LinuxQuestions.org - Why I have to turn PCM and master sound levels all the way up?

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Why I have to turn PCM and master sound levels all the way up?

Ever since I had my linux install, i have had no sound when I start-up.

Over time, thru trial and error, I have noticed that if I start a mp3 playing and then turn the PCM and Master sound all the way up , the sound will eventually kick in. Any one know why this is or how to fix it?

We are not mind readers. You need to provide us about everything about your computer as detail as possible in order for us to help.

Hi, which sound card do you have? I have the 24 bit Creative Sound Blaster Live! with the
ca0106 chipset and I experience the exact same problem. Often, but not always, when I boot up
and start listening to music, regardless of the application I use, I hear no sound, or more
frequently, sound from only one channel.

I use the same technique as you to solve the problem. I start playing some music,
unplug my headphones, turn the volume all the way up and back down again, then plug my headphones
back in. When I start listening again the music is playing normally.
Sorry I don't have any other solution to this problem.

I have a dual boot system and I experience the same problem when using Windows, though not
as frequently. Oddly enough turning the volume right up and back down in Windows does not solve
the problem and I have to reboot. The fact that this behaviour occurs under both Windows XP
and Slackware Linux leads me to believe that this is a hardware problem, rather than a driver
problem, but I cannot be sure of this.

It's only a minor annoyance. Everything else about the card is great, sound quality is
excellent. Also I'd like to say thanks to the ALSA team for all the hard work they do, thanks guys. :)

Im just using the VIA motherboard sound card.

Im using a Gentoo system and the driver in the kernel it uses is the snd-via82xx. The sound quality is always crisp and clear with no cracking, just needs a little kick in the butt to get started by pushing the sound levels up.

CPU: AMD 3000 - 400mhz FSB
CPU: Cooler - Thermaltake pipe 101
RAM: Corsair 2 512 chips 400hhz FSB
GPU: Nvidia 680 GT
HD: 2 250gig Western Digital
MOBO: Micro ATX VIA something
Optical: LITEON DVD Burner
Case Aspire X-Qpack Miro ATX desktop

OS: Gentoo 2005.1 with Gnome 2.12.2

Latest DMESG:

Code:

via82xx: Assuming DXS channels with 48k fixed sample rate.

        Please try dxs_support=5 option

        and report if it works on your machine.

        For more details, read ALSA-Configuration.txt.

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [ALKC] enabled at IRQ 22

ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:11.5[C] -> Link [ALKC] -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 19

PCI: Via IRQ fixup for 0000:00:11.5, from 12 to 3

PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:11.5 to 64

EXT3-fs warning: maximal mount count reached, running e2fsck is recommended

kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds

EXT3 FS on hdd1, internal journal

EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.

eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x45E1

nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.

ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:00.0[A] -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 20

NVRM: loading NVIDIA Linux x86 NVIDIA Kernel Module  1.0-8178  Wed Dec 14 16:22:51 PST 2005

eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x45E1

Latest LSPCI:

Code:

 lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8378 [KM400/A] Chipset Host Bridge00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI Bridge

00:0f.0 RAID bus controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VIA VT6420 SATA RAID Controller (rev 80)

00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)

00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)

00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)

00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)

00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)

00:10.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86)

00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [KT600/K8T800/K8T890 South]

00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)

00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 78)

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV43 [GeForce 6600/GeForce 6600 GT] (rev a2)

Try adding the following in /etc/modules.d/alsa and run modules-update:
options snd-via82xx dxs_support=5

Then type '/etc/init.d/alsasound restart' as root.

What does 'cat /proc/asound/version' prints out?

Ok, I added the option to the alsa file in modules.d
updated the modules and restarted alsasound.

here is the cat of asound version

Code:

cat /proc/asound/version

Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.10rc1 (Mon Sep 12 08:13:09 2005 UTC).

I just restarted the system and the sound did start up right away so it appears that you have fixxed my issue. Also Dmesg does'nt show that error any longer. Thanx for you help, I will keep an eye on it and see if the issue re-surfaces.

Ok, the system started doing it again, at first it was once every third boot up the sound would fail with no dmesg, and it has become worse. Now every time I boot it have to do the PCM master sound trick to get it working. Anyone ever have this issue?

Try downgrading ALSA to 1.0.7rc2 or use CVS snapshot. Also try adding a few lines in ~/.asoundrc to resample the rate at 48000 Hz or 44100 Hz depending on dxs_support. Right now ALSA developers think there is a bug with ALSA library.