[alsa-devel] [BUG] Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G7 QOY (Snapdragon X) - No soundcards detected

[thomas.kuang]

Hardware: Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G7 QOY (Qualcomm Snapdragon X / X Plus / X Elite)
Kernel version: 7.0.0-22-generic (Ubuntu 26.04 LTS)
Architecture: aarch64

Problem Description:
-------------------
Audio is not working on this Snapdragon X-based laptop. The system fails to detect any soundcards,
even though the Qualcomm audio driver modules are loaded.

Symptoms:
---------
- `aplay -l` shows: "no soundcards found..."
- `cat /proc/asound/cards` shows: "--- no soundcards ---"
- `/dev/snd/` only contains seq and timer devices, no pcm devices

Relevant System Information:
----------------------------

$ uname -a
Linux ks-ThinkBook-16-G7-QOY 7.0.0-22-generic #22-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Mon May 25 15:37:49 UTC 2026 aarch64 GNU/Linux

$ cat /proc/version
Linux version 7.0.0-22-generic (buildd@bos03-arm64-083) (aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc (Ubuntu 15.2.0-16ubuntu1) 15.2.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Ubuntu) 2.46) #22-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Mon May 25 15:37:49 UTC 2026

$ cat /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/product_name
21NH

$ cat /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/product_version
ThinkBook 16 G7 QOY

$ cat /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/sys_vendor
LENOVO

Loaded Audio Modules:
--------------------
$ lsmod | grep -i qcom | grep -i sound
snd_soc_qcom_sdw        12288  1 snd_soc_x1e80100
snd_soc_qcom_common     16384  1 snd_soc_x1e80100
soundwire_qcom          36864  0

$ lsmod | grep snd_soc_x1e80100
snd_soc_x1e80100        16384  0

Platform Devices:
-----------------
$ ls /sys/bus/platform/devices/ | grep audio
audio-codec
hdmi-audio-codec.6.auto
hdmi-audio-codec.7.auto
hdmi-audio-codec.8.auto

PipeWire Status:
----------------
● pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Mon 2026-06-08 18:40:50 CST; 30min ago

● pipewire-pulse.service - PipeWire PulseAudio
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire-pulse.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Mon 2026-06-08 18:40:50 CST; 30min ago

● wireplumber.service - Multimedia Service Session Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/wireplumber.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Mon 2026-06-08 18:40:50 CST; 30min ago

Additional Notes:
-----------------
This appears to be similar to issues reported on other Snapdragon X Elite devices
(Dell Latitude 7455, Dell XPS 13 9345). The audio driver modules load correctly,
but the sound card registration fails.

A workaround mentioned in community discussions is to add:
  snd-soc-x1e80100.i_accept_the_danger=1
to the kernel command line, which suggests this may be related to speaker
protection mechanisms not being fully implemented for this platform.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,
thomas.kuang