Audio problem: device not found

Uruclef · 08-19-2006, 03:28 PM

Hi everybody! I have a problem with ALSA on my Debian unstable box. It worked perfectly till a pair a days ago, when (I think) an upgrade screwed up bot my mouse support (see the other thread in hardware section) and ALSA. I tried running alsaconf; everything seems to work, I can choose the correct card and proceed with the installation, but I get error messages near the end of the procedure.

Code:

 Running update-modules...
Loading driver...
Setting up ALSA...warning: 'alsactl restore' failed with error message 'alsactl: load_state:1236: No soundcards found...'...Invalid card number.

Usage: amixer <options> [command]
Available options:
  -h,--help       this help
  -c,--card N     select the card
  -D,--device N   select the device, default 'default'
  -d,--debug      debug mode
  -n,--nocheck    do not perform range checking
  -v,--version    print version of this program
  -q,--quiet      be quiet
  -i,--inactive   show also inactive controls
  -a,--abstract L select abstraction level (none or basic)
  -s,--stdin      Read and execute commands from stdin sequentially
Available commands:
  scontrols       show all mixer simple controls
  scontents       show contents of all mixer simple controls (default command)
  sset sID P      set contents for one mixer simple control
  sget sID        get contents for one mixer simple control
  controls        show all controls for given card
  contents        show contents of all controls for given card
  cset cID P      set control contents for one control
  cget cID        get control contents for one control
Invalid card number.

And if I try to run amixer, all I get is:

Code:

hexcellion:/etc# amixer    
amixer: Mixer attach default error: No such device

Note that my user is part of the audio group and the soundcard is present (its presence is correctly reported by lspci).

I have no idea of how to fix this. Any help will be really appreciated. Thank you!

mikieboy · 08-19-2006, 05:35 PM

alsactl is a command-line utility used to restore your mixer settings. It looks as if your mixer settings have been lost in the upgrade. Have a look in your /etc/modutils/alsa-base file to see if there is a line included for your sound device. If it is missing you can add it manually but before adding options you should read your sound cards documentation to see what options it supports. You should definitely back-up the file first just in case. Note that after editing this file you have to run update-modules to update the module information.

If none of this helps, I suggest that you recompile your kernel to include the correct driver modules for your sound card.

I'm sorry but I'm not a sound Guru, it's just my best shot. Hope it helps.

Uruclef · 08-20-2006, 02:51 AM

First of all, thank you for helping.

I tried with

Code:

alsactl restore -F

but I get:

Code:

alsactl: load_state:1236: No soundcards found...

it seems it can't find the device, but it had been working for a long time with no problems. /etc/modutils/alsabase has many lines in which my soundcard (emu10k1) is quoted:

Code:

# Load optional modules above their base modules
above snd-pcm snd-pcm-oss
above snd-mixer snd-mixer-oss
above snd-seq snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi
above snd-emu10k1 snd-emu10k1-synth

...

# Cause a script to be run after snd-*-synth module initialization
post-install snd-emu8000-synth /lib/alsa/modprobe-post-install snd-emu8000-synth
post-install snd-emu10k1-synth /lib/alsa/modprobe-post-install snd-emu10k1-synth

...

post-install snd-emu10k1x /lib/alsa/modprobe-post-install snd-emu10k1x

Any other idea? I'd prefer not to recompile the kernel..

Uruclef · 08-20-2006, 07:21 AM

Just an update: the problem might be that I'm using OSS as sound driver, but I'd like to use alsa instead of it. Here's the evidence:

Code:

hexcellion:/home/uruclef# lsmod | grep snd
snd_emu10k1_synth       6464  0 
snd_emux_synth         30464  1 snd_emu10k1_synth
snd_seq_virmidi         6272  1 snd_emux_synth
snd_seq_midi_emul       5760  1 snd_emux_synth
snd_seq_dummy           3588  0 
snd_seq_oss            27904  0 
snd_seq_midi            8160  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      6592  3 snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                43856  9 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_emu10k1            99556  1 snd_emu10k1_synth
snd_rawmidi            22496  3 snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi,snd_emu10k1
snd_ac97_codec         82336  1 snd_emu10k1
snd_ac97_bus            2112  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss            44192  0 
snd_mixer_oss          15744  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                74120  3 snd_emu10k1,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_device          8332  8 snd_emu10k1_synth,snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi
snd_timer              20420  3 snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc          9864  2 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
snd_util_mem            4352  2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1
snd_hwdep               8644  2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1
snd                    46500  13 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_device,snd_timer,snd_hwdep

Code:

hexcellion:/home/uruclef# lsmod | grep oss
snd_seq_oss            27904  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      6592  3 snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                43856  9 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_pcm_oss            44192  0 
snd_mixer_oss          15744  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                74120  3 snd_emu10k1,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_device          8332  8 snd_emu10k1_synth,snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi
snd                    46500  13 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_device,snd_timer,snd_hwdep

Any idea?

mikieboy · 08-20-2006, 04:12 PM

Perhaps you are having problems because both oss and alsa modules are being loaded. Try changing the way the kernel interacts with ACPI by adding pci=noacpi as a boot parameter.

Uruclef · 08-21-2006, 02:30 AM

How do I do that? I', sorry, but I still have lots to learn..

Uruclef · 08-21-2006, 02:51 AM

I did it: now my /boot/grub/menu.lst looks like this

Code:

title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.16rivafbless
root            (hd0,2)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16rivafbless root=/dev/hda3 ro
pci=noacpi
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.16rivafbless
savedefault
boot

But it doesn't run anyway

mikieboy · 08-21-2006, 02:36 PM

I'm running out of ideas here, but I wonder what sound settings you have in your control panel. For instance in KDE:

Control Centre > Sound and Multimedia > Sound System > Hardware Tab > Select the audio device; you need this set to Advanced Linux Sound Architecture or Autodetect for Alsa to work. In other words, check that it hasn't been set to OSS by the upgrade.

Uruclef · 08-22-2006, 06:16 AM

PERFECT! I had to reset ALSA in the hardware properties in kde after setting pci=noacpi as a boot parameter. That did the trick. Thank you for your great help

never surrender!