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After upgrading my NVIDIA graphics drivers, I somehow lost sound on my computer, with the sound settings indicating "dummy output". As implied, sound was working prior to this change on 24.04.01. Hardware is as indicated

me@comp:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 07)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6th-10th Gen Core Processor PCIe Controller (x16) (rev 07)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 31)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 31)
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Q170/Q150/B150/H170/H110/Z170/CM236 Chipset SATA Controller [AHCI Mode] (rev 31)
00:1b.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #17 (rev f1)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev f1)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev f1)
00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev f1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Z170 Chipset LPC/eSPI Controller (rev 31)
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family Power Management Controller (rev 31)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family HD Audio Controller (rev 31)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family SMBus (rev 31)
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V (rev 31)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM204 [GeForce GTX 970] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GM204 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
03:00.0 USB controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1142 USB 3.1 Host Controller
04:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1083/1085 PCIe to PCI Bridge (rev 04)

I tried a number of potential fixes that are helpfully available online, notably :https://linuxgenie.net/fix-no-sound-issue-ubuntu/, and Fixing No Sound (Dummy Output) Issue in Ubuntu 24.04, specifically from this:

  • sudo apt install --reinstall pulseaudio
  • sudo apt install --reinstall alsa-base alsa-utils
  • sudo apt install pulseaudio
  • pulseaudio -k && sudo alsa force-reload

all of which ran successfully but did not address the issue. I also tried reverting the NVIDIA drivers to 535 (via the GUI additional drivers tool) without success. The most significant insight thus far was running:

me@comp:~$ inxi -A
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 100 Series/C230 Series Family HD Audio driver: N/A
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM204 High Definition Audio driver: N/A
  API: ALSA v: k6.8.0-58-generic status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active

which seems to indicate no sound driver?

Running

me@comp:~$ sudo modprobe snd-hda-intel
[sudo] password for andy: 
modprobe: FATAL: Module snd-hda-intel not found in directory /lib/modules/6.8.0-58-generic

seems to indicate module cannot be found, but with

me@comp:~$ dpkg -S snd-hda-intel
linux-modules-extra-6.8.0-55-generic: /lib/modules/6.8.0-55-generic/kernel/sound/pci/hda/snd-hda-intel.ko.zst
linux-modules-extra-6.8.0-57-generic: /lib/modules/6.8.0-57-generic/kernel/sound/pci/hda/snd-hda-intel.ko.zst

Does something just need configuring here? I am hitting the limits of my Linux knowledge and am reticent to poke much more without guidance! Any help appreciated.

5upercrab
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1 Answers1

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  1. Try uninstalling the NVIDIA proprietary graphics drivers with the following commands.

    sudo apt update
sudo apt-get remove '^nvidia'
sudo apt autoremove 
sudo reboot

  2. After rebooting, Ubuntu will be using the open source Nouveau drivers. Check if the sound works now.

  3. Run the following command to list the available NVIDIA proprietary graphics driver packages.

    apt search ^nvidia-driver*

  4. If the sound works with Nouveau drivers you obviously can't go back to installing the same version of the NVIDIA proprietary graphics drivers that you had installed before, so instead install an earlier version of the NVIDIA graphics drivers and check if the sound works when using this earlier version.

My sound suddenly stopped working in my computer which is a desktop running Ubuntu 24.04 with NVIDIA proprietary graphics drivers installed. I tried plugging in different speakers and my headphones, but nothing worked. When I tried plugging my headphones into the headphone jack on my monitor I was able to hear a soft sound like a whisper. I waited for one day and plugged in the headphones into the headphone jack on my computer. This time I was able to hear a low volume output from my headphones, but the speakers still didn't work. The next day the speakers started working again. This happened by itself without me changing the sound settings or configuration.

karel
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