Can't adjust playback volume on HDA Intel card (Alsa 1.0.13, Linux 2.6.18.2)
 

When you open KMix or whatever you use, the gui is blank - no controls - is that correct?
My only experience with this is;
The driver module not loading or present..
From memory, I compiled my kernel Sound section as modules because it was more reliable than a built in setup. Please don't ask me why. Maybe you have tried this already.
Hope this helps.

I'm missing certain controls from AlsaMixer, yes. My sound is compiled as modules (I too noticed the reliability improve when modular when I used Slackware), with the following lines in rc.modules -

Also, it's worth mentioning that when disabling the onboard modem on laptops, symptoms similar to mine often result. There's no option to disable the modem in the BIOS, and although it isn't "enabled" under my Linux kernel (I'm unsure of the vendor or model) it's not explicitly disabled, so this isn't likely to be the cause of the problem.

Thanks for your reply. Any more comments are greatly appreciated.

I see, do you have time to set the modem up and eliminate that possibility altogether.
Would it be of any use, toenable the kernel module for the modem. Would it do any harm.
This is of little help I know, but you have mentioned the possibility and therefore it maybe worthwhile pursuing that avenue if you have the time.
Would like to help further, but that's all I have to offer at this stage.

Cheers and good luck, hope you get it going. PLease let me know the outcome if you get around to it. I would be most interested to know the detail.

Have you tried running (rerunning) alsaconf?

Thanks for the reply. I've had a dig for the modem and information on it. According to a script I found, my modem is likely to be on the soundcard. It's not a serial modem (obviously), and it's not a PCI modem supported by the kernel by default, nor is it a modem that ALSA can support. Enabling the PPP network option that was suggested to me didn't help. I'm going to investigate further by trying to -

1) Find out what model of modem I have (I.e. vendor), and if it's a Winmodem that can be supported under Linux
2) Locate a driver for this modem

However, what I've tried so far hasn't solved the problem. Do you have any other suggestions, as it doesn't look like the modem is supported under Linux at all. Also, as the modem probably *isn't* on the soundcard, it's looking less likely that the modem is to blame (it's an Intel High Definition audio chipset and a separate Winmodem). I tried rolling back to the ALSA drivers in 2.6.18.2 (1.0.12 I think) and this made no difference, I just had a few less options in AlsaMixer. I've tried using OSS emulation, but the problem still existed. It's almost certainly a driver limitation, but users of the 1.0.13 drivers report everything works, so it's either specific to my laptop configuration in terms of hardware, or it's something else I've not realised. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_slmodem
^ I've followed aspects of that guide (excluding Gentoo-specific steps), and the output from the scanModem utility is unclear as to the modem I have (if any). For reference, I've included the output below -

When trying the suggested action in the output above, I get -

Even with this, however, I have no PCM or master channels, and can't adjust the unadjustable mixer channels. Perhaps this rules out the modem?

Yes. I've removed /etc/asound.state too so that it runs 'clean'. I've run it without any sound modules loaded, and in a variety of other configurations, and it always complets successfully. Regardless of what I do, no additional mixer controls (such as master or PCM) are available, and the 'Front' channel that seems promising won't adjust. Thanks for the reply, by the way.

Any other suggestions are welcome, thanks for the help so far.

The modem is identical to the one on my Toshiba. I configured it with ALSA some time ago although confess to no sound as yet, but otherwise no problems.
I remember that I had the same problem with the mixer controls - no ability to change the volume, but I cannot remember how I fixed it.
However, as I type, have you addressed permissions, do you think this may be an issue. Is your user a member of the audio group. What are the permissions on your sound/audio devices. I often change permissions to ridiculous settings (777) to determine whether that is the problem and then change them back of course. How does the sound perform as root?
You proably need to create the group uucp and maybe add your user account to that, as it seems that the modem will work for you.
Hope this is helpful.

I should have said "I now remember having the same issue", it has just come to mind and I do recall fixing a sound problem by altering permissions. It was some time ago and I do apologise for not being specific, but keeping notes is not my strong point.

Thanks for your continued help and replies. I've never used a modem under Linux, so I have no experience of testing one (i.e. once the device is available, getting a dial tone from it) - I've only ever used ethernet or wireless via a LAN. The permissions of /dev/adsp,audio,dsp,mixer and /dev/snd/* were root:audio 644. My user account is in the audio group already, and adjusting the permissions to 777 didn't solve the problem. I'm sorry for not mentioning root access, but AlsaMixer has never worked for root either. There's no uucp group, but saying that CRUX has no audio group by default. Do you have any other suggestions regarding the mixer? Perhaps my card has no master or PCM channel, as in the physical card itself has no such control, but the 'Front' channel has turned up results as acting as the master in some cases.

Here's the /etc/asound.state file, i.e. what channels are in AlsaMixer. Note that for 'Front Playback Switch' (Front?), the access is 'read write', which implies I should be able to change it.

That's an extract of output from amixer. Running 'amixer set Front 100%'" or 'amixer set Front 1%' doesn't make a difference to the volume, but the command completes successfully. As, under the capabilities for 'Front' there's no 'pvolume' (playback volume), it looks like it's a non-adjustable channel.

I'm missing the master or PCM channel. Any ideas?

I have two sound cards on my PC. The onboard nvidia has both Master and PCM on the Output. The C-Media has Master only, however, there is PCM on the input side. You would expect a Master control on a modern card at the very least. Or is this a case of just use the volume control provided on the laptop - that doesn't make sense.
You cannot control the volume with the "volume control wheel" ? As I remember, you did say that you cannot control the volume at all. I guess that includes any physical control aside from the mixer interface.
I guess you need to be absolutely sure that your card has Master and/or PCM before you proceed.
Wish I could be of more help

There's no physical wheel on the laptop, however there is a key combination, but this doesn't work under Linux (and xev doesn't detect an event, so there's no hope of using the keys). As MPC can adjust volumes, it must use embedded software mixing. Is there any way to adjust asound.conf to use such mixing? Thanks for your continued help. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

You have probably seen this.
http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc...p/asoundrc.php

I've had a read and I've tried a variety of the examples given, to no avail. Thanks for your continued help with this matter. Do you have any other suggestions, other than throwing the laptop out the window?

Bump for assistance.

I am currently having the exact same problem, after reading a bunch of stuff, I think what might be happening is that the mixer is being set up for the modem, and not the soundcard...
output of aplay -l:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: HDA Generic [HDA Generic]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 6: Si3054 Modem [Si3054 Modem]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0