Sound Open Firmware (SOF) on Dell XPS 9520

[user169291]

Hey guys,

I've run into some driver issues again. I figured I'd post here for help and posterity. I'm trying to get sound working on my Dell XPS 9520 with SOF on a custom (minimal) kernel (without module support) and PipeWire

[dmpogo]

ALSA reports 'no soundcards found' even on my 2017 KabyLake, but everything is working. So this message is probably a red herring

[pietinger]

[user169291]

Thanks to the both of you for your help! Pietinger, I hope you realize how beneficial your efforts are to not only to the Gentoo community but Linux in general—and not only because of your knowledge. To get back to your points:

1. It'll be impossible for me to boot into the live CD for the next week and a half or so. May I ask why you wanted me to attempt this? Is it because of GENTOO_PRINT_FIRMWARE_INFO, as you mention in your article on manual kernel configuration? If so, please note that I have already enabled that option

2. I already have, preemptively, merged that package, anticipating missing firmware that I'll have to pull into CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE once I get sof to show up in my dmesg

3. I have (already) enabled


Code:

I2C I2C_I801 I2C_DESIGNWARE_CORE I2C_DESIGNWARE_PLATFORM INTEL_IOMMU INTEL_MEI INTEL_MEI_ME INTEL_MEI_GSC_PROXY SERIAL_MULTI_INSTANTIATE (why isn't this on by default? When would you ever want this to be disabled?)


to no avail. Also, I do indeed use the Tiger Lake PINCTRL module. As a matter of fact, we discovered that the Alder Lake driver was (and still is, by the way...) bugged together

[pietinger]

First of all, thank you for your link to our older thread (as an old man, I can't always remember previous incidents) - I really appreciate it.

If you have activated GENTOO_PRINT_FIRMWARE_INFO for YOUR kernel, this means that all modules that YOUR kernel loads (and require firmware) record WHICH firmware is loaded in the system log. IF you do NOT have a module in your kernel - but which is required - you will NOT receive any information with your kernel that firmware is being loaded for this - non-existent - module. That's why I wanted you to boot our Gentoo LIVE CD (NOT the minimal CD) and check which firmware is loaded THEN, because that COULD give an indication of missing modules.

I guess you are missing snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl ... and maybe more ...

What you can also do is: Save the output of “lsmod” (and "dmesg") after booting with the Gentoo Live CD and compare it with the “lsmod” after booting Ubuntu - because in Ubuntu the kernel is more modularized; of course there will be some modules that we don't need. If in doubt, I would want to check both “lsmod” and both “dmesg” and your current kernel .config.
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https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/User:Pietinger