Just this morning I finally installed Zorin 17.3 Pro on my HP Spectre x360(four months old)and loaded all my files from a back-up device. Dialed a few things in but when I went to play a video interview from my email inbox, no sound. Well, there is sound, but its so low as to not be able to make out the words.
I have another laptop next to me during this install and have been all over the web looking for a solution. Then I ran across a posting from a guy that has an HP envy and the comments seemed to run that this is a known audio hardware issue with HP laptops. Please tell me that there is a fix to this. I can't believe that Zorin hasn't solved this problem yet.
Any help would be appricated.
Jack
Check your volume controls on your computer, make sure they are turned up.
If you install Pulse Audio Volume Control, you can get more volume based control of your system.
Make sure the output you are actually using, is turned up and not muted.
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First thing I checked was the computer volume and the Pulse shows all bars maxed out(by me). I did run across a system volume page that showed the output volume at minimum and no matter what I did, I could not get the slider to move off minimum.
Can you please post the output of
"aplay -l" here?
What model is your laptop exactly?
Here is a help site from Zorin with things that you can try:
You could also try this solution (if it doesn't work remove the added options after testing).
As you have really new hardware I'd recommend to install a newer kernel, e.g. with the cappelican mainline tool. I read that installing a newer kernel solved audio problems on HP x360 with 6.8 kernel. You could try kernel 6.12 or 6.14.
Before You loaded Your Files from the BackUp Device, was the Sound working right? And did You tried it in the Live Mode before You installed Zorin? Is Your System running in Wayland or X11? You can check that in Settings>About.
Sound is low only there or everywhere? And is it a desktop app or a browser tab?
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Went ahead and reinstalled Zorin 17.3 this afternoon. The original install I skipped the Gnome software but included it this time(I also deleted several programs I knew I would never use). So, as of right now, there is no added files and when I went to sound volume, I ran the speaker test and also went to YT to try a video. Neither has audible sound. It's there, but very low. And I do have the Wayland system if that makes a difference.
Not sure what "Live Mode" is. I just downloaded the Zorin 17.3 Pro to my old desktop and used balena Etcher software to create the USB stick and just followed instructions for install.
After you had created the USB stick, you would have booted your PC from the USB. At that point you would be offered two choices - TRY or INSTALL. That is called the 'Live Mode'. Did you try the sounds before installing Zorin?
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OK, I booted from the usb stick and did the INSTALL choice. Prior to the first install of Zorin, the sound worked on the laptop. I had been watching a YT vid on making the switch to Zorin multiple times and taking notes while I was downloading Zorin Pro.
So the sound works when you boot from Live USB Stick and choose "Try Zorin?" Or do you mean that the sound has worked before with Windows?
Try to check if the sound works before removing apps because it may be possible that important dependencies also are removed and check the sound with a .deb package (e.g. brave browser)
So, You installed Zorin again and it works now, yes?
The sound function worked fine prior to Zorin install. The second install of Zorin is virgin, I've only made minor tweaks for better functionality, I have not deleted any apps yet until I figure out the sound issue. I checked all of the sound settings I could find and maxed them all out. I dug out some ear buds to see if they would work and the same problem is still there, volume level is so low that its barley audible.
Everything is functioning normally after the second install EXCEPT sound, it's there, but at a level that is barely there.
I just found and installed the Pulse app and when I went to "Volume Control" I noticed the the System Sounds slider bar was all the way to the left to the Silence position and I can't make it move. Could this be the problem?
Could You post a Picture of this?
@Jack2964 The 2 important questions above have so far gone unanswered.
We need to know which sound card/s you have to aid diagnosis.
"Live Mode" as mentioned by Ponce-de-Leon, refers to "Try Zorin" from the installation USB. i.e. Does sound work OK from "Try Zorin" mode from the USB?
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OK, after searching everywhere for the info on the sound card, the best info I could find was from HP spec sheet: DTS:X Ultra, Quad, HP Audio Boost, Poly Studio(28), thats all there was.
I never thought about sound during Zorin install and there wasn't any sounds during the install. I just went straight ahead to "Install", replacing Windows since that was my goal.
Not sure what "aplay-I" is. I tried searching on the system and got no results.
The sound was fine prior to the install of Zorin. So far, after the second install of Zorin, I have not removed any apps from the system.