[BUG] Only two speakers working on Dell Inspiron 7640

[augustin55]

Only the L/R front speakers are working. It is expected to have four speakers working on this laptop.

Environment :

Laptop : Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 7640 (Meteor Lake)
Kernel : 6.12.35-1
Codec : Realtek ALC3254
Amplifier : TI TAS2781 via I2C
Driver : sof-audio-pci-intel-mtl
Topology : sof-hda-generic-2ch.tplg

Issue :

Rear speakers (side speakers near keyboard) are silent.

What I've tried :

Replacing sof-hda-generic-2ch.tplg with 4ch version : System fails to load topology and reverts to dummy output.
Kernel command line override with SOF_FORCE_TPLG : Ignored.

alsa-info :

alsa-info.txt

[augustin55]

I applied the patch given there : #5404

After compilation of the kernel containing this patch, the two speakers on the "rear" (next to the keyboard) are now working.

But it lost the two "front" speakers. Is it the expected behaviour ?

If it's the case, fine because the rear speakers are having so much better sound.

So in conclusion, still 2 of the 4 speakers are working. It will be good if fixed one day.

[ranj063]

@bardliao any ideas?

[bardliao]

We probably need someone from TI's help.
Or maybe @KailangYang has some thought?

Codec: Realtek ALC3254
Address: 0
AFG Function Id: 0x1 (unsol 1)
Vendor Id: 0x10ec0295
Subsystem Id: 0x10280c96
Revision Id: 0x100002

[sinkfever]

@augustin55

Are you able to try the patch on a newer kernel? TAS2781 firmware support was only added in kernel versions 6.14 and up. When I applied the patch, I was running kernel 6.15 if I remember correctly, and I think all four speakers were playing sound (although I'm not 100% sure. If there's a way for me to check if all four speakers are playing sound, please let me know and I'd be willing to check it out to help you!)

Maybe that could be why the front speakers aren't working. (By front speakers, do you mean the speakers basically below the screen near the hinges?)

If possible, give kernel version 6.14+ a try.

[augustin55]

Yes I meant those speakers near the hinges when I said the "front" speakers.

I just tested with kernel 6.16.3 and it's still having two speakers working.

Thanks for your support!

[djmenig]

A patch that fixed my Dell 7640 2in1 is currently in openSUSE's kernel-default 6.16.8 and the mainline kernel 6.17-rc7.

[sinkfever]

A patch that fixed my Dell 7640 2in1 is currently in openSUSE's kernel-default 6.16.8 and the mainline kernel 6.17-rc7.

I can confirm this too, file directory structure seemed to have changed in 6.17's source tree, and now the speakers work without any patches.

[djmenig]

I can confirm this too, file directory structure seemed to have changed in 6.17's source tree, and now the speakers work without any patches.

Yup, the patch was accepted upstream and adjusted for 6.17's directory structure! 🤓👍

[augustin55]

Great! I'm currently in Fedora with kernel 6.16.8 but it doesn't have the patch yet like in OpenSUSE. Let's wait for the 6.17!

[augustin55]

Since Fedora includes the kernel 6.17, the good speakers are working without patch. Still two on the four speakers but much better than before. Thanks to all!