Finding acpi:ESSX8336:ESSX8336: in your logs is not a dead end. It's a clear signal that points to a well-documented, solvable problem. Here is your path forward:
ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) is a crucial standard that allows your operating system to discover and communicate with the hardware components of your computer. Your laptop's BIOS/UEFI firmware contains a table of all these components. When Linux boots, it queries these ACPI tables, and if it finds a codec named ESSX8336 , it logs this entry. The presence of this entry confirms that your system is equipped with the ES8336 audio chip.
If you have recently installed a Linux distribution on a modern, budget-friendly laptop—particularly those featuring Intel Jasper Lake (N5100/N5095) or Alder Lake-N (N100/N200) processors—you may have encountered the dreaded "Dummy Output" and a complete lack of audio.
The ES8336 has been challenging for the Linux community. However, kernel support has improved in versions 5.15 and newer. Kernel and Firmware Updates