Regrettably, my suggestion that this bug report be closed is premature. On switching on the laptop from cold this morning, I found that there was nothing listed in the Systems Settings > Sound pane.
I chose to shut down and start up again. This time, I found the Speakers, Built-in Audio listed but with the HDMI options shown. I did a restart and found the same situation. However, I decided to plug in a pair of headphones in an attempt to kick-start the system. This brought up the panel asking to identify the type of headset. The headphones appeared in the listing and the Test Sound button enabled me to test the left and right channels for output. I then clicked on the Speakers and found that the HDMI options had been replaced by the Test Sound button. However, the left and right channel test sounds came through the headphones and not through the speakers, even though the speakers were highlighted. I then removed the headphones. Their menu item disappeared and I was able to use the Test Sound button to get sound from the speakers. The point about this bug report is that the system does not function as well as one could reasonably expect. I have a number of people who are interested in moving away from the MS Windows environment and are looking to me for a recommendation. Although Dell appear to manufacture an excellent laptop in the form of the XPS 13, Dell still only supply it with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and include proprietary drivers for the Intel AC 7260 WiFi and Bluetooth chip. I believe that I have moved on significantly by upgrading to 14.10 and using the latest v3.18 kernel (as well as dispensing with the Dell-supplied drivers). I have great expectations for 15.04 when it appears. However, I would not expect any support from Dell for what I have done so far. Until I can get the laptop to perform reliably without intervention, my advice to those wishing to move away from Windows is to bite the bullet and invest in an Apple MacBook Pro running OS X 10.10.1. One can still run FOSS applications such as LibreOffice and GIMP on the Mac but it is a pity that Ubuntu has not yet arrived at the Mac's level of functionality, although I hope that, by continuing to submit my bug reports, I can contribute to Ubuntu's development. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to alsa-driver in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1402666 Title: [XPS13 9333, Intel Haswell HDMI, Digital Out, HDMI] Playback problem Status in alsa-driver package in Ubuntu: Incomplete Bug description: If an HDMI monitor is plugged into the video out and the Videos app is started, the Systems Settings > Sound > Output shows only the Speakers, Built-in Audio in the Play sound through listing. The HDMI option is not presented. The workaround is to open the VLC app which lists the Built-in Stereo (HDMI) option under its Audio > Audio Devices menu. When a video is started in VLC, having selected the HDMI option, the sound plays through the monitor speakers. The HDMI / Display Port , Built-in Audio item then appears in the Play sound through window, even though the selection highlight remains on Speakers. The sound output can be switched between either output by highlighting the chosen option. If VLC is closed and Videos is restarted, the sound now plays through the previously selected HDMI item and can be switched between the monitor and the laptop's speakers. What I regard as a bug is the failure of the HDMI option to appear in the Play sound through listing as soon as an HDMI monitor is plugged into the Display Port output. Obviously, VLC has the means to add this item but the Videos app does not seem to be able to do this by itself. In contrast, as soon as a previously paired set of Bluetooth headphone are turned on, the Headset does appear as a menu item in the listing. I would reasonably expect the plugging in of an HDMI monitor into the Display Port to automatically add this item as well as its affects on the Screen Display pane of Systems Settings. Note: the laptop is running Ubuntu 14.10 and the Linux kernel has recently been upgraded to v3.18 (Vivid). ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10 Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu4 Uname: Linux 3.18.0-031800-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu8 Architecture: amd64 AudioDevicesInUse: USER PID ACCESS COMMAND /dev/snd/pcmC1D0c: david 2242 F...m pulseaudio /dev/snd/controlC1: david 2242 F.... pulseaudio /dev/snd/controlC0: david 2242 F.... pulseaudio CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Mon Dec 15 13:13:47 2014 InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-12-11 (3 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140722.2) PackageArchitecture: all ProcEnviron: LANGUAGE=en_GB:en PATH=(custom, no user) XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set> LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: alsa-driver Symptom: audio Symptom_AlsaPlaybackTest: ALSA playback test through plughw:HDMI failed Symptom_Card: Built-in Audio - HDA Intel HDMI Symptom_Jack: Digital Out, HDMI Symptom_Type: None of the above Title: [XPS13 9333, Intel Haswell HDMI, Digital Out, HDMI] Playback problem UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to utopic on 2014-12-11 (3 days ago) dmi.bios.date: 09/11/2014 dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc. dmi.bios.version: A05 dmi.board.name: 0D13CR dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc. dmi.board.version: A00 dmi.chassis.type: 8 dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc. dmi.chassis.version: 0.1 dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA05:bd09/11/2014:svnDellInc.:pnXPS139333:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0D13CR:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr0.1: dmi.product.name: XPS13 9333 dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc. 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