I installed Debian Lenny in Oct, 08. Wonderful system. But no sound. I have had this problem before with Sarge on i386. Etch i386 worked fine. But Lenny running on amd64 bit, with the Gnome desktop, no sound. The sound problems always appear to be for different reasons. I am no guru, just a part time hobbiest/enthusiast.

I did try to configure alsa.Nothing but an error message. This is what I get:

centralcommand:/home/print72# alsaconf
Terminating processes: 4263.
Unloading ALSA sound driver modules: snd-ca0106 snd-ac97-codec snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm snd-seq-dummy snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi snd-rawmidi snd-seq-midi-event snd-seq snd-timer snd-seq-device snd-page-alloc.
Building card database...


Loading driver...
Setting default volumes...
amixer: Mixer attach default error: No such file or directory


===============================================================================

Now ALSA is ready to use.
For adjustment of volumes, use your favorite mixer.

Have a lot of fun!


centralcommand:/home/print72#




Error Message:

The volume control did not find any elements and/or devices to control. This means either that you
don't have the right Gstreamer plugins installed, or that you don't have a sound card configured.
You can remove the volume control from the panel by right clicking the speaker icon on the panel and selecting “Remove From Panel” from the menu.

I understand the "No sound in Debian" problem is very much alive. But it would seem the reasons for the no sound issues vary greatly.
Lots of help would be much appreciated.

Thank you very much in advance
jason72

I had the same problem with my laptop ... Sound with etch, No sound with Lenny.

Probably the new kernel does not support your sound card ...
after installing lshw (# apt-get install lshw) check
with
# lshw | less

if the command shows your sound card UNCLAIMED, that means that the default loaded driver is not compatible ... You may have to download it from the company's website ...

By the way, what sound card do you have ?

Regards
Vas!

Hi Jason,
Normally when you run alsaconf it gives you a list of one or more sound devices that it has found, did it give you such a list? and if so, did at least one item match what you actually have on your system?

If not, can you send the output of lspci. You should see some mention of an audio controller.
Cheers,
jdk

Hi vasmakk and jdkaye.

print72@centralcommand:~$ su
Password:
centralcommand:/home/print72# lspci | grep audio
03:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy LS
centralcommand:/home/print72#


1. ca0106 Creative Labs SB Audigy LS
2. legacy Probe legacy ISA {non-PnP} chip

The Creative labs card I did install. The other I believe is native to the mother board.



The 2.6.26-1 kernel won't boot. Aperture beyond 4 G.....
The 2.6.24 kernel boots fine, but no sound. I did fix the sound problem in Sarge years ago by a kernel upgrade and that worked nicely.

Installed lshw.
lshw | less yielded this output concerning sound card:

:
description: Multimedia audio controller
product: SB Audigy LS
vendor: Creative Labs
physical id: 6
bus info: pci@0000:03:06.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=CA0106 latency=64 maxlatency=20 mingnt=2 module=snd_ca0106


I also got this error message when trying to play a music file:

"The volume control did not find any elements and/or devices to control. This means either that you don't have the right GStreamer plugins installed, or that you don't have a sound card configured.

You can remove the volume control from the panel by right-clicking the speaker icon on the panel and selecting "Remove From Panel" from the menu."

The speaker icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen is also muted.

GStreamer plugins. If these are what I need, how would I determine which ones I need?

What are your thoughts?


Thanks guys
Jason

You may be using the wrong drivers. Usually when you install a pci sound device the bios will set it as the default audio device, some times you have to set it in the bios manually.
I have an Audigy 2ZS, look here to see what drivers my Debian and others use, and the fix I found for Mandriva.

wet-willy is right!

It looks like lenny "Understands" your sound card (it IS a -Creative Labs SB Audigy LS- right?) , but for some reason installs the wrong drivers. I don't think this has to do with any of GStreamer plugins.

Try to do this...

run alsaconf again and select one of the alternative drivers (if there is a list of them).

Or

Visit creative's web site and search if there is a driver for your Snd card (for linux 64)

Best wishes!
Vas!

Yeah, I think you guys are right about the drivers. In my experience, I have learned to pay attention to what the computer is telling me, and not to necessarily follow my own theory.
Yes the card is in fact a Creative Labs SB Audigy LS. I was thinking maybe there was an element to installing the right GStreamer that would enable the card. just a thought, as I said in the beginning, I am no guru...

I did in fact go to Creative's web page, but a problem on the page prevented me from contacting them. I will have to go find the installation disc and see if there are 64 bit Linux drivers. Probably not.

I will run alsaconf again and see if there is a list of alternative drivers, although I don't recall seeing any list the last time I ran alsaconf.
I shall give it a shot and check back in later on.
I think we are on the right track here though.

Thanks again guys.

Jason