(SOLVED!) Unacceptably Low Volume on Braswell Chromebook (CYAN)

[antxn7703]

EDIT! A HUGE shoutout to OGB who shared a fabulous and super simple solution to my problem. It seems as though my device is not the only affected one. Thank you so much to @Oldgreybeard ! Hello I recently installed Gallium OS 3.1 on my chromebook after searching for weeks and weeks for a linux distro that would work. I tried Ubuntu but that had many bugs and half the stuff wasnt working. I installed gallium and gnome on top of it, since im not a huge fan of XFCE.

So anyway back to the problem: my audio works partially, bith speakers works and headphones work, but at VERY low volume. Also, wheni plug in headphones, it doesnt detect them,so i have to go into settings and manually change the output.

I have an Acer Chromebook r11 with intel N3160, 4GB ram, 32GB storage. I'm running Gallium Os 3.1 with Gnome 3 and lightdm on top. I installed MrChromebox's firmware for my device (Full firmware)

If anyone has a workaround for this issue that is preexisting, that would mean the world to me. If not, i hope this issue gets fixed quickly, since i love that this software gave my nearing 'end of life' chromebook a new breath of life.

A

[vrsl2020]

I have the same problem on a acer chromebook r11.

[Oldgreybeard]

Here is link that helped me. I had the same volume issue after recently installing GalliumOS on a HP Chromebook 14 G4 (KIP - Intel Bay Trail). I'm happy to say that everything works wonderfully and I could not be more pleased with the OS. I only wished I would have installed it sooner. There is a lot of info providing in the link, but I only had to do part of it. This is what I did:

Modify HiFi.conf now.

sudo nano /usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtmax98090/HiFi.conf

Scroll down using the down arrow till you find two lines like the two below:

cset "name='Headphone Volume' 10" cset "name='Speaker Volume' 10"

Move with the arrows keys and modify the values - in my case are good the following values:

cset "name='Headphone Volume' 25" cset "name='Speaker Volume' 32"

Save the modified HiFi.conf by hitting:

ctrl+x

y

enter

Close the terminal and restart the system.

Test if the sound level is good for you now, if it is not open again HiFi.conf and modify the values.

I hope this helps, OGB

[hemzer]

Same issue here after an update I did yesterday. Using a ASUS Chromebox

[saltedcoffii]

How did you install gnome? I broke my install a couple times, maybe I'm doing it wrong.

[antxn7703]

Here is link that helped me. I had the same volume issue after recently installing GalliumOS on a HP Chromebook 14 G4 (KIP - Intel Bay Trail). I'm happy to say that everything works wonderfully and I could not be more pleased with the OS. I only wished I would have installed it sooner. There is a lot of info providing in the link, but I only had to do part of it. This is what I did:

Modify HiFi.conf now.

sudo nano /usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtmax98090/HiFi.conf

Scroll down using the down arrow till you find two lines like the two below:

cset "name='Headphone Volume' 10" cset "name='Speaker Volume' 10"

Move with the arrows keys and modify the values - in my case are good the following values:

cset "name='Headphone Volume' 25" cset "name='Speaker Volume' 32"

Save the modified HiFi.conf by hitting:

ctrl+x

y

enter

Close the terminal and restart the system.

Test if the sound level is good for you now, if it is not open again HiFi.conf and modify the values.

I hope this helps, OGB

Afternoon Excuse my lack of response until now, i have been very busy.

Thank you very much. I have not tried this yet since i have installed full WIndows 10 Pro on my device, however drivers for touchscreen and audio are non-existent for windows on this particular device.

I will make it a point to install Gallium (like i did before) and test this out. I would like to add though, ### THE AUDIO CIRCUITRY USED ON THIS DEVICE, AND ONLY THIS DEVICE, IS A MODIFIED VERSION OF THE MAXIM 98090!!! IT IS THE MAXIM 98091 USED ON CHROMEBOOK R11, NOT 98090!!! However, given their similarity, i assume your guide will work, assuming I change "98090" to "98091" in any commands or code.

Very much appreciated OGB!

[antxn7703]

How did you install gnome? I broke my install a couple times, maybe I'm doing it wrong.

Afternoon A short tutorial on how to basically turn Gallium to Ubuntu: I will divide the process into essentially 2 stages:

1. Install gdm3, or lightdm (the login screen basically) This just makes the whole experience abit better and more enjoyable, not all that much more desktop functionanlity.
2. Usel GNOME 3, using it instead of the default XFCE desktop on Gallium OS

STAGE ONE -login -open a terminal -type sudo apt upgrade -once finished type sudo apt update -then type sudo apt install gdm3 or sudo apt install lightdm --depending on your preference -at some point it should ask you to configure the DM, when asked, select the one you just chose to install. If it doesnt ask, type sudo dpkg-reconfigure your current display manager and it should ask you which one to use -restart -once powered up you should see the new login screen you just installed!

STAGE 2 - INSTALLING GNOME -it turns out that "Ubuntu" is listed as an option on the login screen out of the box, so if ubuntu is what you're after, there's only one step: --at the login screen, select your name and you should see a small gear icon next to the login button, click on it and select Ubuntu. Login and you've got Ubuntu

-If you want clean GNOME 3: -open a terminal -type sudo apt install gnome -restart and follow the steps at the top of STAGE 2 and select gnome instead of ubuntu -Enjoy!

I hope this helps. I too was surprised that Gallium comes bundled with stock Ubuntu desktop. They just made it a bit more challenging or us to find it!

Regards

A

[D10f]

@Oldgreybeard Thank you very much for your help, I also had this low volume issue and modifying cset "name='Headphone Volume' 10" and cset "name='Speaker Volume' 10" worked beautifully for me.

I have another issue that I run across earlier while trying to fix this myself. When I open "Volume Control" from the system tray volume icon, the audio gets all distorted until I close it. Coming from GalliumOS 2.x, this is a new issue that the above did not take care of unfortunately.

[antxn7703]

I have another issue that I run across earlier while trying to fix this myself. When I open "Volume Control" from the system tray volume icon, the audio gets all distorted until I close it. Coming from GalliumOS 2.x, this is a new issue that the above did not take care of unfortunately.

Although I have some extensive knowledge about linux and such, dealing with issues that are possibly caused by the kernel itself is not familiar to me. That said, i am not sure what could even cause this issue. My best advice is to either create a new post about the issue; OR try upgrading to the newest version or doing a fresh install of which ever version you like.

[D10f]

Thank you, I have no experience installing/updating kernels but I have just installed GalliumOS 3.1. I think I'll open a new issue since is not directly related with volume. :+1: