Sound issues in -current since recent updates

rpedrica · 08-01-2012, 09:56 AM

I've had a variety of sound issues since updates in the last 2 weeks. I have 2 cards:

1. cmipci ( cmedia8738 ) for speaker and music use
2. snd_hda_intel ( onboard ati sb realtek ) for headset/skype use

I normally blacklist the the snd_hda_intel driver so that the cmedia card is the first to load. If I only have the cmipci module loaded, then amarok/music plays fine but something like vlc/movies won't work - vlc complains it can't find the configured card ( even though it's in KDE settings -> multimedia -> phonon ).

If I then manually load snd_hda_intel, it kills the cmipci driver/module ( KDE immediately pops up a message asking if it can remove the cmipci interfaces as they are no longer available ) but I can now redirect vlc output to my headset connected to this interface.

Previously both sound interfaces worked fine ( with the cmipci loaded first ). DMesg output:

snd_cmipci 0000:05:02.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20

snd_hda_intel 0000:00:14.2: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[ 556.223966] input: HDA ATI SB Headphone as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card1/input6
[ 556.224566] snd_hda_intel 0000:01:00.1: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
[ 556.224569] hda_intel: Disabling MSI
[ 556.224611] snd_hda_intel 0000:01:00.1: setting latency timer to 64
[ 556.523040] HDMI status: Codec=0 Pin=5 Presence_Detect=0 ELD_Valid=0
[ 556.535028] HDMI status: Codec=1 Pin=5 Presence_Detect=0 ELD_Valid=0
[ 556.547027] HDMI status: Codec=2 Pin=5 Presence_Detect=0 ELD_Valid=0
[ 556.559028] HDMI status: Codec=3 Pin=5 Presence_Detect=0 ELD_Valid=0
[ 556.565107] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=9 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card2/input7
[ 556.565201] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=8 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card2/input8
[ 556.565551] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=7 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card2/input9
[ 556.565612] input: HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm=3 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card2/input10

lsmod output:

snd_hda_codec_hdmi 24025 4
snd_hda_codec_realtek 195189 1
snd_hda_intel 23267 2
snd_hda_codec 81925 3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi
snd_seq_dummy 1455 0
snd_seq_oss 29048 0
snd_seq_midi_event 5620 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 51265 5 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_dummy
snd_pcm_oss 39183 0
snd_mixer_oss 15404 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_cmipci 31424 3
snd_mpu401_uart 5971 1 snd_cmipci
snd_opl3_lib 8654 1 snd_cmipci
snd_hwdep 6324 2 snd_opl3_lib,snd_hda_codec
snd_rawmidi 18825 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 5228 5 snd_rawmidi,snd_opl3_lib,snd_seq,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_dummy
snd_pcm 72864 6 snd_cmipci,snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_hdmi
snd_page_alloc 7081 2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer 18798 4 snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib,snd_seq
snd 57796 24 snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_seq_device,snd_rawmidi,snd_hwdep,snd_opl3_lib,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_cmipci,snd_m ixer_oss,snd_pcm_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_oss,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_c odec_hdmi
soundcore 5474 1 snd
gameport 7687 1 snd_cmipci

I am part of 'audio' group as well. rc.modules points to latest entry -> rc.modules-3.2.23. blacklist.conf in /etc/modprobe.d has the following:

blacklist snd_hdmi
blacklist snd_hda_intel
blacklist snd_usb_audio
blacklist snd_hda_codec_hdmi
blacklist gameport
blacklist snd_pcm_oss
blacklist snd_seq_oss
blacklist snd_mixer_oss

I then load the 2nd sound card with:

modprobe snd_hda_intel

in rc.local. aplay -l shows:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: CMI8738 [C-Media CMI8738], device 0: CMI8738-MC6 [C-Media PCI DAC/ADC]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CMI8738 [C-Media CMI8738], device 1: CMI8738-MC6 [C-Media PCI 2nd DAC]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CMI8738 [C-Media CMI8738], device 2: CMI8738-MC6 [C-Media PCI IEC958]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC892 Analog [ALC892 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC892 Digital [ALC892 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Any help would be appreciated,

Robby

kingbeowulf · 08-02-2012, 01:10 AM

check the output with "aplay -L" (capital ell). Your can then check the output with "speaker-test" to see where the audio is going. Some on-board audio use jack auto sensing which can get confused - e.g. front and back get swapped:

Code:

aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default:CARD=Intel
    HDA Intel, STAC92xx Analog
    Default Audio Device
sysdefault:CARD=Intel
    HDA Intel, STAC92xx Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, STAC92xx Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, STAC92xx Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, STAC92xx Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, STAC92xx Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, STAC92xx Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, STAC92xx Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
hdmi:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output 

speaker-test -Dplug:front -c4 -twav

speaker-test 1.0.25

Playback device is plug:front
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 4 channels
WAV file(s)
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 64 to 524288
Period size range from 32 to 262144
Using max buffer size 524288
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 131072
was set buffer_size = 524288
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
 3 - Rear Right
 2 - Rear Left
Time per period = 10.945377
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
 3 - Rear Right
^C

(select front etc channel as appropriate).

This will tell you what, if anything, is going where. Then, see the thread below to set up multiple sound cards. You have been lucky in the past. Running multiple sound devices is not quite as easy as just loading modules.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...evices-878767/

some other references:

http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Asoundrc
http://slack4dummies.blogspot.com/20...ple-sound.html