How to get audio output on Ubuntu - speakers silent?

[Bo Berglund]

On Sun, 21 Feb 2021 16:36:24 +0100, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:

>On Sun, 21 Feb 2021 at 16:31, Bo Berglund <bo.berglund at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I have an HP Elitebook Workstation 8440 laptop which I used for Windows earlier.
>>
>> Since last spring I have installed Ubuntu 18.04 Mate LTS on it and mainly used
>> it via SSH (PuTTY) and VNC for admin and development tasks.
>>
>> Now I wanted to arrange a function to process video including audio on it. But
>> to my surprise when I go to Youtube using FireFox and play a video from there I
>> cannot get any audio output!
>>
>> I have tried to check the sound settings and all seems to be enabled but still
>> there is no audio output...
>>
>> What can I look for in order to fix this problem?
>
>Question: why the older release? 20.04 is the current LTS and is
>nearly a year old now.

It was installed when 18 was the current LTS (about a year ago).
Also, I have installed a lot of dev tools etc, which I don't want to be damaged,
hence I do not dare use the "do-release-upgrade" function.
I have seen Ubuntu 20 on another device and I simply just get confused by it...


>Things to try:
>• Check both built-in speakers *and* headphones
>• Try other sound sources, e.g. local MP3 files
>• Try other distros off live USB keys in case it's an Ubuntu-only issue
>• Check your firmware is current; if not, update it
See below...

>• check your mixer settings; sometimes they can set outputs as muted
>by default. I don't like MATE and don't have any MATE installs here so
>I do not know how to open the audio mixer in MATE and can't offer
>guidance
Could not find a "mixer" like on Windows...

But I found "Preferences/Sound preferences" in the menu and opened it.
On the Hardware tab I see two devices to configure:

"Built-in Audio", but that seems to be an input.
"High Definition Audio Controller" which should then be the output.

But the output device is set to Disabled/Off...

And if I click on it and look at the "Settings for the selected device" it says:
Profile: Off
And the dropdown does only contain the Off item, nothing else to choose from...

On the "Output" tab where they say "Choose a device for sound output" there is
only one item:
"Dummy output" Stereo.

>
>• Check the list history -- someone else reported analogous problems
>before, some months ago.
>

OK, I have the list in my news reader so I could probably search it, especially
if I know the approximate time, was it like November or so?


-- 
Bo Berglund
Developer in Sweden