No sound in linux?

pshriver7 · 06-24-2010, 09:43 AM

I've been using linux since the beginning of the year and have had constant problems with no sound. Being new to this, I have searched the internet and many others asking the same question, but I'm not reading any solutions. Some have posted "coded" terminal replies, but that's all greek to me. I have installed an alsa package that worked for a few days and then it stopped. How do I get it to work? ps: I know where the terminal is and in theory what it does, but I don't understand code to make it do things.

amani · 06-24-2010, 09:48 AM

Welcome to LQ!

Usually people need not look beyond selecting the correct output device and adjusting the mixer for volume.
All this is done from GUI.

Post output of

#lspci -v

i92guboj · 06-24-2010, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pshriver7

I've been using linux since the beginning of the year and have had constant problems with no sound. Being new to this, I have searched the internet and many others asking the same question, but I'm not reading any solutions. Some have posted "coded" terminal replies, but that's all greek to me.

Then, ask politely for explanations instead of ignoring replies where the solution might lie.

Quote:

I have installed an alsa package that worked for a few days and then it stopped.

This means your hardware is supported, since at some point it worked. First thing you should do is to check the mixer application in whatever desktop you use. The problem could be a zeroed or muted pcm or master channel.

A good way to know if your system already knows about (m)any sound card is this:

Code:

# cat /proc/asound/cards 
 0 [SB             ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI SB
                      HDA ATI SB at 0xfe7f4000 irq 16
 1 [HDMI           ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
                      HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfe9e8000 irq 19

You only have to write the first line. "cat /proc/asound/cards", the rest is just a sample about how the output should look like. Post whatever output you can get from that command here (in case you get any output at all, if not just let us know you didn't get anything back).

pshriver7 · 06-24-2010, 10:07 AM

amani: i have tried many times to change the output options until i found one that works. My son (avide linux user) advises my not to do that, but i have and for whatever reason, sometime rarely, it will start working again. then it stops. How do i "post output of #lspci -?

amani · 06-24-2010, 10:09 AM

Type that (without #) in terminal/konsole and hit enter

pshriver7 · 06-24-2010, 10:21 AM

amani: here's what came up

patrick@patrick-desktop ~ $ lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset DRAM Controller (rev 03)
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Device 2690
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
Kernel modules: intel-agp

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Device 2690
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 26
Memory at fe400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
I/O ports at ec00 [size=8]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: i915
Kernel modules: i915

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Device 2690
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Memory at feaf8000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00001000-00001fff
Memory behind bridge: f0000000-f01fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000f0200000-00000000f03fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 3 (rev 01)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00002000-00002fff
Memory behind bridge: feb00000-febfffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000f0400000-00000000f05fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Device 2690
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
I/O ports at e880 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Device 2690
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
I/O ports at e800 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Device 2690
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at e480 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Device 2690
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at e400 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 20)
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Device 2690
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
Memory at feaf7c00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1) (prog-if 01)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=32
Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Device 2690
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt, intel-rng

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Device 2690
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
I/O ports at ffa0 [size=16]
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family SATA IDE Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO])
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Device 2690
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
I/O ports at e080 [size=8]
I/O ports at e000 [size=4]
I/O ports at dc00 [size=8]
I/O ports at d880 [size=4]
I/O ports at d800 [size=16]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 01)
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Device 2690
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 3
I/O ports at 0400 [size=32]
Kernel modules: i2c-i801

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications L2 100 Mbit Ethernet Adapter (rev a0)
Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Device 2048
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 27
Memory at febc0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
Expansion ROM at feba0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: atl2
Kernel modules: atl2

amani · 06-26-2010, 08:34 AM

Looks ok.

You should have a good mixer and use Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller

pshriver7 · 06-26-2010, 01:36 PM

amani: thank you for looking at it. i still have no sound, if this was a problem in windows, i could fix it in a flash... but in linux i am lost. i don't know where to go or what to do.

pixellany · 06-26-2010, 01:58 PM

The key here is that alsa worked for a few days---this means you have the right driver(s) installed.

What distro (version) of Linux are you using?

Have you looked in the GUI menus for settings relating to sound?

Since you installed alsa manually, you may need to configure it manually----Can you open "alsamixer" in a terminal?

pshriver7 · 06-26-2010, 11:33 PM

pixellany: i am using linux mint9, lucud lynx version. we have looked at the gui settings and that does not help. I can not open alsamixer in terminal and have been told it has something to do with the intel headset i have, apparently there is very little support for it. I have been working on this for weeks and I'm getting really frustrated with the whole thing. Also, why do i have to post everything at least two times, because my message is three characters short? ... any help i can get on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the Gilda Radner quote, I need to remember that right now.

MTK358 · 06-27-2010, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pshriver7

pixellany: i am using linux mint9, lucud lynx version.

There is no Linux Mint "Lucid Lynx".

There is Ubuntu 10.4 LTS "Lucid Lynx" and Linux Mint "Isadora".

pr_deltoid · 06-27-2010, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Based on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx, Linux 2.6.32, Gnome 2.30 and Xorg 7.4, Linux Mint 9 "Isadora" features a lot of improvements and the latest software from the Open Source World.

Seems strange to say both at once instead of just saying "Isadora", but maybe he just wanted to be complete. Possibly another victim of ESR's netiquette...

MTK358 · 06-27-2010, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prdeltoid

Possibly another victim of ESR's netiquette...

What do you mean?

pr_deltoid · 06-27-2010, 08:47 AM

I mean ESR overdoes it. Calls everybody an idiot. Then people see links to his posting manual and post 500 words about simple problems and everyone comes up with 100 that are vague or confusing anyways. So you have to be called an idiot, respond by trying to be extremely clear, then have an editor go over your question with a highlighter.

pixellany · 06-27-2010, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prdeltoid

I mean ESR overdoes it. Calls everybody an idiot. Then people see links to his posting manual and post 500 words about simple problems and everyone comes up with 100 that are vague or confusing anyways. So you have to be called an idiot, respond by trying to be extremely clear, then have an editor go over your question with a highlighter.

This does not seem to be relevant to helping the OP...