No Sound on Dell Inspiron 5559 (Intel Corporation Device 9d70) with Linux

How to resolve sound issues on Dell Inspiron 5559 running Debian Jessie.

[UPDATE 2016]: ensure that you apply the fix to the Linux kernel 4.2 as it’s vulnerable to the Dirty COW (CVE-2016-5195).

System Info

  1. Laptop: Dell Inspiron 5559
  2. Sound card: Intel Corporation Device 9d70 (rev 21)
  3. Operating system: Debian Jessie 8.2 (x64)
  4. Kernel: 3.16.0 (shipped with Debian Jessie)
  5. Sound system: ALSA

The lspci snippet:

00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Device 9d70 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 32, IRQ 126
	Memory at d1220000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Memory at d1200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
	Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel

The Problem

There is no sound.

How to Resolve on Debian Jessie

Download and Compile Linux Kernel 4.2.X

Kernel needs to be updated to 4.2.X. At the time of writing, it’s 4.2.6.

# apt-get install gcc make bc ca-certificates libncurses5-dev wget xz-utils

Download full kernel source.

[UPDATE 2016]: Kernel 4.2 is EOL, you can get a copy of the 4.2.8 source here: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/

# wget https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/linux-4.2.6.tar.xz
# wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/linux-4.2.6.tar.sign

Verify signatures:

# xz -cd linux-4.2.6.tar.xz | gpg --verify linux-4.2.6.tar.sign -
gpg: Signature made Mon 09 Nov 2015 22:38:15 GMT using RSA key ID 6092693E
gpg: Can't check signature: public key not found
# gpg --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 6092693E
gpg: requesting key 6092693E from hkp server keys.gnupg.net
gpg: key 6092693E: public key "Greg Kroah-Hartman (Linux kernel stable release signing key) <[email protected]>" imported
gpg: no ultimately trusted keys found
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1  (RSA: 1)
# xz -cd linux-4.2.6.tar.xz | gpg --verify linux-4.2.6.tar.sign - 
gpg: Signature made Mon 09 Nov 2015 22:38:15 GMT using RSA key ID 6092693E
gpg: Good signature from "Greg Kroah-Hartman (Linux kernel stable release signing key) <[email protected]>"
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 647F 2865 4894 E3BD 4571  99BE 38DB BDC8 6092 693E
# tar xvfJ linux-4.2.6.tar.xz -C /usr/src
# cd /usr/src/linux-4.2.6
# make clean

Configure the kernel:

# make menuconfig

The Linux kernel configuration item CONFIG_SND_HDA_INTEL has multiple definitions, we are going to compile it as a module:

# grep HDA_INTEL /usr/src/linux-4.2.6/.config
CONFIG_SND_HDA_INTEL=m

Compile the kernel:

# make -j3

Build the kernel and its modules:

# make bzImage
# make modules

Install the kernel and its modules:

# make modules_install install

Optionally, reduce the size of initrams. Open /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf and put the following line:

MODULES=dep

Generate a new image:

# update-initramfs -u -k 4.2.6

Update grub and reboot:

# update-grub

Check the kernel version:

# uname -rvm
4.2.6 #3 SMP Sun Dec 6 13:10:16 GMT 2015 x86_64

Add Jessie Backports

Backports are recompiled packages from testing (mostly).

Create the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jessie-backports.list file and add the following line:

deb http://http.debian.net/debian jessie-backports main contrib non-free

Run update:

# apt-get update

Install the firmware-intel-sound package from Jessie backports:

# apt-get -t jessie-backports install firmware-intel-sound

Sound should be working now.

Alsa Version and Kernel Modules

These are for references:

# cat /proc/asound/version
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version k4.2.6.
# lsmod|grep snd
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     49152  1 
snd_hda_codec_realtek    73728  1 
snd_hda_codec_generic    65536  1 snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hda_intel          32768  1 
snd_hda_codec         102400  4 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_core           49152  5 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              16384  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                81920  4 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_core
snd_timer              28672  1 snd_pcm
snd                    61440  10 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
soundcore              16384  1 snd

References

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=208933
http://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SND_HDA_INTEL.html
https://packages.debian.org/sid/firmware-intel-sound

13 thoughts on “No Sound on Dell Inspiron 5559 (Intel Corporation Device 9d70) with Linux

  1. Thanks a lot for this fix Tomas. I’ve got a similar issue on a Clevo N240 JU. The sound works perfectly now.

  2. This worked for me as well, when pretty much every other try failed. I’m running a LinuxCertified laptop, so the board is different, but the soundcard is this precise model. OS is Jessie 8.3.

    Note for those coming in: just installing the firmware-intel-sound package won’t fix the problem. You need to upgrade your kernel as well.

  3. Thanks for your help, this worked for me too

    Laptop = Lenovo ThinkPad
    OS= debian Jessie 8.4
    $ lspci | grep -i audio => Audio device: Intel Corporation Device 9d70 (rev 21)
    Kernel = 3.16.0 => 4.2.8

  4. Thomas,

    Could you please tell me if I can solve the same issue on the same laptop configuration but I am running Ubuntu 14.04 LTS?

    Regards,

    Andrew

    • The 14.04.4 point release ships with the Linux kernel 4.2. Doesn’t it work out of the box? I don’t have Ubuntu, therefore cannot test I’m afraid.

  5. Hai,
    thanks for sharing this.
    i have different version of dell inspiron which is 5459 but the drivers wifi and sound is same like yours
    my question is your video graphic driver same like this http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=47D1V ? AMD Radeon R5 M335 is that correct?
    i have ATI/Radeon too and it’s just not working everytime i startx always throwing error like “no screens found”
    do you have any problem with yours?
    i’m using jessie too with update kernel 4
    thanks.

    • Hi Jonathan, I had no need for a dedicated graphics card on my laptop, it’s only got a built-in Intel card, that’s it (no Radeon).

    • oh i see, i just given up for trying to solved this drm error thing.
      if i may ask just one more, did you try your laptop with secondary or external monitor? if you do, is it work or at least detected or are there any messages in /var/log/messages or /var/log/syslog ?

      here is my lspci, and if you don’t mine if there is any clue or suggestion i would appreciate a lot.
      thanks again tomas.
      root@debnux:~# lspci
      00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 1904 (rev 08)
      00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 1916 (rev 07)
      00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d2f (rev 21)
      00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d31 (rev 21)
      00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d60 (rev 21)
      00:15.1 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d61 (rev 21)
      00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d3a (rev 21)
      00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d03 (rev 21)
      00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d10 (rev f1)
      00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d14 (rev f1)
      00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d15 (rev f1)
      00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d48 (rev 21)
      00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d21 (rev 21)
      00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Device 9d70 (rev 21)
      00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Device 9d23 (rev 21)
      01:00.0 Display controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Sun XT [Radeon HD 8670A/8670M/8690M] (rev 81)
      02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
      03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 07)

    • I do use my laptop with an external monitor, and it’s fine. I have XFCE and this is the link if you’re interested.

      My VGA controller is the same as yours, Intel Corporation Device 1916 (rev 07).

      As far as I can tell there are no official Linux drivers for Radeon R5 M335. Don’t you check them before purchasing a laptop? You really should :)

  6. Substituting “jessie-backports” by “stretch” in “apt-get -t jessie-backports install firmware-intel-sound”
    worked for me in Debian 9 Stretch – having “deb http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free” in /etc/apt/sources.list.
    So, I’ve ran:

    $ sudo apt -t stretch install firmware-intel-sound

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