Lenovo Y510 surround sound in Ubuntu

Lenovo Y510 has go 4.1 sound system with a sub-woofer (Dolby Home Theater)



Default installation of Ubuntu doesn't recognises all four speaker. There are few fix going on the Internet. There is one problem with those fixes, i.e. headphone doesn't mute the speakers. So you have to manually mute and un-mute the speaker while using the headphone.

However I have found one fix, that recognises all four speaker and one sub-woofer, mutes and un-mutes them while using headphone, and produces 5.1 surround sound.

Open /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base for editing. (you need root access)
Open /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf if you are using Fedora (Thanks to the Anonymous user)
add the following line at the end
options snd_hda_intel model=6stack-dell

save and reboot.

Now, go to Audio Preferences and select "6ch" under the options tab.

You are all done, test it with the command "speaker-test -Dplug:surround51 -c6 -twav"

Note: If you have updated your system to Maverick Meerkat, you have to repeat this process again.

Comments

  1. Thanks it works on Jaunty Jackalope 9.04.

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  2. Thanks a lot!!
    I have a y530 and works on jaunty jackalope like a breeze

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  3. Great! I've been looking for it soooo long!

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  4. Where would that alsa-base file be under fedora 11?

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  5. nm, I found it. It's /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf

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  6. yeah, that worked on 9.10 also with a y530. Nice one. Finally. I wouldn't bother except that the speakers on the y530 are decent!

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  7. @pete, what do you mean by speakers on the Y530 are decent.

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  8. I'm a first time Linux user and not very computer literate, but even I managed to get this to work, thanks guys :-) I thought I'd sum up for any others who are just now starting to use Linux - seems like with 9.1 many people may be jumping on board.

    1. First off, find the file above: /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.
    2. You'll be able to open it, but not edit it. To edit, you need root access. I still don't understand this very well, but for me the easiest way was to do the following:
    a. Go to applications - accessories - terminal
    b. Inside terminal, type the following:
    sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
    (I guess sudo gives you root access and gedit allows you to edit?)
    3. Type your password, then the file should open and you can add the following at the very end, as stated above:
    options snd_hda_intel model=6stack-dell
    4. Save a restart.

    I also added GNOME Alsa Mixer using the package manager to gain more control, but maybe that was totally unnecessary, I don't know. I still have almost no idea what I am doing :-) Let me know if I've missed anything or done something wrong.

    BTW, anyone know how to fix the webcam on a Lenovo Y510? Skype and Cheese can use it, but the video is always upside down.

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  9. @B, thanks for the detailed instruction. Hope it helps more people.

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  10. thanks a lot, it was halpfull for me. Greetings from Russia :)

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  11. Thank you very much from GA, this works perfect,
    Now please help us flip our skype camera upside down !!
    JE JE
    THank you again

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  12. Hi, anonymous, there is a fix for upside down camera in Skype as well, http://techspalace.blogspot.com/2010/02/upside-down-web-cam-simple-fix.html

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  13. sadly it doesn't work with maverick :/

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  14. Hi Anonymous,

    If you have updated to Maverick, you have to repeat the whole process again and it will work.

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  15. Dang... I wrote the original instructions on the ubuntuforums way back when (I'm wyth), and I've never had a problem getting my speakers to work -- until now that I've updated to maverick. I've tried multiple ways to get these things working, and can't figure what isn't working. I'm wondering if some firmware needs to be added or a module enabled.

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  16. mxyzptlk, I also updated to Maverick and its working once I re added the line

    "options snd_hda_intel model=6stack-dell"

    in /etc/modprobe.d/alsabase.conf

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  17. Hi Techs,

    Yep, I've done that, and I've tried

    options snd_hda_intel model=lenovo-sky

    as well as

    options snd_hda_intel model=auto

    and so far no joy, not sure why. I'm combing the googles and the forums for some direction.

    I did notice that in startup pulseaudio is set to run an x11 and a KDE version, which is odd since I didn't install KDE.

    ...still checking... if I find something, I'll post it here for anyone else digging for fire.

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  18. Indeed it doesn't work for me in 10.10 x64 either (no sound at all after adding this option).

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  19. Has anyone tried recompiling alsa? A few versions back -- in the Ubuntu 8.* days -- alsa had to be recompiled from source in order to work properly. I haven't yet found a solution, and am about to go that route again, but I'm loathe to.

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  20. @mxyzptlk, I also have pulseaudio for both the KDE and x11.

    Have you set, "Analog Stereo Duplex" in "Sound Preferences" -> "Hardware" ?

    @ZAP, hope mxyzptlk comes with a solution.

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  21. I got 5.1 surround sound working tonight without having to recompile. I just posted the instructions up at the ubuntu forums (http://art.ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9994724&postcount=589), and I'm just copying that text here. As I say in that post, I may have just benefited from a lucky apt-get update, but here's what's working on my machine:

    Seven Steps: ubuntu audio dev team ppa, linux-alsa-driver-modules-2.6.35-22-generic, options snd-hda-intel model=6stack-dell, reboot, alsamixer, sudo alsactl store

    Step One: Add the ubuntu audio dev team ppa; they're running the latest alsa drivers, and if you get any help from the officios on Launchpad or elsewhere, they'll ask you to do that anyway. It's at https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-audio-dev/+archive/ppa.

    Step Two: Once the ppa is added, install the new linux-alsa-driver-modules-2.6.35-22-generic (or whatever floats your kernel's boat)

    Step Three: As sudo (root), edit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and make sure the only snd-hda-intel option enabled is

    options snd-hda-intel model=6stack-dell

    That was the only one that worked for me. In the past, lenovo-sky was brilliant, but now only the dell one works... for a lenovo.

    Step Four: Reboot your machine to get the new alsa module kick-started

    Step Five: Open a terminal and and bring up

    alsamixer

    Check the levels -- you'll want to make sure Master, PCM, Front, Surround, Center, LFE, and Side are up.

    Step Six: Close alsamixer (just hit esc) and store the settings:

    sudo alsactl store

    That should do it -- at least it worked in my case. The one difference between now and about eight hours before I wrote this is there was an update to that linux-alsa-driver-modules.

    I'm not positive if that's what did it or what, so if you want to play mad computer scientist and experiment, you could try doing all this without adding that ubuntu audio dev team ppa.

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  22. @mxyzptlk, Thanks. Much appreciated.

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  23. Let's hear it if that doesn't work for someone.

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  24. Yeh! It's works on 10.10 too !!!

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  25. thanxxxxxxx a lottttttttt....i got my home theatre ideapad y510 back!!yea its work well in ubuntu10.10.thnx to B for your explanation..am a newbie to ubuntu,your description really helped me..

    ReplyDelete

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