I’ve just setup a new HP Chromebook 13 G1 (chell), with the MrChromebox scripts (2025.12.14), and Debian Linux.
However, I’m a bit confused about how to get audio working on this machine.
During the Debian installation wizard, I did see the following error message:
Some of your hardware needs non-free firmware files to operate. The firmware can be loaded from removable media, such as a USB stick or floppy.
The missing firmware files are: intel/avs/hda-80862809-tplgbin
If you have such media available now, insert it, and continue.
I didn’t have any extra media available - so I just hit “No”, and figured I’d sort out the firmware later. (From Googling, it seems like this was related to the audio chipset).
After the Debian install had finished, I went into /etc/apt/sources.list, and was planning to add non-free. However, it seems non-free was already added - guessing that’s now the default in Debian?
I went to the MrChromebook FAQ, and it’s section on audio - which took me to this Chrultrabook Docs page, about how to get audio working.
However, I saw on that page it had a very scary warning:
Using AVS on a device with max98357a will blow your speakers. You have been warned.
I then git-cloned the scripts from GitHub - WeirdTreeThing/chromebook-linux-audio: Script that enables audio support on many Chrome devices running various Linux distros.
I then tried to run the script:
victorhooi@dailir:~/code/chromebook-linux-audio$ ./setup-audio
Detecting platform
Detected Intel Skylake
Enabling AVS driver
Installing UCM configuration
Cloning into '/tmp/alsa-ucm-conf-cros'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 117, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (117/117), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (86/86), done.
remote: Total 117 (delta 38), reused 88 (delta 24), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
Receiving objects: 100% (117/117), 20.07 KiB | 4.01 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (38/38), done.
Checking kernel config for 6.17.12+deb14-amd64
Detecting codecs
Warning: Kernel is missing module 'SND_SOC_INTEL_AVS_MACH_MAX98357A', audio may not work.
Initializing sound card
Found hardware: "avs_nau8825" "" "" "" ""
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
Found hardware: "avs_ssm4567" "" "" "" ""
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
Found hardware: "avs_dmic" "" "" "" ""
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
alsa-lib main.c:1554:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:3 use case configuration -2
Found hardware: "avs_hdaudio" "Intel Skylake HDMI" "HDA:80862809,80860101,00100000" "" ""
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
Audio setup finished! Reboot to complete setup.
If you still have any issues post-reboot, report them to https://github.com/WeirdTreeThing/chromebook-linux-audio
If this script has been helpful for you and you would like to support the work I do, consider donating to https://paypal.me/weirdtreething
I have two questions:
- The above script output seems to suggest that a kernel module (SND_SOC_INTEL_AVS_MACH_MAX98357A) is missing, is that right? How should I go about fixing that module?
- The script output mentions
MAX98357A- does this mean I have that chipset in this Chromebook (chell)? What exactly does the “blow your speakers” warning mean? How should I proceed here?
Hope it helps!