[SOLVED] BYTCR-RT5640 can't get sound to work

tauro_kpo · 08-03-2018, 12:11 AM

Hello people,

This a generic tablet/computer, Bay Trail chipset, Atom Z3735F CPU.

I have tried the steps recommended here but I still don't get sound at all.

I do get an overwhelming amount of different options and meters in alsamixer.
I'm attaching the amixer output (too big to paste here) and the aplay -l output. The dmesg too in case it helps.

dmesg.txt
amixer.txt
aplay-l.txt

How do I go about getting the sound to work?

Once I got the headphones working, I think it was related to uninstalling pulseaudio and tinkering with the volumes/switches in alsamixer, but I couldn't reproduce it anymore.

More info on this PC:
Runs Debian 9 (Stretch) 32-bit EFI.
I had to install the 4.17 kernel for it not to freeze at the KDE loading screen. Tried a live Buster+firmware (10-testing) and the sound doesn't work either.
Integrated bluetooth/webcams (rear/front) aren't even recognized or don't work at all. Battery is not recognized (no way to find out actual charge).
I installed the latest firmware-realtek package (from Buster/testing) and got the wifi working (rtl8723bs).

RandomTroll · 08-04-2018, 10:11 AM

What does

Code:

pavucontrol

return?

Code:

mplayer

,

Code:

play

?

TB0ne · 08-04-2018, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tauro_kpo

Hello people,
This a generic tablet/computer, Bay Trail chipset, Atom Z3735F CPU. I have tried the steps recommended here but I still don't get sound at all. I do get an overwhelming amount of different options and meters in alsamixer. I'm attaching the amixer output (too big to paste here) and the aplay -l output. The dmesg too in case it helps.

dmesg.txt
amixer.txt
aplay-l.txt

How do I go about getting the sound to work? Once I got the headphones working, I think it was related to uninstalling pulseaudio and tinkering with the volumes/switches in alsamixer, but I couldn't reproduce it anymore.

More info on this PC:
Runs Debian 9 (Stretch) 32-bit EFI. I had to install the 4.17 kernel for it not to freeze at the KDE loading screen. Tried a live Buster+firmware (10-testing) and the sound doesn't work either. Integrated bluetooth/webcams (rear/front) aren't even recognized or don't work at all. Battery is not recognized (no way to find out actual charge). I installed the latest firmware-realtek package (from Buster/testing) and got the wifi working (rtl8723bs).

With everything that's *NOT* working on your system, I'd start by going with a different distro, other than Debian, since it's obviously not working well on your hardware. Personally, I'd load a 'live' distro on a USB stick, and see if things were working then, and try different distros to see what success you were having. Mint is Debian based, so since you're familiar with Debian, I'd start there. Mint is more 'consumer' related, so when you mention a convertible tablet/laptop (and 32 bit at that), that would indicate a 'consumer' system, rather than a server. Fedora or openSUSE are other good choices for hardware support.

And what is the brand and model of your system?

tauro_kpo · 08-04-2018, 10:50 AM

Thanks for the help. This a generic Chinese laptop, looks almost exactly the same as the Asus T100 albeit I think mine is crappier. CPU is Atom Z3735F.
I tried different Debian versions, and ended up sticking to testing. I know I may get the battery meter going with Ubu or Mint (I'm sure though) but it takes hours to load a system into this fragile little piece of... and besides the battery is almost drained. And I wouldn't use the webcams. I've used Debian as a desktop for years, I feel it's Ubuntu without all the useless bells and whistles and bloatware/spyware.

I'll tell you all how I managed to get this monstrous chip working.

1. Install (or get) firmware-intel-sound (comes with buster/testing).

2. Magic scripts found on the web allowed me to get this working (select/activate correct switches). Use either speakers (crappy) and/or headphones.
This is the source: https://github.com/plbossart/UCM/issues/1
And these are the scripts (you'll need to minimally tweak them). Remember they use amixer.

3. Pulseaudio? Yes

edit

Code:

/etc/pulse/default.pa

Add:

Code:

load-module module-alsa-sink
load-module module-alsa-source device=hw:0,0

Comment out:

Code:

### Automatically load driver modules depending on the hardware available
#.ifexists module-udev-detect.so
#load-module module-udev-detect
#.else
### Use the static hardware detection module (for systems that lack udev support)
#load-module module-detect
#.endif**

Source:
https://github.com/plbossart/UCM/issues/18

I also blacklisted

Code:

snd_hdmi_lpe_audio

because I'm not using it and sometimes it gets the 0 ID.

Hope this helps somebody else with this problem.
PS: Don't you ever buy this laptop/tablet.

RandomTroll · 08-04-2018, 01:59 PM

You can mark it solved.