HDMI Audio Out Not Found (Linux Mint NVIDIA GTX 1050)

Question

There are no HDMI out audio options available. None of the threads I found on this topic have worked for me. I have included links to useful tutorials I have found for others to benefit from. I selected 'Install codecs' during the Mint installation process.

High-Level System:

• OS - Mint 18.3 Cinnamon
• Kernel (latest) 4.15.2-041502-generic (Great Tutorial to update kernel here: https://itsfoss.com/upgrade-linux-kernel-ubuntu/)
• Graphics Card NVIDIA GTX 1050 - Latest Drivers Installed (390.25-0ubuntu0~gpu16.04.1) (Great Tutorial to update to latest NVIDIA drivers here: http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/home/how- ... s-in-linux)
• Mini-PC: Zotac MagnusEN51050 https://www.zotac.com/us/product/mini_p ... us-en51050

I have installed Pavucontrol but there is no HDMI output device detected, as you can see from the code below.

$ aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC892 Analog [ALC892 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

---

$ lspci | grep -i audio

enter code here00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H HD Audio (rev 31)

---

$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [PCH            ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
                      HDA Intel PCH at 0xdf520000 irq 137

---

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 591f (rev 05)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sky Lake PCIe Controller (x16) (rev 05)
00:08.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Gaussian Mixture Model
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 31)
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H Thermal subsystem (rev 31)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H CSME HECI #1 (rev 31)
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SATA controller [AHCI mode] (rev 31)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #6 (rev f1)
00:1c.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #7 (rev f1)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #8 (rev f1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller (rev 31)
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PMC (rev 31)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H HD Audio (rev 31)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SMBus (rev 31)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 1c8d (rev a1)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 07)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 07)
04:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 3165 (rev 81)
05:00.0 USB controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1142 USB 3.1 Host Controller

Answer 1

Possibly you've run into the "System setup to boot without Nvidia audio function enabled" issue as mentioned here in a post by Aaron Platner from Nvidia:

For some reason, a lot of recent laptops are set up to boot with the GPU's PCI audio function disabled. I haven't done much investigation, but you can turn on the audio function and make the kernel see it by setting the appropriate PCI configuration bit and then telling the kernel to rescan the PCI bus on the PCI bridge the GPU is connected to.

Unfortunately, the kernel won't see the audio function unless you remove the graphics function first, which temporarily breaks the console. Because of that, it works best if you write a script to do it so you don't have to SSH into the system or try to type the commands into the console blind. Obviously, you have to stop the X server first so that you can unload the NVIDIA drivers.

For example, on my system, the GPU is at 01:00.0 and its parent PCI bridge is 00:01.0. So the script I use is:

setpci -s 01:00.0 0x488.l=0x2000000:0x2000000

rmmod nvidia-drm nvidia-modeset nvidia

echo 1 > /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:01:00.0/remove

echo 1 > /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:01.0/rescan

modprobe nvidia-drm

xinit -- -retro

You can figure out your PCI topology with "lspci -t" but interpreting the results is pretty tricky.

After that, the card should show up under aplay -l. If it doesn't, something else is wrong.

I vaguely remember there was some sort of attempt to fix this without manual intervention, but I forgot the details.