Since installing Zorin OS (based on Ubuntu Jammy), I have no audio functionality on my INSYS 11.6p GW1-W116 N4020 laptop. Despite extensive troubleshooting, the kernel consistently reports "Unknown kernel command line parameters" for various boot options, which appears to be preventing the Sound Open Firmware (SOF) audio driver from fully initializing.
Problem Details:
No Audio Output:aplay -l consistently reports "no soundcards found..." (nenhuma placa de som encontrada...). alsamixer also fails to open, stating "cannot find card '0'".
Kernel Command Line Parsing Error: The primary symptom in dmesg is the persistent error message: Unknown kernel command line parameters "splash sof_debug BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-XX-generic", will be passed to user space. This error occurs regardless of how the parameters are set (via GRUB, manual GRUB edit, or modprobe options) and even affects fundamental parameters like "splash" and the BOOT_IMAGE path.
Hardware:
Laptop Model: INSYS 11.6p GW1-W116 N4020
Processor: Intel Celeron N4020 (Gemini Lake Refresh)
6.8.0-57-generic (older version, tested from GRUB advanced options)
The issue persists identically on both kernel versions.
Troubleshooting Steps Already Performed:
Modified /etc/default/grub: Set GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash snd_intel_dspcfg.dsp_driver=1 sof_debug".
Updated GRUB: Ran sudo update-grub multiple times.
Manual GRUB Edit at Boot: Edited the linux line at GRUB menu (E key) to ensure correct spacing and parameters (ro quiet splash snd_intel_dspcfg.dsp_driver=1 sof_debug). The dmesg command line confirmed the edit was applied, but the "Unknown parameters" error persisted.
Reinstalled Kernel: Reinstalled linux-image-6.8.0-59-generic, linux-modules-6.8.0-59-generic, and linux-headers-6.8.0-59-generic via sudo apt install --reinstall.
Forced Module Option: Created /etc/modprobe.d/snd_intel_dspcfg.conf with options snd_intel_dspcfg dsp_driver=1, then ran sudo update-initramfs -u -k all.
Checked BIOS/UEFI Settings: Confirmed there are no specific "OS Type" or "Audio Type" settings, and integrated audio is enabled.
alsa-info.sh analysis: Showed that relevant SOF modules (snd_sof, snd_sof_pci_intel_apl, snd_soc_es8316, snd_intel_dspcfg, etc.) are listed as loaded, but ALSA still reports no sound cards, indicating modules are loading but not successfully initializing the hardware.
In my attempt to help you I have performed many different websearches re no sound cards etc with no real solutions found.
I did see in your alsa-info result, "PCI Soundcards installed in the system" listed your sound card. But above that "Soundcards recognised by ALSA" shows no sound cards.
I have a feeling you may need a higher kernel version for your hardware. If you are interested in trying that, I believe there are tutorial threads that will help you install a different and later kernel.
Did You added the above in /etc/default/grub with a sudo nano Command? If Yes, did You pressed ctrl+o to save, Enter to confirm and ctrl+x to exit and then in the Terminal sudo update-grub ?
Heres's what i have not "heard" after the sound card was found, clicking on the test audio the sound indeed plays but it is extremely low and the audio is already at 100%. Is there a way to fix that?
EDIT: i have ran alsamixer and found that there was another Headset instead of master which was set to 2 volume. After setting to 100% everything runs now perfectly. The solution was a combo of both answers in my case. Thanks to those that have helped.
If sound is now working correctly, can you list the combination of commands that worked and then mark that post as Solution , which may in future help others.
Me and my big fingers... well i found out that there was still an issue. the sound was not keeping its value after rebooting. it always going back to Zero. so i had to go to alsamixer to fix that and i even used the store command for alsa. then i had the brilliant idea to purge pulseaudio... oh boy it broke my gui. i managed to recover it but now, nothing... it is always dummy output even if it shows the results on aplay -l the sound just broke. i tried multiple steps to try to get it working again but it just doesn't want to come back... sorry for your lost time.
Solution , which may in future help others.