Sound no longer working in Ubuntu

gpaciga · 11-29-2006, 07:26 PM

I'm using Ubuntu (Dapper) with KDE, on a Compaq Presario x1010CA, not sure of sound card model. Sound had been working fine for a couple weeks but spontaneously stopped working the other day. Nothing seems to be muted (including in alsamixer), I've restarted alsa-utils with no success, and restarting the whole computer didn't help either. Running "cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp" gives nothing but silence. This affects all sound types as far as I can tell. There are no error messages, just no sound.

Here's the output from lsmod

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
ip_conntrack_irc        6768  0
ip_conntrack_ftp        7792  0
ipt_state               2048  1
radeon                116000  1
drm                    73236  2 radeon
ipt_limit               2432  2
ipt_LOG                 6912  1
iptable_mangle          2944  0
iptable_nat             7812  0
ip_nat                 19628  1 iptable_nat
ip_conntrack           51500  5 ip_conntrack_irc,ip_conntrack_ftp,ipt_state,iptable_nat,ip_nat
nfnetlink               6552  2 ip_nat,ip_conntrack
iptable_filter          3072  1
ip_tables              22400  6 ipt_state,ipt_limit,ipt_LOG,iptable_mangle,iptable_nat,iptable_filter
rfcomm                 40216  0
l2cap                  26244  5 rfcomm
bluetooth              50020  4 rfcomm,l2cap
ppdev                   9220  0
speedstep_centrino      8400  1
cpufreq_userspace       4696  1
cpufreq_stats           5636  0
freq_table              4740  2 speedstep_centrino,cpufreq_stats
cpufreq_powersave       1920  0
cpufreq_ondemand        6428  0
cpufreq_conservative     7332  0
video                  16260  0
tc1100_wmi              6916  0
sony_acpi               5644  0
pcc_acpi               12416  0
hotkey                 11556  0
dev_acpi               11140  0
container               4608  0
button                  6672  0
acpi_sbs               19980  0
battery                 9988  1 acpi_sbs
ac                      5252  1 acpi_sbs
i2c_acpi_ec             5120  1 acpi_sbs
i2c_core               21904  1 i2c_acpi_ec
nls_iso8859_1           4224  2
nls_cp437               5888  2
vfat                   13440  2
fat                    53020  1 vfat
nls_utf8                2176  1
ntfs                  103536  1
sg                     37920  0
sd_mod                 19984  2
ipv6                  265728  8
dm_mod                 58936  1
af_packet              22920  4
md_mod                 72532  0
sr_mod                 16932  0
sbp2                   24196  0
lp                     11844  0
pcmcia                 40508  0
8139cp                 22528  0
joydev                 10048  0
usb_storage            74304  1
scsi_mod              139496  5 sg,sd_mod,sr_mod,sbp2,usb_storage
yenta_socket           28428  1
rsrc_nonstatic         13440  1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core            42640  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
ipw2100                88628  0
ieee80211              37064  1 ipw2100
ieee80211_crypt         6272  1 ieee80211
8139too                26880  0
mii                     5888  2 8139cp,8139too
snd_intel8x0           33692  1
snd_ac97_codec         93216  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_ac97_bus            2304  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss            53664  0
snd_mixer_oss          18688  1 snd_pcm_oss
tsdev                   8000  0
wbsd                   18696  0
mmc_core               30104  1 wbsd
snd_pcm                89864  3 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              25220  1 snd_pcm
parport_pc             35780  1
parport                36296  3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
hw_random               5652  0
rtc                    13492  0
pcspkr                  2180  0
psmouse                36100  0
serio_raw               7300  0
usbhid                 39904  0
snd                    55268  8 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore              10208  1 snd
snd_page_alloc         10632  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
intel_agp              22940  1
agpgart                34888  2 drm,intel_agp
shpchp                 45632  0
pci_hotplug            29236  1 shpchp
evdev                   9856  2
ext3                  135816  1
jbd                    58772  1 ext3
ide_generic             1536  0
ohci1394               35124  0
ieee1394              299832  2 sbp2,ohci1394
ehci_hcd               34184  0
uhci_hcd               33808  0
usbcore               130820  5 usb_storage,usbhid,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
ide_cd                 33028  0
cdrom                  38560  2 sr_mod,ide_cd
ide_disk               17664  5
piix                   11012  1
generic                 5124  0
thermal                13576  0
processor              23360  2 speedstep_centrino,thermal
fan                     4868  0
capability              5000  0
commoncap               7296  1 capability
vga16fb                13704  1
vgastate               10368  1 vga16fb
fbcon                  42784  72
tileblit                2816  1 fbcon
font                    8320  1 fbcon
bitblit                 6272  1 fbcon
softcursor              2304  1 bitblit

and lspci:

Code:

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82855PM Processor to I/O Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82855PM Processor to AGP Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 81)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) IDE Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 01)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon R250 Lf [FireGL 9000] (rev 01)
0000:02:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev 80)
0000:02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 20)
0000:02:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter (rev 04)
0000:02:04.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB1410 Cardbus Controller

Any help would be appreciated.

rickh · 11-29-2006, 07:39 PM

Quote:

I'm using Ubuntu...

Then why does the thread title say you're using Debian?

gpaciga · 11-29-2006, 07:50 PM

I was under the impression that ubuntu is a type of debian distro. If I'm wrong, chalk it up to being a newbie. Regardless, since from your comment I guess it might have been misleading, I changed the subject on the first post, but I think it's too late to change the thread name.

adam_blackice · 11-29-2006, 08:09 PM

after compiling alsa driver and lib an alsa util just run #alsaconf and the sound will work

gpaciga · 11-29-2006, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adam_blackice

after compiling alsa driver

Sound worked out of the box before, why do I have to compile something? If I really do, can you explain what that entails?

Quote:

Originally Posted by adam_blackice

and lib an alsa util

Is lib a verb?

Quote:

Originally Posted by adam_blackice

just run #alsaconf and the sound will work

There's no alsaconf to run, as far as I can tell. Where/what is it?

rickh · 11-29-2006, 08:41 PM

Quote:

...ubuntu is a type of debian distro.

There are a kazillion Debian derivatives ... There is only one Debian. Ubuntu ain't it, ... and it's quite insulting to Debian users when people think it is.

Anyway, the instruction that you are getting is to open a terminal prompt and type: sudo alsaconf

At least that the way I think Ubuntu does it.

gpaciga · 11-29-2006, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickh

Anyway, the instruction that you are getting is to open a terminal prompt and type: sudo alsaconf

Yes, and my reply was that there is no alsaconf to run.

bash: alsaconf: command not found

rickh · 11-29-2006, 08:54 PM

From the terminal:

sudo aptitude (or apt-get) install alsa-base alsa-utils
sudo alsaconf

The reason there are so many Debian derivatives: ... so Debian users don't have to answer this kind of questions.

gpaciga · 11-29-2006, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickh

The reason there are so many Debian derivatives: ... so Debian users don't have to answer this kind of questions.

Get off your high horse, rickh. I'm posting in the newbie forum specifically because I knew I'd have a lot of newbie type questions. If you don't want to deal with these kinds of questions then don't read them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickh

sudo aptitude (or apt-get) install alsa-base alsa-utils
sudo alsaconf

alsa-base (1.0.10-4ubuntu4) and alsa-utils (1.0.10-1ubuntu14) are already installed, but there is no alsaconf to run. I considered uninstalling and reinstalling them, but to do that apt-get wants to uninstall ubuntu-minimum, which sounds like something I can't do without.

rickh · 11-29-2006, 10:28 PM

Looks like nobody else is coming, so you're stuck with me. You'll have to live with my "high horse." Debian users are determined to help, but we have our own way of discouraging newbies from using Debian. Since you claimed to be a Debian user in the thread title, I naturally looked in.

There is obviously something unusual in your set-up since you say alsa-utils is installed but not alsaconf. alsaconf is part of alsa-utils. I think you are probably going to be forced to reinstall it. But I'm not really familiar with Ubuntu. It's rumored that they're very patient and friendly with newbies over at the Ubuntu forums. A google search turned up this page, http://www.ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=138

...Might be something helpful in there.

gpaciga · 11-29-2006, 10:57 PM

I'm aware of the Ubuntu forums but haven't had any luck from anybody over their either.

farslayer · 11-30-2006, 08:59 AM

alsaconf must be run as root user.. on my debian system it is located in /usr/sbin

Code:

itg-debian:~# which alsaconf
/usr/sbin/alsaconf

ricks point about stating Ubuntu when you are running Ubuntu is valid. If it were Debian it wouldn't be a separate distro. Every distro does things a bit differently so stating the proper distro would get help more attuned to the way your distro does things. you should update your profile with your distro name and version ..

any luck with

sudo su -
which alsaconf

if it locates alsaconf then try and run it...

alsaconf

That is the tool used to configure asla, if it's not on your system then something is broken and you may want to look at purging the alsa packages and re-installing them.

gpaciga · 11-30-2006, 09:26 AM

Yes, I realise my mistake now with the Debian/Ubuntu terminology. Like I said I thought Ubuntu was a type of Debian and the technical stuff would be mostly the same, but I stand corrected.

Anyway, there is no alsaconf, although sound had been working fine without it for weeks so whatever configuring that had to be done was done somehow. I wasn't doing anything as root when the sound cut out, so I don't think I could have changed the configuration...

I do have alsactl but can't figure out if it might be useful or not.

farslayer · 11-30-2006, 10:45 AM

Ahh There is no alsaconf in Ubuntu, Which would explain why you can't find it.
https://launchpad.net/products/alsa-utils/+bug/29597

Ubuntu removed it stating that it is not necessary. Since Ubuntu doesn't use the same tools as we do to quickly configure Sound I would suggest you start with the Comprehensive Sound Problem Solutions Guide in the Ubuntu Forums...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=205449

best of luck.. nothing more I can do for you.

gpaciga · 11-30-2006, 12:46 PM

Unfortunately the Ubuntu Comprehensive Sound Problem Solutions Guide isn't quite as comprehensive as it needs to be, i.e., it didn't fix my problem. Thanks though. It's good to know at least that I'm not crazy for missing alsaconf...