ASUS Vivobook K3605ZF (ALC256): DMIC internal microphone not working with dsp_driver=1, speakers not working with dsp_driver=3

[SebastianTibata]

ASUS Vivobook K3605ZF (ALC256): DMIC internal microphone not working with dsp_driver=1, speakers not working with dsp_driver=3

Describe the bug

On the ASUS Vivobook K3605ZF with Realtek ALC256 codec (subsystem ID 0x104318b3), there is a conflict between DMIC microphone functionality and speaker output depending on the DSP driver mode:

• With dsp_driver=1 (HDA classic): speakers and headphones work correctly, but the internal DMIC microphone is unavailable. Pin 0x12 (DMIC) is initialized as 0x411111f0 (N/A) by the BIOS and no kernel quirk corrects it for this specific subsystem ID.
• With dsp_driver=3 (SOF) + sof-hda-generic-4ch-bt.tplg: DMIC captures real signal (confirmed via arecord hw:0,6, 4ch, 48000Hz), but internal speakers produce no output. No UCM2 profile exists for this hardware combination.

NHLT tables report 2 DMICs detected. It is not possible to have both DMIC and speakers working simultaneously with any current configuration.

What have you tried to diagnose or workaround this issue?

• Tried multiple snd-hda-intel model overrides: dell-headset-multi, auto, asus-vivobook, alc256-asus-headset-mic, alc256-asus-aio, headset-mic, headset-mode, alc256-asus-aio — none resolved DMIC detection with dsp_driver=1
• Used hdajackretask to override pin 0x12 to Internal Mic and DMIC — resulted in noise/static, not actual microphone capture
• Tried overriding pin 0x19 (headset mic) — only activates with physical headset connected, not internal DMIC
• Updated BIOS to latest version (K3605ZF v316, 2025-08-05) — no change
• Compiled libfprint elanmoc2 branch for fingerprint (unrelated) — confirmed NHLT reports 2 DMICs
• Created patch file via hda-jack-retask.fw — no improvement

To Reproduce

1. Boot any Linux distribution on ASUS Vivobook K3605ZF with default kernel settings
2. Set options snd-intel-dspcfg dsp_driver=1 in /etc/modprobe.d/
3. Check available audio inputs: pactl list sources
4. Observe that only analog input is available, no DMIC source
5. Try arecord -D hw:0,0 — no microphone signal

Alternatively:

1. Set options snd-intel-dspcfg dsp_driver=3
2. Speakers produce no output while DMIC captures signal

Reproduction Rate

100% — all the time, reproducible on every boot across multiple kernel versions (6.x to 7.0.5).

Expected behavior

Both internal DMIC microphone and internal speakers should work simultaneously, as they do under Windows with ASUS proprietary drivers.

Impact

Showstopper for microphone usage. The internal microphone is completely non-functional under normal HDA mode. SOF mode enables DMIC but breaks speaker output entirely. No workaround exists for simultaneous audio I/O.

Environment

1. Repositories:

   • Kernel: 7.0.5-1-cachyos (CachyOS, Arch-based)
   • SOF: current as of 2026-08-24

2. Topology file (with dsp_driver=3):

   • Topology: sof-hda-generic-4ch-bt.tplg

3. Platform:

   • Platform: Intel Alder Lake (i7-12700H), ASUS Vivobook K3605ZF

Hardware details

Laptop:    ASUS Vivobook K3605ZF (K3605ZF_K3605ZF)
CPU:       Intel Core i7-12700H (Alder Lake-P)
Codec:     Realtek ALC256
           HDA:10ec0256,104318b3,00100002
Subsystem: 0x104318b3
Kernel:    7.0.5-1-cachyos
BIOS:      K3605ZF v316 (2025-08-05)
OS:        CachyOS (Arch-based), Hyprland

Pin configuration (from /sys/class/sound/hwC0D0/init_pin_configs)

0x12 0x411111f0   # DMIC — marked N/A by BIOS
0x13 0x40000000
0x14 0x90170110   # Internal Speaker — working
0x18 0x411111f0   # N/A
0x19 0x411111f0   # Headset mic — N/A (works only with physical headset)
0x1a 0x411111f0   # N/A
0x1b 0x411111f0   # N/A
0x1d 0x40679a2d
0x1e 0x411111f0   # N/A
0x21 0x03211020   # Headphone jack — working

Driver pin config applied by kernel:

0x19 0x03a1103c

ALSA diagnostic

Full ALSA info attached (generated with alsa-info.sh):

Codec: Realtek ALC256
Address: 0
AFG Function Id: 0x1 (unsol 0)
Vendor Id: 0x10ec0256
Subsystem Id: 0x104318b3

Node 0x12 [Pin Complex] — Pincap IN only, Pin Default 0x411111f0 (N/A)
Node 0x19 [Pin Complex] — Headset Mic Boost Volume control present
                           Pin Default 0x411111f0 (N/A by BIOS)
                           Driver override: 0x03a1103c

NHLT: 2 DMICs reported

Additional notes

With dsp_driver=3 and topology sof-hda-generic-4ch-bt.tplg, DMIC capture works:

arecord -D hw:0,6 -f S16_LE -r 48000 -c 4 /tmp/dmic_test.wav
# Successfully captures microphone signal

But no UCM2 profile exists for this hardware, causing speaker output to fail completely under SOF mode.

A UCM2 profile for HDA Intel PCH with subsystem 104318b3 would likely resolve the SOF mode speaker issue. A kernel quirk adding the subsystem ID 0x104318b3 to the ALC256 pin configuration table would resolve the HDA classic mode DMIC issue.

[kv2019i]

Given speaker works with dsp_driver=1 then the codec driver should work and it should work with SOF as well (same codec driver is used both with dsp_driver=1 and dsp_driver=3).

@SebastianTibata Can you test speaker playback with aplay or speaker-test from the command-line? It could be just the UCM is wrong and audio work at driver level but not at Pipewire level.

Another thing to test (with dsp_driver=3) is set:
/etc/modprobe.d/snd_sof_pci.conf:

options snd_sof_pci tplg_filename=sof-hda-generic-4ch.tplg

And reboot. This might help with finding a working UCM.

[ujfalusi]

Other way to disable the BT link: options snd_sof_intel_hda_generic bt_link_mask=0 to /etc/modprobe.d/sof-disable-bt.conf file and reboot.

[ujfalusi]

@SebastianTibata , can you also provide the output of (without any kernel parameters and in dsp_driver=3 mode):
alsa-info.sh --no-upload
alsaucm dump text
spa-acp-tool l

[lgirdwood]

adding @shumingfan for ALC256 codec.

[shumingfan]

Adding HDA driver owner @KailangYang.
Could you take a look at this issue?