[PLUG] Linux audio on Macbook 12 inch

[King Beowulf]

On 7/21/25 13:52, VY wrote:
> Hello all:
>
> I inherited an Intel based Macbook 12-inch from a friend who is retiring it.
>
> The CPU is an Intel M3 chip.
> I installed Linux Mint and everything is working fine except audio.
> During audio playback, I can only hear sound on the 3.5 mm jack.
> The on-machine speaker is dead silent.   The sound output on the 3.5mm jack
> is working fine.
> I tried several tricks and none seem to be working.
>
> Asking if anyone has such experience?  Any tip/pointer is much appreciated.
> Thanks
>
> -Vincent
Vincent,

What 'tricks' have you tried?  It might be good to list those so we do 
not duplicate efforts.

Since you have audio from the jack, the sound chip driver module is 
loaded and working.  For ALSA and pulseaudio (or pipewire), check the 
following:

1.  alsamixer
PA is pretty stupid, so always check alsamixer (CLI utility) to 
determine what is and what is not enabled.  The speaker outputs might be 
muted.  No, the speaker output is not necessarily "master".   It could 
be 'PCM', 'front', etc.

Check for to see if 'jack sensing' is on.  This does not always work.  
The names for this can vary a bit.  On some audio drivers is can be 
'HP/Speaker'.  Set it to mute.

2. pulseaudio/piperwire audo mixer applet
make sure you are selecting the correct device.  The default profile 
might be wring (Configuration).  Do you see HDMI Audio or a USB web 
cam?  Disable these for now.

For the sound device profile, if you are trying 'Analog Stereo Duplex' 
try another such as 'Analog Surround 2.1 output [+ Analog Stereo Input]

Under Output devices, depending on the profile and driver, check the 
Port: list. Maybe you have the wrong one selected.

3. ALSA tools

in CLI, run 'aplay -L' to list all the channel stuff ALSA sees reported 
by the driver module. 'aplay -l' (lower case L) shows all the cards. Try 
this:

speaker-test -Dplug:pulse -c2 -twav

With your headphones plugged in, can you here the 'front left, front 
right'?  This will keep repeating until CTRL-C.  Now play with #1 and #2 
above until the sounds plays from the speakers.

4. Are you sure the speakers work?

-Ed