Re: Thelio hardware problem with Linux Mint

vallor wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:

Actually, I've had this problem with both Ubuntu and Linux Mint:
>
Sound goes away.
>
I have a speaker amp connected via optical TOSLink to my
System76 Thelio workstation.  The former displays the PCM
rate of the audio connection. Usually, that's 44.1kHz.
>
Occasionally it will report "no signal", and I have to reboot
the box to get sound back -- and not a soft reboot, but
a big-red-button reboot.
>
Also, sometimes it has sound dropouts, similar to what used
to happen with USB sound back in the day on earlier systems.
Running "pulseaudio -k" usually clears that up.
>
I've been through all the potential workarounds on the
System76 knowledgebase for sound problems.
>
Thing is, the TOSLink connector is usually on the motherboard,
and I don't have problems with them.  But this time, I think
the connector is on a daughterboard, and I suspect it is
connected to the motherboard via USB.

Maybe you should open up the workstation.

My Lenovo made a clicking sound, a common issue with it based on search
results.

But after I opened it up to expand the RAM, no more clicking.

Opening it was a PITA, I had to buy a kit, unscrew 10 tiny ones,
then insert a flat-blade and laboriously pop open the damn clamshell.

Anyway, it's annoying.  I have a ticket open with System76,
and we'll see if they have something else to suggest.

Beats me.  I have a small Behringer USB audio box connected to a
$20 USB isolator (to filter out noise from a small Akai synth/controller),
to one USB hub to another USB hub to the laptop. It works great!

By the way I ditched pulseaudio on this laptop.

--
The only people for me are the mad ones -- the ones who are mad to live,
mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time,
the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn
like fabulous yellow Roman candles.
-- Jack Kerouac, "On the Road"