Attaching an alsa-info.sh report.

From Takashi Iwai:

The problem is that the digital-mic of pin 0x12 has the exclusive
connection to the selector 0x22, followed to ADC 0x11, while other
analog input pins are connected to 0x23/0x24, to ADC 0x08/0x09.

Thus, the driver requires the dynamic switching of ADCs, which isn't
fully guaranteed to work.  A similar situation is found for Conexant
codecs, and a same style hack would be needed for the realtek codec.

There is a make-shift solution until a better one is found. See attached.

Also see http://code.google.com/p/vaio-f11-linux/wiki/EnableMicrophone

http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2010-February/025142.html

I can confirm that the Sony VAIO vpcs111fm has this same pci sound device, as 
well as
the same Realtek codec.

Running gentoo-sources-2.6.32-r4 (sync'd to vanilla 2.6.32.8).  Vanilla 
upstream or
gentoo does not work at all.  Removed in-kernel ALSA, and compiled alsa-driver
1.0.22.1, and speaker output and headphone output (and jack sense) work as 
expected.

However, on-board mic, and line input do not work as described here.

Following this issue -- thanks for recording your work!

@Armando.dicianno
Here's a patch for 2.6.32.8 to get it working. To get the internal mic, use the 
patch 
posted above.

I'm sorry for the stupid question, but how can I apply the patch (from comment 
3)?

In the directory containing the source of the kernel you want to compile, run 
the
following command:

patch -p1 < realtek-pcid.patch

You should get the following output:
root@kenjiru:/usr/src/linux-2.6.33# patch -p1 < realtek-pcid.patch
patching file sound/pci/hda/patch_realtek.c

mrufino: you apply the patch to the kernel source, build the kernel, and 
install it 
as you would usually do.  e.g,

$ cd /usr/src/linux
$ cat thefile.patch | patch -p1 --dry-run
# did it look okay?
$ cat thefile.patch | patch -p1
# now build the kernel as usual ...

If you are uncomfortable building a kernel, or you rely on your distribution to 
provide you one, then you should contact the support channels for your distro.

[deleted comment]

Thank you armando.dicianno and kenjiru.ro for the help. I'll try your 
suggestions now.

[deleted comment]

I'm not sure I understand the problem right here.. the sound codec has two 
separate
ADCs, one for mic and one for other inputs. Shouldn't that show as two 
subdevices,
allowing independent capture? Patching out the external input sounds like a bad
approach to me.

Seriously guys, there is many people like me that are not live building kernel 
so 
please help us with some step by step :-). I see some one are talking about 
getoo I am 
using Ubuntu, so help me please.

Hi Jason,

Many thanks for your efforts. I would like to ask if you could please explain 
how to 
enable the line-in mic for the ALC275 card? I would like to use the internal 
mic, but 
I am not in the mood for a kernel compilation, and I need a quick solution for 
a 
working mic (otherwise I will need a quick solution for an angey girlfriend) 
and I do 
not mind using the line in for now.

@alessandro.crismani

I believe if you do _not_ apply the patch, you can use the line-in. Just make 
sure all 
the volume levels are up.

@Jason

Thanks for the info. Hiwever I still can't get the line-in to work. Maybe it's 
because I have a vaio VPCS11, and even though the sound device is the same 
something 
doesn't work on mine. I've set the volume to the maxiumum level for the capture 
interface in alsamixer and enabled it to record (it say capture in red in the 
mixer), 
however when I try to record something the mic level in gnome.sound-recorder is 
very 
low and I can't hear anything.

Thanks again for your time :)

I got an external microphone working on a VPCS11 using the suggested ALSA tool 
[ 
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/HDA_Analyzer ]. However I have to 
play with 
the "hidden" switches using the tool at every reboot: is there a way to make 
changes 
permanent or to have them applied automatically at startup (a script)?

Thanks for all the info!

If you don't apply the patch, then you get line in support. The HDA Analyzer 
simply 
toggles at runtime exactly what my patch does in the kernel. I ought to make 
some kind 
of toggle utility that mimics the specific behavior of HDA Analyzer. Someone 
remind me 
to do this someday.

Hi,

I have a VPCF11C5E, running lucid 64 bits and I too had no sound, and no mic 
working
after an installation from-scratch.

I was able to get sound working by downloading
ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/driver/alsa-driver-1.0.23.tar.bz2, the 
make/install it.

I then tried to patch the sources of alsa-driver as indicated in the patch given
above, but this does not work : the built-in mic is still unusable, and line in 
only
works when tinkering HDA_Analyser...
What puzzles me is I can confirm my patch was taken into account since
modinfo snd_hda_codec_realtek
shows the modified description I modified for that purpose...

Do I really have to patch then build the kernel itself ?
Why is patching alsa-driver not enough for all this to get working ?

Thanks for your help.

David

Hey, while trying to confirm that the module I modified was actually loaded, I 
found
this on /var/log/messages :
[   10.684516] hda_codec: ALC275: BIOS auto-probing.
[   10.685712] hda_codec: ALC275: no valid ADC found; using fallback 0x8
[   10.685805] input: HDA Digital PCBeep as 
/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/input/input9
[   10.685857] DDpatched was here
[   10.688042] HDA Intel 0000:01:00.1: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 
16
[   10.688045] hda_intel: Disable MSI for Nvidia chipset

Notice the second line, stating it uses fallback ADC 8 : the one the patch was
intended to replace by 0x11 !

Any ideas why this is ?

Ok, got built-in microphone working.

I think there is a BIOS issue here, because I had to modify one more line in
realtek.c to add ADC 0x11 to the list of all ADC :
 static hda_nid_t alc269_adc_candidates[] = {
-   0x08, 0x09, 0x07,
+   0x11, 0x08, 0x09, 0x07,
 };
As I understand the source code, this array is used to setup a configuration 
from
BIOS. The 2 arrays your patch modifies are used only if this default config 
fails.
So my guess is that on your vaio, the BIOS does not provide any useful initial 
config
and leads to using hardcoded adc ; while on my F11, the BIOS somehow fills in 
the
configuration and skips using alc269_adc_nids.
(Am I clear enough here ? ;-)

As I'm completely new in all this alsa affair, my modification is almost 
certainly a
miserable workaround ; I only wanted to make sure I was not going nuts with 
everybody
having a working mic and I alone left with silence !

I'm still left with one remaining problem : the mic is mute by default, and I 
can't
help it but running HDA_Analyser ! Isn't there another way to enable the mic by 
default ?

Hope all this helps.

I took a slightly different approach to the sound and microphone problem. I've 
installed 
the backports package and than applied the patch to the alsa-driver supplied by 
the 
backports package.

Here are the details:
http://kenjiru.ro/blog/2010/05/enabling-the-sound-and-microphone-for-sony-vaio-o
n-
ubuntu

Ok, so here is another way to somehow apply Jason's patch.

May I suggest that all reporters mention their exact F11 model ?

Mine is a VPCF11C5E, and apparently the execution flow in my case is such that 
this
patch doesn't work.

I had a similar issue with the backlight-not-working : solutions given for 
various
F11 models didn't work for me and I had to change a constant bitmask to get 
through...

HI all.

I'm trying to find a fix for the internal mic not working on a Sony Vaio 
VPCF116FX
with Ubuntu 10.4 ("Lucid") 64 bit.

There seems to be a fix that requires recompiling the kernel, but as I'm new to
GNU/Linux I'm wondering if there's any kind of fix---even a temporary one---that
doesn't require recompiling the kernel. Compiling a driver I'd be game to try. 
(I
should add that I'm comfortable with the command line generally, just too naive 
about
Linux and the kernel and I don't know...)

I don't mind temporarily losing the external input, though best would be if it 
might
be at least possible to switch between them.

Any help would be much appreciated!!!

Thanks.

Hi all. 

I'm very new to Linux but learning as I go. In any event, I have Vaio VPCF1 
running 
Lucid with updated .33 kernel. Sound worked right out of box but mic is 
different 
story. I'm trying to follow direction at the link provided above 
(http://kenjiru.ro/blog/2010/05/enabling-the-sound-and-microphone-for-sony-vaio-
on-
ubuntu) and it's not going anywhere. Would the fact that I'm using 2.6.33 
instead of 
1.6.32 prevent me from succeeding? 
Thanks in advance and best regards!

Hi everyone I followed the instructions given by Wasson and they did the trick 
for the mic but now I can hear sound just from ONE speaker, (the right one) the 
left one is dead.
Any ideas? 

Hi ciliaflubio,

I have just the same problem!
Using dev ppa for ubuntu sound finally made mic work, but turned off the left 
speaker completely (it just doesn't work).

Even more, uninstalling dev drivers haven't enabled the left speaker (although 
I haven't tried reinstalling all the backports and some other stuff that I'd 
had before).

Interestingly but 3.5 analog jack out works in stereo mode fine, so that's 
something about built-in speakers specifically...

If someone finds out how to bring both speakers back, please let us know.

wassons and britrock: thanks for the tips.  I followed the second half of the 
instructions:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-alsa-driver-modules-$(uname -r)
sudo reboot

And now have external mic and stereo sound through headphones (have not tested 
anything else).  I have Sony Vaio VPCF123FX and ubuntu 10.10

Still no luck with left speaker on 10.10 but quite surprisingly I got internal 
mic perfectly working on 10.04 kernel 
2.6.32-25 doing the following:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-alsa-driver-modules-$(uname -r)
sudo reboot

Don't know if this fixed the external mic  too (I don't have a mic to test 
with) 

By the way left speaker dead in 10.04 as well...

Did anyone find a way to recover function of the left speaker? 

No, not yet.
The issue has been reported on launchpad's issue tracker, but no news since 
then.

Ubuntu 10.10 + Kernel 2.6.36 - no any problem with speakers and mic.

noel77,

which alsa drivers do you have? Default ones?

i confirm the comment of noel77 + 2.6.36 no problem 
didn t work with 2.6.35

[deleted comment]

Hi Noel & Bourgeotc, I did the following procedures to install kernel 2.6.36 
but it does not work. Can explain how you did?
Downloaded 
linux-headers-2.6.36-020636_2.6.36-020636.201010210905_all.deb
linux-headers-2.6.36-020636-generic_2.6.36-020636.201010210905_amd64.deb
linux-image-2.6.36-020636-generic_2.6.36-020636.201010210905_amd64.deb
Installed the files in the same order then sudo update-grub, and Reboot

some test 
with kernel 2.6.36
int mic working but with very bad quality
ext mic working bad too ,

with 2.6.37 
same problem with mic and left speaker doesn t work

is the quality of the sound with the patch is good???

Ok,

after a couple of recent updates I'm finally having internal mic working along 
with both(!) output audio channels working as well. I'm using ubuntu sound dev 
ppa for alsa driver modules.

linux-alsa-driver-modules: 2.6.35-24.201012261600
linux-image-generic:       2.6.35-24.42

[deleted comment]

Hi all,

I got it working :
- used alsa-compile.sh to grab and compile alsa-driver as of yesterday
- replaced alsa-kmirror/pci/hda/patch_realtek.c with the file from :
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=7039
c74cb54652ba6d726ad4d2a42dbac95a97be
- recompiled, installed modules

Internal mic is OK, both speakers work.
This is on a VPCF11C5E, lucid 2.6.32-27 64 bits

Please note : before testing a patch, power down your machine, then reboot it. 
Simply rebooting is not always enough : I tested the last tarball from 
alsa-project.org, which makes the mic work, but turns the left speaker off. 
Then I used the last kernel.org commit, recompiled, installed, rebooted : 
didn't work : left speaker still mute.
I then powered down the PC : and then it worked.

By the way, I also tried 2.6.35-rc1 for lucid : both speakers were working, but 
no mic.

Hope it'll help.

David

[deleted comment]

These problems have been fixed upstream. Wait for your distro to get the proper 
kernel or bug them. This issue doesn't need any more chatter here. Bother your 
distro about it.

I've got everything working really quickly following some advices from above. 

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-alsa-driver-modules-$(uname -r)
sudo reboot

I'm using Ubuntu 10.10 and kernel 2.6.35-25-generic.

Coment 73 works for me too, thanks!!
I have a VAIO VPCF11D4E, Ubuntu 10.04, kernel 2.6.32-28-generic

Same here (#73):
Ubuntu 10.10 with kernel 2.6.35-25 on VPCF11M1E

Any idea for how to make internal microphone working with fedora 14 kernel 
2.6.35?

For ubuntu users, it works fine using the instructions described here: 
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/InstallingLinuxAlsaDriverModules

Took that from here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Laptop/Sony/Vaio/FSeries/Maverick#Sound

post 73 is working for me, but the left speaker isn't working anymore.

Sony Vaio VPCF11S1E kernel 2.6.35-22

any suggestions???

Just as an update, the mic is working perfectly out of the box for me under 
Kubuntu 11.04 with kernel 3.0.0-rc5.

Vaio VPCS11E7E, at first had same issue, now mic is working but it is very very 
noisy. Upgrading alsa to 10.0.24 does not fix the noise but seems to disable 
external speakers; I switched back to 10.0.23.

Of course I exclude mic and hw problems (it works on win).

May this be related to the same bug? Should I open a new issue instead?
I can give a shell on my laptop if some developer wants to play with the hw.

I believe the noise has to do with the fact that it's picking up sound
from the fans. Here are the volume settings (in alsamixer) I've used
to reduce noise:

Internal Mic Boost: 22
Capture: 45

That lets my normal speaking voice be as loud as possible without
distortion whilst minimizing noise. YMMV.

There's a fix which has worked for me for every version of Ubuntu since I got 
my Vaio S12:
Edit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and add the line "options snd-hda-intel 
position_fix=2" at the end.

Source: http://osdir.com/ml/ubuntu-bugs/2011-05/msg41159.html

VPCF11S1R fedora_13_2.6.34.9-69.fc13.x86_64
(Russian Fedora remix http://www.russianfedora.ru/) - had to edit 
vaio-f11-mic-linein-linux-2.6.35.patch, attached, instruction 
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/CustomKernel section "Prepare Build Files" 
point 4.
As well as Nvidia and buttons - 1. for example 
http://www.if-not-true-then-false.com/2009/howto-install-nvidia-driver-on-fedora
-and-just-disable-the-nouveau-driver/ 2.attached /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Everything works fine!