[PATCH] snd_hda_codec_realtek: enable ALC271 for Acer laptops

[PATCH] snd_hda_codec_realtek: enable ALC271 for Acer laptops

[Guido Trentalancia]

This quick fix to the Realtek HD Audio driver enables configurable support for the ALC271 type commonly found on some Acer laptops (e.g. Aspire 5745G).

Normally, the driver would fall back to BIOS auto-probing. However, the "model=acer" parameter can be passed on the boot command line to enable such support. Otherwise, it is quite common that the internal microphone does not work.

--- linux-2.6.38.2-original/sound/pci/hda/patch_realtek.c	2011-04-07 17:56:25.053046707 +0200
+++ linux-2.6.38.2/sound/pci/hda/patch_realtek.c	2011-04-07 19:03:00.975706888 +0200
@@ -15028,6 +15028,7 @@ static const char * const alc269_models[
 	[ALC269_DMIC]			= "laptop-dmic",
 	[ALC269_FUJITSU]		= "fujitsu",
 	[ALC269_LIFEBOOK]		= "lifebook",
+	[ALC271_ACER]			= "acer",
 	[ALC269_AUTO]			= "auto",
 };
  

Re: [PATCH] snd_hda_codec_realtek: enable ALC271 for Acer laptops

[Takashi Iwai]

At Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:38:27 +0200,
Guido Trentalancia wrote:
> 
> This quick fix to the Realtek HD Audio driver enables configurable support for the ALC271 type commonly found on some Acer laptops (e.g. Aspire 5745G).
> 
> Normally, the driver would fall back to BIOS auto-probing. However, the "model=acer" parameter can be passed on the boot command line to enable such support. Otherwise, it is quite common that the internal microphone does not work.

Well, adding the quirk label is fine, but this is no real fix.
I can apply it with a different subject.

Anyway, it's not such quite common that the machine doesn't work
without the model quirk any longer :)  In most cases, we want to avoid
the model quirk but fixing the pin configuration instead.

If the auto-parser doesn't work as is, please give alsa-info.sh output
on your machine, and give the exact description what doesn't actually
work.  Then we can fix in a better way.


thanks,

Takashi

> --- linux-2.6.38.2-original/sound/pci/hda/patch_realtek.c	2011-04-07 17:56:25.053046707 +0200
> +++ linux-2.6.38.2/sound/pci/hda/patch_realtek.c	2011-04-07 19:03:00.975706888 +0200
> @@ -15028,6 +15028,7 @@ static const char * const alc269_models[
>  	[ALC269_DMIC]			= "laptop-dmic",
>  	[ALC269_FUJITSU]		= "fujitsu",
>  	[ALC269_LIFEBOOK]		= "lifebook",
> +	[ALC271_ACER]			= "acer",
>  	[ALC269_AUTO]			= "auto",
>  };
>   
> 

Re: [PATCH] snd_hda_codec_realtek: enable ALC271 for Acer laptops

[Guido Trentalancia]

Hello Takashi.

On Thu, 2011-04-14 at 11:45 +0200, Takashi Iwai wrote:
> At Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:38:27 +0200,
> Guido Trentalancia wrote:
> > 
> > This quick fix to the Realtek HD Audio driver enables configurable support for the ALC271 type commonly found on some Acer laptops (e.g. Aspire 5745G).
> > 
> > Normally, the driver would fall back to BIOS auto-probing. However, the "model=acer" parameter can be passed on the boot command line to enable such support. Otherwise, it is quite common that the internal microphone does not work.
> 
> Well, adding the quirk label is fine, but this is no real fix.
> I can apply it with a different subject.

Yes, it wasn't meant to be a definitive fix. This is because I am no
expert in that specific driver. I just bought the Acer Aspire 5745G and
found that the internal microphone was not working. So I tried to find a
quick fix and when I found it I thought other users might benefit from
it. As simple as that.

The idea was more or less to have that applied as soon as possible so
that things are not broken for that class of users and then have
somebody with more expertise in the driver to fix it in the proper way
when possible.

> Anyway, it's not such quite common that the machine doesn't work
> without the model quirk any longer :)  In most cases, we want to avoid
> the model quirk but fixing the pin configuration instead.
> 
> If the auto-parser doesn't work as is, please give alsa-info.sh output
> on your machine, and give the exact description what doesn't actually
> work.  Then we can fix in a better way.

That's fine. What is broken is the internal microphone (this was stated
somewhere in the original message). In practice, I think the pin
configuration fails (vanilla 2.6.38.2).

The rest will happen off-list.

Thanks,

Guido

> thanks,
> 
> Takashi
> 
> > --- linux-2.6.38.2-original/sound/pci/hda/patch_realtek.c	2011-04-07 17:56:25.053046707 +0200
> > +++ linux-2.6.38.2/sound/pci/hda/patch_realtek.c	2011-04-07 19:03:00.975706888 +0200
> > @@ -15028,6 +15028,7 @@ static const char * const alc269_models[
> >  	[ALC269_DMIC]			= "laptop-dmic",
> >  	[ALC269_FUJITSU]		= "fujitsu",
> >  	[ALC269_LIFEBOOK]		= "lifebook",
> > +	[ALC271_ACER]			= "acer",
> >  	[ALC269_AUTO]			= "auto",
> >  };
> >   
> > 
> 

Re: [PATCH] snd_hda_codec_realtek: enable ALC271 for Acer laptops

[Guido Trentalancia]

Hello again Takashi.

On Thu, 2011-04-14 at 11:45 +0200, Takashi Iwai wrote:
> At Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:38:27 +0200,
> Guido Trentalancia wrote:
> > 
> > This quick fix to the Realtek HD Audio driver enables configurable support for the ALC271 type commonly found on some Acer laptops (e.g. Aspire 5745G).
> > 
> > Normally, the driver would fall back to BIOS auto-probing. However, the "model=acer" parameter can be passed on the boot command line to enable such support. Otherwise, it is quite common that the internal microphone does not work.
> 
[cut]
> 
> Anyway, it's not such quite common that the machine doesn't work
> without the model quirk any longer :)  In most cases, we want to avoid
> the model quirk but fixing the pin configuration instead.

Actually I have to disagree on the "not quite common". Just use the
right keywords (including "microphone") along with a good web search
engine and you'll discover plenty of reports for this chipset including
formal bug reports on several distributions.

Regards,

Guido

Re: [PATCH] snd_hda_codec_realtek: enable ALC271 for Acer laptops

[Takashi Iwai]

At Thu, 14 Apr 2011 19:08:47 +0200,
Guido Trentalancia wrote:
> 
> Hello again Takashi.
> 
> On Thu, 2011-04-14 at 11:45 +0200, Takashi Iwai wrote:
> > At Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:38:27 +0200,
> > Guido Trentalancia wrote:
> > > 
> > > This quick fix to the Realtek HD Audio driver enables configurable support for the ALC271 type commonly found on some Acer laptops (e.g. Aspire 5745G).
> > > 
> > > Normally, the driver would fall back to BIOS auto-probing. However, the "model=acer" parameter can be passed on the boot command line to enable such support. Otherwise, it is quite common that the internal microphone does not work.
> > 
> [cut]
> > 
> > Anyway, it's not such quite common that the machine doesn't work
> > without the model quirk any longer :)  In most cases, we want to avoid
> > the model quirk but fixing the pin configuration instead.
> 
> Actually I have to disagree on the "not quite common". Just use the
> right keywords (including "microphone") along with a good web search
> engine and you'll discover plenty of reports for this chipset including
> formal bug reports on several distributions.

You missed the point.  What's not common is that you MUST give the
model quirk to resolve the problem.  In most cases, it's just a wrongly
set pin configuration, or a parser bug.  For both of which, the proper
solution is not to pass or create a model quirk.

Looking for bugs by google easy.  But looking for bug fixes without
proper information isn't easy.


Takashi

Re: [PATCH] snd_hda_codec_realtek: enable ALC271 for Acer laptops

[Takashi Iwai]

At Thu, 14 Apr 2011 18:59:27 +0200,
Guido Trentalancia wrote:
> 
> Hello Takashi.
> 
> On Thu, 2011-04-14 at 11:45 +0200, Takashi Iwai wrote:
> > At Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:38:27 +0200,
> > Guido Trentalancia wrote:
> > > 
> > > This quick fix to the Realtek HD Audio driver enables configurable support for the ALC271 type commonly found on some Acer laptops (e.g. Aspire 5745G).
> > > 
> > > Normally, the driver would fall back to BIOS auto-probing. However, the "model=acer" parameter can be passed on the boot command line to enable such support. Otherwise, it is quite common that the internal microphone does not work.
> > 
> > Well, adding the quirk label is fine, but this is no real fix.
> > I can apply it with a different subject.
> 
> Yes, it wasn't meant to be a definitive fix. This is because I am no
> expert in that specific driver. I just bought the Acer Aspire 5745G and
> found that the internal microphone was not working. So I tried to find a
> quick fix and when I found it I thought other users might benefit from
> it. As simple as that.
> 
> The idea was more or less to have that applied as soon as possible so
> that things are not broken for that class of users and then have
> somebody with more expertise in the driver to fix it in the proper way
> when possible.

Yes, so I'm not against to expose the model name in the list.
What I wondered is just the disparity between the subject and the
patch you posted.

> > Anyway, it's not such quite common that the machine doesn't work
> > without the model quirk any longer :)  In most cases, we want to avoid
> > the model quirk but fixing the pin configuration instead.
> > 
> > If the auto-parser doesn't work as is, please give alsa-info.sh output
> > on your machine, and give the exact description what doesn't actually
> > work.  Then we can fix in a better way.
> 
> That's fine. What is broken is the internal microphone (this was stated
> somewhere in the original message). In practice, I think the pin
> configuration fails (vanilla 2.6.38.2).

Did you try 2.6.39?  How did you test the internal mic at all?
Which sound backend is being used on your system?

As the first start, please give alsa-info.sh output (run with
--no-upload option) without model option.  This will give more
information of your system.


thanks,

Takashi