Can't use microphone

RGB_mdk · 04-15-2008, 04:19 AM

I'm using Fedora 8 64 bits on a Toshiba satellite P200-17D. So far, so good, everything is working (even the webcam!) but the mic: Not only the included one, but if I attach an external mic on the corresponding jack, nothing enters on my system. I tried to record something with audacious, but failed.
The soundcard is from Intel
82801H (ICH8 family) HD audio controller
module: snd-hda-intel
The predefined PCM is ALC268 Analog
I tried to change the mic boost on kmixer (I'm using kde) and alsamixer, without result.
Any hint?
Thanks in advance.

pusrob · 04-15-2008, 05:03 AM

Hi.
In kmix at the microphone slide did you turn on the green light above the slider? You need both red and green switches on.
The other thing you need to check is the sound server. Go to KControlCenter --> Sound & Multimedia --> Sound System. Here click the Hardware section. At the "select the audio device" you can choose which sound server to use. I don't recommend the autodetect, try ALSA, OSS or JACK instead.
Are you sure you used Audacious to record sound? Wasn't it Audacity? Well, in both cases check the settings for the used sound server too. Audacity for example uses its default set sound server, despite what you're using in your system. You need to set the system-used server in the apps too.

RGB_mdk · 04-15-2008, 06:36 PM

Ups! Yes, it was audacity...
On kmixer's input tab, I don't have green lights, only the red ones at the bottom of each slider... Something is missing here...
I have yellow lights on kmixer's "parameters" tab, but nothing changes if they are lighted...
Regarding the sound system, I'm not using artsd because it caused some troubles on my system, so the whole thing is disabled. But when I used it, there was the same problems.

PS: The main problem is that I cannot use skype because I cannot transmit voice, only receive it. Before asking about skype I tested the microphone thing and discovered that I cannot register sounds from the mic: that's why I asked about the microphone.
One problem at a time

pusrob · 04-16-2008, 03:24 AM

In audacity go to edit menu --> preferences. Here Audio I/O and here playback and the recording section. Check what you have here set. I use ALSA: default, because this is the only one worked for me. The other Sound server options didn't.
So you don't have any green lights above sliders in the input tab. That's strange. Did you choose the right sound device in kmix? There is that dropdown menu on the right top of the window.
You could also try this: turn the red light on only below the mixer slide. With this you're choosing the mic to be the main input device.
One more thing: did you check the microphone itself? Maybe its not working anymore. Few weeks earlier my friend's mic went wrong from a day to another. We don't know why, but it did. Try the mic on another computer too, to be sure that its working properly.

RGB_mdk · 04-17-2008, 05:26 AM

Quote:

Did you choose the right sound device in kmix? There is that dropdown menu on the right top of the window.

Which dropdown menu?
I'll describe what I can see on kmix.
Under the main menu (file, preferences, help) I have three tabs: output, input, parameters. Under that, the balance control with a "HDA Intel" label on the right.
The output tab contains controls for: headphone (with a green light on top), PCM, front (with a green light on top), front mic boost, mic boost, digital.
The input tab contains controls for: front mic boost, mic boost, capture, capture (again), digital. All them with red (lighted) lights on the bottom.
The parameters tab contains three "yellow lights" (all of them turned off) labelled: IEC958, caller ID, off-hook. On the right of those lights, there are two identical drop down menus labelled "Input source". The options are: mic, front mic, front line. Both menus have "mic" selected.
By right clicking on kmix's system tray icon, I can choose the "master channel" for the main volume control: PCM is selected. The full list is: headphone, PCM, front, front mic boost (two times), mic boost (two times), capture (two times), digital (two times)
As you can see, there are many duplicated items on my kmix.
On Audacity, the output device is ALSA: HDA Intel ALC268 Digital (hw:0,1), and the input device is ALSA: front. There is no trace of ALSA: default.
Thanks for your patience.

stderr · 04-18-2008, 08:07 AM

I just want to add a little piece of information. I had some similar problems with my microphone with this ALSA/Intel HDA combination. After a few days of heavy research i found that many mixer applications ( like alsamixer ) don't display the full set of options the ALSA system have. So besides the unmuting of Mic in alsamixer i also needed to set a few another options. In my case these were 'Capture Switch' and 'Capture Volume' like this:
amixer -c 0 cset numid=25 on,on
amixer -c 0 cset numid=24 100%

you can get information on more options with:
amixer -c 0 controls
amixer -c 0 contents

RGB_mdk · 04-19-2008, 04:21 AM

Thanks for your answer, stderr.
I'm not sure what to do though. Your "capture switch" and "capture volume" instructions gives me the following answer:

Code:

amixer: Cannot find the given element from control hw:0

and the information I obtain with the other instructions is too much for me... (in 8 years of Linux, this is my first time dealing with sound system's problems... maybe I was too lucky)

Code:

~]$ amixer -c 0 controls
numid=4,iface=MIXER,name='Headphone Playback Switch'
numid=3,iface=MIXER,name='Headphone Playback Volume'
numid=19,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Volume'
numid=6,iface=MIXER,name='Front Mic Boost'
numid=2,iface=MIXER,name='Front Playback Switch'
numid=1,iface=MIXER,name='Front Playback Volume'
numid=5,iface=MIXER,name='Mic Boost'
numid=8,iface=MIXER,name='Capture Switch'
numid=10,iface=MIXER,name='Capture Switch',index=1
numid=7,iface=MIXER,name='Capture Volume'
numid=9,iface=MIXER,name='Capture Volume',index=1
numid=13,iface=MIXER,name='IEC958 Playback Con Mask'
numid=14,iface=MIXER,name='IEC958 Playback Pro Mask'
numid=15,iface=MIXER,name='IEC958 Playback Default'
numid=16,iface=MIXER,name='IEC958 Playback Switch'
numid=18,iface=MIXER,name='Caller ID Switch'
numid=20,iface=MIXER,name='Digital Capture Volume'
numid=11,iface=MIXER,name='Input Source'
numid=12,iface=MIXER,name='Input Source',index=1
numid=17,iface=MIXER,name='Off-hook Switch'

Code:

~]$ amixer -c 0 contents
numid=4,iface=MIXER,name='Headphone Playback Switch'
  ; type=BOOLEAN,access=rw------,values=2
  : values=on,on
numid=3,iface=MIXER,name='Headphone Playback Volume'
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw---R--,values=2,min=0,max=64,step=0
  : values=48,48
  | dBscale-min=42949608.96dB,step=1.00dB,mute=0
numid=19,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Volume'
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw---RW-,values=2,min=0,max=255,step=0
  : values=228,228
  | dBscale-min=42949621.96dB,step=0.20dB,mute=0
numid=6,iface=MIXER,name='Front Mic Boost'
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw---R--,values=2,min=0,max=2,step=0
  : values=1,1
  | dBscale-min=0.00dB,step=20.00dB,mute=0
numid=2,iface=MIXER,name='Front Playback Switch'
  ; type=BOOLEAN,access=rw------,values=2
  : values=on,on
numid=1,iface=MIXER,name='Front Playback Volume'
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw---R--,values=2,min=0,max=64,step=0
  : values=48,48
  | dBscale-min=42949608.96dB,step=1.00dB,mute=0
numid=5,iface=MIXER,name='Mic Boost'
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw---R--,values=2,min=0,max=2,step=0
  : values=1,1
  | dBscale-min=0.00dB,step=20.00dB,mute=0
numid=8,iface=MIXER,name='Capture Switch'
  ; type=BOOLEAN,access=rw------,values=2
  : values=on,on
numid=10,iface=MIXER,name='Capture Switch',index=1
  ; type=BOOLEAN,access=rw------,values=2
  : values=on,on
numid=7,iface=MIXER,name='Capture Volume'
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw---R--,values=2,min=0,max=31,step=0
  : values=12,12
  | dBscale-min=42949656.46dB,step=1.50dB,mute=0
numid=9,iface=MIXER,name='Capture Volume',index=1
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw---R--,values=2,min=0,max=31,step=0
  : values=15,15
  | dBscale-min=42949656.46dB,step=1.50dB,mute=0
numid=13,iface=MIXER,name='IEC958 Playback Con Mask'
  ; type=IEC958,access=r-------,values=1
  : values=[AES0=0x0f AES1=0xff AES2=0x00 AES3=0x00]
numid=14,iface=MIXER,name='IEC958 Playback Pro Mask'
  ; type=IEC958,access=r-------,values=1
  : values=[AES0=0x0f AES1=0x00 AES2=0x00 AES3=0x00]
numid=15,iface=MIXER,name='IEC958 Playback Default'
  ; type=IEC958,access=rw------,values=1
  : values=[AES0=0x04 AES1=0x00 AES2=0x00 AES3=0x00]
numid=16,iface=MIXER,name='IEC958 Playback Switch'
  ; type=BOOLEAN,access=rw------,values=1
  : values=off
numid=18,iface=MIXER,name='Caller ID Switch'
  ; type=BOOLEAN,access=rw------,values=1
  : values=off
numid=20,iface=MIXER,name='Digital Capture Volume'
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw---RW-,values=2,min=0,max=120,step=0
  : values=60,60
  | dBscale-min=42949642.96dB,step=0.50dB,mute=0
numid=11,iface=MIXER,name='Input Source'
  ; type=ENUMERATED,access=rw------,values=1,items=3
  ; Item #0 'Mic'
  ; Item #1 'Front Mic'
  ; Item #2 'Front Line'
  : values=0
numid=12,iface=MIXER,name='Input Source',index=1
  ; type=ENUMERATED,access=rw------,values=1,items=3
  ; Item #0 'Mic'
  ; Item #1 'Front Mic'
  ; Item #2 'Front Line'
  : values=0
numid=17,iface=MIXER,name='Off-hook Switch'
  ; type=BOOLEAN,access=rw------,values=1
  : values=off

RGB_mdk · 05-02-2008, 03:25 AM

I've made huge progresses. Starting alsamixer on the terminal, I obtain more possibilities than those kmix gives me. Arranging everything to look like this:
Alsamixer
mic comes to life and then I can record my voice with audacious, and make a test call with skype (the skype's sound is not good, though)
The problem is that when I restart the computer, the mic stop working again, and I need to change something on alsamixer in order to use it.
And this on any loggin...
Any ideas? It seems that my sound card is too "fresh" for alsa.

pusrob · 05-02-2008, 09:31 AM

Did you try another sound server? JACK or OSS... Sometimes ALSA doesn't work as good as others.

RGB_mdk · 05-03-2008, 03:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pusrob

Did you try another sound server? JACK or OSS... Sometimes ALSA doesn't work as good as others.

I've tried OSS with audacity, but without luck.

MattThiffault · 05-03-2008, 08:11 AM

I've been fighting with my sound card for the past 3 days (since I bought the thing). I have an ALC662 Realtek codec on my motherboard, and I too have been having trouble with the snd-hda-intel driver not properly displaying all the correct faders.

From what I've read on other forums, the driver module needs to be passed one or more options when it is loaded (usually when the computer is started). For instance, modprobe snd-hda-intel model=3stack works for most people who have 3 audio jacks on the back of their machine with a headphone jack somewhere else (usually on the front).

There is a whole list of possible model options, and there are other parameters you can change besides model. In order to get the paramaters passed at boot time, you have to add "option snd-hda-intel model=w/e" (without the quotes obviously) to /etc/modprobe.conf or a file in /etc/modprobe.d (whichever your system uses). There are some model options specifically for different makes and models of laptop, makes and models of motherboards etc, however none of them have seemed to work with mine yet (and since KDE is always "using" the sound modules, I have in all seriousness restarted my computer about 100 times in the past 2 days.

model=3stack works for most people, as a lot of the other options are just kind of aliases back to 3stack, but play aroudn with it and see if it helps (and if you come across somebody who knows what settings to use to make an ALC662 work on an Asus X-Series motherboard, then drop me a line :P. Hint: its not model=asus).