Public bug reported:
Bug description
On my HP Laptop 15‑fc0xxx (Ryzen 3 7320U, AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio + Realtek
ALC236) running Linux Mint 22.3 “Zena” (Ubuntu 24.04.3 base, kernel 6.14.x),
the internal microphone is detected but never actually records audio.
The codec and capture device show up in ALSA and PipeWire, but GNOME/Mint sound
settings and pavucontrol either show no input device or list “Microphone
(Unplugged)”, and recordings are always silent.
The internal mic works correctly in Windows on the same hardware, so this
appears to be a Linux driver/quirk issue for this specific HP model.
Expected behavior
An internal microphone should appear in Sound → Input and pavucontrol as an
available input.
Speaking near the built‑in mic / webcam area should produce visible input
levels and audible recordings.
Actual behavior
ALSA sees the codec:
arecord -l:
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC236 Analog [ALC236 Analog]
inxi -Az:
Device-3: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
PipeWire shows the card and a capture source for ALC236:
pactl list cards:
alsa.card_name = "HD-Audio Generic"
alsa.components = "HDA:10ec0236,103c8dc9,00100002"
Profiles include output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo with port
analog-input-mic: Microphone (type: Mic, availability: not available)
pactl list sources:
alsa_input.pci-0000_03_00.6.analog-stereo
Port: analog-input-mic (availability: not available)
Sound settings show no usable internal input, and pavucontrol shows “Microphone
(Unplugged)”.
arecord and applications (Discord, browsers, etc.) record silence, with only
occasional tiny meter flickers and no recognisable voice, even with capture and
Mic Boost maxed and source volume increased to 300%.
Steps tried
Verified ALSA and PipeWire devices:
inxi -Az
arecord -l
pactl list sources
pactl list cards
Checked and maximised capture/boost:
alsamixer: selected the ALC236 card, unmuted and maxed “Mic”, “Capture”, and
“Mic Boost” (F4 capture view and F3 playback view).
Tried multiple snd-hda-intel model options in /etc/modprobe.d/hda-
model.conf, with full power‑offs between changes:
options snd-hda-intel model=laptop-amic
options snd-hda-intel model=laptop-dmic
options snd-hda-intel dmic_detect=0 model=auto
None of these made the internal mic usable; the port remains reported as “not
available” / “unplugged” and recordings are silent.
Retasked jacks using hdajackretask (alsa-tools-gui):
Selected the Realtek ALC236 codec.
Overrode “Internal Speaker” → Not connected.
Overrode “Black Mic, Left Side” → Internal mic.
Installed boot override and rebooted.
After this, PipeWire shows a mic source and I see extremely tiny meter
movement, but no actual audio is captured; recordings remain effectively silent
even with high gain.
Increased software gain:
pactl set-source-volume alsa_input.pci-0000_03_00.6.analog-stereo 300%
Re‑tested arecord and GUI apps; still no intelligible voice signal.
System information
Laptop: HP Laptop 15‑fc0xxx
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 7320U
lsb_release -rd:
Description: Linux Mint 22.3
Release: 22.3
Kernel: 6.14.0-37-generic (from uname -r)
alsa-utils version (from apt-cache policy alsa-utils):
Installed: 1.2.9-1ubuntu5
Candidate: 1.2.9-1ubuntu5
Audio:
HDA:10ec0236,103c8dc9,00100002 (Realtek ALC236)
AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio Controller [1022:15e3]
OS: Linux Mint 22.3 (Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS base)
Kernel: Linux bat-HP-Laptop-15-fc0xxx 6.14.0-37-generic #37~24.04.1-Ubuntu SMP
PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Nov 20 10:25:38 UTC 2 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Audio stack: PipeWire (default Mint 22.3 audio)
Additional notes
External USB microphones work fine on the same system.
There are existing ALC236 headset/mic bugs and quirks (e.g. Bug #2038743,
headset MIC recording issue), but this HP 15‑fc0xxx board ID 103c8dc9 appears
to still be missing an internal mic routing/ADC gain quirk.
Happy to provide alsa-info.sh output, dmesg | grep -i hda, and codec dumps
(/proc/asound/card1/codec*) if needed.
** Affects: alsa-driver (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: Incomplete
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2142994
Title:
Internal microphone not working on HP 15‑fc0xxx (Realtek ALC236, AMD
Family 17h/19h, Mint 22.3 / Ubuntu 24.04.3, kernel 6.14)
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