Fixing Audio for Arch Laptop

Problem Overview

ASUS Zenbook laptops with Ryzen APUs and Realtek ALC294 audio codec suffer from no analog speaker output on Arch Linux with PipeWire. Hardware detects fine (aplay -l shows Card 1 Device 0: ALC294 Analog), speaker-test -D plughw:1,0 requires manual codec unmuting, but PipeWire/WirePlumber never creates ALC294 playback sinks—only HDMI and microphone appear in wpctl status. HiFi profiles fail due to broken port detection; Pro Audio profile works reliably.

Root Causes

1. ALC294 Codec Mute State: Realtek laptop codecs default to hardware-muted speakers post-boot. Windows firmware handles unmuting; Linux needs hda-verb on pins 0x20/0x21/0x1b.

2. Ryzen HD Audio Controller: AMD ACP (Audio Co-Processor) confuses WirePlumber—device appears as both capture (mic works) and potential playback, but analog profile never activates.

3. WirePlumber Port Detection: HiFi profiles expect jack sensing/speaker switching that ALC294 doesn’t implement properly, causing sink creation to fail silently.

4. ASUS Firmware Quirks: Fast Boot (UEFI + Windows) leaves codec in inconsistent state; Linux needs explicit pin control.

Complete Working Solution

  1. Install tools
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sudo pacman -S alsa-utils alsa-tools alsa-firmware sof-firmware pavucontrol
  1. Unmute codec (critical for ALC294)
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alsamixer -c 1

Enable it so it shows OO instead of MM, with pressing m. (Muting and unmuting).

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sudo hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC1D0 0x20 SET_PIN_WIDGET_CONTROL 0x40
sudo hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC1D0 0x21 SET_PIN_WIDGET_CONTROL 0x40
sudo hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC1D0 0x1b SET_PIN_WIDGET_CONTROL 0x40
  1. Test ALSA directly
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speaker-test -c 2 -D plughw:1,0 -t sine -f 1000  # Hears tone
  1. Persist hda-verb via udev
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echo 'ACTION=="change", SUBSYSTEM=="sound", KERNEL=="card1", RUN+="/usr/bin/hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC1D0 0x20 SET_PIN_WIDGET_CONTROL 0x40"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/90-alc294.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger

  1. Set Pro Audio profile (key step) pavucontrol → Configuration → “Ryzen HD Audio Controller” → Pro Audio

  2. Restart PipeWire

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systemctl --user restart pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber
  1. Verify
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wpctl status  # ALC294 sink appears
pw-play /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav  # Speakers work

Overview

ALSA (hw:1,0) → [hda-verb unmute] → speaker-test WORKS ↓ PipeWire → [Pro Audio profile bypasses port detection] → ALC294 sink created → Apps play through speakers

Pro Audio uses raw ALSA hw:1,0 access with manual FL/FR channel mapping—no reliance on ALC294’s broken jack sensing or port routing that breaks HiFi profiles. Full 24-bit/48kHz quality preserved.

Permanent Configuration

/etc/udev/rules.d/90-alc294.rules ensures codec unmuting on every boot. Pro Audio profile in pavucontrol persists via PipeWire session state. Reboot-safe.