The Problem

After updating SteamOS via the Discover Store, I noticed that:
  • Bluetooth audio worked perfectly
  • Headphones (3.5mm jack) also sounded normal
  • Internal speakers were extremely quiet — like 5–10% volume even when everything was maxed out
In Gaming Mode, they were almost silent.

Initial Troubleshooting (that didn't help for me, maybe for you?)

  • Checking alsamixer (volumes were all 100%)
  • Switching sinks in pavucontrol
  • Testing audio output with paplay and aplay
  • Selecting the "Speakers" output manually in KDE
  • Inspecting new sound devices like Rembrandt Radeon High Definition Audio Controller Pro7, Pro8, Pro9
  • None of it fixed the problem. But since Bluetooth and headphone output were fine, I figured it wasn’t a hardware issue.
  • Restarting sound services

The Solution

Clear Old Audio Configs Open Konsole in Desktop Mode and run the following commands: If some folders do not exist, that's fine - just continue. 

rm -rf ~/.config/pipewire
rm -rf ~/.config/wireplumber
rm -rf ~/.local/state/wireplumber
rm -rf ~/.config/pulse

systemctl --user daemon-reexec
systemctl --user restart pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber
Immediately after, I had sound again. You might possibly have to follow up with these steps:
  • Open Start (Bottom left) ->Settings ->Volume Control->Configuration (Small arrow pointing right, top right corner. Click this and you will get to Configuration)
  • On Profile, select SOF Vangogh (Headphones, Internal Mic, Speaker)

Why this works

This issue is likely caused by:
  • A SteamOS update introducing new sound devices or incorrect routing (as I did a SteamOS update just prior to the issue starting, but took me a couple of days to spot the issue)
  • Corrupted or outdated user-level config files for PipeWire or WirePlumber
  • The system selecting a faulty or mis-configured default audio profile
By removing those config files and restarting services, you force a clean reset. Selecting the correct profile then ensures audio routes through the internal speaker path, not a broken one.

Credit where it's due

While I went through quite a bit of trial and error to diagnose this issue, a key hint came from a Reddit comment that mentioned deleting the profiles before restarting the services - which turned out to be the final piece of the puzzle. View the original Reddit comment