Hi

My sound seems to have stopped working but I can't find anything wrong with it. It was working and works under Windows.

I thought it might be a permissions problem but my user account was already added to audio and gets nothing through even with volume turned up to full.

I have done some diagnostics:


# uname -r
2.6.32-5-686

# cat /etc/debian_version
6.0.7

# lspci | grep udio
00:08.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP79 High Definition Audio (rev b1)

# lshw -class multimedia
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: MCP79 High Definition Audio
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 8
bus info: pci@0000:00:08.0
version: b1
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0 maxlatency=5 mingnt=2
resources: irq:21 memory:fae78000-fae7bfff

# dmesg | grep udio
# dmesg | grep vidia
[ 7.682585] hda_intel: Disable MSI for Nvidia chipset
# dmesg | grep ultimedia
[ 2.779021] usb 2-2: Product: 2.4G Multimedia Wireless Kit
[ 2.818537] input: Chicony 2.4G Multimedia Wireless Kit as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:04.0/usb2/2-2/2-2:1.0/input/input0
[ 2.818698] generic-usb 0003:04F2:0918.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [Chicony 2.4G Multimedia Wireless Kit] on usb-0000:00:04.0-2/input0
[ 2.832615] input: Chicony 2.4G Multimedia Wireless Kit as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:04.0/usb2/2-2/2-2:1.1/input/input1
[ 2.832953] generic-usb 0003:04F2:0918.0002: input,hiddev0,hidraw1: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [Chicony 2.4G Multimedia Wireless Kit] on usb-0000:00:04.0-2/input1

# lsmod | grep snd
snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi 2567 1
snd_hda_codec_realtek 163390 1
snd_hda_intel 16655 2
snd_hda_codec 46066 3 snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 4054 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 47226 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq 35463 0
snd_timer 12270 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 3673 1 snd_seq
snd 34423 12 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore 3450 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 5045 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm


What else should I be looking for or trying? I found something suggesting that I should use alsaconf from the alsa-utils package. aptitude says I have the latest alsa-utils but I don't have alsaconf.

Many thanks in advance,

Kirsty

Did anything change just before it stopped working, such as software update, new package installed, or anything else you can remember?

Check alsamixer. You might have muted channels or low volume levels.
Also if you have pulseaudio, you should check if its actually running.

Did you recently install Skype perhaps? When I did that a while back (on a LinuxMint13 system, which is based on Ubuntu, which is in turn based on Debian like your system) my previously working sound was completely demolished.

I was never able to figure out what Skype had done. I spend hours troubleshooting and researching. Since it was a brand new install of the OS, and Skype was like the 3rd or 4th app I installed after the OS install, I just reinstalled everything again from scratch (leaving out Skype!) and things were back to normal. Of course, reinstalling the OS to "fix" a problem like this is normally out of the question, but my unique circumstance let me perform a complete reinstall in far less time than the troubleshoting required to fix the Skype damage. It was definitely Skype. Sound working (for everything), install Skype, sound no workie anymore (for anything). The Skype install came from the standard Ubuntu repos.

Skype has an option that sometimes messes with your mixer levels. It is an option under Sound devices called "let skype adjust my mixer levels".
This option usually set volume levels really low. Depending on your sund card's ALSA drivers you could or could not reset them if you use Pulseaudio.
But if you look into alsamixer, all existing volume levels are there and you can reset them.

Hi sorry for the slow response.

I don't have Skype installed. The last thing I installed was frotz using apt-get install frotz.

I don't have pulseaudio. Should I install it?

When I say that the volume is turned up full I mean all the sliders on the sound control are at max. I use headphones (and yes, they do work!) so I can't pinpoint exactly when the sound stopped working as I only plug them in when I need to.

Thanks

Volumes where? What volume levels exactly? Pls attach a screenshot with alsamixer (opened in a terminal).

Have you tried

then

then

If speaker test works. You probably have a muted channel somewhere.

I have a different sound card and setup than yours

But I have working sound with these packages installed

My repos: (I know, it looks like you are running Debian Squeeze)

Debian version: