No sound

old geezer · 01-25-2013, 04:26 PM

I have been with computers for fifteen years but just now am trying to use Linux. Right away I have problems. One I want to ask about now is why I have no sound at all.
I have Linux Mint 3.5.0-17. I found the sound settings and tried more than one for input but got only silence when I tested.I know you need more info to elicit a response so ask me please what you want or need to know about my system.Thank you

Snark1994 · 01-25-2013, 04:36 PM

Do you know if you use ALSA or OSS? What happens if you run

Code:

alsamixer

?

old geezer · 01-25-2013, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snark1994

Do you know if you use ALSA or OSS? What happens if you run

Code:

alsamixer

?

The pretty sound mixer dude comes up but im not sure what to look for. I am not allowed to make any changes there.

I just cut the power to my speakers and cut them back on and now I do get sound from the right front speaker. I would think I should get sound for the front left.

Snark1994 · 01-26-2013, 06:48 AM

Look for muted channels (they will have an MM or 00 under the volume bar). Why do you think you're not allowed to make changes? In any event, if that's the case try running "sudo alsamixer" or if you have a group called 'audio' or 'sound' then adding yourself to it.

Hm, can you confirm it's not a hardware issue, in that case? Do you get sound if you plug the speakers into a different computer? Do you get sound if you plug different speakers into your "problem" computer?

ukiuki · 01-26-2013, 10:49 AM

It isn't uncommon alsamixer come with volumes all the way down, you can't use mouse there, it is all keyboard, there is an GUI version of alsa mixer as well, but probably not installed as default.

Regards

unkn(0)wn · 01-26-2013, 10:53 AM

try upgrading to updated alsa drivers from it web page. This fixed my sound!

rokytnji · 01-26-2013, 11:27 AM

Quote:

The pretty sound mixer dude comes up but im not sure what to look for.

Hit the F5 Key first to bring up all controls and maximise alsamixer window

Quote:

General Controls

The Left and right arrow keys are used to select the channel (or

device, depending on your preferred terminology). You can also use 'n'

("next") and 'p' ("previous").

The Up and Down Arrows control the volume for the currently selected

device. You can also use '+' or '-' for the same purpose. Both the left and

right signals are affected. For independent left and right control, see

below.

The 'B' or '=' key adjusts the balance of volumes on left and right chan-

nels.

'M' toggles muting for the current channel (both left and right). You can

mute left and right independently by using ',' (or '<') and '.' (or '>')

respectively.

SPACE toggles recording: the current channel will be added or removed

from the sources used for recording. This only works for valid input

channels, of course. You can toggle left and right independently by

using Insert (or ';') and Delete (or ') respectively.

'L' re-draws the screen.

Quick Volume Changes

Page Up increases volume by 5.

Page Down decreases volume by 5.

End sets volume to 0.

You can also control left & right levels for the current channel inde-

pendently, as follows:

[Q | W | E ] -- turn UP [ left | both | right ]

[Z | X | C ] -- turn DOWN [ left | both | right ]

If the currently selected mixer channel is not a stereo channel, then

all UP keys will work like 'W', and all DOWN keys will work like 'X'.

Exiting

Quit the program with ALT-Q, or by hitting ESC. Please note that you

might need to hit ESC twice on some terminals since it's regarded as a

prefix key.

http://techpatterns.com/forums/about1813.html

old geezer · 01-26-2013, 04:00 PM

Sorry so late getting back to you guys but it was unavoidable. I still am not getting sound. When I said I did get sound that was just a voice saying something I don't know what. I found out to bring a Youtube video up but no sound. I didn't know one had to work there as if you were in the bios in Windows.

I see though that there is 100% all the way across the bottom,the green about mid ways and a little red on the top. I would post a screenshot if I was using Windows. This is really a challange for this 83 year old to get around in. You mentioned zeroes. I do see them on the bottom on all channels but the front right mike.Don't make much sense to me. Don't get any system sounds either.
OK guys success. I went through the twelve options for input and output,selected Analog Sound 4.1 output. Then I can play a Youtube video. Haven't tested to see if the system sounds come alive yet. Thank you so much

Snark1994 · 01-26-2013, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by old geezer

I see though that there is 100% all the way across the bottom,the green about mid ways and a little red on the top.

Okay, that sounds like all your volumes are up. (Make sure you scroll all the way to the right to check there aren't any more off the right hand side of the screen - use the right arrow key to do this).

What distribution are you using? Could you post the output of

Code:

lspci

please? It may be you need an audio driver, or something like that.

Quote:

I didn't know one had to work there as if you were in the bios in Windows.

One doesn't, but it's often easier to do so. You mentioned screenshots, but with Linux one often doesn't need them while troubleshooting, because most things can be done on the command line (which is text based) so one can just post the (text) output of a command, rather than attaching a screenshot. But yeah, I guess it's something new to get used to, I'm afraid.

ukiuki · 01-26-2013, 06:16 PM

Sometimes just issuing the command alsactl init at the console/terminal sets the audio card right and the sound come to live, do that and try to play something after that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by old geezer

...This is really a challange for this 83 year old to get around in...Thank you so much

Sir your mind seen to be pretty sharp and in good shape to me, and if you think that you are old, well check out this man that im going to tell you, he is 96 years old and he does public speeches:
Jacque Fresco and here one of his speeches.
And by the way you are welcome sir.

Ok back to the topic...
Please let us know a little more about your system, so we can point you to the right direction and procedures to get your sound to work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snark1994

...with Linux one often doesn't need them while troubleshooting, because most things can be done on the command line (which is text based) so one can just post the (text) output of a command, rather than attaching a screenshot...

From the terminal when we want to copy something from there if the terminal version doesn't offer copy with right click then the unix way is: highlight the text with the left click and keep holding then do the right click while holding the left click then release both to copy, the wheel button can be used to paste, if your mouse only has 2 buttons(no wheel or middle button) then press both left and right together to paste, another way to grab the command output in the terminal is to use at the end of the command line the symbol > and a name for a file, like:

Code:

lspci > lspci_output.txt

So you get the output in a text file.

Regards

old geezer · 01-27-2013, 09:18 AM

Well I can play a CD video and Youtube videos now. Don't know if a music file from the music folder would play or not. Right now I don't have the foggiest idea as to how to get a music file in there. Using this OS right now is not unlike trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.
Still now system sounds but I can do without them.

Update. I did manage to record a youtube video get it into the music folder and then play it with Audacity.That was a herculean task. Must have took a dozen clicks. Could done that with Windows with about five.
I'm not sure I could do it again though. I was like trying to walk on water.
Why did they make this OS so difficult to use. I believe I could learn the Russian language easier. Whew !! I'm making progress however.