No Audio on Raspberry Pi 5

constantdonkey

I installed RetroPie on a Raspberry Pi 5 using the basic install option from the script, but I can't get the audio working. In the start menu sound options, I have default set for audio card, and HDMI set for audio device, but the system volume is stuck at 0. If I go into the raspi-config and choose the audio options, it says "no audio system installed". I've also tried going into the Audio options and choosing either HDMI 0, or HDMI 1, and HDMI1 actually seemed to fix the interface audio, but still no audio in game. Then I found some random post that said to go into the configuration editor, and modify the all/retroarch.cfg audio driver setting to choose SDL2, but that didn't fix the in game audio, and it broke the interface audio again. I undid that, but I can't get the interface audio working again.

mitu

Support for the Pi5 is still in beta and some things might now work. That being said, a basic install over the RaspiOS Lite image (64 bit) should have functioning sound after you choose the audio output from RetroPie's Audio settings.

Looking at your post, you seem to be using the Desktop installation image - so most likely you have PulseAudio/PipeWire installed as audio managers. Is that the case ?

constantdonkey

No, I followed these instructions and installed the 32bit lite version of the OS, so no Pulseaudio/Pipewire. Should I have done the 64 bit version? I actually did that first, but then when I ran the install script for RetroPie, it warned me that it wasn't supported for everything.

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Manual-Installation/

firehead1976

is there a way to download retropie for the pi 5 please need help

constantdonkey

@firehead1976 said in No Audio on Raspberry Pi 5:

is there a way to download retropie for the pi 5 please need help

I don't think there's a prebuilt image yet. I followed these instructions for a manual install, but I had some issues along the way. I have everything working but the sound.

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Manual-Installation/

firehead1976

where can indownload it and what program do i need to make an image of it

mitu

@firehead1976 There's no image, as @constantdonkey already told you. Please don't hijack other users' topics, it's rude.

@constantdonkey install the 64bit Lite image and then re-configure the Audio from the RetroPie system. If you still don't get audio in EmulationStation/Emulators, post again in this topic.

constantdonkey

Installed the 64bit version and everything worked right out of the box. Thanks mitu!

Efriim

Was having possibly the same issue (rpi5 no HDMI audio) and I wanted to post what worked for me.

in /boot/firmware/config.txt
~~i disabled this one line by adding a hash~~
~~#disable_fw_kms_setup=1~~
edit: i was wrong, this does nothing

I read on raspberrypi documentation:

disable_fw_kms_setup
By default, the firmware parses the EDID of any HDMI attached display, picks an appropriate video mode, then passes the resolution and frame rate of the mode (and overscan parameters) to the Linux kernel via settings on the kernel command line. In rare circumstances, the firmware can choose a mode not in the EDID that may be incompatible with the device. Use
disable_fw_kms_setup=1
to disable passing video mode parameters, which can avoid this problem. The Linux video mode system (KMS) instead parses the EDID itself and picks an appropriate mode.

and took that to mean that it was blocking edid information, and interfering with the digital homeostasis, so i removed it.

I'm not sure if this is going to work for everybody. Not sure if this line was present on a fresh installation. also not really sure about anything. but maybe this will help someone else, primarily if you are having issues with HDMI audio

mitu

@Efriim said in No Audio on Raspberry Pi 5:

I'm not sure if this is going to work for everybody.

This has absolutely nothing to do with Audio. As the documentation says, it's only for adding (or not) the initial video resolution to the kernel's command line.

Efriim

@mitu
I beg to differ, primarily because I believe this was the solution that worked for me, I made this change reset and HDMI audio was restored.

I don't think my interpretation is that far of a stretch. The edid is used for referencing which includes audio as well as video through HDMI. If it is blocking the EDID video mode during post, I think it is plausible that the wrong information is being communicated about the HDMI audio devices.

For example it interprets the HDMI EDID as a device that has no audio interface, and is video mode only. This may not have been a problem in previous raspbian images, but i think on rpi5 audio devices are more reliant on this. Maybe just that one initialization references another and it may not be intended, but incidental that audio devices don't get mapped out properly

mitu

@Efriim That parameter is not doing anything in the OS (Linux) after the system is booted.

disable_fw_kms_setup=1 - nothing is added to the kernel command line.
disable_fw_kms_setup=0 - the firmware parses the EDID, chooses the 'preferred' HDMI video mode and adds video=WxH@HDMI-1 for the initial video mode.

I don't see how that has any effect on the audio output. Furthermore disable_fw_kms_setup=1 is the default value on a Pi5, so if you comment it, it actually does nothing - in order for something to change, you'd have to add disable_fw_kms_setup=0 to achieve the opposite of the default value.

Efriim

@mitu
I'll try uncommenting then and may you be right, sorry for being so flagrantly confident in everything. I did only intend that it might help someone, but if it is of no use then it should be expelled from the internet

Efriim

@mitu
you're right of course.
I uncommented the line it made no difference. I'm still of the mind that maybe it needed to populate some EDID data at least one time, but you say that commenting does literally nothing because Disable_fw_kms_setup=1 is default? Well it must have been some fluke, and I can't explain it, perhaps it was in the order of which it parses the config.txt, compared to the order of the default flags.

Again I don't think it is the intended effect of that specific flag, but was more just an incedental consequence. EDID data can also be conspicously finnicky with HDMI cables and the fact that I am using an argon one case that has some HDMI adapter sort of thing.

The fact remains I have audio, it is possible it was a number of other dumb things i tried, which seemed to no avail. I was elated to have thought to found a solution and share it, but now i guess i'm just lucky to have audio

Dumb things I tried* possibly correct order:
Every audio setting in emulationstation/raspi-config/retropiesetup
Updating raspbian through retropiesetup
Installing pulse audio, and then repeating the first step.
Uninstalling pulseaudio, and then repeating the first step.
Finding some forum with an anecdote about this working

hdmi_drive=2
hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080
hdmi_mode=16
hdmi_group=1

it didn't work so commented off, but that is where i thought i had a clue about incorrect edid data making the system think it is connected to a generic HDMI with no audio.

mitu

@Efriim said in No Audio on Raspberry Pi 5:

Finding some forum with an anecdote about this working

hdmi_drive=2
hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080
hdmi_mode=16
hdmi_group=1

These have no effect on recent RaspiOS releases, on any Pi models.

Dumb things I tried* possibly correct order:...

Open the Audio settings available in the RetroPie system and choose your output, it should correctly configure ALSA for the device.

Efriim

@mitu
I think I must have hit the audio settings script module several times. with a healthy amount of reboots before it did anything in the way of successfully setting up ALSA

I'm still lost on this one. I know a clean install after installing retropie it did have audio, somewhere i lost audio updating and configuring pretty early on. I gave up on it several months back only to come back to it today.

I'm starting to lean towards it being some issue with argon one HDMI daughter board. But in the end it is working now, and i admit it is very unlikely that my "fix" did anything.

I just remembered I installed Kodi, from optional packages, somewhere in this attempt too. I feel really dumb, but at least there is always something to learn