ubuntu mute does not match hardware mute button

Recently I installed ubuntu 13.04 on my Lenovo T430.

The mute button on the laptop has an LED to indicate whether the sound is muted (LED on) or not (LED off). Ubuntu's software mute does not always match up with the state of the hardware mute.

The OS mute function does not change the state of the hardware mute. If the hardware mute is on, no sound. No matter what my settings in the OS are.

The hardware mute button does change the state of OS mute, but because the OS mute does not change the hardware state, they can be mismatched.

Is there any way to sync the two so the both reflect reality? Not sure if this is a driver or firmware problem. Perhaps it's just a feature that Ubuntu doesn't support.

2 Answers

This problem is well known by ubuntu. There are different laptop-manufacturer affected. Also the Lenovo T530 is shown there. Not exactly your model, but the same productline.

There is a bug-report but it's not solved yet.

I would suggest you, to try a possible solution from the askubuntu-QA because it looks like, it will possible solve your problem:

1. Start alsamixer in the terminal.

2. Make sure you've selected the internal sound card (not the HDMI or external ones) by pressing F6.

3. Try to locate a setting for LEDs, presented between the sliders. In my case it lists a Mute-LED Mode. Use the → to move to the right in case you have more sliders than fit on the screen.

4. Move to the "slider" and adjust it using the ↑ and ↓ keys in order to find a Follow Master option (or alike). Also try to toggle the LED state manually by flipping the setting On/Off.

5. Now move to the Master slider and press M to mute/unmute. The LED should toggle with it.

6. Try to use the hotkeys to mute/unmute. The LED should toggle with it again.

Installing indicator-sound solved the problem for me.