Technical Inquiry: DSP Hardware Offload Capabilities for LE Audio on Alder Lake-HX (i7-12800HX / PCH

[Moek]

Dear Technical Support Team,

I am writing to request technical clarification regarding the Bluetooth® LE Audio Hardware Offload (DSP Offload) support on the Intel® Core™ i7-12800HX (Alder Lake-HX) platform.

I am an advanced user attempting to enable the Intel® Smart Sound Technology ACX Streaming for Bluetooth® LE Audio device on a Mechrevo Aurora X (Tongfang Chassis) laptop. Despite the OED loading successfully, the ACX LE Audio endpoint fails to initialize with a Code 10 (Invalid Parameter) error.

Based on my analysis of the driver topology and system logs, I suspect a platform-level limitation regarding the physical interconnect (Sideband) between the DSP and the CNVio2 module on the HX chipset. I would appreciate your confirmation on the following technical details.

1. System Configuration

• Laptop Model: Mechrevo Aurora X (Mechanical Revolution)

• Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-12800HX (Alder Lake-HX)

• PCH Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_7AD0 (Alder Lake-S/HX PCH)

• DSP OED Device: Intel® Smart Sound Technology OED

  • Hardware ID: INTELAUDIO\DSP_CTLR_DEV_7AD0&VEN_8086&DEV_0222

  • Status: OK (Working)

• Bluetooth Module: Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX411 160MHz (CNVio2)

  • Hardware ID: USB\VID_8087&PID_0033

• Audio Codec: Senary Audio (OEM Implementation)

• Audio Driver: Intel SST [Insert Version, e.g., 20.00.x.x]

2. Issue Description

While the Intel SST OED initializes correctly, the specific child device "Intel® Smart Sound Technology ACX Streaming for Bluetooth® LE Audio" fails to start.

• Error Code: 10 (STATUS_DEVICE_POWER_FAILURE / STATUS_INVALID_PARAMETER).

• Observation: The standard Bluetooth Host controller works fine (USB transport). The failure only occurs when the DSP attempts to offload the LE Audio stream via the ACX driver.

3. Technical Analysis & Hypothesis

My investigation points to a mismatch between the driver topology requirements and the physical attributes of the HX (Desktop-derived) platform:

1. PCH Architecture Difference: The system uses the DEV_7AD0 PCH, which is derived from the Desktop (Alder Lake-S) architecture, unlike the Mobile (Alder Lake-P, DEV_51C8) PCH.

2. Missing Sideband Link: It appears that the required hardware sideband connection (I2S or Intel SoundWire) between the cAVS DSP core and the CNVio2 (AX411) Bluetooth controller is either not physically implemented on this HX motherboard or disabled in the firmware/BIOS.

3. Topology Conflict: The driver topology (IntcOEDTopology.xml) seems to expect a direct "Render Offload" path to a specific gateway. Since this system uses a Senary Audio codec instead of the standard Realtek path, the DSP might be failing to bind the audio endpoint to the Bluetooth offload pin.

4. Technical Questions

Could you please clarify the following for the i7-12800HX platform:

1. Platform Capability: Does the Alder Lake-HX (PCH 7AD0) architecture officially support the physical sideband link required for Bluetooth LE Audio Offloading? Or is LE Audio supported only via Host Processing (CPU Soft-encoding) on this SKU?

2. DSP Firmware: Does the DSP firmware for DEV_0222 expose the necessary capabilities to handle Bluetooth offload, or is this feature fused off for HX/Desktop SKUs?

3. OEM Constraint: Given the integration with Senary Audio, does the Intel SST driver require a specific OEM topology configuration that might be missing in the generic driver package?

Your detailed technical insight would be invaluable in determining whether this is a fixable driver/BIOS issue or a permanent hardware limitation of the HX platform.

Best regards,

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Moek,

Thank you for posting in Intel community Forum.

For me to better understand and diagnose the issue further, let me ask you to provide detailed responses to the following questions. This information will help me isolate the problem and determine the most appropriate course of action moving forward.

1. Regarding the issue, have you tried this before? Did you successfully set this audio before?
2. Can you share some screenshots on how you enable/set up this audio?
3. Also share screenshots if there is an error that you encounter.
4. What are the troubleshooting steps that you tried before?
5. For me to review the hardware and the driver installed, please help generate the SSU logs of your system. Kindly refer to the link below for the steps on how to generate the logs:

How to get the Intel® System Support Utility Logs on Windows*

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Moek,

I hope this message finds you well. 

Were you able to check the previous post?

Please let us know if you still need assistance.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Mike_Intel]

Hello Moek,

I hope you are having a good day.

I am sending another follow up on the information that I requested. 

Since we have not heard back from you, I need to close this inquiry. 

If you need further assistance, please post a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored. 

Thank you and have a great day. 

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician