Debian sound stopped working
 

Until today, I had my home Debian system working perfectly with 3 soundcards.
1. Onboard (integrated) soundcard on my i865 mobo (not used - not imortant)
2. M-Audio Delta 44 (ICE1712 chipset) - primary sound device
3. Soundblaster Live! (basically unimportant)

This afternoon I installed some software (.debs) and then next I knew, my main (M-Audio) soundcard had stopped functioning. Here's the best I can do at piecing together the events...
I normally use gnome 2.8, but I was in KDE 3.3 for this...

I installed via Synaptic (like I have installed hundreds of other apps) a few programs:
ams - synthesizer
fluidsynth - synthesizer (this one also installed some libs, I think)
ardour - multitrack recorder
qsynth - GUI for fluidsynth
bristol - synthesizer

After installing these, I logged out of my user account and logged in as root (in gnome) to fire up JACK and try these toys. When I tried qsynth, it said it couldn't do MIDI because there was no sequencer device. So I did a
#modprobe snd-seq
and set up the connections to route my eKeys49 MIDI controller to qsynth
It wasn't working as it should (JACK was running and the signal was being accepted by qsynth) sooo......

I decided to check if sound was working at all by playing an mp3 through xmms (which has worked flawlessly for months). Well, no sound. Almost no sound...there is a trace signal that I can hear if I crank my hi-fi power amp way up. Fearing the worst, I shut down all apps and restarted. Now, as user or as root - in GNOME 2.8, KDE 3.3, or Enlightenment 16 I have just a faint trickle of sound.
I checked the wires, the mixer levels (gmix), everything is as it should be. My CD player audio is connected to my soundblaster card and the output from there is normal signal level. But still no sound from my M-Audio card (major bummer). So, I think something in the programs I installed broke something either with ALSA or my soundcard's driver.

Oh, more info. I use gstreamer to test my audio system in gnome and it does not report any problems. I use alsasink. It plays the test tone, but it is also just a trickle. So I am at a total loss.

Here's my output from lsmod:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Module Size Used by
nls_iso8859_1 3904 0
nls_cp437 5568 0
usb_storage 70112 0
ppp_deflate 6208 0
zlib_deflate 22584 1 ppp_deflate
bsd_comp 5984 0
ppp_async 11616 1
crc_ccitt 1920 1 ppp_async
ppp_generic 30228 7 ppp_deflate,bsd_comp,ppp_async
slhc 7392 1 ppp_generic
nvidia 3470364 12
ipv6 265824 10
lp 11624 0
autofs4 19588 0
joydev 9888 0
emu10k1_gp 3584 0
snd_emu10k1 100580 0
snd_util_mem 4448 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_hwdep 9476 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_intel8x0 33216 0
i2c_i801 8460 0
i2c_core 22736 1 i2c_i801
shpchp 102244 0
pci_hotplug 34448 1 shpchp
intel_agp 22556 0
intel_mch_agp 10480 1
agpgart 34568 3 intel_agp,intel_mch_agp
parport_pc 37828 1
parport 37768 2 lp,parport_pc
floppy 60912 0
pcspkr 3464 0
tsdev 7648 0
mousedev 11576 2
psmouse 21960 0
rtc 12664 0
evdev 9504 0
ehci_hcd 33604 0
snd_usb_audio 67136 0
snd_usb_lib 12896 1 snd_usb_audio
usb_midi 24068 0
uhci_hcd 33936 0
usbcore 122520 7 usb_storage,ehci_hcd,snd_usb_audio,snd_usb_lib,usb_midi,uhci_hcd
snd_ice1712 63972 1
snd_ice17xx_ak4xxx 4000 1 snd_ice1712
snd_ak4xxx_adda 6048 2 snd_ice1712,snd_ice17xx_ak4xxx
snd_cs8427 10752 1 snd_ice1712
snd_ac97_codec 77088 3 snd_emu10k1,snd_intel8x0,snd_ice1712
snd_pcm_oss 54148 0
snd_mixer_oss 20288 2 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 98248 6 snd_emu10k1,snd_intel8x0,snd_usb_audio,snd_ice1712,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 25796 1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 9924 3 snd_emu10k1,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
snd_i2c 5792 2 snd_ice1712,snd_cs8427
snd_mpu401_uart 7872 1 snd_ice1712
snd_rawmidi 24928 3 snd_emu10k1,snd_usb_lib,snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 8588 2 snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi
snd 56868 16 snd_emu10k1,snd_hwdep,snd_intel8x0,snd_usb_audio,snd_ice1712,snd_ak4xxx_adda,snd_cs8427,snd_ac97_cod ec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_i2c,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore 10176 3 usb_midi,snd
sk98lin 173832 0
sidewinder 14016 0
gameport 4512 2 emu10k1_gp,sidewinder
sd_mod 18064 0
scsi_mod 130048 2 usb_storage,sd_mod
ide_cd 42724 0
cdrom 41436 1 ide_cd
isofs 36952 0
ntfs 112240 0
vfat 14208 0
msdos 9120 0
fat 42624 2 vfat,msdos
ext2 68456 0
ext3 140904 1
jbd 62104 1 ext3
mbcache 8580 2 ext2,ext3
ide_generic 1152 0 [permanent]
via82cxxx 13788 0 [permanent]
trm290 4196 0 [permanent]
triflex 3680 0 [permanent]
slc90e66 5856 0 [permanent]
sis5513 16392 0 [permanent]
siimage 12512 0 [permanent]
serverworks 9160 0 [permanent]
sc1200 7264 0 [permanent]
rz1000 2432 0 [permanent]
piix 10116 0 [permanent]
pdc202xx_old 11200 0 [permanent]
opti621 4580 0 [permanent]
ns87415 4200 0 [permanent]
hpt366 20128 0 [permanent]
ide_disk 21024 4 hpt366
hpt34x 5152 0 [permanent]
generic 3904 0 [permanent]
cy82c693 4612 0 [permanent]
cs5530 5344 0 [permanent]
cs5520 4576 0 [permanent]
cmd64x 11964 0 [permanent]
atiixp 5968 0 [permanent]
amd74xx 14172 0 [permanent]
alim15x3 12076 0 [permanent]
aec62xx 7264 0 [permanent]
pdc202xx_new 8928 0 [permanent]
ide_core 133068 29 usb_storage,ide_cd,ide_generic,via82cxxx,trm290,triflex,slc90e66,sis5513,siimage,serverworks,sc1200, rz1000,piix,pdc202xx_old,opti621,ns87415,hpt366,ide_disk,hpt34x,generic,cy82c693,cs5530,cs5520,cmd64 x,atiixp,amd74xx,alim15x3,aec62xx,pdc202xx_new
unix 28820
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note - I changed my modules.conf to not load snd-seq (using the modprobe.d/alsa file and update-modules, of course)

And here's my lspci:
--------------------------------------------------------------
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82865G/PE/P PCI to AGP Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #1 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #2 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #3 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #4 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Bridge (rev 02)
0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) Ultra ATA 100 Storage Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV15 [GeForce2 GTS/Pro] (rev a3)
0000:02:05.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Yukon Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T Adapter (rev 13)
0000:02:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 07)
0000:02:09.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Live! MIDI/Game Port (rev 07)
0000:02:0b.0 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies Inc. ICE1712 [Envy24] PCI Multi-Channel I/O Controller (rev 02)
0000:02:0c.0 Communication controller: Rockwell International HCF 56k Data/Fax/Voice/Spkp (w/Handset) Modem (rev 01)


Any help would be MUCH appreciated. I worked for weeks to get my soundsystem working well and this problem has really bummed me out.
Thanks in advance,
HD

Not pretending to know what your problem is but KISS wise, have you tried uninstalling the programs you installed to see if that fixes the break?

Thanks for the quick reply audibel! Haven't tried uninstalling yet. I will this weekend.
I have tried alsaconf with my M-Audio card and it didn't work (after upping the volumes in gmix). Then I ran alsaconf again and chose my Soundblaster card. It works fine. Unfortunately, I need my M-Audio card for multitrack audio recording, so I'm going to have to continue searching for a solution.

I had the same issues with not kde but gnome, thats why i use kde all the time now, it's better than gnome anyway....

I'm currently having a similar problem. I have to run alsaconf each time I reboot to get sound working again. This was after upgrading my kernel (just upgrading the binary via apt-get) and after replacing discover1 with discover (and then going back again).

Ive had no problems whatsoever with the new kernel sound or otherwise, ive had a few issues with usb modules though.

As it turns out, it was an issue with my stereo preamp. Nothing related to Linux or the computer. Before I figured this out, I ran alsaconf and, though it configured my M-Audio card just fine, it did not configure the Soundblaster card (though it still loads the module snd-emu10k1). Unfortunately, this card is not listed in /proc/asound/cards. So, my question has morphed. Now it's "How do I configure ALSA to load this other card as well?"

Epilogue from me too: I had to first run alsaconfig and get the sound working. Then I had to run 'dpkg-reconfigure alsa-base' and then, when prompted, told it to save its config file just this once. Sound was then working, and also worked fine upon reboot.