Hi all,

I'm trying to add a webcam and it get's registered nicely. The problem is that after a reboot it registers as card 0, my internal card gets registered as card 1, and I lose all sound.

arecord -l without webcam:
arecord -l with webcam plugged in to a running system
arecord -l with webcam after reboot
Notice that the cards have switched index. Registered as this I have no sound. None. So, in order to solve this I reckon I'll have to force my internal card to register as card 0.

lsusb with the card attached
C-Media is the built-in soundcard and Philips is the webcam. (I have no idea why the built-in is registered as an usb-device but it is and external sources confirm that this is correct.

According to the alsa project wiki the correct way to give two devices using the same module (such as two usb-devices) a specific index is to add something along the following in the main alsa configuration file.

As I use Debian Squeeze 64-bit with the odd package from sid and multimedia repository enabled I found that the correct file to add this in is /etc/modprobe.conf. I therefore added this:
This corresponds to my hardwares' VID and PID. When I reboot I and do arecord -l I get:
As an alternative I tried to add this snippet to /etc/modprobe.d/sound instead but at boot I get the message that "vid 0d8c" is an invalid parameter. Well, it's not. It adds upp with the output from lsusb and the external source linked to above. Do I need to add that arecord -l tells me I have no soundcard?

Does anyone have any idea what's going on here and how I might solve this? Is there another way to force two usb-devices to register as a specific card? Should I add this option in another file?

Any and all help is very much appreciated.
best regards
/CZ

Ok.. here we go...

I didn't understand why would you want two different cards with the same module.

I had a similar issue than you have although it was pretty simple to solve. I just followed the instructions in http://forum.vectorlinux.com/index.php?topic=4888.0.

Please, undo whatever you've done and try the instructions exactly as exposed in the site I told you then report back.

Skuzye

I think you're missing the point here. Both cards *use* snd-usb-audio. It is their *proper* driver. The link you posted presupposes that you have multiple cards that use *different* modules. Had that been the case your solution would have been the way to solve this but as the output of arecord clearly shows that is *not* the case here. Trying to force my built-in or the webcam to use a module that is not its proper driver is obviously not the correct way to solve this, as this module simply will not work with the hardware.

best regards
/CZ

You forgot the 0x prefix for hexadecimal numbers.

1 members found this post helpful.

Aha! Yes I did. I had noticed that the format looked a bit differently but I wasn't aware that part of it was a prefix (nor is this mentioned in, for example, the alsa wiki). Now that you've pointed it out it does seem so obvious.

Many thanks for this, it works perfectly now. The built-in registers as card 0, the camera as card 1 and sound is back on! Solved my problem and I learned something to boot!

Best regards!
/CZ

Is their a step by step instructions for people that have never changed command line instructions. I dont have(see) SU editing pad.
Thanks!

There's really no steps to it, you just enter the relevant information in a text file. Two lines, that's it. If you post the output of the commands mentioned in the first post together with some system information (distro, kernel) somebody might be able to help you out, i.e. tell you what lines in which file.

/CZ

Thanks!
I use Debian, always updating as it asks. My webcam is a Logitech 9000 pro. Works fine when I plug it in (except for skype not having activate video chat), when I reboot thiers no sound.
This is what I get, and i need to know how to change the information.
Greatly appreciated, thanks!

cat /proc/asound/modules
0 snd_intel8x0
1 snd_mpu401

Ok, I meant for you to post the output of arecord with and without the webcam connected. Anyway, you are using different modules so the solution posted in post #2 in this thread will probably do it for you. So, try adding the following line in the file /etc/modprobe.d/sound with your favorite editor (If the file don't exist just create it. Also, you'll have to be root to edit this file)

Now, I'm assuming that snd_mpu401 is your webcam and this line of code should, I think, force it to always register as device 1, leaving your built-in as device 0 (which is what it register as if it is the only connected device during boot).

Try it out and let us now if it worked or not.

regards
/CZ

This is what I have in that directory. So I would create a file "sound.conf' ?

Attached Thumbnails

 

Yes. The easiest way is to open a terminal, and switch to root using

Enter your root password and then use an editor, for example nano to edit/create the file

Add the line of code and exit using CTRL-x, answer yes to save changes.

Reboot and you should be good to go.

1 members found this post helpful.

Great ! thanks, will try that.

didnt work, still get no sound after boot up.
(sorry it took so long to reply)

Just to make sure you got it right, could you post the output of

EDIT:

while you're at it, post the output of

both with and without the webcam connected.

I get;
cat: /etc/modprobe.d/sound: No such file or directory

**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: nForce2 [NVidia nForce2], device 0: Intel ICH [NVidia nForce2]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: nForce2 [NVidia nForce2], device 1: Intel ICH - MIC ADC [NVidia nForce2 - MIC ADC]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I tried doing it again but nano asks to save the file under a diff name, when I say no it goes back to;
File name to write: