I have the same issue when I boot up with my USB headphone plugged in. The sound output defaults to the USB headphone, the volume controller controls its volume. However the sound comes from the internal speaker as I expect it to do. If I change the sound output device to the internal speakers then the sound controller works fine until I reboot. After reboot everything starts over again. If I don't have the USB headphones plugged in during boot then this issue doesn't happen.
I have an Asus Zephyrus S GX531GX laptop and a pair of Asus Delta USB headphones. 19.10 and 20.04 both have this issue. ** Tags added: fecal -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to pulseaudio in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1838577 Title: Default audio device changes on reboot; audio still outputs using my previously-selected device Status in pulseaudio package in Ubuntu: Triaged Bug description: This is present in Ubuntu 18.04, 18.10, 19.04, and 19.10 daily build. It was not present in Ubuntu 16.04. I have a USB microphone which also appears to pulse as a speaker. Pulse keeps picking it as the default audio device. I can switch audio devices to my analog line out, which works as expected until I reboot. After reboot, my audio device switches back to the USB "speaker", and Gnome shell / Gnome settings volume control adjusts the USB speaker volume. Despite seeing the USB device as the current output device, I still hear sound from my line-out. In the interest of narrowing down this bug, I have found that disabling "module-switch-on-connect" fixes the problem (my line-out stays as the default audio device and I hear sound). ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 19.04 Package: pulseaudio 1:12.2-2ubuntu3 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.0.0-21.22-generic 5.0.15 Uname: Linux 5.0.0-21-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.20.10-0ubuntu27.1 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME Date: Wed Jul 31 17:39:38 2019 InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-07-31 (0 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 19.04 "Disco Dingo" - Release amd64 (20190416) ProcEnviron: TERM=xterm-256color PATH=(custom, no user) XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set> LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: pulseaudio UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) dmi.bios.date: 12/07/2018 dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc. dmi.bios.version: 4207 dmi.board.asset.tag: Default string dmi.board.name: PRIME B350M-A dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. dmi.board.version: Rev X.0x dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Default string dmi.chassis.type: 3 dmi.chassis.vendor: Default string dmi.chassis.version: Default string dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr4207:bd12/07/2018:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnPRIMEB350M-A:rvrRevX.0x:cvnDefaultstring:ct3:cvrDefaultstring: dmi.product.family: To be filled by O.E.M. dmi.product.name: System Product Name dmi.product.sku: SKU dmi.product.version: System Version dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/1838577/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages Post to : touch-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp