If you, like me recently have purchased a new Laptop or Desktop with Intel High Definition Audio and use Linux, you are possibly more than a little frustrated with the silence.

I tried three of the top five distributions and my new Laptop remained mute even though all the outputs from various posted references appeared to show all was as it should be. The biggest discrepancy I could find was a rev difference between two Alsa files in one distribution that possibly may have been the cause of no sound problem per the web comments I found. Due to the fact, that three popular Linux distros had the same problem, I decided it was a not the reason for no sound.

Having thought about what was happening and remembering this happening in the past, I decided I might know what the problem was. In the not too distant past, it was not uncommon for Linux to not be able to use the latest and questionably greatest components. Sometimes, if you were an average user, you had to wait until someone with more knowledge than yourself bought the same hardware and either wrote or updated a driver to use it.

Such is the case with Intel High Definition Audio on my  Sony model vpceb23fm Laptop with an i3 processor, and other similar Laptop or Desktop mother boards using “Intel High Definition Audio” using driver: ‘snd_hda_intel’.

The fix in this case is Ubuntu Linux with help from Ubuntu Backports. I installed Ubuntu 10.04 64 bit, enabled Backports and installed the latest version of Alsa from the backports. After a frustrating week of wondering how long it will take for sound to happen, I have sound.

My hunch appears to have been right, only the software is already available, though it has not made it to the mainstream distributions quite yet. Fwiw, I read about upgrading Alsa directly from Alsa.org and doing a manual install, but the process seemed a little more complex than simply going through the few steps to do a manual install. I chose what for me was the simpler route first, and it turns out it works for my needs.