diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/sound/hd-audio/realtek-pc-beep.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/sound/hd-audio/realtek-pc-beep.rst | 129 |
1 files changed, 129 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/sound/hd-audio/realtek-pc-beep.rst b/Documentation/sound/hd-audio/realtek-pc-beep.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..be47c6f76a --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/sound/hd-audio/realtek-pc-beep.rst @@ -0,0 +1,129 @@ +=============================== +Realtek PC Beep Hidden Register +=============================== + +This file documents the "PC Beep Hidden Register", which is present in certain +Realtek HDA codecs and controls a muxer and pair of passthrough mixers that can +route audio between pins but aren't themselves exposed as HDA widgets. As far +as I can tell, these hidden routes are designed to allow flexible PC Beep output +for codecs that don't have mixer widgets in their output paths. Why it's easier +to hide a mixer behind an undocumented vendor register than to just expose it +as a widget, I have no idea. + +Register Description +==================== + +The register is accessed via processing coefficient 0x36 on NID 20h. Bits not +identified below have no discernible effect on my machine, a Dell XPS 13 9350:: + + MSB LSB + +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ + | |h|S|L| | B |R| | Known bits + +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ + |0|0|1|1| 0x7 |0|0x0|1| 0x7 | Reset value + +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ + +1Ah input select (B): 2 bits + When zero, expose the PC Beep line (from the internal beep generator, when + enabled with the Set Beep Generation verb on NID 01h, or else from the + external PCBEEP pin) on the 1Ah pin node. When nonzero, expose the headphone + jack (or possibly Line In on some machines) input instead. If PC Beep is + selected, the 1Ah boost control has no effect. + +Amplify 1Ah loopback, left (L): 1 bit + Amplify the left channel of 1Ah before mixing it into outputs as specified + by h and S bits. Does not affect the level of 1Ah exposed to other widgets. + +Amplify 1Ah loopback, right (R): 1 bit + Amplify the right channel of 1Ah before mixing it into outputs as specified + by h and S bits. Does not affect the level of 1Ah exposed to other widgets. + +Loopback 1Ah to 21h [active low] (h): 1 bit + When zero, mix 1Ah (possibly with amplification, depending on L and R bits) + into 21h (headphone jack on my machine). Mixed signal respects the mute + setting on 21h. + +Loopback 1Ah to 14h (S): 1 bit + When one, mix 1Ah (possibly with amplification, depending on L and R bits) + into 14h (internal speaker on my machine). Mixed signal **ignores** the mute + setting on 14h and is present whenever 14h is configured as an output. + +Path diagrams +============= + +1Ah input selection (DIV is the PC Beep divider set on NID 01h):: + + <Beep generator> <PCBEEP pin> <Headphone jack> + | | | + +--DIV--+--!DIV--+ {1Ah boost control} + | | + +--(b == 0)--+--(b != 0)--+ + | + >1Ah (Beep/Headphone Mic/Line In)< + +Loopback of 1Ah to 21h/14h:: + + <1Ah (Beep/Headphone Mic/Line In)> + | + {amplify if L/R} + | + +-----!h-----+-----S-----+ + | | + {21h mute control} | + | | + >21h (Headphone)< >14h (Internal Speaker)< + +Background +========== + +All Realtek HDA codecs have a vendor-defined widget with node ID 20h which +provides access to a bank of registers that control various codec functions. +Registers are read and written via the standard HDA processing coefficient +verbs (Set/Get Coefficient Index, Set/Get Processing Coefficient). The node is +named "Realtek Vendor Registers" in public datasheets' verb listings and, +apart from that, is entirely undocumented. + +This particular register, exposed at coefficient 0x36 and named in commits from +Realtek, is of note: unlike most registers, which seem to control detailed +amplifier parameters not in scope of the HDA specification, it controls audio +routing which could just as easily have been defined using standard HDA mixer +and selector widgets. + +Specifically, it selects between two sources for the input pin widget with Node +ID (NID) 1Ah: the widget's signal can come either from an audio jack (on my +laptop, a Dell XPS 13 9350, it's the headphone jack, but comments in Realtek +commits indicate that it might be a Line In on some machines) or from the PC +Beep line (which is itself multiplexed between the codec's internal beep +generator and external PCBEEP pin, depending on if the beep generator is +enabled via verbs on NID 01h). Additionally, it can mix (with optional +amplification) that signal onto the 21h and/or 14h output pins. + +The register's reset value is 0x3717, corresponding to PC Beep on 1Ah that is +then amplified and mixed into both the headphones and the speakers. Not only +does this violate the HDA specification, which says that "[a vendor defined +beep input pin] connection may be maintained *only* while the Link reset +(**RST#**) is asserted", it means that we cannot ignore the register if we care +about the input that 1Ah would otherwise expose or if the PCBEEP trace is +poorly shielded and picks up chassis noise (both of which are the case on my +machine). + +Unfortunately, there are lots of ways to get this register configuration wrong. +Linux, it seems, has gone through most of them. For one, the register resets +after S3 suspend: judging by existing code, this isn't the case for all vendor +registers, and it's led to some fixes that improve behavior on cold boot but +don't last after suspend. Other fixes have successfully switched the 1Ah input +away from PC Beep but have failed to disable both loopback paths. On my +machine, this means that the headphone input is amplified and looped back to +the headphone output, which uses the exact same pins! As you might expect, this +causes terrible headphone noise, the character of which is controlled by the +1Ah boost control. (If you've seen instructions online to fix XPS 13 headphone +noise by changing "Headphone Mic Boost" in ALSA, now you know why.) + +The information here has been obtained through black-box reverse engineering of +the ALC256 codec's behavior and is not guaranteed to be correct. It likely +also applies for the ALC255, ALC257, ALC235, and ALC236, since those codecs +seem to be close relatives of the ALC256. (They all share one initialization +function.) Additionally, other codecs like the ALC225 and ALC285 also have this +register, judging by existing fixups in ``patch_realtek.c``, but specific +data (e.g. node IDs, bit positions, pin mappings) for those codecs may differ +from what I've described here. |