Force detection of sound chip, how do I?

galen · 06-04-2019, 09:58 AM

i have replaced my gigabyte motherboard with a new ASUS M5A78L motherboard
and Ubuntu will not offer the motherboard as a sound controller

Code:

$ inxi -A
Audio:     Card-1 NVIDIA GK208 HDMI/DP Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel
           Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) driver: snd_hda_intel
           Card-3 C-Media driver: USB Audio
           Card-4 Logitech QuickCam Messanger driver: USB Audio
           Card-5 Logitech B525 HD Webcam driver: USB Audio
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-50-generic

alsamixer will show the internal audio but there is never any input or output
ALC887

The pulseaudio system does not show any internal sound devices

What can i do to force Ubuntu to reconfigure / rescan the audio devices?

camorri · 06-04-2019, 02:32 PM

inxi shows an Nvidia GK208 and has snd_hda_intel driver loaded. Your quickcam is also an audio device. You have most of what is required to make sound work.

Open the Audio Mixer and go to the configuration tab. What profile is selected? If you click on the drop down, are there any more shown? Have you tried them.

Have you tried to play any .wav file on your system?

Example: aplay /usr/lib64/libreoffice/share/gallery/sounds/horse.wav

galen · 06-04-2019, 03:54 PM

thanks, I've been using Linux for nearly 20 years
sound is going out through NVidia video card, HDMI
but I want onboard sound

seems something is messing up any Linux distro I try on this machine even with a new motherboard

camorri · 06-04-2019, 04:20 PM

Did you see anything on the profile tab relating to onboard audio?

Audio for this system board is listed as "VIA VT1708S 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC "

Did you look in the documentation for the system board for audio?

camorri · 06-04-2019, 04:37 PM

I went here -->https://www.viatech.com/en/silicon/l...?cn-reloaded=1 to find some information on the audio on your system board.

I also went looking for a linux sound driver. I could not find one, Windows drivers show up, nothing for linux.

I suspect you lack a sound driver for the onboard hardware. This is not an uncommon problem with new hardware.

Shadow_7 · 06-05-2019, 02:27 AM

If it has a driver it's already detected. It should show up in /proc/asound/cards. It's just a matter of selecting the soundcard, the default is hw:0,0 aka card 0 device 0. Technically hw:0,0,0 aka card, device, sub-device, although the shorthand hw:0 works in most instances. It gets odd if you expect HDMI out as that tends to be device 3 or higher depending on which port you plugged into, so hw:0,3 and such.

Pulse will normally show the cards and let you change things. But... for some cards you have to edit / force things, my Delta 44 used to be that way. As long as you're not trying to get things working on ubuntu 9.x or something or running a 2.6.x kernel from a decade plus ago with hardware much younger than that, it shouldn't be an issue.

$ find /proc/asound/ -iname '*pcm*p*'

Code:

/proc/asound/card0/pcm3p
/proc/asound/card1/pcm0p
/proc/asound/card2/pcm0p

Where the things ending in p are playback (OUTPUT) and c are capture (INPUT). This laptop currently has 3 options. hw:0,3 which is the HDMI audio. hw:1,0 which is the onboard soundcard. And hw:2,0 which is a USB audio interface.

$ cat /proc/asound/cards

Code:

 0 [HDMI           ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
                      HDA ATI HDMI at 0xf0560000 irq 35
 1 [Generic        ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
                      HD-Audio Generic at 0xf0564000 irq 36
 2 [USB            ]: USB-Audio - Scarlett 2i2 USB
                      Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB at usb-0000:00:12.0-1.1.4, high speed

Beyond that you can use pulseaudio to select the right card. Or edit up a .asoundrc to default to something other than hw:0,0[,0].

FILE: .asoundrc

Code:

defaults.ctl.card 1
defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.pcm.device 0

For hw:1,0 as the default. Or select it on the thing playing back.

$ speaker-test -c 2 -l 1 -D default
$ speaker-test -c 2 -l 1 -D hw:1,0
$ speaker-test -c 2 -l 1 -D pulse

Shadow_7 · 06-05-2019, 02:30 AM

Also by default sound is muted (to avoid feedback). And your user needs to be in the audio group to "use" the soundcard(s).

$ groups
$ alsamixer -c 0

galen · 06-06-2019, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow_7

Also by default sound is muted (to avoid feedback). And your user needs to be in the audio group to "use" the soundcard(s).

$ groups
$ alsamixer -c 0

not sure my user needs to be in the audio (or pulse) group

galen · 06-06-2019, 12:32 PM

thank you, I needed the refresher on speaker-test

speaker-test -c 2 -l 1 -D hw:0
Progress! will provide output to the headphone output
but
alsamixer PCM has no effect, headphone levels do work
Quirk: the headphone out does have noise seeping in, if I mouse or type there is some low level noise; weirdly there is a steady low level squeal noise if I remove an USB thumbdrive from the computer.
I've toggled/muted all unused alsamixer controls, this used to work years ago but not anymore.
There is also more steady noise if I hover over the pulseaudio mixer plugin and the GUI popsup, yuk.
Note: there are no audio input devices opened via voice apps, no skype, no mumble, no synth ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow_7

If it has a driver it's already detected. It should show up in /proc/asound/cards.
It's just a matter of selecting the soundcard, the default is hw:0,0 aka card 0 device 0. Technically hw:0,0,0 aka card, device, sub-device, although the shorthand hw:0 works in most instances. It gets odd if you expect HDMI out as that tends to be device 3 or higher depending on which port you plugged into, so hw:0,3 and such.

Pulse will normally show the cards and let you change things. But... for some cards you have to edit / force things, my Delta 44 used to be that way. As long as you're not trying to get things working on ubuntu 9.x or something or running a 2.6.x kernel from a decade plus ago with hardware much younger than that, it shouldn't be an issue.

$ find /proc/asound/ -iname '*pcm*p*'

Code:

/proc/asound/card0/pcm3p
/proc/asound/card1/pcm0p
/proc/asound/card2/pcm0p

Where the things ending in p are playback (OUTPUT) and c are capture (INPUT). This laptop currently has 3 options. hw:0,3 which is the HDMI audio. hw:1,0 which is the onboard soundcard. And hw:2,0 which is a USB audio interface.

$ cat /proc/asound/cards

Code:

 0 [HDMI           ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
                      HDA ATI HDMI at 0xf0560000 irq 35
 1 [Generic        ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
                      HD-Audio Generic at 0xf0564000 irq 36
 2 [USB            ]: USB-Audio - Scarlett 2i2 USB
                      Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB at usb-0000:00:12.0-1.1.4, high speed

Beyond that you can use pulseaudio to select the right card. Or edit up a .asoundrc to default to something other than hw:0,0[,0].

FILE: .asoundrc

Code:

defaults.ctl.card 1
defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.pcm.device 0

For hw:1,0 as the default. Or select it on the thing playing back.

$ speaker-test -c 2 -l 1 -D default
$ speaker-test -c 2 -l 1 -D hw:1,0
$ speaker-test -c 2 -l 1 -D pulse

Shadow_7 · 06-06-2019, 03:01 PM

Some cheaper audio devices are not full duplex (can record independently while also playing back). These will leak output to input and vice versa (no mic required). And tend to have noise in general (plugin power). Also avoid running your cables near your monitor or other sources of interference (cell phones / wifi antennae / ...). When I first started recording, I had a cheap mic that I hung over the monitor and everytime the clock ticked in ardour the audio would too. With it's little timer LED at the top center of the screen. That's when you learn the difference between balanced and unbalanced, shielding, and other audiophile type things.

business_kid · 06-09-2019, 06:25 AM

This Full duplex crap forces a wry smile.

Theoretically you're able to play one thing and record another, e.g. record a symphony while playing pop. But your input, and perhaps your output go through the same 3.5" jack, sharing a common lead :-/. Your speakers aren't supposed to be picked up by your monitor's builtin mike, etc. Personally, I treat sound cards as low-fi.

galen · 06-09-2019, 11:15 AM

AFAIK Duplex is only for having output & input available. no sense having mic/input only or output only

Quote:

Originally Posted by business_kid

This Full duplex crap forces a wry smile.

Theoretically you're able to play one thing and record another, e.g. record a symphony while playing pop. But your input, and perhaps your output go through the same 3.5" jack, sharing a common lead :-/. Your speakers aren't supposed to be picked up by your monitor's builtin mike, etc. Personally, I treat sound cards as low-fi.