Documentation/sound/hd-audio/realtek-pc-beep.rst - linux - Git at Google

 ===============================
 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.
	===============================
	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.