1y ago

Sound Blaster Recon3Di S/PDIF No Output

Greetings,

I've installed Fedora Linux (with pipewire) on my friend's Alienware M17xR4 (linux-hardware probe).

This incredible laptop got a Sound Blaster Recon3Di with a S/PDIF Digital Output which unfortunally does not work out of the box. I can see the vu meter moving inside gnome-control-center but no audio comes out and the port's red light (which on Windows lights up) does not turn on at all.

By lookin up I've found this thread on Linux Mint Forums but I had no luck with it.

Has anyone else got issues with similar hardware? Thanks in advance.

17 comments

Install pavucontrol and go to the Configuration tab in the app. Then check your available profiles. See if one of the default available ones is set for digital out or similar. Just plug something into the output port you know works, play some kind of audio, and click through each of them (you may need to wait many seconds for the switch to happen) to see if one ends up working.
- I've already tried some profiles there, should double check.
  
  What are the names, out of curiousity?
Ooo man!! I have the same problem. My PC it's the same Alienware M17rx4 and have the Digital optical output S/PDIF on Sounblaster,but dont work! Red light Is off and audio mute.
Please Fix the audio problem on Fedora 40🔧🪛🔩
Are you using pipewire?
Install pavucontrol, what profiles can you see there for this card? I had to change the profile there to get digital output.
- Does your red light turn on? I've already tried some profiles there, should double check then.
  
  I don't have this exact card, but used several different pcie soundcards with linux with toslink, and usually I had to fiddle with pavucontrol
In addition to the pavucontrol advice, I recommend firing up alsamixer to check the mute and volume of the detected cards and channels.
- By selecting "HDA Intel PCH" card with F6, this is what I see:
  The S/PDIF isn't muted but its level isn't shown (like is shown for Master and PCM). Could this because of profile in use from pavucontrol or is it something related to alsamixer?
  
  Maybe try unmuting that spdif d... Channel? Seems suspicious

17 comments