8

I've recently installed Ubuntu 14.04. When I plug my headphones in I hear an annoying noise . The noise is not influenced by the volume level as well as the software used. It is just always there. Any idea? I have a Dell M3800. I tried different kind of headphones but the white noise is there. This might help:

    card 0: HDMI [HDA Intel HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: HDMI [HDA Intel HDMI], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: HDMI [HDA Intel HDMI], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC668 Analog [ALC668 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Thank you in advance.

kilop
  • 151

4 Answers4

8

They say that it is fixed in kernel 3.16 so try this first.

sudo apt-get install linux-generic-lts-utopic

It didn't work for me so i tried the workaround found in the link below and that worked for me.

http://xps13-9333.appspot.com/#background_noise

mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
wget -O /usr/local/bin/white_noise_fix.py http://xps13-9333.appspot.com/root/usr/local/bin/white_noise_fix.py
chmod 744 /usr/local/bin/white_noise_fix.py

After that, disable the power saving mode of the audio card to prevent pop noises, electrical noises and, more importantly, the white noise, which otherwise will come back:

mkdir -p /etc/pm/config.d
echo INTEL_AUDIO_POWERSAVE=false > /etc/pm/config.d/snd_hda_intel

More information about the bug can be found here.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1315770

Community
  • 1
Mikael Svensson
  • 191
6

It can be Alsa boost or more likely you are using wireless mouse or some usb or wireless port that is right next to headphones jack and headphones intercept interference. The solution is to specially separate the jack and interference device. In my case it was wireless mouse and I just took usb extension cord + wireless Ian hub for mouse and connected it to use port furthest from headphones. Hope this helps

Dmytro Karabash
  • 61
  • 1
  • 1
2

I had a similar problem, since I couldn´t find an answer for my problem I started synaptic and erased "alsa-base" and "alsa-utils". Reboot, no background sound anymore. Heaven. Hope it works

locke
  • 21
0

I haven't addressed the root of the problem, but just kind of made it a virtually unnoticable.

So, the hack is quite simple. As the problem persists only when there is no playback, I came up with a hack to always have a playback! Now, this should be true only when the headphones are connected. And the playback should stop when headphones are removed.

Follow these simple steps-

Step #1: Install mplayer and configure it. (mplayer because I am very sure that I won't be using it for playing music ever!)

sudo apt install mplayer    
nano ~/.mplayer/config

type in that file-> lirc=no

Step #2: Download this mp3 file from here (silence-10sec.mp3)

Step #3: Create a folder in home directory and name it .hush
Copy the mp3 file in your .hush directory 

cp ~/Downloads/silence-10sec.mp3 ~/.hush/

In that folder, create a script file and name it silence.sh
Copy paste this code in the script file.

#!/bin/bash

plugged="jack/headphone HEADPHONE plug"
unplugged="jack/headphone HEADPHONE unplug"

acpi_listen | while IFS= read -r event;
do
    if [ "$event" == "$plugged" ]
    then
       mplayer -really-quiet -loop 0 ~/.scripts/silence-10sec.mp3 &
    elif [ "$event" == "$unplugged" ]
    then
       pkill -f mplayer
    fi
done

Make it executable with the command chmod +755 silence.sh

Step #4: Type startup applications in the Dash and add the path of silence.sh script to it.

enter image description here

So, basically what we are doing is listening to events of headphones been connected and disconnected and playing or stopping the blank mp3 file in a loop. Now, I have used mplayer because I know that I am never gonna use that for any other purpose and killing its process is completely safe for me.

thewebjackal
  • 658