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claudetools/session-logs/2026-03-21-session.md
Mike Swanson cf2b229be5 Session log: Legion Pro 7 AW88399 smart amp kernel patch build & install 
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-03-21 04:55:01 -07:00

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Session Log: 2026-03-21

Session Summary

Continued work on fixing the terrible speaker sound quality on the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16IAX10H (CachyOS workstation). Previous session (2026-03-20) diagnosed the root cause and applied initial fixes (forced SOF driver, EasyEffects EQ). This session discovered that the SOF driver alone was insufficient because the Awinic AW88399 smart amplifiers were not integrated into the audio pipeline, and built a custom kernel with the community patch to fix it.

Key Decisions

  • Used the community patch from nadimkobeissi/16iax10h-linux-sound-saga GitHub repo rather than attempting to write our own driver
  • Built a full CachyOS kernel package (not DKMS) because the patch modifies existing kernel source files (ACPI scan, serial-multi-instantiate, alc269.c, aw88399.c ASoC driver)
  • Installed UCM2 config modifications for proper speaker routing
  • Used BUILDDIR on main disk after tmpfs (16GB) ran out of space during kernel extraction

Problems Encountered

  1. tmpfs too small - Initial makepkg in /tmp failed with "No space left on device" because the kernel source + build artifacts exceed 16GB. Fixed by moving build to /home/guru/kernel-build/ with BUILDDIR override.
  2. Missing build deps - bc, cpio, rust, rust-bindgen, rust-src needed installation.

Hardware Details

  • Laptop: Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16IAX10H (DMI product: 83F5)
  • Audio Controller: Intel 800 Series ACE (PCI 80:1f.3), PCI SSID 17aa:3d6c
  • Codec: Realtek ALC287, codec SSID 17aa:3906
  • Smart Amplifier: Awinic AW88399 on I2C (ACPI: AWDZ8399:00, path: \_SB_.PC02.I2C2.SPKR)
  • Kernel: 6.19.9-1-cachyos with SOF driver (sof-audio-pci-intel-mtl)
  • SOF Firmware: intel/sof-ipc4/arl-s/sof-arl-s.ri v2.14.1.1
  • SOF Topology: intel/sof-ipc4-tplg/sof-hda-generic.tplg

Root Cause Analysis

The sound was terrible because:

  1. SOF driver loaded but using generic HDA topology - no smart amp integration
  2. AW88399 kernel module loaded with 0 references - snd_soc_aw88399 was loaded but nothing used it because there was no HDA side-codec bridge driver
  3. Wrong codec fixup - Kernel picked fixup for PCI SSID 17aa:0000 (generic/none) instead of 17aa:3906 because the PCI subsystem ID is actually 17aa:3d6c which had no quirk entry
  4. No HDA side-codec bridge - The stock kernel has CONFIG_SND_SOC_AW88399=m (ASoC driver) but NOT CONFIG_SND_HDA_SCODEC_AW88399 (the HDA bridge driver that connects ALC287 to the I2C amps) - this driver doesn't exist in mainline Linux as of kernel 6.19

Fix Applied

Source: Community Patch

What the Patch Does

  1. Creates new HDA side-codec bridge driver (snd-hda-scodec-aw88399, snd-hda-scodec-aw88399-i2c) - connects ALC287 HDA codec to AW88399 amps via I2C
  2. Adds ACPI ignore entry for AWDZ8399 in drivers/acpi/scan.c so serial-multi-instantiate handles it
  3. Adds serial-multi-instantiate node for aw88399-hda with 2 instances
  4. Adds HDA fixup entries in alc269.c: ALC287_FIXUP_LENOVO_LEGION_AW88399 for SSIDs 17aa:3906, 17aa:3907, 17aa:3938
  5. Exports functions from ASoC aw88399.c: aw88399_start(), aw88399_stop(), aw88399_init(), aw88399_request_firmware_file()
  6. Removes ACPI match from ASoC driver to prevent binding conflict with HDA side-codec
  7. DMI-based L/R channel swap for products 83F5, 83RU, 83F4 (hardware wiring issue)

Files Created/Modified on System

Firmware

  • Created: /lib/firmware/aw88399_acf.bin (amplifier calibration firmware from Windows driver)

UCM2 Configs

  • Backed up: /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/HDA/HiFi-analog.conf.bak
  • Backed up: /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/HDA/HiFi-mic.conf.bak
  • Modified: /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/HDA/HiFi-analog.conf (from community repo)
  • Modified: /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/HDA/HiFi-mic.conf (from community repo)

Kernel Build

  • Build directory: /home/guru/kernel-build/
  • PKGBUILD: Modified CachyOS PKGBUILD with aw88399-hda-scodec.patch added to source array and CONFIG_SND_HDA_SCODEC_AW88399=m, CONFIG_SND_HDA_SCODEC_AW88399_I2C=m enabled
  • Built packages:
    • /home/guru/kernel-build/linux-cachyos-6.19.9-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst (147MB)
    • /home/guru/kernel-build/linux-cachyos-headers-6.19.9-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst (37MB)

Kernel Installed

  • Packages installed via sudo pacman -U
  • Initramfs regenerated automatically
  • Limine bootloader config updated automatically

Previous Session Fixes Still Active

  • /etc/modprobe.d/sof-force.conf - forces SOF driver (dsp_driver=3)
  • ~/.local/share/easyeffects/output/Legion-Speakers-v2.json - EasyEffects EQ preset
  • EasyEffects sink set as default audio output

Configuration Changes

Packages Installed This Session

  • bc (kernel build dep)
  • cpio (kernel build dep)
  • rust (kernel build dep - LTO kernel)
  • rust-bindgen (kernel build dep)
  • rust-src (kernel build dep)

Kernel Config Added

CONFIG_SND_HDA_SCODEC_AW88399=m
CONFIG_SND_HDA_SCODEC_AW88399_I2C=m

Pending/Incomplete Tasks

REBOOT REQUIRED

The patched kernel is installed but requires a reboot to take effect.

Post-Reboot Verification

Run these commands after reboot:

# Verify AW88399 HDA side-codec loaded
sudo dmesg | grep -i aw88399

# Verify modules loaded with references > 0
lsmod | grep aw88399

# Verify correct codec fixup (should show 17aa:3906 not 17aa:0000)
sudo dmesg | grep -i "fixup.*17aa"

# Check audio devices
wpctl status

# Verify serial-multi-instantiate created I2C devices
ls /sys/bus/i2c/devices/ | grep -i aw

# Reset UCM and restart audio
alsaucm -c hw:1 reset
alsaucm -c hw:1 reload
systemctl --user restart pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber

If Sound Still Bad After Reboot

  1. Check if EasyEffects is still routing correctly: wpctl set-default <easyeffects_sink_id>
  2. May need to reconfigure EasyEffects if device names/IDs change
  3. Verify firmware loaded: sudo dmesg | grep aw88399_acf

If Reboot Breaks Audio Completely

  1. Boot LTS kernel from Limine menu
  2. Or boot a btrfs snapshot (available in Limine)
  3. Or remove the patched kernel: sudo pacman -S linux-cachyos (reinstall from repo)
  4. Restore UCM2 backups: 
    sudo cp /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/HDA/HiFi-analog.conf.bak /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/HDA/HiFi-analog.conf
sudo cp /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/HDA/HiFi-mic.conf.bak /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/HDA/HiFi-mic.conf

Cleanup After Verification

  • Remove /home/guru/kernel-build/build/ (large build artifacts)
  • Remove /tmp/16iax10h-linux-sound-saga/ and /tmp/linux-cachyos/
  • Keep /home/guru/kernel-build/PKGBUILD and patch for future kernel rebuilds

Future Kernel Updates

When CachyOS pushes a new kernel update, the AW88399 patch will be lost. Need to either:

  1. Rebuild with the patch each time (keep PKGBUILD + patch in /home/guru/kernel-build/)
  2. Watch for upstream inclusion (Kernel Bugzilla #218329)
  3. Watch CachyOS issues #687 and #707 for native inclusion

Reference Information

Key URLs

Key File Paths

  • Kernel build dir: /home/guru/kernel-build/
  • SOF force config: /etc/modprobe.d/sof-force.conf
  • AW88399 firmware: /lib/firmware/aw88399_acf.bin
  • UCM2 configs: /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/HDA/HiFi-analog.conf, HiFi-mic.conf
  • UCM2 backups: same path with .bak extension
  • EasyEffects preset: ~/.local/share/easyeffects/output/Legion-Speakers-v2.json

PCI/Device IDs

  • PCI device: 80:1f.3 (Intel 800 Series ACE)
  • PCI vendor/device: 8086:7f50
  • PCI subsystem: 17aa:3d6c
  • Codec SSID: 17aa:3906
  • ACPI amp device: AWDZ8399:00
  • I2C amp addresses: 0x34 (right speaker), 0x35 (left speaker)
  • DMI product: 83F5
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