20.1 Cinnamon (Clevo laptop P150EM)

How to waste an hour or two...

Yesterday I noticed that although the internal speakers were working,
when I plugged in headphones the speakers muted, but there was no sound
on the headphones. I'd not had this problem with any previous versions
of Mint from 17. The headphones were working about a months ago, and I
suspected the issue might be due to a recent Pulseaudio update.

When I clicked on the speaker icon in the taskbar, the volume control
showed 80%, so there should have been sound from the headphones. When I
pulled the headphone plug out, sound came from the speakers. I clicked
on "Sound settings" to see if there was anything obvious there. "Device"
showed "Speakers Built-in Audio" was active. The only other "Device"
listed was "Digital output (S/-PDIF) Built-in Audio", which was
inactive. No "Headphones" listed.

So on to the internet to see what might be going on. Most of the "No
headphones" issues were related to Windows, but I eventually came across
one page which pointed me to the solution. At
<https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1501977#p1501977> there was
a comment:
"So i opened up "pulseaudio volume control" then i went on "output
device" tab.
There are three options:
1. Speakers
2. analog output
3. headphones (unplugged)"

I had nothing resembling "3. headphones unplugged". So, with the
speakers working, I plugged in the headphones. Immediately the "Device |
Speakers Built-in Audio" changed to "Headphones Built-in Audio". The
next thing I noticed was that the top line (Volume) of the "Device
Settings" with the speaker icon was set at 0%! As soon as I dragged it
up to a higher number sound came through the headphones.

It was almost certainly the pulseaudio update which changed the volume
setting to zero for the headphones, but I don't understand why. And why
no "Headphones unplugged" display when they weren't plugged in?

--

Jeff

On 7/3/21 6:08 AM, this is what Jeff Layman wrote:
> 20.1 Cinnamon (Clevo laptop P150EM)
>
> How to waste an hour or two...
>
> Yesterday I noticed that although the internal speakers were working, when I plugged in headphones the speakers muted, but there was no
> sound on the headphones. I'd not had this problem with any previous versions of Mint from 17. The headphones were working about a months
> ago, and I suspected the issue might be due to a recent Pulseaudio update.
>
> When I clicked on the speaker icon in the taskbar, the volume control showed 80%, so there should have been sound from the headphones. When
> I pulled the headphone plug out, sound came from the speakers. I clicked on "Sound settings" to see if there was anything obvious there.
> "Device" showed "Speakers Built-in Audio" was active. The only other "Device" listed was "Digital output (S/-PDIF) Built-in Audio", which
> was inactive. No "Headphones" listed.
>
> So on to the internet to see what might be going on. Most of the "No headphones" issues were related to Windows, but I eventually came
> across one page which pointed me to the solution. At <https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1501977#p1501977> there was a comment:
> "So i opened up "pulseaudio volume control" then i went on "output device" tab.
> There are three options:
> 1. Speakers
> 2. analog output
> 3. headphones (unplugged)"
>
> I had nothing resembling "3. headphones unplugged". So, with the speakers working, I plugged in the headphones. Immediately the "Device |
> Speakers Built-in Audio" changed to "Headphones Built-in Audio". The next thing I noticed was that the top line (Volume) of the "Device
> Settings" with the speaker icon was set at 0%! As soon as I dragged it up to a higher number sound came through the headphones.
>
> It was almost certainly the pulseaudio update which changed the volume setting to zero for the headphones, but I don't understand why. And
> why no "Headphones unplugged" display when they weren't plugged in?
>
Odd, same here. Also noticed when I plugged in the "stereo only" headphones, I saw it added a headphone microphone to the input list.
There is none, but it added it anyway.

Wonder if that means the jack on my laptop should be like the headphone jack on a cellphone, a combination stereo headphones and mic?

--
Linux Mint Cinnamon 20.1 64bit, Dell Inspiron 5570 laptop
Quad Core i7-8550U, 16G Memory, 512G SSD, 750G & 1TB HDDs
*I collect teddy bears.

On 03/07/2021 18:07, Teddy-Bears wrote:
> On 7/3/21 6:08 AM, this is what Jeff Layman wrote:
>> 20.1 Cinnamon (Clevo laptop P150EM)
>>
>> How to waste an hour or two...
>>
>> Yesterday I noticed that although the internal speakers were working, when I plugged in headphones the speakers muted, but there was no
>> sound on the headphones. I'd not had this problem with any previous versions of Mint from 17. The headphones were working about a months
>> ago, and I suspected the issue might be due to a recent Pulseaudio update.
>>
>> When I clicked on the speaker icon in the taskbar, the volume control showed 80%, so there should have been sound from the headphones. When
>> I pulled the headphone plug out, sound came from the speakers. I clicked on "Sound settings" to see if there was anything obvious there.
>> "Device" showed "Speakers Built-in Audio" was active. The only other "Device" listed was "Digital output (S/-PDIF) Built-in Audio", which
>> was inactive. No "Headphones" listed.
>>
>> So on to the internet to see what might be going on. Most of the "No headphones" issues were related to Windows, but I eventually came
>> across one page which pointed me to the solution. At <https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1501977#p1501977> there was a comment:
>> "So i opened up "pulseaudio volume control" then i went on "output device" tab.
>> There are three options:
>> 1. Speakers
>> 2. analog output
>> 3. headphones (unplugged)"
>>
>> I had nothing resembling "3. headphones unplugged". So, with the speakers working, I plugged in the headphones. Immediately the "Device |
>> Speakers Built-in Audio" changed to "Headphones Built-in Audio". The next thing I noticed was that the top line (Volume) of the "Device
>> Settings" with the speaker icon was set at 0%! As soon as I dragged it up to a higher number sound came through the headphones.
>>
>> It was almost certainly the pulseaudio update which changed the volume setting to zero for the headphones, but I don't understand why. And
>> why no "Headphones unplugged" display when they weren't plugged in?
>>
> Odd, same here. Also noticed when I plugged in the "stereo only" headphones, I saw it added a headphone microphone to the input list.
> There is none, but it added it anyway.
>
> Wonder if that means the jack on my laptop should be like the headphone jack on a cellphone, a combination stereo headphones and mic?

It's possible. You'd have to check the manual. One of my search hits
mentioned some issue with the microphone/headphone jack when there was
no sound on the headphones, but although I've searched through my
"history", I unfortunately can't find it.

--

Jeff