Ubuntu 18.04 audio disappeared after update

I've been using Ubuntu 18.04 on my Thinkpad X1 Carbon 7th gen for some time now with the audio working just fine, but after running some updates yesterday it seems like the audio card has stopped working when I rebooted this morning, could this be related to each other?

dmsg output:

[   32.624585] skl_hda_dsp_generic skl_hda_dsp_generic: Unsupported HDAudio/iDisp configuration found
[   32.624590] skl_hda_dsp_generic: probe of skl_hda_dsp_generic failed with error -22

output from /var/log/apt/history.log:

Start-Date: 2020-03-17  09:30:06
Commandline: aptdaemon role='role-commit-packages' sender=':1.214'
Install: linux-image-5.3.0-42-generic:amd64 (5.3.0-42.34~18.04.1, automatic), linux-headers-5.3.0-42-generic:amd64 (5.3.0-42.34~18.04.1, automatic), linux-modules-extra-5.3.0-42-generic:amd64 (5.3.0-42.34~18.04.1, automatic), linux-headers-5.3.0-42:amd64 (5.3.0-42.34~18.04.1, automatic), linux-modules-5.3.0-42-generic:amd64 (5.3.0-42.34~18.04.1, automatic)
Upgrade: gir1.2-nm-1.0:amd64 (1.10.6-2ubuntu1.2, 1.10.6-2ubuntu1.4), linux-libc-dev:amd64 (4.15.0-88.88, 4.15.0-91.92), linux-headers-generic-hwe-18.04:amd64 (5.3.0.40.97, 5.3.0.42.99), libnm0:amd64 (1.10.6-2ubuntu1.2, 1.10.6-2ubuntu1.4), network-manager:amd64 (1.10.6-2ubuntu1.2, 1.10.6-2ubuntu1.4), linux-image-generic-hwe-18.04:amd64 (5.3.0.40.97, 5.3.0.42.99), linux-signed-generic-hwe-18.04:amd64 (5.3.0.40.97, 5.3.0.42.99), linux-generic-hwe-18.04:amd64 (5.3.0.40.97, 5.3.0.42.99), network-manager-config-connectivity-ubuntu:amd64 (1.10.6-2ubuntu1.2, 1.10.6-2ubuntu1.4), code:amd64 (1.42.1-1581432938, 1.43.0-1583783132), linux-firmware:amd64 (1.173.15, 1.173.16), docker-ce:amd64 (5:19.03.7~3-0~ubuntu-bionic, 5:19.03.8~3-0~ubuntu-bionic), docker-ce-cli:amd64 (5:19.03.7~3-0~ubuntu-bionic, 5:19.03.8~3-0~ubuntu-bionic)
End-Date: 2020-03-17  09:31:51

Start-Date: 2020-03-18  06:58:27
Commandline: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
Remove: linux-headers-5.3.0-28:amd64 (5.3.0-28.30~18.04.1), linux-headers-5.3.0-28-generic:amd64 (5.3.0-28.30~18.04.1)
End-Date: 2020-03-18  06:58:27

Start-Date: 2020-03-18  06:58:30
Commandline: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
Remove: linux-modules-extra-5.3.0-28-generic:amd64 (5.3.0-28.30~18.04.1)
End-Date: 2020-03-18  06:58:31

Start-Date: 2020-03-18  06:58:36
Commandline: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
Remove: linux-modules-5.3.0-28-generic:amd64 (5.3.0-28.30~18.04.1), linux-image-5.3.0-28-generic:amd64 (5.3.0-28.30~18.04.1)
End-Date: 2020-03-18  06:58:40

Start-Date: 2020-03-18  06:58:48
Commandline: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
Upgrade: libcephfs2:amd64 (12.2.12-0ubuntu0.18.04.4, 12.2.12-0ubuntu0.18.04.5)
End-Date: 2020-03-18  06:58:49

Start-Date: 2020-03-18  06:58:53
Commandline: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
Upgrade: libicu60:amd64 (60.2-3ubuntu3, 60.2-3ubuntu3.1)
End-Date: 2020-03-18  06:58:55

Start-Date: 2020-03-18  06:59:01
Commandline: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
Upgrade: librados2:amd64 (12.2.12-0ubuntu0.18.04.4, 12.2.12-0ubuntu0.18.04.5)
End-Date: 2020-03-18  06:59:02

Start-Date: 2020-03-18  06:59:08
Commandline: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
Upgrade: python3-apport:amd64 (2.20.9-0ubuntu7.11, 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.12)
End-Date: 2020-03-18  06:59:09

Start-Date: 2020-03-18  06:59:14
Commandline: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
Upgrade: python3-problem-report:amd64 (2.20.9-0ubuntu7.11, 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.12)
End-Date: 2020-03-18  06:59:15

Start-Date: 2020-03-18  06:59:18
Commandline: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
Upgrade: apport:amd64 (2.20.9-0ubuntu7.11, 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.12)
End-Date: 2020-03-18  06:59:21

Start-Date: 2020-03-18  06:59:24
Commandline: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
Upgrade: apport-gtk:amd64 (2.20.9-0ubuntu7.11, 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.12)
End-Date: 2020-03-18  06:59:25

So to answer my own question. After a lot of digging I finally managed to get my audio working again. After finding this thread https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/64720 I tried temporarily adding the boot parameter snd_hda_intel.dmic_detect=0 by following this guide: How do I add a kernel boot parameter? to verify that it worked. It solved my problem, and I added the key permanently now, and the fix seems to persist after reboot.


I am on Ubuntu 19.10, Thinkpad X1C7 and had the same problem. Also, I was not able to shutdown anymore. I tried your own answer but it didn't help.

So I rolled back the kernel from 5.3.0.42-generic to 5.3.0.40-generic following this instruction: How to downgrade kernel after bad update (16.04)

After a reboot, it worked.