This new laptop (E5-573-55U8) has only one jack for headphones+mic combo input. It's the mic I'm having trouble getting working, and yes, it's plugged in all the way.
Headphones work fine.
Internal mic works fine, internal speakers work fine.
External mic is not listed even when plugged in, nor does it take over the listed internal one or anything like that. I've verified this by recording with my hand over the external mic, and it doesn't change the recording. Tried with Web Skype, Audacity, and Zoom.
The listing is both in the normal Sound Input system prefs and PulseAudio Volume Control which I tried installing just for this issue. It shows two options under Configuration. Both are "Built-in Audio", and the first has a bunch of HDMI-related stuff for the Profile choices. The second has Analog Stereo Duplex, Input, or Output as choices. When I put Output, the one and only mic is gone from the Input Devices tab. When I put Duplex, it's there, but as I said, it's the internal. (And in apps like Zoom, for instance, the only mic available in the drop-down is Built-in Audio Analog Stereo.)
How can I get my external headset mic to show up and be generally usable?
Update I have also checked the headset hardware is not at fault by plugging it into a laptop running Windows 8. You can tell it's recording from the headset and not the laptop built-in mic because moving the mic part of the headset, which is almost silent, makes a lot of noise in a recording. Also covering the headset mic while talking makes a big difference to what is heard. (This is how I could tell the opposite on my Linux laptop.)
Update 2 Diagnostic info: https://pastebin.com/G6N6CA6Q
Update 3 While recording: https://pastebin.com/0Fkqukvh
Update 4 While recording after installing nightly Xenial driver: https://pastebin.com/78BR0Lg3
And the diff before (1) and after (2) the driver:
$ diff audio1 audio2
52,56d51
< Control: name="IEC958 Playback Con Mask", index=0, device=0
< Control: name="IEC958 Playback Pro Mask", index=0, device=0
< Control: name="IEC958 Playback Default", index=0, device=0
< Control: name="IEC958 Playback Switch", index=0, device=0
< Control: name="ELD", index=0, device=3
64c59
< Unsolicited: tag=01, enabled=1
---
> Unsolicited: tag=00, enabled=0
72,76d66
< Control: name="IEC958 Playback Con Mask", index=1, device=0
< Control: name="IEC958 Playback Pro Mask", index=1, device=0
< Control: name="IEC958 Playback Default", index=1, device=0
< Control: name="IEC958 Playback Switch", index=1, device=0
< Control: name="ELD", index=0, device=7
84c74
< Unsolicited: tag=02, enabled=1
---
> Unsolicited: tag=00, enabled=0
92,96d81
< Control: name="IEC958 Playback Con Mask", index=2, device=0
< Control: name="IEC958 Playback Pro Mask", index=2, device=0
< Control: name="IEC958 Playback Default", index=2, device=0
< Control: name="IEC958 Playback Switch", index=2, device=0
< Control: name="ELD", index=0, device=8
104c89
< Unsolicited: tag=03, enabled=1
---
> Unsolicited: tag=00, enabled=0
cat /proc/asound/card*/codec\#*into a pastebin, and edit your question with a link. If this is empty, please edit without oflspci. Same for output ofamixer -c0 contents, where0is the index if your hardware (check withaplay -l).aplay -l) it is Intel HDA, at index 1 (the first three entries were index 0 and were for HDMI, which I'm not using.) Link added as requested (has the output of cat and amixer both.)arecord/parecordto/dev/nullor whatever), no matter from what source, and again put thecodecoutput into a pastebin. Maybe one pin complex will detect the presence of the mic. Also, you have a muted mixer in the recording path I want to check out while recording.NO_PRESENCEin all other pin complexes. Next guess is that it works through one of the Vendor Defined widgets. Unfortunately, the datasheet for the Realtek ALC255 codec doesn't seem to be available online. It also seems to be used specifically by the "Fujitsu Lifebook" laptop. So while it works with the vendor-supplied Windows drivers, unless someone reverse engineers the Windows driver or finds a datasheet, in that case there's little one can do.