No sound i n Linux Mint or Ubuntu

I think I've been here before with other hardware and a different distro. However, I still don't understand sound installation and it seems that multiple distros fail to set up sound at all on various types of hardware. (I hope that is not a trend or worse.)

At the moment I am trying to get sound out of either Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or Linux Mint 20.1 on a refurbished system. Neither produces sound by default and I need to find what advanced configurations need to be made to get sound working.

In Mint, if I go to Sound Preferences -> Hardware -> Choose a device to configure, then it shows Built-in Audio as Disabled / Off. If I go to Sound Preferences -> Output -> Choose a device for output, it shows only "Dummy Output" as the sole choice.

What concrete steps do I need to take do debug this?

Code:$ grep -i pretty /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Linux Mint 20.1"

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: chtmax98090 [chtmax98090], device 0: Audio (*) []
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: chtmax98090 [chtmax98090], device 1: Deep-Buffer Audio (*) []
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0Trying plughw:1,0 or plughw:1,1 with aplay goes through the motions of playing audio, but nonetheless produces no sound.

Code:$ aplay -D plughw:1,1 /usr/lib/libreoffice/share/gallery/sounds/ok.wav
Playing WAVE '/usr/lib/libreoffice/share/gallery/sounds/ok.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 11025 Hz, Mono
aplay: set_params:1407: Unable to install hw params:
ACCESS: RW_INTERLEAVED
FORMAT: S16_LE
SUBFORMAT: STD
SAMPLE_BITS: 16
FRAME_BITS: 16
CHANNELS: 1
RATE: 11025
PERIOD_TIME: 125000
PERIOD_SIZE: [1378 1378]
PERIOD_BYTES: (2756 2758)
PERIODS: (3 4)
BUFFER_TIME: (499954 499955)
BUFFER_SIZE: 5512
BUFFER_BYTES: 11024
TICK_TIME: 0Similar problems seem widespread based on the number of pages offering different solutions. However, the solutions all seem unique to specific setups. I've tried cargo-culting quite a few but with no apparent progress.

Code:# alsa reload
Unloading ALSA sound driver modules: snd-soc-sst-cht-bsw-max98090-ti snd-soc-ts3a227e snd-sof-acpi snd-sof-intel-byt snd-sof-intel-ipc snd-sof snd-sof-xtensa-dsp snd-intel-sst-acpi snd-intel-sst-core snd-seq-midi snd-soc-sst-atom-hifi2-platform snd-soc-acpi-intel-match snd-hda-codec-hdmi snd-seq-midi-event snd-hda-intel snd-soc-max98090 snd-soc-acpi snd-intel-dspcfg snd-hda-codec snd-soc-core snd-rawmidi snd-hda-core snd-hwdep snd-compress snd-pcm-dmaengine snd-pcm snd-seq snd-seq-device snd-timer (failed: modules still loaded: snd-intel-sst-acpi snd-intel-sst-core snd-soc-sst-atom-hifi2-platform snd-soc-acpi-intel-match snd-hda-codec-hdmi snd-hda-intel snd-soc-acpi snd-intel-dspcfg snd-hda-codec snd-soc-core snd-hda-core snd-hwdep snd-compress snd-pcm-dmaengine snd-pcm snd-timer).
Loading ALSA sound driver modules: snd-soc-sst-cht-bsw-max98090-ti snd-soc-ts3a227e snd-sof-acpi snd-sof-intel-byt snd-sof-intel-ipc snd-sof snd-sof-xtensa-dsp snd-intel-sst-acpi snd-intel-sst-core snd-seq-midi snd-soc-sst-atom-hifi2-platform snd-soc-acpi-intel-match snd-hda-codec-hdmi snd-seq-midi-event snd-hda-intel snd-soc-max98090 snd-soc-acpi snd-intel-dspcfg snd-hda-codec snd-soc-core snd-rawmidi snd-hda-core snd-hwdep snd-compress snd-pcm-dmaengine snd-pcm snd-seq snd-seq-device snd-timer.and

Code:# lsmod | awk '/^snd/{print $1}' | sort
snd
snd_compress
snd_hda_codec
snd_hda_codec_hdmi
snd_hda_core
snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep
snd_intel_dspcfg
snd_intel_sst_acpi
snd_intel_sst_core
snd_pcm
snd_pcm_dmaengine
snd_rawmidi
snd_seq
snd_seq_device
snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event
snd_soc_acpi
snd_soc_acpi_intel_match
snd_soc_core
snd_soc_max98090
snd_soc_sst_atom_hifi2_platform
snd_soc_sst_cht_bsw_max98090_ti
snd_soc_ts3a227e
snd_sof
snd_sof_acpi
snd_sof_intel_byt
snd_sof_intel_ipc
snd_sof_xtensa_dsp