Auto-mute mode in ALSA might be the reason you can't use your speakers with headphones plugged in

hungariantoast
2024-11-16T01:01:25Z

Problem:

I recently switched back to a desktop as my main computer, and was surprised to learn I couldn't use my speakers if my headphones were plugged in.

I don't use a desktop environment (just Sway), so I rely on pavucontrol as a GUI to control my audio.

I could use my headphones just fine while my speakers were plugged in, but when I switched to my speakers in pavucontrol's interface, they would not output audio. My headphones would stop playing (as expected), and pavucontrol's little "dancing bar" would indicate that the speaker's port was processing an audio signal (as expected), but no sound was actually being produced.

Solution:

The culprit ended up being something called "Auto-Mute" in ALSA. To disable auto-mute mode, you can either:

1. Run the command amixer sset "Auto-Mute" unmute in a terminal

2. Run the command alsamixer in a terminal
2.1 Press F6 and select your sound card
2.2 Ensure you're viewing playback settings by pressing F3
2.3 Move the item selection over until you've selected auto-mute mode
2.4 Press the down arrow key to switch it to "Disabled"

That fixed my issue.

For me, auto-mute mode stayed disabled after a reboot. You might need to run the command alsactl store to make the configuration persistent though. The Arch Linux Wiki article on ALSA has a "tips and tricks" section that goes into more detail:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture#Tips_and_tricks

Comments URL: https://tildes.net/~comp/1k46/auto_mute_mode_in_alsa_might_be_the_reason_you_cant_use_your_speakers_with_headphones_plugged_in

Votes: 17

Comments: 8