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@bassmanitram
Last active July 25, 2020 07:55
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Workaround script to help solve Ubuntu 16.04 HDMI sound issues when ALSA can use the HDMI sink, but Pulse thinks it's unplugged
#!/bin/bash
{
#
# Get rid of pulse and its cache (so this script can be run multiple times)
#
rm ~/.config/pulse/*
pulseaudio -k
#
# Wait till pulse sorts itself out
#
sleep 2
#
# Find the HDMI "cards" - you will likely have to modify this grep since it is atuned to my
# NVidia graphics card's active HDMI audio output device
#
card=$(aplay -l | grep "NVidia.*HDMI 1" -m 1)
#
# Log the card
#
echo $card
if [ "${card}" ]; then
#
# We have a card, so now we parse the aplay output line
#
# Effectively, it you split it into an array by "," and ":" then:
#
# the card number is the last "word" of the first item in the array
# the device number is the last "word" of the third item in the array
#
IFS=',:' read -r -a details <<< "${card}"
card_number="${details[0]##* }"
dev_number="${details[2]##* }"
#
# After that, just force-add the device's associated ALSA sink to Pulse
#
pacmd load-module module-alsa-sink device=hw:${card_number},${dev_number}
#
# And force Pulse to use that ALSA sink as the default output
#
pacmd set-default-sink alsa_output.hw_${card_number}_${dev_number}
else
#
# Can't find your card - fix the grep on line 18?
#
echo "No HDMI sound target found"
exit 1
fi
#
# And we put all output into a log file in the home directory
#
} >> ~/fix_sound.log 2>&1
@gustamo
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gustamo commented Jul 23, 2020

Finally! After days digging the web for a solution, yours is the only one that really worked. Thanks a lot!

@bassmanitram
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Finally! After days digging the web for a solution, yours is the only one that really worked. Thanks a lot!

Finally, I helped someone - in the words of my wife "That almost NEVER happens"!

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