Annoying sound when restarting an HP computer running Linux Mint with Intel components.

GitHub issues - opened <[email protected]> Tue, 30 Jun 2026 01:17:23 +0200 (CEST)
Newsgroups org.alsa-project.alsa-devel
Message-ID <[email protected]>
alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf issue #801 was opened from thisangelo:

### Brief description of the problem / regression
Since the update to version `1.2.10-1ubuntu5.11` of `alsa-ucm-conf`, a loud "pop" sound is heard from the **left speaker** on my HP laptop every time the system starts up, right after the kernel loads the audio drivers.

### Hardware / System information
- **Model:** HP Laptop 14
- **Codec:** Realtek ALC236
- **SSID:** 103c:0000
- **Audio Driver:** `sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl`
- **OS:** Linux Mint (Ubuntu 24.04 Noble base)
- **Kernel:** `7.0.0-14-generic`

### Steps to reproduce
1.  Install `alsa-ucm-conf` version `1.2.10-1ubuntu5.11`.
2.  Reboot the system.
3.  Listen to the "pop" sound from the left speaker.

### Expected behavior
There should be no "pop" sound on boot. The previous version, `1.2.10-1ubuntu5`, works flawlessly and does not produce the issue.

### Workaround
- Downgrading to `alsa-ucm-conf=1.2.10-1ubuntu5` completely eliminates the "pop" sound. After downgrading, I'm holding the package with `sudo apt-mark hold alsa-ucm-conf`.

### Additional context / diff analysis
The problematic change seems to be related to the handling of the `Master Playback Switch` in the files:
- `conf.d/sof-hda-dsp/sof-hda-dsp.conf`
- `conf.d/sof-hda-dsp/sof-skl_hda_card.conf`
- `conf.d/sof-skl_hda_card/sof-hda-dsp.conf`
- `conf.d/sof-skl_hda_card/sof-skl_hda_card.conf`

**The change is:**
```diff
-   True.FixedBootSequence [
-       sysw "-/class/sound/ctl-led/speaker/card${CardNumber}/attach:Master Playback Switch"
-   ]
+   True.Macro [{ SetLED { LED="speaker" Action="detach" CtlId="Master Playback Switch" } }]

Although this condition is intended for Needle "dell-laptop", my HP laptop is also incorrectly triggering it, causing the speaker to "pop" on boot. This confirms the regression introduced in version 1.2.10-1ubuntu5.11.

Issue URL     : https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf/issues/801
Repository URL: https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-ucm-conf