Quiet crackling noise at boot and after stopping music

Quiet crackling noise at boot and after stopping music

[Paul Menzel]

Dear Linux folks,


I believe the Realtek refactoring caused a regression on my Intel Kaby 
Lake laptop Dell XPS 13 9360. There is quiet crackling noise during 
boot, when GDM is started, and also after playing music is stopped. It’s 
reproducible with 6.16.0-04055-g14bed9bc81ba, that contains the sound 
subsystem pull request.

177bf8620cf4 Merge tag 'sound-6.17-rc1' of 
git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound

I uploaded the run of alsa-info [1]. I try to verify with plain 6.16 later.


Kind regards,

Paul


[1]: https://alsa-project.org/db/?f=6d2c66f2374b4ee6eb406a1d2cce60d1f17bed33

Re: Quiet crackling noise at boot and after stopping music

[Takashi Iwai]

On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:15:08 +0200,
Paul Menzel wrote:
> 
> Dear Linux folks,
> 
> 
> I believe the Realtek refactoring caused a regression on my Intel Kaby
> Lake laptop Dell XPS 13 9360. There is quiet crackling noise during
> boot, when GDM is started, and also after playing music is
> stopped. It’s reproducible with 6.16.0-04055-g14bed9bc81ba, that
> contains the sound subsystem pull request.
> 
> 177bf8620cf4 Merge tag 'sound-6.17-rc1' of
> git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound
> 
> I uploaded the run of alsa-info [1]. I try to verify with plain 6.16 later.

It's likely because of the missing CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_* selections.
Please set CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269=m and
CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_HDMI_INTEL=m if not done yet.

Those were already set to default=y in the later PR for avoiding such
a pitfall.


HTH,

Takashi

> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Paul
> 
> 
> [1]: https://alsa-project.org/db/?f=6d2c66f2374b4ee6eb406a1d2cce60d1f17bed33

Re: Quiet crackling noise at boot and after stopping music

[Paul Menzel]

Dear Takashi,


Thank you so much for your instant reply with the solution.


Am 06.08.25 um 10:20 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:15:08 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:

>> I believe the Realtek refactoring caused a regression on my Intel Kaby
>> Lake laptop Dell XPS 13 9360. There is quiet crackling noise during
>> boot, when GDM is started, and also after playing music is
>> stopped. It’s reproducible with 6.16.0-04055-g14bed9bc81ba, that
>> contains the sound subsystem pull request.
>>
>> 177bf8620cf4 Merge tag 'sound-6.17-rc1' of
>> git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound
>>
>> I uploaded the run of alsa-info [1]. I try to verify with plain 6.16 later.
> 
> It's likely because of the missing CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_* selections.
> Please set CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269=m and

Indeed, I didn’t select this.

> CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_HDMI_INTEL=m if not done yet.

I had selected this.

> Those were already set to default=y in the later PR for avoiding such
> a pitfall.

I remember I tried to check which to select, and I ran `alsa-info` to 
find the codecs, but only found:

     Codec: Realtek ALC3246

As this didn’t match to any of the offerings, I didn’t select it. May I 
suggest to extend the Kconfig help texts with notes how to determine the 
correct module?

Also, would the driver be able to detect, if no codec modules are 
selected and log a warning?


Kind regards,

Paul


>> [1]: https://alsa-project.org/db/?f=6d2c66f2374b4ee6eb406a1d2cce60d1f17bed33

Re: Quiet crackling noise at boot and after stopping music

[Takashi Iwai]

On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:34:57 +0200,
Paul Menzel wrote:
> 
> Dear Takashi,
> 
> 
> Thank you so much for your instant reply with the solution.
> 
> 
> Am 06.08.25 um 10:20 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
> > On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:15:08 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
> 
> >> I believe the Realtek refactoring caused a regression on my Intel Kaby
> >> Lake laptop Dell XPS 13 9360. There is quiet crackling noise during
> >> boot, when GDM is started, and also after playing music is
> >> stopped. It’s reproducible with 6.16.0-04055-g14bed9bc81ba, that
> >> contains the sound subsystem pull request.
> >> 
> >> 177bf8620cf4 Merge tag 'sound-6.17-rc1' of
> >> git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound
> >> 
> >> I uploaded the run of alsa-info [1]. I try to verify with plain 6.16 later.
> > 
> > It's likely because of the missing CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_* selections.
> > Please set CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269=m and
> 
> Indeed, I didn’t select this.
> 
> > CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_HDMI_INTEL=m if not done yet.
> 
> I had selected this.
> 
> > Those were already set to default=y in the later PR for avoiding such
> > a pitfall.
> 
> I remember I tried to check which to select, and I ran `alsa-info` to
> find the codecs, but only found:
> 
>     Codec: Realtek ALC3246
> 
> As this didn’t match to any of the offerings, I didn’t select
> it. May I suggest to extend the Kconfig help texts with notes how to
> determine the correct module?

There are quite lots of different codec names, so we can't put all
them, unfortunately...

> Also, would the driver be able to detect, if no codec modules are
> selected and log a warning?

It still "works" with the generic HD-audio codec, as you already
noticed.


Takashi

Re: Quiet crackling noise at boot and after stopping music

[Paul Menzel]

Dear Takashi,


Thank you for your reply.

Am 06.08.25 um 10:46 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:34:57 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:

>> Am 06.08.25 um 10:20 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
>>> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:15:08 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
>>
>>>> I believe the Realtek refactoring caused a regression on my Intel Kaby
>>>> Lake laptop Dell XPS 13 9360. There is quiet crackling noise during
>>>> boot, when GDM is started, and also after playing music is
>>>> stopped. It’s reproducible with 6.16.0-04055-g14bed9bc81ba, that
>>>> contains the sound subsystem pull request.
>>>>
>>>> 177bf8620cf4 Merge tag 'sound-6.17-rc1' of
>>>> git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound
>>>>
>>>> I uploaded the run of alsa-info [1]. I try to verify with plain 6.16 later.
>>>
>>> It's likely because of the missing CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_* selections.
>>> Please set CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269=m and
>>
>> Indeed, I didn’t select this.
>>
>>> CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_HDMI_INTEL=m if not done yet.
>>
>> I had selected this.
>>
>>> Those were already set to default=y in the later PR for avoiding such
>>> a pitfall.
>>
>> I remember I tried to check which to select, and I ran `alsa-info` to
>> find the codecs, but only found:
>>
>>      Codec: Realtek ALC3246
>>
>> As this didn’t match to any of the offerings, I didn’t select
>> it. May I suggest to extend the Kconfig help texts with notes how to
>> determine the correct module?
> 
> There are quite lots of different codec names, so we can't put all
> them, unfortunately...

Understood. Then maybe just the command how to find the id, that people 
can use to grep the correct module for? From the script `alsa-info.sh`, 
maybe, I found:

     $ grep -e Codec -e "Vendor Id" /proc/asound/card*/codec#*
     /proc/asound/card0/codec#0:Codec: Realtek ALC3246
     /proc/asound/card0/codec#0:Vendor Id: 0x10ec0256
     /proc/asound/card0/codec#2:Codec: Intel Kabylake HDMI
     /proc/asound/card0/codec#2:Vendor Id: 0x8086280b

So mention `/proc/asound/card*/codec#*`?

>> Also, would the driver be able to detect, if no codec modules are
>> selected and log a warning?
> 
> It still "works" with the generic HD-audio codec, as you already
> noticed.
Fair enough.


Kind regards,

Paul

Re: Quiet crackling noise at boot and after stopping music

[Takashi Iwai]

On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 15:57:51 +0200,
Paul Menzel wrote:
> 
> Dear Takashi,
> 
> 
> Thank you for your reply.
> 
> Am 06.08.25 um 10:46 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
> > On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:34:57 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
> 
> >> Am 06.08.25 um 10:20 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
> >>> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:15:08 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
> >> 
> >>>> I believe the Realtek refactoring caused a regression on my Intel Kaby
> >>>> Lake laptop Dell XPS 13 9360. There is quiet crackling noise during
> >>>> boot, when GDM is started, and also after playing music is
> >>>> stopped. It’s reproducible with 6.16.0-04055-g14bed9bc81ba, that
> >>>> contains the sound subsystem pull request.
> >>>> 
> >>>> 177bf8620cf4 Merge tag 'sound-6.17-rc1' of
> >>>> git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound
> >>>> 
> >>>> I uploaded the run of alsa-info [1]. I try to verify with plain 6.16 later.
> >>> 
> >>> It's likely because of the missing CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_* selections.
> >>> Please set CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269=m and
> >> 
> >> Indeed, I didn’t select this.
> >> 
> >>> CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_HDMI_INTEL=m if not done yet.
> >> 
> >> I had selected this.
> >> 
> >>> Those were already set to default=y in the later PR for avoiding such
> >>> a pitfall.
> >> 
> >> I remember I tried to check which to select, and I ran `alsa-info` to
> >> find the codecs, but only found:
> >> 
> >>      Codec: Realtek ALC3246
> >> 
> >> As this didn’t match to any of the offerings, I didn’t select
> >> it. May I suggest to extend the Kconfig help texts with notes how to
> >> determine the correct module?
> > 
> > There are quite lots of different codec names, so we can't put all
> > them, unfortunately...
> 
> Understood. Then maybe just the command how to find the id, that
> people can use to grep the correct module for? From the script
> `alsa-info.sh`, maybe, I found:
> 
>     $ grep -e Codec -e "Vendor Id" /proc/asound/card*/codec#*
>     /proc/asound/card0/codec#0:Codec: Realtek ALC3246
>     /proc/asound/card0/codec#0:Vendor Id: 0x10ec0256
>     /proc/asound/card0/codec#2:Codec: Intel Kabylake HDMI
>     /proc/asound/card0/codec#2:Vendor Id: 0x8086280b
> 
> So mention `/proc/asound/card*/codec#*`?

Honestly speaking, I don't want that; it won't scale, and new codecs
may appear at any moment.  Then we'd have to manage multiple places
for adding or removing ids.

Maybe an alternative option would be to mark prompt of each Realtek
codec driver with EXPERT, so that all Realtek drivers will be enabled
(when CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK is set) unless you say you're an
expert :)


thanks,

Takashi

-- 8< --
--- a/sound/hda/codecs/realtek/Kconfig
+++ b/sound/hda/codecs/realtek/Kconfig
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
 	select SND_HDA_SCODEC_COMPONENT
 
 config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC260
-	tristate "Build Realtek ALC260 HD-audio codec support"
+	tristate "Build Realtek ALC260 HD-audio codec support" if EXPERT
 	depends on INPUT
 	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
 	default y
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC260
 	  Say Y or M here to include Realtek ALC260 HD-audio codec support
 
 config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC262
-	tristate "Build Realtek ALC262 HD-audio codec support"
+	tristate "Build Realtek ALC262 HD-audio codec support" if EXPERT
 	depends on INPUT
 	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
 	default y
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC262
 	  Say Y or M here to include Realtek ALC262 HD-audio codec support
 
 config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC268
-	tristate "Build Realtek ALC268 HD-audio codec support"
+	tristate "Build Realtek ALC268 HD-audio codec support" if EXPERT
 	depends on INPUT
 	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
 	default y
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC268
 	  codec support
 
 config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269
-	tristate "Build Realtek ALC269 HD-audio codecs support"
+	tristate "Build Realtek ALC269 HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
 	depends on INPUT
 	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
 	default y
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269
 	  codec support
 
 config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC662
-	tristate "Build Realtek ALC662 HD-audio codecs support"
+	tristate "Build Realtek ALC662 HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
 	depends on INPUT
 	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
 	default y
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC662
 	  codec support
 
 config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC680
-	tristate "Build Realtek ALC680 HD-audio codecs support"
+	tristate "Build Realtek ALC680 HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
 	depends on INPUT
 	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
 	default y
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC680
 	  Say Y or M here to include Realtek ALC680 HD-audio codec support
 
 config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC861
-	tristate "Build Realtek ALC861 HD-audio codecs support"
+	tristate "Build Realtek ALC861 HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
 	depends on INPUT
 	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
 	default y
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC861
 	  Say Y or M here to include Realtek ALC861 HD-audio codec support
 
 config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC861VD
-	tristate "Build Realtek ALC861-VD HD-audio codecs support"
+	tristate "Build Realtek ALC861-VD HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
 	depends on INPUT
 	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
 	default y
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC861VD
 	  Say Y or M here to include Realtek ALC861-VD HD-audio codec support
 
 config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC880
-	tristate "Build Realtek ALC880 HD-audio codecs support"
+	tristate "Build Realtek ALC880 HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
 	depends on INPUT
 	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
 	default y
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC880
 	  Say Y or M here to include Realtek ALC880 HD-audio codec support
 
 config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC882
-	tristate "Build Realtek ALC882 HD-audio codecs support"
+	tristate "Build Realtek ALC882 HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
 	depends on INPUT
 	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
 	default y

Re: Quiet crackling noise at boot and after stopping music

[Paul Menzel]

Dear Takashi,


Thank you for your reply.

Am 06.08.25 um 16:42 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 15:57:51 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:

>> Am 06.08.25 um 10:46 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
>>> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:34:57 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
>>
>>>> Am 06.08.25 um 10:20 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
>>>>> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:15:08 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> I believe the Realtek refactoring caused a regression on my Intel Kaby
>>>>>> Lake laptop Dell XPS 13 9360. There is quiet crackling noise during
>>>>>> boot, when GDM is started, and also after playing music is
>>>>>> stopped. It’s reproducible with 6.16.0-04055-g14bed9bc81ba, that
>>>>>> contains the sound subsystem pull request.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 177bf8620cf4 Merge tag 'sound-6.17-rc1' of
>>>>>> git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I uploaded the run of alsa-info [1]. I try to verify with plain 6.16 later.
>>>>>
>>>>> It's likely because of the missing CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_* selections.
>>>>> Please set CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269=m and
>>>>
>>>> Indeed, I didn’t select this.
>>>>
>>>>> CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_HDMI_INTEL=m if not done yet.
>>>>
>>>> I had selected this.
>>>>
>>>>> Those were already set to default=y in the later PR for avoiding such
>>>>> a pitfall.
>>>>
>>>> I remember I tried to check which to select, and I ran `alsa-info` to
>>>> find the codecs, but only found:
>>>>
>>>>       Codec: Realtek ALC3246
>>>>
>>>> As this didn’t match to any of the offerings, I didn’t select
>>>> it. May I suggest to extend the Kconfig help texts with notes how to
>>>> determine the correct module?
>>>
>>> There are quite lots of different codec names, so we can't put all
>>> them, unfortunately...
>>
>> Understood. Then maybe just the command how to find the id, that
>> people can use to grep the correct module for? From the script
>> `alsa-info.sh`, maybe, I found:
>>
>>      $ grep -e Codec -e "Vendor Id" /proc/asound/card*/codec#*
>>      /proc/asound/card0/codec#0:Codec: Realtek ALC3246
>>      /proc/asound/card0/codec#0:Vendor Id: 0x10ec0256
>>      /proc/asound/card0/codec#2:Codec: Intel Kabylake HDMI
>>      /proc/asound/card0/codec#2:Vendor Id: 0x8086280b
>>
>> So mention `/proc/asound/card*/codec#*`?
> 
> Honestly speaking, I don't want that; it won't scale, and new codecs
> may appear at any moment.  Then we'd have to manage multiple places
> for adding or removing ids.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to add the id’s to the description, but something like:

You can check the vendor id in `/proc/asound/card*/codec#*`

> Maybe an alternative option would be to mark prompt of each Realtek
> codec driver with EXPERT, so that all Realtek drivers will be enabled
> (when CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK is set) unless you say you're an
> expert :)

At least I wouldn’t have bothered you. ;-) My gut prefers, improving the 
documentation instead of hiding it, but you are the maintainer.

     $ ls -lh 
/lib/modules/6.16.0-11852-g479058002c32/kernel/sound/hda/codecs/realtek/
insgesamt 464K
     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 300K  6. Aug 10:22 snd-hda-codec-alc269.ko
     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 164K  6. Aug 10:22 snd-hda-codec-realtek-lib.ko

The size is small compared to other drivers, but not nothing.


Kind regards,

Paul


PS: Despite just building in `CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269=m`, 
6.16.0-11852-g479058002c32 is 172 kB bigger:

     $ du -s /lib/modules/6.16.0/kernel/sound/
     10992	/lib/modules/6.16.0/kernel/sound/
     $ du -s /lib/modules/6.16.0-11852-g479058002c32/kernel/sound/
     11164	/lib/modules/6.16.0-11852-g479058002c32/kernel/sound/


> -- 8< --
> --- a/sound/hda/codecs/realtek/Kconfig
> +++ b/sound/hda/codecs/realtek/Kconfig
> @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
>   	select SND_HDA_SCODEC_COMPONENT
>   
>   config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC260
> -	tristate "Build Realtek ALC260 HD-audio codec support"
> +	tristate "Build Realtek ALC260 HD-audio codec support" if EXPERT
>   	depends on INPUT
>   	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
>   	default y
> @@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC260
>   	  Say Y or M here to include Realtek ALC260 HD-audio codec support
>   
>   config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC262
> -	tristate "Build Realtek ALC262 HD-audio codec support"
> +	tristate "Build Realtek ALC262 HD-audio codec support" if EXPERT
>   	depends on INPUT
>   	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
>   	default y
> @@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC262
>   	  Say Y or M here to include Realtek ALC262 HD-audio codec support
>   
>   config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC268
> -	tristate "Build Realtek ALC268 HD-audio codec support"
> +	tristate "Build Realtek ALC268 HD-audio codec support" if EXPERT
>   	depends on INPUT
>   	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
>   	default y
> @@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC268
>   	  codec support
>   
>   config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269
> -	tristate "Build Realtek ALC269 HD-audio codecs support"
> +	tristate "Build Realtek ALC269 HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
>   	depends on INPUT
>   	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
>   	default y
> @@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269
>   	  codec support
>   
>   config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC662
> -	tristate "Build Realtek ALC662 HD-audio codecs support"
> +	tristate "Build Realtek ALC662 HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
>   	depends on INPUT
>   	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
>   	default y
> @@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC662
>   	  codec support
>   
>   config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC680
> -	tristate "Build Realtek ALC680 HD-audio codecs support"
> +	tristate "Build Realtek ALC680 HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
>   	depends on INPUT
>   	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
>   	default y
> @@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC680
>   	  Say Y or M here to include Realtek ALC680 HD-audio codec support
>   
>   config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC861
> -	tristate "Build Realtek ALC861 HD-audio codecs support"
> +	tristate "Build Realtek ALC861 HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
>   	depends on INPUT
>   	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
>   	default y
> @@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC861
>   	  Say Y or M here to include Realtek ALC861 HD-audio codec support
>   
>   config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC861VD
> -	tristate "Build Realtek ALC861-VD HD-audio codecs support"
> +	tristate "Build Realtek ALC861-VD HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
>   	depends on INPUT
>   	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
>   	default y
> @@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC861VD
>   	  Say Y or M here to include Realtek ALC861-VD HD-audio codec support
>   
>   config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC880
> -	tristate "Build Realtek ALC880 HD-audio codecs support"
> +	tristate "Build Realtek ALC880 HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
>   	depends on INPUT
>   	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
>   	default y
> @@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC880
>   	  Say Y or M here to include Realtek ALC880 HD-audio codec support
>   
>   config SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC882
> -	tristate "Build Realtek ALC882 HD-audio codecs support"
> +	tristate "Build Realtek ALC882 HD-audio codecs support" if EXPERT
>   	depends on INPUT
>   	select SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK_LIB
>   	default y

Re: Quiet crackling noise at boot and after stopping music

[Hans de Goede]

Hi Takashi,

On 6-Aug-25 4:42 PM, Takashi Iwai wrote:
> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 15:57:51 +0200,
> Paul Menzel wrote:
>>
>> Dear Takashi,
>>
>>
>> Thank you for your reply.
>>
>> Am 06.08.25 um 10:46 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
>>> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:34:57 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
>>
>>>> Am 06.08.25 um 10:20 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
>>>>> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:15:08 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> I believe the Realtek refactoring caused a regression on my Intel Kaby
>>>>>> Lake laptop Dell XPS 13 9360. There is quiet crackling noise during
>>>>>> boot, when GDM is started, and also after playing music is
>>>>>> stopped. It’s reproducible with 6.16.0-04055-g14bed9bc81ba, that
>>>>>> contains the sound subsystem pull request.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 177bf8620cf4 Merge tag 'sound-6.17-rc1' of
>>>>>> git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I uploaded the run of alsa-info [1]. I try to verify with plain 6.16 later.
>>>>>
>>>>> It's likely because of the missing CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_* selections.
>>>>> Please set CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269=m and
>>>>
>>>> Indeed, I didn’t select this.
>>>>
>>>>> CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_HDMI_INTEL=m if not done yet.
>>>>
>>>> I had selected this.
>>>>
>>>>> Those were already set to default=y in the later PR for avoiding such
>>>>> a pitfall.
>>>>
>>>> I remember I tried to check which to select, and I ran `alsa-info` to
>>>> find the codecs, but only found:
>>>>
>>>>      Codec: Realtek ALC3246
>>>>
>>>> As this didn’t match to any of the offerings, I didn’t select
>>>> it. May I suggest to extend the Kconfig help texts with notes how to
>>>> determine the correct module?
>>>
>>> There are quite lots of different codec names, so we can't put all
>>> them, unfortunately...
>>
>> Understood. Then maybe just the command how to find the id, that
>> people can use to grep the correct module for? From the script
>> `alsa-info.sh`, maybe, I found:
>>
>>     $ grep -e Codec -e "Vendor Id" /proc/asound/card*/codec#*
>>     /proc/asound/card0/codec#0:Codec: Realtek ALC3246
>>     /proc/asound/card0/codec#0:Vendor Id: 0x10ec0256
>>     /proc/asound/card0/codec#2:Codec: Intel Kabylake HDMI
>>     /proc/asound/card0/codec#2:Vendor Id: 0x8086280b
>>
>> So mention `/proc/asound/card*/codec#*`?
> 
> Honestly speaking, I don't want that; it won't scale, and new codecs
> may appear at any moment.  Then we'd have to manage multiple places
> for adding or removing ids.
> 
> Maybe an alternative option would be to mark prompt of each Realtek
> codec driver with EXPERT, so that all Realtek drivers will be enabled
> (when CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK is set) unless you say you're an
> expert :)

FWIW that sounds like a good idea to me.

Regards,

Hans

Re: Quiet crackling noise at boot and after stopping music

[Takashi Iwai]

On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 18:12:20 +0200,
Paul Menzel wrote:
> 
> Dear Takashi,
> 
> 
> Thank you for your reply.
> 
> Am 06.08.25 um 16:42 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
> > On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 15:57:51 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
> 
> >> Am 06.08.25 um 10:46 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
> >>> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:34:57 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
> >> 
> >>>> Am 06.08.25 um 10:20 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
> >>>>> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:15:08 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
> >>>> 
> >>>>>> I believe the Realtek refactoring caused a regression on my Intel Kaby
> >>>>>> Lake laptop Dell XPS 13 9360. There is quiet crackling noise during
> >>>>>> boot, when GDM is started, and also after playing music is
> >>>>>> stopped. It’s reproducible with 6.16.0-04055-g14bed9bc81ba, that
> >>>>>> contains the sound subsystem pull request.
> >>>>>> 
> >>>>>> 177bf8620cf4 Merge tag 'sound-6.17-rc1' of
> >>>>>> git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound
> >>>>>> 
> >>>>>> I uploaded the run of alsa-info [1]. I try to verify with plain 6.16 later.
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> It's likely because of the missing CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_* selections.
> >>>>> Please set CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269=m and
> >>>> 
> >>>> Indeed, I didn’t select this.
> >>>> 
> >>>>> CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_HDMI_INTEL=m if not done yet.
> >>>> 
> >>>> I had selected this.
> >>>> 
> >>>>> Those were already set to default=y in the later PR for avoiding such
> >>>>> a pitfall.
> >>>> 
> >>>> I remember I tried to check which to select, and I ran `alsa-info` to
> >>>> find the codecs, but only found:
> >>>> 
> >>>>       Codec: Realtek ALC3246
> >>>> 
> >>>> As this didn’t match to any of the offerings, I didn’t select
> >>>> it. May I suggest to extend the Kconfig help texts with notes how to
> >>>> determine the correct module?
> >>> 
> >>> There are quite lots of different codec names, so we can't put all
> >>> them, unfortunately...
> >> 
> >> Understood. Then maybe just the command how to find the id, that
> >> people can use to grep the correct module for? From the script
> >> `alsa-info.sh`, maybe, I found:
> >> 
> >>      $ grep -e Codec -e "Vendor Id" /proc/asound/card*/codec#*
> >>      /proc/asound/card0/codec#0:Codec: Realtek ALC3246
> >>      /proc/asound/card0/codec#0:Vendor Id: 0x10ec0256
> >>      /proc/asound/card0/codec#2:Codec: Intel Kabylake HDMI
> >>      /proc/asound/card0/codec#2:Vendor Id: 0x8086280b
> >> 
> >> So mention `/proc/asound/card*/codec#*`?
> > 
> > Honestly speaking, I don't want that; it won't scale, and new codecs
> > may appear at any moment.  Then we'd have to manage multiple places
> > for adding or removing ids.
> 
> Sorry, I didn’t mean to add the id’s to the description, but something like:
> 
> You can check the vendor id in `/proc/asound/card*/codec#*`

Well, I'm afraid that it's still too cryptic to judge which driver to
be enabled.

> > Maybe an alternative option would be to mark prompt of each Realtek
> > codec driver with EXPERT, so that all Realtek drivers will be enabled
> > (when CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK is set) unless you say you're an
> > expert :)
> 
> At least I wouldn’t have bothered you. ;-) My gut prefers, improving
> the documentation instead of hiding it, but you are the maintainer.
> 
>     $ ls -lh
> /lib/modules/6.16.0-11852-g479058002c32/kernel/sound/hda/codecs/realtek/
> insgesamt 464K
>     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 300K  6. Aug 10:22 snd-hda-codec-alc269.ko
>     -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 164K  6. Aug 10:22 snd-hda-codec-realtek-lib.ko
> 
> The size is small compared to other drivers, but not nothing.

> 
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Paul
> 
> 
> PS: Despite just building in `CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269=m`,
> 6.16.0-11852-g479058002c32 is 172 kB bigger:
> 
>     $ du -s /lib/modules/6.16.0/kernel/sound/
>     10992	/lib/modules/6.16.0/kernel/sound/
>     $ du -s /lib/modules/6.16.0-11852-g479058002c32/kernel/sound/
>     11164	/lib/modules/6.16.0-11852-g479058002c32/kernel/sound/

The previous kernels had all Realtek codecs enabled in a single
driver, so I believe it's safer to enable all again.
If you really care about the size, you have still choices (with
CONFIG_EXPERT=y).

Hans also agreed with this approach in this thread, so this looks like
the way to go, for avoiding further stray sheep after 6.17-rc1.

I'm going to submit a patch set.


thanks,

Takashi

Re: Quiet crackling noise at boot and after stopping music

[Takashi Iwai]

On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 19:00:59 +0200,
Hans de Goede wrote:
> 
> Hi Takashi,
> 
> On 6-Aug-25 4:42 PM, Takashi Iwai wrote:
> > On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 15:57:51 +0200,
> > Paul Menzel wrote:
> >>
> >> Dear Takashi,
> >>
> >>
> >> Thank you for your reply.
> >>
> >> Am 06.08.25 um 10:46 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
> >>> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:34:57 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
> >>
> >>>> Am 06.08.25 um 10:20 schrieb Takashi Iwai:
> >>>>> On Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:15:08 +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>>> I believe the Realtek refactoring caused a regression on my Intel Kaby
> >>>>>> Lake laptop Dell XPS 13 9360. There is quiet crackling noise during
> >>>>>> boot, when GDM is started, and also after playing music is
> >>>>>> stopped. It’s reproducible with 6.16.0-04055-g14bed9bc81ba, that
> >>>>>> contains the sound subsystem pull request.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> 177bf8620cf4 Merge tag 'sound-6.17-rc1' of
> >>>>>> git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I uploaded the run of alsa-info [1]. I try to verify with plain 6.16 later.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> It's likely because of the missing CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_* selections.
> >>>>> Please set CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ALC269=m and
> >>>>
> >>>> Indeed, I didn’t select this.
> >>>>
> >>>>> CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_HDMI_INTEL=m if not done yet.
> >>>>
> >>>> I had selected this.
> >>>>
> >>>>> Those were already set to default=y in the later PR for avoiding such
> >>>>> a pitfall.
> >>>>
> >>>> I remember I tried to check which to select, and I ran `alsa-info` to
> >>>> find the codecs, but only found:
> >>>>
> >>>>      Codec: Realtek ALC3246
> >>>>
> >>>> As this didn’t match to any of the offerings, I didn’t select
> >>>> it. May I suggest to extend the Kconfig help texts with notes how to
> >>>> determine the correct module?
> >>>
> >>> There are quite lots of different codec names, so we can't put all
> >>> them, unfortunately...
> >>
> >> Understood. Then maybe just the command how to find the id, that
> >> people can use to grep the correct module for? From the script
> >> `alsa-info.sh`, maybe, I found:
> >>
> >>     $ grep -e Codec -e "Vendor Id" /proc/asound/card*/codec#*
> >>     /proc/asound/card0/codec#0:Codec: Realtek ALC3246
> >>     /proc/asound/card0/codec#0:Vendor Id: 0x10ec0256
> >>     /proc/asound/card0/codec#2:Codec: Intel Kabylake HDMI
> >>     /proc/asound/card0/codec#2:Vendor Id: 0x8086280b
> >>
> >> So mention `/proc/asound/card*/codec#*`?
> > 
> > Honestly speaking, I don't want that; it won't scale, and new codecs
> > may appear at any moment.  Then we'd have to manage multiple places
> > for adding or removing ids.
> > 
> > Maybe an alternative option would be to mark prompt of each Realtek
> > codec driver with EXPERT, so that all Realtek drivers will be enabled
> > (when CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK is set) unless you say you're an
> > expert :)
> 
> FWIW that sounds like a good idea to me.

OK, will submit a formal patch set.


thanks,

Takashi