No HDMI audio

painintheworld

painintheworld I finally get gone at 3AM this morning and walk to the mailbox and my Orange Pi Lite is waiting one me. I image a microSD card with the latest firmware and plug it in right quickly, because I have to try it out 🙂 I’m not getting any sound, unfortunately (8 year old Vizio LCD, tried multiple HDMI cables, tried multiple power adapters, three different microSD cards - all just to be sure All works as it should except for no sound output). It may be a day or two before I get to my other house, where most of my electronics stuff is…any advice on something I may look for?

Dmian

painintheworld Some TVs are not really using HDMI, but DVI over an HDMI connection. In those cases, there will be no sound. Maybe that’s your case?

uli

painintheworld Just tried the latest build (v0.90-177) on the Lite; works for me. Unfortunately the Lite doesn't have an analog output, otherwise I would have suggested to try that. (There are solder pads on the board, but that may be a bit much for a first step... 😀)

Are you sure that whatever you are doing is actually supposed to produce a sound? If not, try BEEP 10, that should produce an ear-piercing constant high-pitched beep.

Otherwise you may want to try if older builds work for you, although I think the chances are slim because the sound driver code hasn't changed for quite a while.

It didn't sound like you actually changed any config options, but for the sake of completeness I'd also like to mention that audio over HDMI only works in "HDMI" modes, i.e. only if you use a physical resolution of 1920x1200, 1920x1080 (default) or 1280x720.

painintheworld

Thank you for the replies, @uli and @Dmian.

I'm using an Orange Pi Lite V1.1. Firmware revision is v0.90-177. Imaging software used: Etcher and Win32DiskImager, both using the inbuilt card reader and external card reader on a Dell E7450 laptop, as well as a Dell G3 3500 laptop.

My config file (after changing the default beep volume to 15 to see if they rectified the issue):
keyboard=1 mode=1 font=2 keyword_sep_optional=0 language=0 filter=0 cursor_color=0xff009500 beep_volume=15 phys_mode=0 tv_norm=0 color0=0,0,0 color1=192,192,192 color2=255,255,255 color3=128,128,128 color4=10,120,160 color5=140,140,140 color6=244,233,123 color7=214,91,189 color8=50,50,255 color9=238,137,17 color10=84,255,0 color11=0,0,0
Trying SAY "Hello, world!", BEEP 15, PLAY "A1B1C1", or playing SHMUP yields no sound output over HDMI (I've since tried it on a couple more televisions).

I've since tried the three latest firmware builds, using a large number of configurations, to no avail (used both Etcher and Win32DiskImager on a Dell E7450 & Dell G3 3500 laptops - both using inbuilt and external card readers). I'm not good at soldering, nor am I averse to it either, but these soldering pads are at the upper limit of my finite soldering skills 🙂 Unfortunately, I do not have a 3.5MM audio pigtail, so I will have to order some in from Amazon. While I am there, I will see which other Orange Pi are available from stock within the United States and order one with an existing audio jack - if possible 🙂

Thanks again for developing this awesome little setup and for your help!!

Image of the solder pads for an audio jack:

![https://photos.app.goo.gl/QKk7SYRE7sNnEg9v8](https://)

Edit #2: Sleep deprivation is a nasty thing. I started reading through more threads and see there is a HELP command ( and assuming as much after seeing the json help files in the sys folder). I will try to go through them and document it as I go. It may even lead to a cure to the problem in the topic....or maybe I've got a lemon - that isn't terribly uncommon from what I've read this evening. In any case, I've ordered some 3.5MM audio jack pigtails, an Orange Pi PC for when I inevitably screw up the Orange Pi Lite soldering on it (I have mild essential tremors), and a high quality high output multi-port USB charger (something to power the OPI BE, original BE, Color Maximite, and Color Maximite 2...hopefully).

painintheworld

…and evidently my Orange Pi Lite is an HDMI audio lemon. I couldn’t get any sound with Android either.

I did manage to get a 3.5MM audio jack pigtail soldered on and it audio output is working fine that way.

Fingerhoff

Hey guys,

seems like I'm the next victim of not having audio over HDMI :-/
I read about the Basic Engine NG a few weeks ago and was pretty excited, so I basically ordered an Orange Pi Lite (1GB-Model) from Aliexpress the next day.
It arrived on saturday - a pretty new unit it seems, with serial 2021072700101970 - and after a quick test everything seems to work fine and I was thrilled....until I found out I had no audio....

Unlike painintheworld I have no problems getting audio to work over HDMI in the official Debian, Ubuntu and Android-Builds. Only the BasicEngine-Firmware gives me trouble.
I already tried several different Firmware-Builds (271, 270, 177, 130), with 3 different HDMI-cables, on 2 Monitors and 2 TV-Sets. Each time using the default config, which should mean it's using 1080p-HDMI-mode, right?

In every scenario SAY "Hello world", BEEP 10 or PLAY "A1B1C1" didn't yield any sound at all.
Soldering in an audio jack for analog-audio is not an option for me and I'm ready to throw in the towel.

Since sound over HDMI is working perfectly when playing MP3 or movie-files under Linux and Android, I wonder if there could be anything wrong with the sound driver code?

I would really appreciate it if anyone had any suggestions on what else I could try to get this working, or if maybe @uli could take another look at the driver code, since my unit obvioulsy isn't broken. It would be a real shame otherwise....

Thanks in advance for any help 🙂

uli

Fingerhoff Could you please try a build from before 2021-03-30, i.e. v0.89-149 or lower? That's when I switched from the fixed-resolution HDMI driver from allwinner-bare-metal to the libh3 driver.

Fingerhoff

uli Thanks for your quick reply :-)
I tried v0.89-149 and that seemed to do the trick! Just popped the sd-card in, fired up the unit up using my Dell Monitor (which has speakers attached via 3.5mm-jack) and sound instantly worked using the SAY-command. SOUND and PLAY also worked. Just the BEEP-command (BEEP 10) didn't do much,....but maybe I was using wrong.
So it had something to do with the drivers in the end? Is this something that could be fixed in a future update or would I need to keep using this older version?
Anyway, thanks again for getting back to me so quickly. I really love your Basic Firmware running on my Orange Pi Lite and I'm super happy to have sound now. Keep up that great work, Uli 😃

uli

I have looked into it again, and it seems to me that the lib-h3 driver does not do any HDMI audio initialization at all, with the exception of turning on the clock. If that is true, it's a miracle that sound worked for anyone at all...

I have reinstated the HDMI audio initialization code from the old driver; please check out the latest build and see if that helped with your issue. Thanks.

Fingerhoff

Wow, that was fast uli !
OK, having sound despite audio not being initialized definitely sound's like miracle to me^^
Mhhh, but it seems there is more to it than just reinstating HDMI audio initialization. Just tried out v0.90-285 (with default config).....and sound is no more again. Damn!
This couldn't be a problem specific to the Lite-Model, can it? You are using one yourself, right?
Anyway, happy to help squashing this bug. If you have another idea and want to update the firmware, I'm happy to give feedback, uli :-)

Btw. I noticed there's something potentially off with the german keyboard-layout:
Tried to set the layout to german in v0.90-285, afterwards shift+z produces a captial "Y". Can you confirm this?

uli

Fingerhoff This couldn't be a problem specific to the Lite-Model, can it? You are using one yourself, right?

...and a One, a PC, and a non-OPi board; all work. There is, in fact, little in the way of board design that could affect the HDMI functionality.

Fingerhoff Anyway, happy to help squashing this bug. If you have another idea and want to update the firmware, I'm happy to give feedback, uli :-)

Appreciated.

Fingerhoff Btw. I noticed there's something potentially off with the german keyboard-layout:
Tried to set the layout to german in v0.90-285, afterwards shift+z produces a captial "Y". Can you confirm this?

Yes, I can. Please file a bug report for that so I don't forget.

uli

Alrighty, I think I have found the issue. The lib-h3 HDMI driver runs the HDMI controller with "scrambled" registers, but the allwinner-bare-metal code is all written to be run in "unscrambled" mode, so adding the audio config back didn't do anything. I have fixed that now, and I hope that will solve the issue.

Note that because there is no change to the Engine BASIC repository, the build number has not been increased, so please re-download the v0.90-285 image, and don't accidentally use the old one.

Fingerhoff

You're the man, uli. That was it! Everything seems to work perfectly now.
Though, I have to say you weren't kidding when you mentioned "BEEP 10 should produce an ear-piercing constant high-pitched beep". I tried the command for the 1st time and was almost going deaf. Also, my wife was going apeshit, yelling at me from the other side of the apartment what the f*** I was doing.... 😅
That IS some nasty command...especially with turned up volume!
Thanks anyway for your quick help, I appreciate it .

Also, regarding that bug report for the Y/Z-issue in the german-keyboard-layout. Any preference where you want such things filed,...as new topic here in the forum or as 'issue' at github?

uli

Fingerhoff Everything seems to work perfectly now.

Excellent. Can you do me a favor and run the following commands on your device and tell me what the results are:

?HEX$(PEEKD($1c00024))
POKED $1ef0014, $42494e47
?HEX$(PEEK($1ee0000))
?HEX$(PEEK($1ee0001))
?HEX$(PEEK($1ee0002))
?HEX$(PEEK($1ee0003))

Fingerhoff That IS some nasty command...especially with turned up volume!

FTR, there is a volume parameter; see HELP BEEP. Also, the default volume can be adjusted using CONFIG 7, ....

Fingerhoff Also, regarding that bug report for the Y/Z-issue in the german-keyboard-layout. Any preference where you want such things filed,...as new topic here in the forum or as 'issue' at github?

Please open an issue on Github.

painintheworld I'm 100% certain that particular Opi I was having issues with was just a lemon.

Would you mind trying it again with the new build? There is at least a small chance that whatever Linuxes you have tried might have the same issue. (And run the above commands as well, while you're at it.)

painintheworld

@Fingerhoff Glad you got it going! I'm 100% certain that particular Opi I was having issues with was just a lemon. I ended up soldering a 3.5mm pigtail jack and doing it that way.

Fingerhoff

uli
Sure I can, here are the results, uli:

?HEX$(PEEKD($1c00024))	-> 100 
POKED $1ef0014, $42494e47	-> OK
?HEX$(PEEK($1ee0000))		-> 13
?HEX$(PEEK($1ee0001))		-> 2A
?HEX$(PEEK($1ee0002))		-> A0
?HEX$(PEEK($1ee0003))		-> C1

As requested, I have opened the issue regarding the key-missmatch in the german keyboard-layout on github,...so you won't forget ;-)

Also, thanks for hinting me to the help file for the BEEP-command. I already figured that out myself after bespoke situation where I almost fell off my chair. Very "helpful" these help-files, I must say.... :-P

painintheworld

uli Would you mind trying it again with the new build? There is at least a small chance that whatever Linuxes you have tried might have the same issue. (And run the above commands as well, while you're at it.)

I will try the newest build as soon as possible and post results. I need to do the gamepad tests you advised me on, too.

Thank you!