Realtek Audio sound card not recognized by pipewire

I am new to Nixos and I am not able to get any audio from my Acer laptop. Digging a little deeper it seems that while the audio card comes up in hardware info, it seems to not be recognized by some of the audio driver packages. I’ve tried alsa, pipewire, pulseaudio.

Is there some configuration I need to do in order for pipewire to work? Or possibly some special firmware?

Thank you for your time!

Nix Configuration:

  # Enable sound with pipewire.
  sound.enable = true;
  hardware.pulseaudio.enable = false;
  security.rtkit.enable = true;
  services.pipewire = {
    enable = true;
    alsa.enable = true;
    alsa.support32Bit = true;
    pulse.enable = true;
    # If you want to use JACK applications, uncomment this
    jack.enable = true;
    
    # use the example session manager (no others are packaged yet so this is enabled by default,
    # no need to redefine it in your config for now)
    #media-session.enable = true;
  };


  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    alsa-firmware
    alsa-oss
    alsa-lib
    alsa-utils
    alsa-tools
    alsaequal
    pipewire
    jack2
    pulseaudio
    carla
  ];

Pipewire:

$ systemctl status pipewire
○ pipewire.service
     Loaded: masked (Reason: Unit pipewire.service is masked.)
     Active: inactive (dead)
$ systemctl status --user pipewire
● pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/user/pipewire.service; linked-runtime; preset: enabled)
    Drop-In: /nix/store/mgf7p01zgbih3pc50zaaaw00bxy05l98-user-units/pipewire.service.d
             └─overrides.conf
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2023-12-08 23:01:24 CST; 1h 7min ago
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire.socket
   Main PID: 1369 (pipewire)
      Tasks: 7 (limit: 9379)
     Memory: 9.3M
        CPU: 151ms
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire.service
             └─1369 /nix/store/n5azqf4qgng00pzdw0xzg7dqjfvsfcgs-pipewire-0.3.85/bin/pipewire

Dec 08 23:01:24 nyxos systemd[1100]: Started PipeWire Multimedia Service.
Dec 08 23:01:25 nyxos pipewire[1369]: [0:00:17.398845024] [1369]  INFO IPAManager ipa_manager.cpp:143 libcamera is n>
Dec 08 23:01:25 nyxos pipewire[1369]: [0:00:17.399051449] [1369]  INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:298 libcamera v0.0.5
Dec 08 23:03:40 nyxos pipewire[1369]: spa.audioadapter: 0x5638de5e09f8: scheduling stopped node

Other system info:

$ dmesg | grep -i audio
[    5.634957] snd_soc_skl 0000:00:1f.3: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
[    5.707323] HDMI HDA Codec ehdaudio0D2: Max dais supported: 3
$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v6/7th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 08)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation UHD Graphics 620 (rev 07)
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 08)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 21)
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem (rev 21)
00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 21)
00:15.1 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #1 (rev 21)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP CSME HECI #1 (rev 21)
00:17.0 RAID bus controller: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] (rev 21)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev f1)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #6 (rev f1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point LPC/eSPI Controller (rev 21)
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PMC (rev 21)
00:1f.3 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio (rev 21)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SMBus (rev 21)
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 7265 (rev 59)
$ nix-shell -p hwinfo --run "hwinfo --sound"
15: PCI 1f.3: 0401 Multimedia audio controller                  
  [Created at pci.386]
  Unique ID: nS1_.6x3hYXY2gHF
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3
  SysFS BusID: 0000:00:1f.3
  Hardware Class: sound
  Model: "Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio"
  Vendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
  Device: pci 0x9d71 "Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio"
  SubVendor: pci 0x1025 "Acer Incorporated [ALI]"
  SubDevice: pci 0x1269 
  Revision: 0x21
  Driver: "snd_soc_skl"
  Driver Modules: "snd_soc_skl"
  Memory Range: 0xb1128000-0xb112bfff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  Memory Range: 0xb1100000-0xb110ffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  IRQ: 16 (60 events)
  Module Alias: "pci:v00008086d00009D71sv00001025sd00001269bc04sc01i00"
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
$ wpctl status
Audio
 ├─ Devices:
 │  
 ├─ Sinks:
 │  *   50. Dummy Output                        [vol: 1.00]
 │  
 ├─ Sink endpoints:
 │  
 ├─ Sources:
 │  
 ├─ Source endpoints:
 │  
 └─ Streams:
$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
cmac                   16384  1
ccm                    20480  3
qrtr                   49152  4
snd_seq_dummy          16384  0
snd_hrtimer            16384  1
snd_seq                90112  7 snd_seq_dummy
snd_seq_device         16384  1 snd_seq
af_packet              57344  6
snd_soc_skl_hda_dsp    24576  0
snd_soc_intel_hda_dsp_common    20480  1 snd_soc_skl_hda_dsp
snd_soc_hdac_hdmi      45056  1 snd_soc_skl_hda_dsp
snd_soc_skl_ssp_clk    16384  0
snd_sof_pci_intel_skl    16384  0
snd_sof_intel_hda_common   188416  1 snd_sof_pci_intel_skl
snd_soc_hdac_hda       24576  1 snd_sof_intel_hda_common
soundwire_intel        49152  1 snd_sof_intel_hda_common
soundwire_generic_allocation    16384  1 soundwire_intel
soundwire_cadence      36864  1 soundwire_intel
snd_sof_intel_hda      20480  1 snd_sof_intel_hda_common
snd_sof_pci            24576  2 snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_sof_pci_intel_skl
snd_sof_xtensa_dsp     16384  1 snd_sof_intel_hda_common
snd_sof               270336  2 snd_sof_pci,snd_sof_intel_hda_common
snd_sof_utils          20480  1 snd_sof
soundwire_bus          98304  3 soundwire_intel,soundwire_generic_allocation,soundwire_cadence
iwlmvm                442368  0
snd_soc_avs           143360  0
snd_soc_hda_codec      24576  1 snd_soc_avs
snd_soc_dmic           16384  0
mac80211             1093632  1 iwlmvm
snd_soc_skl           180224  1 snd_soc_skl_ssp_clk
i915                 3047424  45
snd_soc_sst_ipc        20480  1 snd_soc_skl
snd_soc_sst_dsp        40960  1 snd_soc_skl
snd_hda_ext_core       36864  6 snd_soc_avs,snd_soc_hda_codec,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_hdac_hdmi,snd_soc_hdac_hda,snd_soc_skl
snd_soc_acpi_intel_match    77824  3 snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci_intel_skl
snd_soc_acpi           16384  3 snd_soc_acpi_intel_match,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_skl
snd_soc_core          352256  10 snd_soc_avs,snd_soc_hda_codec,soundwire_intel,snd_sof,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_hdac_hdmi,snd_soc_hdac_hda,snd_soc_skl,snd_soc_dmic,snd_soc_skl_hda_dsp
libarc4                16384  1 mac80211
intel_tcc_cooling      16384  0
snd_compress           28672  1 snd_soc_core
x86_pkg_temp_thermal    20480  0
intel_powerclamp       20480  0
ac97_bus               16384  1 snd_soc_core
snd_pcm_dmaengine      16384  1 snd_soc_core
snd_hda_intel          57344  0
snd_intel_dspcfg       32768  5 snd_soc_avs,snd_hda_intel,snd_sof,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_skl
uvcvideo              131072  4
snd_intel_sdw_acpi     20480  2 snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_intel_dspcfg
coretemp               20480  0
snd_hda_codec         176128  8 snd_soc_avs,snd_soc_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_soc_intel_hda_dsp_common,snd_soc_hdac_hda,snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_intel_hda,snd_soc_skl_hda_dsp
crc32_pclmul           16384  0
polyval_clmulni        16384  0
polyval_generic        16384  1 polyval_clmulni
videobuf2_vmalloc      20480  1 uvcvideo
nls_iso8859_1          16384  1
gf128mul               16384  1 polyval_generic
videobuf2_memops       20480  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
ghash_clmulni_intel    16384  0
nls_cp437              20480  1
videobuf2_v4l2         36864  1 uvcvideo
sha512_ssse3           49152  0
sha512_generic         16384  1 sha512_ssse3
sha256_ssse3           36864  0
snd_hda_core          118784  11 snd_soc_avs,snd_soc_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_ext_core,snd_hda_codec,snd_soc_intel_hda_dsp_common,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_hdac_hdmi,snd_soc_hdac_hda,snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_intel_hda
vfat                   24576  1
videobuf2_common       65536  4 videobuf2_vmalloc,videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_memops
sha1_ssse3             32768  0
fat                    90112  1 vfat
iwlwifi               462848  1 iwlmvm
snd_hwdep              16384  1 snd_hda_codec
btusb                  69632  0
aesni_intel           393216  3
hid_multitouch         32768  0
videodev              282624  5 videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_common
btrtl                  28672  1 btusb
crypto_simd            16384  1 aesni_intel
iTCO_wdt               16384  0
cryptd                 24576  2 crypto_simd,ghash_clmulni_intel
btbcm                  24576  1 btusb
snd_pcm               155648  13 snd_soc_avs,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,soundwire_intel,snd_sof,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_hdac_hdmi,snd_compress,snd_soc_core,snd_sof_utils,snd_soc_skl,snd_hda_core,snd_pcm_dmaengine
intel_pmc_bxt          16384  1 iTCO_wdt
rapl                   16384  0
btintel                45056  1 btusb
watchdog               32768  1 iTCO_wdt
btmtk                  16384  1 btusb
drm_buddy              20480  1 i915
intel_cstate           20480  0
mei_hdcp               24576  0
mei_pxp                20480  0
intel_rapl_msr         20480  0
acer_wmi               28672  0
intel_wmi_thunderbolt    20480  0
wmi_bmof               16384  0
sparse_keymap          16384  1 acer_wmi
cfg80211             1130496  3 iwlmvm,iwlwifi,mac80211
mc                     73728  6 videodev,videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_common
i2c_i801               36864  0
intel_uncore          217088  0
snd_timer              49152  3 snd_seq,snd_hrtimer,snd_pcm
bluetooth             913408  6 btrtl,btmtk,btintel,btbcm,btusb
snd                   118784  13 snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_sof,snd_timer,snd_soc_hdac_hdmi,snd_compress,snd_soc_core,snd_pcm
ttm                    90112  1 i915
i2c_smbus              20480  1 i2c_i801
drm_display_helper    172032  1 i915
soundcore              16384  1 snd
ip6_tables             36864  2
cec                    61440  1 i915
xt_conntrack           16384  2
ecdh_generic           16384  1 bluetooth
drm_kms_helper        192512  2 drm_display_helper,i915
rfkill                 28672  8 acer_wmi,iwlmvm,bluetooth,cfg80211
intel_lpss_pci         28672  0
processor_thermal_device_pci_legacy    16384  0
ecc                    40960  1 ecdh_generic
intel_lpss             16384  1 intel_lpss_pci
mei_me                 53248  2
processor_thermal_device    20480  1 processor_thermal_device_pci_legacy
intel_gtt              24576  1 i915
libaes                 16384  2 bluetooth,aesni_intel
nf_conntrack          172032  1 xt_conntrack
processor_thermal_rfim    16384  1 processor_thermal_device
mei                   159744  5 mei_hdcp,mei_pxp,mei_me
agpgart                45056  2 intel_gtt,ttm
processor_thermal_mbox    16384  2 processor_thermal_rfim,processor_thermal_device
idma64                 20480  0
i2c_algo_bit           16384  1 i915
virt_dma               20480  1 idma64
processor_thermal_rapl    20480  1 processor_thermal_device
fb_sys_fops            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
nf_defrag_ipv6         24576  1 nf_conntrack
syscopyarea            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
intel_pch_thermal      20480  0
video                  65536  2 acer_wmi,i915
nf_defrag_ipv4         16384  1 nf_conntrack
intel_rapl_common      28672  2 intel_rapl_msr,processor_thermal_rapl
sysfillrect            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
i2c_hid_acpi           16384  0
sysimgblt              16384  1 drm_kms_helper
intel_soc_dts_iosf     20480  1 processor_thermal_device_pci_legacy
intel_xhci_usb_role_switch    16384  0
roles                  16384  1 intel_xhci_usb_role_switch
thermal                28672  0
i2c_hid                32768  1 i2c_hid_acpi
tpm_crb                24576  0
int3403_thermal        20480  0
tpm_tis                16384  0
mousedev               24576  0
battery                28672  0
int340x_thermal_zone    20480  2 int3403_thermal,processor_thermal_device
ac                     20480  0
wmi                    36864  4 video,intel_wmi_thunderbolt,acer_wmi,wmi_bmof
pinctrl_sunrisepoint    28672  0
ip6t_rpfilter          16384  1
tiny_power_button      16384  0
int3400_thermal        20480  0
joydev                 28672  0
tpm_tis_core           32768  1 tpm_tis
intel_pmc_core         53248  0
ipt_rpfilter           16384  1
acer_wireless          20480  0
acpi_thermal_rel       16384  1 int3400_thermal
acpi_pad               28672  0
button                 24576  0
evdev                  28672  24
input_leds             16384  0
led_class              20480  3 input_leds,acer_wmi,iwlmvm
mac_hid                16384  0
xt_pkttype             16384  2
serio_raw              20480  0
xt_LOG                 20480  2
nf_log_syslog          20480  2
xt_tcpudp              20480  0
nft_compat             20480  11
nf_tables             299008  101 nft_compat
libcrc32c              16384  2 nf_conntrack,nf_tables
nfnetlink              20480  2 nft_compat,nf_tables
sch_fq_codel           20480  1
ctr                    16384  1
loop                   32768  0
tun                    61440  0
tap                    28672  0
macvlan                28672  0
bridge                311296  0
stp                    16384  1 bridge
llc                    16384  2 bridge,stp
kvm_intel             380928  0
kvm                  1118208  1 kvm_intel
drm                   581632  21 drm_kms_helper,drm_display_helper,drm_buddy,i915,ttm
irqbypass              16384  1 kvm
fuse                  155648  3
deflate                16384  1
backlight              24576  5 video,acer_wmi,drm_display_helper,i915,drm
efi_pstore             16384  0
configfs               57344  1
efivarfs               24576  1
tpm                    94208  3 tpm_tis,tpm_crb,tpm_tis_core
rng_core               20480  1 tpm
dmi_sysfs              20480  0
ip_tables              36864  1
x_tables               53248  9 xt_conntrack,ip6t_rpfilter,nft_compat,xt_LOG,xt_tcpudp,ip6_tables,ipt_rpfilter,xt_pkttype,ip_tables
autofs4                53248  0
ext4                  958464  1
crc32c_generic         16384  0
crc16                  16384  2 bluetooth,ext4
mbcache                16384  1 ext4
jbd2                  163840  1 ext4
uas                    32768  3
usb_storage            81920  1 uas
hid_generic            16384  0
usbhid                 65536  0
hid                   151552  4 i2c_hid,usbhid,hid_multitouch,hid_generic
sd_mod                 57344  4
t10_pi                 16384  1 sd_mod
crc64_rocksoft         20480  1 t10_pi
crc64                  20480  1 crc64_rocksoft
crc_t10dif             20480  1 t10_pi
crct10dif_generic      16384  0
xhci_pci               24576  0
ahci                   49152  0
xhci_pci_renesas       20480  1 xhci_pci
firmware_class         49152  15 btrtl,snd_soc_avs,snd_hda_intel,xhci_pci_renesas,btmtk,snd_sof,drm_display_helper,btintel,btbcm,iwlwifi,btusb,snd_soc_skl,i915,cfg80211,drm
libahci                49152  1 ahci
xhci_hcd              315392  1 xhci_pci
libata                389120  2 libahci,ahci
atkbd                  36864  0
usbcore               339968  7 xhci_hcd,usbhid,usb_storage,uvcvideo,btusb,xhci_pci,uas
libps2                 20480  1 atkbd
vivaldi_fmap           16384  1 atkbd
scsi_mod              274432  4 sd_mod,usb_storage,uas,libata
crct10dif_pclmul       16384  1
crct10dif_common       16384  3 crct10dif_generic,crc_t10dif,crct10dif_pclmul
crc32c_intel           24576  3
usb_common             16384  3 xhci_hcd,usbcore,uvcvideo
scsi_common            16384  4 scsi_mod,usb_storage,uas,libata
i8042                  40960  1 acer_wmi
rtc_cmos               28672  1
serio                  28672  4 serio_raw,atkbd,i8042
dm_mod                155648  0
dax                    45056  1 dm_mod
2 Likes

Solution is to add a kernel param.

Depreciated version:

boot.kernelParams = [ "snd_hda_intel.dmic_detect=0" ];

Current version:

boot.kernelParams = [ "snd-intel-dspcfg.dsp_driver=1" ];

Based on this arch forum post: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/64720

4 Likes

Thank you! I had a similar issue - my speakers “disappeared” after 23.11 → 24.05 upgrade (Lenovo ThinkPad T480). I couldn’t find the line in my configuration though:

boot.kernelParams = [ "snd_hda_intel.dmic_detect=0" ];

Anyway, I added the second one you mentioned:

boot.kernelParams = [ "snd-intel-dspcfg.dsp_driver=1" ];

and my builtin speakers play again!