Fedora 43: Lost audio output on speakers

[chattyinformer (PhilippK)]

Since rebooting my system for installing updates yesterday, I can’t get any audio on my speakers that are connected to the line out of my mainboard. Both the headphones connected to my display, which is in turn connected to the PC via HDMI, and my Bluetooth headset continue to work.

When selecting the speakers in the GNOME bar, the selected item immediately jumps back to the previously selected one. In the settings, I am able to select the device as output, but when I open the Test dialog, I just get an empty circle without any speakers to select.

I’ve already removed all PulseAudio (~/.conf/pulse), PipeWire (~/.conf/pipewire) and WirePlumber (~/.local/state/wireplumber) configurations, as well as reinstalling all relevant audio packages. I also followed the Fedora Sound Troubleshooting guide without success.

I can confirm that it’s not a hardware problem, because when I dual-boot Windows, I get sound.

This is the output of alsa-info.sh: https://alsa-project.org/db/?f=a5d68e7af03fbda1f9987bd3bd18c3c998a48d7c

Edit: setting the sink using wpctl set-default alsa_output.pci-0000_0d_00.4.analog-stereo and playing around a bit with the mute, default and loudness controls in pavucontrol made the device work again. However, it is still not selected in the GNOME UI, I also cannot select it in the GNOME UI when I changed to another output, and the settings still show no speakers in the test dialog.
Microsoft Copilot thinks it’s a GNOME bug, blaming the synchronization between WirePlumber and GNOME.

[ilikelinux]

@chattyinformer

Since rebooting my system for installing updates yesterday,

While updating your system you have to analize the update and not ask Microsofts AI what might the issue is.

Otherwise I can also make a diagnose and tell you, you might have an issue

How did you update, with dnf or software application?

If you installed with Software you can check with dnf4 which packages have been installed.

Otherwise it is with dnf (simlink to dnf5).

sudo dnf history list #lists you the commands executed.
sudo dnf history info "a-number-from-list" #lists the packages upgraded

#if you take the last dnf upgrade command and post it here we might can help to diagnose.

@chattyinformer

When selecting the speakers in the GNOME bar, the selected item immediately jumps back to the previously selected one.

I saw several request reporting the inability of selecting an other source while reading here. Did you analyze some of them?

[chattyinformer (PhilippK)]

How did you update, with dnf or software application?
This was an automatic update presented to me by the Software application

These are the last few transactions, ID 246 was already my try to fix the problem:

 ID Command line                                                        Date and time       Action(s) Altered
254 dnf update                                                          2026-02-11 19:12:40                34
253 dnf history undo 245 --best --skip-unavailable --ignore-installed - 2026-02-11 18:36:55                40
252 dnf install fedora-repos-archive                                    2026-02-11 18:02:58                 1
251 dnf -y install --nogpgcheck --disablerepo=* /tmp/akmods.CE3ui3HC/re 2026-02-11 17:38:04                 2
250 dnf -y install --nogpgcheck --disablerepo=* /tmp/akmods.UfypRAdR/re 2026-02-11 17:35:31                 2
249 dnf reinstall alsa-lib pipewire wireplumber                         2026-02-11 17:26:56                10
248 dnf -y install --nogpgcheck --disablerepo=* /tmp/akmods.CE5xeGop/re 2026-02-11 17:17:07                 2
247 dnf update                                                          2026-02-11 17:16:47                40
246 dnf reinstall pipewire pipewire-pulseaudio pipewire-alsa wireplumbe 2026-02-10 20:29:20                12
245 /usr/bin/dnf5 automatic --timer                                     2026-02-10 19:40:11                38
244 dnf -y install --nogpgcheck --disablerepo=* /tmp/akmods.hv00lMVL/re 2026-02-09 06:27:10                 1
243 dnf -y install --nogpgcheck --disablerepo=* /tmp/akmods.6cFTyc4V/re 2026-02-09 06:26:55                 1
242 /usr/bin/dnf5 automatic --timer                                     2026-01-23 07:57:56               108

This is transaction 245:

Transaction ID : 245
Begin time     : 2026-02-10 19:40:11
Begin rpmdb    : 25c40e1ffe05b7ae152b916cc16d91184d21607f513fb740e28ad4c27348578c
End time       : 2026-02-10 19:40:17
End rpmdb      : 1f4925429728e9971b9da01cbada45f3795643885f54cc23defd0106e5cece94
User           : 0 Super User <root>
Status         : Ok
Releasever     : 43
Description    : /usr/bin/dnf5 automatic --timer
Comment        : 
Packages altered:
  Action   Package                                                 Reason          Repository
  Upgrade  SDL3-0:3.4.0-3.fc43.x86_64                              Dependency      updates
  Upgrade  Sunshine-0:2026.208.203040-1.fc43.x86_64                User            copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:lizardbyte:beta
  Upgrade  add-determinism-0:0.6.0-3.fc43.x86_64                   Dependency      updates
  Upgrade  build-reproducibility-srpm-macros-0:0.6.0-3.fc43.noarch Dependency      updates
  Upgrade  firefox-0:147.0.3-1.fc43.x86_64                         Group           updates
  Upgrade  firefox-langpacks-0:147.0.3-1.fc43.x86_64               Weak Dependency updates
  Upgrade  glycin-libs-0:2.0.5-4.fc43.x86_64                       External User   updates
  Upgrade  glycin-loaders-0:2.0.5-4.fc43.x86_64                    Dependency      updates
  Upgrade  glycin-libs-0:2.0.5-4.fc43.i686                         External User   updates
  Upgrade  glycin-loaders-0:2.0.5-4.fc43.i686                      External User   updates
  Upgrade  glycin-thumbnailer-0:2.0.5-4.fc43.x86_64                Weak Dependency updates
  Upgrade  gstreamer1-plugin-dav1d-0:0.14.0-3.fc43.x86_64          Group           updates
  Upgrade  mingw64-SDL3-0:3.4.0-1.fc43.noarch                      External User   updates
  Upgrade  mingw64-sdl2-compat-0:2.32.64-1.fc43.noarch             External User   updates
  Upgrade  python3-boto3-0:1.42.43-1.fc43.noarch                   Weak Dependency updates
  Upgrade  python3-botocore-0:1.42.43-1.fc43.noarch                Dependency      updates
  Upgrade  python3-pooch-0:1.9.0-1.fc43.noarch                     External User   updates
  Upgrade  sdl12-compat-0:1.2.74-1.fc43.x86_64                     External User   updates
  Upgrade  sdl2-compat-0:2.32.64-1.fc43.x86_64                     Dependency      updates
  Replaced SDL3-0:3.2.24-1.fc43.x86_64                             Dependency      @System
  Replaced Sunshine-0:2026.206.151412-1.fc43.x86_64                User            @System
  Replaced add-determinism-0:0.6.0-2.fc43.x86_64                   Dependency      @System
  Replaced build-reproducibility-srpm-macros-0:0.6.0-2.fc43.noarch Dependency      @System
  Replaced firefox-0:147.0.2-1.fc43.x86_64                         Group           @System
  Replaced firefox-langpacks-0:147.0.2-1.fc43.x86_64               Weak Dependency @System
  Replaced glycin-libs-0:2.0.5-1.fc43.x86_64                       External User   @System
  Replaced glycin-libs-0:2.0.5-1.fc43.i686                         External User   @System
  Replaced glycin-loaders-0:2.0.5-1.fc43.x86_64                    Dependency      @System
  Replaced glycin-loaders-0:2.0.5-1.fc43.i686                      External User   @System
  Replaced glycin-thumbnailer-0:2.0.5-1.fc43.x86_64                Weak Dependency @System
  Replaced gstreamer1-plugin-dav1d-0:0.14.0-1.fc43.x86_64          Group           @System
  Replaced mingw64-SDL3-0:3.2.16-2.fc43.noarch                     External User   @System
  Replaced mingw64-sdl2-compat-0:2.32.56-2.fc43.noarch             External User   @System
  Replaced python3-boto3-0:1.42.40-1.fc43.noarch                   Weak Dependency @System
  Replaced python3-botocore-0:1.42.40-1.fc43.noarch                Dependency      @System
  Replaced python3-pooch-0:1.8.2-9.fc43.noarch                     External User   @System
  Replaced sdl12-compat-0:1.2.68-6.fc43.x86_64                     External User   @System
  Replaced sdl2-compat-0:2.32.56-2.fc43.x86_64                     Dependency      @System

244 and 243 were VirtualBox and nVidia driver updates:

Transaction ID : 244
Begin time     : 2026-02-09 06:27:10
Begin rpmdb    : 0329872e9d44b3407d353985d4b05be2c9c77d2999044775a896ac520f88c1ee
End time       : 2026-02-09 06:27:17
End rpmdb      : 25c40e1ffe05b7ae152b916cc16d91184d21607f513fb740e28ad4c27348578c
User           : 0 Super User <root>
Status         : Ok
Releasever     : 43
Description    : dnf -y install --nogpgcheck --disablerepo=* /tmp/akmods.hv00lMVL/results/kmod-VirtualBox-6.18.8-200.fc43.x86_64-7.2.4-1.fc43.x86_64.rpm
Comment        : 
Packages altered:
  Action  Package                                                      Reason Repository
  Install kmod-VirtualBox-6.18.8-200.fc43.x86_64-0:7.2.4-1.fc43.x86_64 User   @commandline

Transaction ID : 243
Begin time     : 2026-02-09 06:26:55
Begin rpmdb    : 77fb4c38b9a5e93f557488fcb955a0076db7cab36fcc24c024d0b62527f9b4a7
End time       : 2026-02-09 06:27:03
End rpmdb      : 0329872e9d44b3407d353985d4b05be2c9c77d2999044775a896ac520f88c1ee
User           : 0 Super User <root>
Status         : Ok
Releasever     : 43
Description    : dnf -y install --nogpgcheck --disablerepo=* /tmp/akmods.6cFTyc4V/results/kmod-nvidia-6.18.8-200.fc43.x86_64-580.119.02-1.fc43.x86_64.rpm
Comment        : 
Packages altered:
  Action  Package                                                       Reason Repository
  Install kmod-nvidia-6.18.8-200.fc43.x86_64-3:580.119.02-1.fc43.x86_64 User   @commandline

I saw several request reporting the inability of selecting an other source while reading here. Did you analyze some of them?
I tried [SOLVED] audio does not work on gnome / Applications & Desktop Environments / Arch Linux Forums, but that was before I noticed that pactl still works.
Headphones associated with wrong sound device, no sound output has a similar problem, but I can rule out a hardware defect
Otherwise I didn’t really find any thread title that looks like it could describe my problem. Do you have any pointers?

[ilikelinux]

@chattyinformer

Do you have any pointers?

Unable to change audio output via the gnome panel or settings

Yes, its the same as my report. The bug is being addressed on #3678 as well on #903 While the proposed fix gets merged you can downgrade your gnome-control-center to previous version(49.1), that’ll allow you to change the outputs on gnome settings > audio sudo dnf downgrade gnome-control-center

Please have a look if your gnome-control-center got updated. Please check if you have similar hardware as reported in the two bug-reports.

[chattyinformer (PhilippK)]

This is it! The referenced bugs exactly describe my behavior, including downgrading from gnome-control-center 49.4 to 49.1 enabling the Settings dialog to work again, but not the checkboxes. I’ll monitor these two bugs to see when that gets fixed. Thank you.

An interesting aside: when I crawl my dnf history, gnome-control-center seems never to have been updated to 49.4. How can that be? Are system updates (from Fedora 42 to 43, say) using a different mechanism than package updates?

user@fedora:~$ dnf history info 1..last --contains-pkgs=gnome-control-center
Transaction ID : 255
Begin time     : 2026-02-12 12:29:15
Begin rpmdb    : 2775d3a146c152df6b12e9a7838dcc026e678cad530c9bc728d2cdf0fea2033c
End time       : 2026-02-12 12:29:17
End rpmdb      : 76c8ea7a94f39222c4a4c570792ee51e783b40c30fa955543ffb0ec9b5ec144b
User           : 1000 PhilippK <user>
Status         : Ok
Releasever     : 43
Description    : dnf downgrade gnome-control-center
Comment        : 
Packages altered:
  Action    Package                                              Reason     Repository
  Downgrade gnome-control-center-0:49.1-1.fc43.x86_64            Group      fedora
  Downgrade gnome-control-center-filesystem-0:49.1-1.fc43.noarch Dependency fedora
  Replaced  gnome-control-center-0:49.4-1.fc43.x86_64            Group      @System
  Replaced  gnome-control-center-filesystem-0:49.4-1.fc43.noarch Dependency @System

Transaction ID : 115
Begin time     : 2025-07-12 10:22:56
Begin rpmdb    : 9b571113e215dcffa38064372c88af78053df0d15311c75b17935f5c9fbeda72
End time       : 2025-07-12 10:23:47
End rpmdb      : f8f559536c6de623d232f02f2323bbf1b0f5499effcace77b440ec06f011cf16
User           : 0 Super User <root>
Status         : Ok
Releasever     : 42
Description    : /usr/bin/dnf5 automatic --timer
Comment        : 
Packages altered:
  Action   Package                                                     Reason          Repository
...
  Upgrade  gnome-control-center-0:48.3-1.fc42.x86_64                   Group           updates
  Upgrade  gnome-control-center-filesystem-0:48.3-1.fc42.noarch        Dependency      updates
...
  Replaced gnome-control-center-0:48.2-1.fc42.x86_64                   Group           @System
  Replaced gnome-control-center-filesystem-0:48.2-1.fc42.noarch        Dependency      @System
...

Transaction ID : 73
Begin time     : 2025-05-28 06:06:25
Begin rpmdb    : 13ca1b7ba62844b0dcd0acdaf75ec999ad47f2c55637191e3e7f8614a3f147f9
End time       : 2025-05-28 06:08:01
End rpmdb      : 010ec032a50ca43c6c5c9a3afd16e0d7af4e75e9652a9410a2dd4e9b916375ad
User           : 0 Super User <root>
Status         : Ok
Releasever     : 42
Description    : /usr/bin/dnf5 automatic --timer
Comment        : 
Packages altered:
  Action   Package                                                        Reason          Repository
...
  Upgrade  gnome-control-center-0:48.2-1.fc42.x86_64                      Group           updates
  Upgrade  gnome-control-center-filesystem-0:48.2-1.fc42.noarch           Dependency      updates
...
  Replaced gnome-control-center-0:48.1-1.fc42.x86_64                      Group           @System
  Replaced gnome-control-center-filesystem-0:48.1-1.fc42.noarch           Dependency      @System
...

[ilikelinux]

@chattyinformer

An interesting aside: when I crawl my dnf history, gnome-control-center seems never to have been updated to 49.4. How can that be? Are system updates (from Fedora 42 to 43, say) using a different mechanism than package updates?

@ilikelinux

If you installed with Software you can check with dnf4 which packages have been installed.

That is what i tried to tell you in the beginning of the discussion. If you do an update with the Software app the API behind is still using dnf4 and creates an own history.

The dnf command it selves is dnf5

Try to dig in dnf4 to find the update.