Re: Help, sound isn't working
On Thursday 20 January 2005 08:09, Gerardo Ballabio wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I've been running Sarge for a couple of weeks on a laptop, but I can't
> get sound to work. Actually, some days ago I installed the alsa-base
> package and played an mp3 file with mpg321, and then it did work fine;
> but yesterday (after a few "apt-get dist-upgrade" and some reboots) I
> tried again, and the machine was completely mute, and has always been
> since (but it isn't a hardware problem, because I tried with Windows and
> it works).
>
> mpg321 seems to believe it's playing correctly and runs until completion
> in perfect silence, while alsamixer exits immediately with a message of
> "No mixer elems found". So I suppose that alsa isn't running correctly
> any more. (I tried to "/etc/init.d/alsa restart", but to no effect.)
>
> After some googling I found this page:
> http://www.linuxmafia.com/faq/Debian/alsa.html
> and tried to follow its suggestions, but to no effect:
>
> - there is no /etc/modules/alsa file, and there can't be
> since /etc/modules is a regular file, not a directory. I couldn't find
> what the correct pathname is, if that file exists at all.
>
> - there is no /etc/discover.conf either, but there
> are /etc/discover-v1.conf and /etc/discover-modprobe.conf. The former
> already contained a "skip i810-tco" line, and indeed, that module isn't
> loaded, according to lsmod. So OSS isn't running -- or is it?
>
> - then I tried to remove the snd-intel8x0m as suggested, but no matter
> what I wrote in /etc/hotplug/blacklist, it always gets loaded when I
> reboot. I tried removing it manually with rmmod, but that didn't cure
> the problem, I only get different errors: alsamixer says "alsamixer:
> function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such device", while mpg321
> now fails with an error message of "Can't find a suitable libao driver.
> (Is device in use?)".
>
> So at this point I am totally lost. Can anyone help me?
>
> The laptop is a Dell Latitude C640, and I'm running Sarge with the
> 2.6.8-1-686 kernel. I'm attaching the output of lsmod and lspci.
>
> I may also mention that I tried running the Gnome Volume Control applet,
> and it shows four different mixer tabs labelled "Silicon Laboratory
> Si3036/8 rev [OSS Mixer]", "Cirrus Logic CS4205 rev 3 [OSS Mixer]",
> "Intel 82801CA-ICH3 Modem [Alsa Mixer]", and "Intel 82801CA-ICH3 [Alsa
> Mixer]". The first and third tabs however are empty.
>
> Thank you
> Gerardo Ballabio
>
> P.S. please Cc: me since I'm not subscribed.
What does the gnome mixer show for tab 4, "Intel 82801CA-ICH3 [Alsa Mixer]"?
If mpg123 is playing without throwing an error, then it would seem likely
that your volumes are set to 0 or your channels are muted, or both (which
is the default in Alsa). Note that you'll have to unmute and raise the
volume on both the master and the pcm in order to hear music.
Your lsmod showed you are using the alsa modules, which is fine. You don't
want to unload the snd-intel8x0m module, unless you want to pass a config
parameter to it (such as a different IRQ or DMA). You also have the oss
emulation modules loaded, which means you should be able to play back using
either oss or alsa.
mpg123 doesn't list a default method of outputting sound. If you're running
gnome, it's likely you're also running esd, in which case you may need to
tell mpg123 to use it as well. If you don't, it may find the sound card
blocked.
alsamixer exiting right away is a concern. What happens when you run
alsaconf?
Oh, you don't mention if you're in the audio group. Double check that you
are. If not, add yourself, and log out and then log back in to try again.
Hope that helps,
Justin Guerin
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