Great - no sound again after alsa-util and pulseaudio update

NakedRider · 06-02-2022, 07:46 PM

I installed the updates today which included alsa-utils and pulseaudio.

I've lost my sound again. I've done searches to try and get help but I don't really know what to ask. I should have documented how I fixed this before...lesson learned.

I have two sound cards. There is an onboard card which doesn't work and a Creative Labs card.

I can't seem to get the Creative Labs card to be the one selected. I've used alsamixer, pavucontrol and the speaker icons that are attached to the taskbar in KDE. None seem to help making a change to the card used.

I know this is something simple but I don't seem to be able to find a reference to something like this.

I'm also kind of at a loss when it comes to Digital Stereo and Digital Surround 5.1. Not sure what to pick or if it makes a difference.

Please help. I'll be forever indebeted

enorbet · 06-02-2022, 09:10 PM

I'm hoping pipewire will at some point murder and dismember pulseaudio, but in the meantime I specify default devices in "/etc/asound.conf". Belo is my complete asound.conf with commented out options to try from time to time to see how things are advancing. The uncommented alsa default insures my expensive sound card always stays the same and always works.... well except for one or two middlin older Steam games that seem to demand pulse.

Anyway this works quite well and I don't have to look up options syntax, just switch commenting

Code:

# ALSA system-wide config file
# By default, redirect to Pipewire:
###
#pcm.!default {
#    type pipewire
#    hint {
#        show on
#        description "Pipewire Sound Server"
#    }
#}
#
#ctl.!default {
#    type pipewire
#}

##
pcm.!default {
  type hw
  card II
  device "hw:1,0"
}
ctl.!default {
  type hw
  card II
}

#pcm.default pulse
#ctl.default pulse

Note: In my case "card II" refers to Xonar Virtuoso II. It isn't essential once "hw:1,0" exists, but again, it is more of a reminder to me how Alsa sees my card. Just using the Device displayed by "aplay -l" should work just fine.

NakedRider · 06-02-2022, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enorbet

I'm hoping pipewire will at some point murder and dismember pulseaudio, but in the meantime I specify default devices in "/etc/asound.conf". Belo is my complete asound.conf with commented out options to try from time to time to see how things are advancing. The uncommented alsa default insures my expensive sound card always stays the same and always works.... well except for one or two middlin older Steam games that seem to demand pulse.

Anyway this works quite well and I don't have to look up options syntax, just switch commenting

Code:

# ALSA system-wide config file
# By default, redirect to Pipewire:
###
#pcm.!default {
#    type pipewire
#    hint {
#        show on
#        description "Pipewire Sound Server"
#    }
#}
#
#ctl.!default {
#    type pipewire
#}

##
pcm.!default {
  type hw
  card II
  device "hw:1,0"
}
ctl.!default {
  type hw
  card II
}

#pcm.default pulse
#ctl.default pulse

Note: In my case "card II" refers to Xonar Virtuoso II. It isn't essential once "hw:1,0" exists, but again, it is more of a reminder to me how Alsa sees my card. Just using the Device displayed by "aplay -l" should work just fine.

Thanks for the reply. I had no luck.

enorbet · 06-03-2022, 01:04 AM

I hate to mention another distro but the docs are quite good

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Adv...roubleshooting

LuckyCyborg · 06-03-2022, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NakedRider

I have two sound cards. There is an onboard card which doesn't work and a Creative Labs card.

From my own experience, all motherboards I've seen and touched had the ability to disable the onboard audio at BIOS (or UEFI) level, then it will literally NOT exists for the operating system.

I suggest you to disable the onboard audio from motherboard's firmware, the the Linux will see and use only your discrete audio card.

NakedRider · 06-03-2022, 10:10 AM

I ended up reinstalling Slackware. Couldn't figure this out. Thanks for the help everyone.

I spent over 4 hours yesterday working on this. It takes me well less than 2 hours to install Slackware and all my software and to configure my settings.