Alsamixer settings wont stick

SnowSurfAir · 07-16-2004, 11:53 AM

I have finally gotten alsa to work on my RH 9 comp. There is only one problem I would like to fix. I run alsamixer to unmute all the channels, then alsactl store to save it but when I reboot it doesn't stay. All of the setting are muted and are at zero. Is there any way to fix this? Many thanks in advance.

TheOneAndOnlySM · 07-16-2004, 11:57 AM

you will need to get the startup scripts to do
alsactl restore

to restore the settings; usually alsactl is in either /usr/sbin or /usr/local/sbin

look for an rc.local script and put that command in there

SnowSurfAir · 07-16-2004, 11:58 AM

what will that do restore it to my settings or to muted?

TheOneAndOnlySM · 07-16-2004, 01:55 PM

that command will restore your saved settings, which usually get stored in /etc/asound.state

if you don't have that command, you may not have all the alsa packages; typically, you need the driver, the oss compatibility, libs, and utils

SnowSurfAir · 07-16-2004, 04:04 PM

well is there any way to make it so that it runs at start-up? so I dont have to run it everytime

Russb · 07-16-2004, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TheOneAndOnlySM
you will need to get the startup scripts to do
alsactl restore

to restore the settings; usually alsactl is in either /usr/sbin or /usr/local/sbin

look for an rc.local script and put that command in there

I believe he said how to get it to stick. It should restore, on boot up, your previous settings.

SnowSurfAir · 07-16-2004, 05:24 PM

ya but it doesn't it goes back to muted and all the channels are at 0

Russb · 07-16-2004, 05:24 PM

Ok, well... The aslactl restore works fine when I reboot, but I have to go superuser and do it maunally because it is not executing frfrom my script. Here it is:

Code:

#!/bin/sh
#
# /etc/rc.d/rc.local:  Local system initialization script.
#
# Put any local setup commands in here:
/usr/sbin/alsactl restore

Is that not right??

Oh, I have also tried:

Code:

#!/bin/sh
#
# /etc/rc.d/rc.local:  Local system initialization script.
#
# Put any local setup commands in here:
alsactl restore

Both to no avail...

TheOneAndOnlySM · 07-16-2004, 05:53 PM

do you alsactl installed?

in a terminal, become root and do
alsactl restore

if you get "command not found" then it isn't installed; if it is installed and the command isn't working at startup, it is probably because you need to have the alsa modules loaded before the alsactl restore does anything

so, you can put in your rc.local script
modprobe snd_module
alsactl restore

as for slackware, you don't need to use rc.local; there should be an rc.alsa script in /etc/rc.d; just make sure it is executable with
chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.alsa

Russb · 07-16-2004, 06:19 PM

When you say make sure it is executable with that chmod you mean put it in the rc.alsa script? Here is my stock script:

Code:

#!/bin/sh
# Load the mixer settings and OSS compatibility for ALSA.
# (the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture)

# A function to load the ALSA mixer settings:
load_alsa_mixer() {
  if [ -r /etc/asound.state ]; then
    echo "Loading ALSA mixer settings:  /usr/sbin/alsactl restore"
    /usr/sbin/alsactl restore
  else
    echo "ALSA warning:  No mixer settings found in /etc/asound.state."
    echo "  Sound may be muted.  Use 'alsamixer' to unmute your sound ca
rd,"
    echo "  and then 'alsactl store' to save the default ALSA mixer sett
ings"
    echo "  to be loaded at boot."
  fi
}
# A function to load the ALSA OSS compat modules:
load_alsa_oss_modules() {
  if ! cat /proc/modules | grep -w snd-pcm-oss 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null
 ; then
    echo "Loading OSS compatibility modules for ALSA."
    modprobe snd-pcm-oss
    modprobe snd-mixer-oss
  fi
}

# If hotplug or something else has loaded the ALSA modules, then
# simply load the mixer settings and make sure the OSS compat
# modules are loaded:
if [ -d /proc/asound ]; then
  load_alsa_mixer
  load_alsa_oss_modules
else
  # If there are ALSA modules defined in /etc/modules.conf, but
 # ALSA is not yet loaded, then load the modules now:
  DRIVERS=`modprobe -c | grep -E "^[[:space:]]*alias[[:space:]]+snd-card
-[[:digit:]]" | awk '{ print $3 }'`
  if [ ! "$DRIVERS" = "" ]; then
    echo "Loading ALSA kernel modules."
    for module in $DRIVERS; do
      modprobe $module
    done
  fi
  # If ALSA is now up, then load the mixer settings and OSS modules:
  if [ -d /proc/asound ]; then
    load_alsa_mixer
    load_alsa_oss_modules
  fi
fi

And yes, all the alsa commands work.

SnowSurfAir · 07-16-2004, 07:38 PM

well I have it installed and it works. I just want to know if there was any way to make it work when the system was starting up

Russb · 07-16-2004, 07:41 PM

That is what I am trying to figure out too!

TheOneAndOnlySM · 07-16-2004, 09:23 PM

for slackware, you need to make the script executable because it will allow the script to be executed at bootup

you simply need to run this command: chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.alsa (as root)
make sure that you have run alsaconf to generate the proper modules.conf files and set some sane sound states; run alsamixer to unmute the channels and hit escape; they should be saved

snowsurfair: i am not familiar with redhat's startup scripts; you need to find something like an empty rc.local script in your init scripts directory; just put the line alsactl restore in that file

SnowSurfAir · 07-16-2004, 11:19 PM

Now do I place the whole file or just the command, not current ly on that comp