Internal microphone not working on Acer C720P Chromebook

Hardware Support
1

(I had originally necroposted to another post but then decided to post separately since my issue is a little different: My internal microphone doesn't work (ZORIN OS LITE )!)

I'm having an internal mic issue with Zorin OS Lite 16.2 on an old Acer C720P Chromebook.

The Sound Recorder seems to want to use the "Monitor" for the microphone but it doesn't work. But I get audio detection if I choose the "Microphone (unplugged)" option instead of the "Internal Microphone" option. Weird.
Another weird thing is that I can't set the Internal Microphone as a fallback device only - it always chooses the monitor of the device as well.

I tried making the alsamixer adjustments noted in the post above (Mic Boost, Capture, Internal Mic Boost all at 100 and not muted). I tried setting the left channel of the "Internal Microphone" to use the right channel only and vice versa.
I also tried adding "model=auto" to the options line in the alsa-base.conf and rebooted.

The only thing that seems to work is if I start a recording, then quickly flip to pavucontrol and change the input to "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo" instead of "Monitor of Built-in Audio Analog Stereo". This is not practical for things like Zoom and such.

I think if the "Monitor of..." option was not present, it might work but I don't know how to delete such entries.

Any ideas?

2

LOL! This happens to me quite often. I looked and looked and tried various things leading me to post to a forum for help. I then find the solution right after posting!

Here's the answer from here:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Chrome_OS_devices#Fixing_audio

For my Chromebook C720P, I edited the file below:
/etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf

to say this:
options snd_hda_intel model=,alc283-dac-wcaps

And then bingo, the internal mic works!

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3

Glad to hear you fixed the issue.
Could you please 'Mark' the post that helped as "Solution".
Or add a post explaining your Solution.
This lets Others know they can find a solution here that may help them.
Solution pic

Thank you.

4

Thanks @nraygun , Welcome to the community!
Could i ask you to Edit your profile, as to which Edition of Zorin OS your using.
This save us asking in any future Topic's you may have.
Thanks Again.
Ocka

2 Likes
5

Thanks!
I added Lite to my profile.
So far, I have been EXTREMELY impressed with Zorin!
From the default look and feel, the included apps, and the support, it's been great so far.
And I was just about to pull the trigger on a new travel laptop but this distro has breathed new life into a very old Chromebook.

3 Likes