: cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'AIF1 Slot 0 Digital ADC',0
  Capabilities: cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'AIF1 Slot 0 Digital DAC',0
  Capabilities: pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback [off]
  Front Right: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'AIF2 ADC',0
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 192
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB]
Simple mixer control 'AIF2 ADC Mixer ADC',0
  Capabilities: cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'AIF2 ADC Mixer AIF1 DA0',0
  Capabilities: cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'AIF2 ADC Mixer AIF2 DAC Rev',0
  Capabilities: cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'AIF2 ADC Stereo',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Stereo' 'Reverse Stereo' 'Sum Mono' 'Mix Mono'
  Item0: 'Stereo'
  Item1: 'Stereo'
Simple mixer control 'AIF2 DAC',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 192
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB]
Simple mixer control 'AIF2 DAC Source',0
  Capabilities: penum
  Items: 'AIF2' 'AIF3+2' 'AIF2+3'
  Item0: 'AIF2'
Simple mixer control 'AIF2 DAC Stereo',0
  Capabilities: penum
  Items: 'Stereo' 'Reverse Stereo' 'Sum Mono' 'Mix Mono'
  Item0: 'Stereo'
  Item1: 'Stereo'
Simple mixer control 'AIF2 Digital ADC',0
  Capabilities: cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'AIF2 Digital DAC',0
  Capabilities: pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback [off]
  Front Right: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'AIF2 Inv Digital ADC',0
  Capabilities: cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'AIF3 ADC Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'None' 'AIF2 ADCL' 'AIF2 ADCR'
  Item0: 'None'
Simple mixer control 'DAC',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 192
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 133 [69%] [-20.25dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 133 [69%] [-20.25dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'DAC Reversed',0
  Capabilities: pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback [off]
  Front Right: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Earpiece',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Earpiece Source',0
  Capabilities: penum
  Items: 'DACR' 'DACL' 'Right Mixer' 'Left Mixer'
  Item0: 'DACR'

[MichaIng]

Okay, I also cannot see something that is missing or muted. Try to move all sliders to max in alsamixer.

Some controls are muted, especially try to raise those, although it doesn't look like it were related to regular 3.5mm output, mostly ADC/DAC devices:

Simple mixer control 'ADC Digital DAC',0
  Capabilities: pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback [off]
  Front Right: Playback [off]
...
Simple mixer control 'Earpiece',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-99999.99dB] [off]

[Sciamano72]

I've followed your advice and unmuted everything, then raised everything to 100%. Rebooted. Still no sounds. :(

[MichaIng]

Let me create a Bullseye image, probably the userland updates solve it, so we don't waste time in debugging an old Debian version.

[Sciamano72]

Should I try to update my installation to Bullseye?

[MichaIng]

Good idea, as my server is in the middle of builds already: https://dietpi.com/blog/?p=811#2.2-manual-upgrade

[Sciamano72]

Ok, I don't have the time to do that now either but will try ASAP. Thank you

[MichaIng]

Okay, a new image will be ready then as well, so you have the choice.

[Sciamano72]

Perfect, I can even try both solutions, so we can see what works and what does not.

[MichaIng]

Image ready: https://dietpi.com/downloads/images/

[Sciamano72]

Trying the new image:

root@DietPi:~# aplay - l
^CAborted by signal Interrupt...
aplay: read_header:2839: read error

this command hangs.

And after installing LMS+Squeezelite, still no audio output :-(

But if I launch a song on Squeezelite, this happens:

root@DietPi:~# aplay - l
aplay: main:830: audio open error: Device or resource busy

I'm starting to suspect my line-out output is defective...

[MichaIng]

As long as ALSA (aplay) does not find any device, audio software cannot work with it either. So no need to try this as long as aplay -l does not list any device.

Can you check again:

dmesg | grep -E 'audio|sound|snd'

Probably the legacy kernel is then required. If you find time, could you try to replicate the same issue with Armbian's Bullseye image: https://www.armbian.com/pine64/

[Sciamano72]

My latest post was related to the Bullseye image. Sorry for not being clear about that.

[MichaIng]

Yes but it was the DietPi Bullseye image. Before we report this to Armbian, it should be assured that it is not something missing our end. Bootloader, boot configuration, device tree and kernel are the same, but we should rule out that there is not a userland part missing.

Basically booting the Armbian image, then:

apt install alsa-utils
aplay -l
# and to be sure
reboot
aplay -l

If this suffers from the same issue, then it is a bug in the Armbian kernel and since they still officially support the PINE A64, we should have good chances that someone is looking into it.

[Sciamano72]

Oh! OK, sorry I did not understand you meant to try the armbian image. I'll try to do that ASAP, but I have not enough time now, I might need a few days.

[MichaIng]

And just to collect possible workarounds here, the legacy kernel (Linux 5.4) could be tested:

apt purge linux-image-current-sunxi64 linux-dtb-current-sinxi64 linux-u-boot-pine64-current
apt install linux-image-legacy-sunxi64 linux-dtb-legacy-sinxi64 linux-u-boot-pine64-legacy
reboot
# and then checking again
aplay -l

[Sciamano72]

OK, thought it would be longer. Here it is, in Armbian Bullseye:

root@pine64:~# apt install alsa-utils
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
alsa-utils is already the newest version (1.2.4-1).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
root@pine64:~# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: sun50ia64audio [sun50i-a64-audio], device 0: 1c22c00.dai-sun8i-codec-aif1 sun8i-codec-aif1-0 [1c22c00.dai-sun8i-codec-aif1 sun8i-codec-aif1-0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: sun50ia64hdmi [sun50i-a64-hdmi], device 0: 1c22800.i2s-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0 [1c22800.i2s-i2s-hifi i2s-hifi-0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

After reboot, same output as above.

Do I still need to try the legacy kernel? I guess not...

[MichaIng]

If this is working on Armbian, then the kernel is not the issue. Does playing sound work as well (as you had the same output on the Buster image but no audio), e.g. via:

speaker-test

I'll have a look through the image, e.g. manually loaded kernel modules and such.