LinuxQuestions.org - how do i force alsa to reconfigure to new hardware after moving drive to new machine?

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- - how do i force alsa to reconfigure to new hardware after moving drive to new machine? (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/how-do-i-force-alsa-to-reconfigure-to-new-hardware-after-moving-drive-to-new-machine-4175486630/)

how do i force alsa to reconfigure to new hardware after moving drive to new machine?

a few months back i moved my drive to a new machine. it's slack 13.37. the old machine was a "generic" sempron machine, the "new" one is an HP with a pentium D.

i can no longer capture PCM to various ham radio programs, even though info from alsamixer says PCM is the capture source.

ALSA should have auto-reconfigured. However, you may wish to Google search for AlienBOB's website and then check out the alsaconf script he has there to possibly help.

I would try, as root, deleting /var/lib/alsa/asound.state and then running 'alsactl store'. It might be best to reboot after doing this.

sorry... didn't work.... i'd hate to have to resort to running cables between the headphone output and the line input, but i guess that's what i have to do to get this to work
it seems that the capture input even though it's reported as this:

Code:

00-00: ALC888 Analog : ALC888 Analog : playback 1 : capture 1

00-02: ALC888 Analog : ALC888 Analog : capture 1

must be something ekse

Possibly this:

alsamixer
alsactl store

deleted OP does not want any help from a non-slacker

results from "cat /proc/asound.pcm same as in post #4 ..... .asoundrc, /etc/asoundrc.conf, /etc/modprobe.d/sound.conf files do not exist....

this seems to be a limitation of the audio hardware, but i'm not absolutely sure of that yet.... i'm thinking i might just get a "real" sound card, and that might have more internal signal routing options... the problem with hardware built in to the motherboard, is that it was designed in a hurry (or to give minimal functionality at a low price point), and doesn't have the same features a well thought out sound card would have.... i.e you can get a volkswagen for free, but the porsche will cost you quite a bit more..... (or for those of us in the US, you can get a Suburban for next to nothing, but the Cadillac built on the same chassis will cost as much as a house)

I have had problems over the years recording from the PCM device in Alsa. On my old laptop, I could get it to record in Windows, but the Linux driver just wouldn't show the PCM (or other corresponding) device for me to record internal sound. I tried all sort of things suggested on the net, and even all the variations/models of that sound card using the modprobe.d - but in the end I couldn't find one which would allow me to record internal sound under Linux. My new laptop looks a bit more promising as it at least shows a PCM device, but I have been unsuccessful so far getting Audacity to capture from it.

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I'm not sure if this will contribute to the discussion but after reading this thread I just checked mixer settings and noticed PCM gone. The only change I can remember between a fresh install and current setup is I now use a generic kernel instead of the huge one. Are we missing a module?

I believe the pcm channel only shows up in the mixer for certain card models and for certain drivers. If the kernel module thinks your card doesn't have that capability, or your card really doesn't have that capability, pcm won't show up in alsamixer. I believe that is why the usual advice is to try a number of models in the module configuration (under /etc/modprobe.d) in case there is some variant of your card/sound chipset which supports pcm.

@jj25vm: I guess so. I only wanted to say HUGE kernel did think the card had that functionality whereas module loaded by generic did not. So rebooting w/ huge and checking may shed some light to the problem. Personally I do not care whether PCM shows up or not, I'm not doing anything with it. I will check modprobe.d, though.

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A pity the quick and dirty did not work.

Please also supply the exact model of your HP computer.

Code:

bash-4.1# modinfo snd_hda_intel

filename:      /lib/modules/2.6.37.6-smp/kernel/sound/pci/hda/snd-hda-intel.ko

description:    Intel HDA driver

license:        GPL

alias:          pci:v00001022d*sv*sd*bc04sc03i00*

alias:          pci:v00001002d*sv*sd*bc04sc03i00*

alias:          pci:v000017F3d00003010sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001102d00000009sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00006549d00001200sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v000010DEd*sv*sd*bc04sc03i00*

alias:          pci:v000010B9d00005461sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001039d00007502sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001106d00003288sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000AA48sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000AA40sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000AA38sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000AA30sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000AA28sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000AA20sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000AA18sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000AA10sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000AA08sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000AA00sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000970Fsv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000960Fsv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d00007919sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000793Bsv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d00004383sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00001002d0000437Bsv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00008086d*sv*sd*bc04sc03i00*

alias:          pci:v00008086d0000811Bsv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00008086d00001D20sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

alias:          pci:v00008086d00001C20sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

depends:        snd-hda-codec,snd-pcm,snd,snd-page-alloc

vermagic:      2.6.37.6-smp SMP mod_unload 686 

parm:          index:Index value for Intel HD audio interface. (array of int)

parm:          id:ID string for Intel HD audio interface. (array of charp)

parm:          enable:Enable Intel HD audio interface. (array of bool)

parm:          model:Use the given board model. (array of charp)

parm:          position_fix:DMA pointer read method.(0 = auto, 1 = LPIB, 2 = POSBUF, 3 = VIACOMBO). (array of int)

parm:          bdl_pos_adj:BDL position adjustment offset. (array of int)

parm:          probe_mask:Bitmask to probe codecs (default = -1). (array of int)

parm:          probe_only:Only probing and no codec initialization. (array of int)

parm:          single_cmd:Use single command to communicate with codecs (for debugging only). (bool)

parm:          enable_msi:Enable Message Signaled Interrupt (MSI) (int)

parm:          patch:Patch file for Intel HD audio interface. (array of charp)

bash-4.1#

hp model number as far as i can tell is dx2300m/e2160/54310/7k US

Code:

bash-4.1# aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****

card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]

  Subdevices: 0/1

  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

bash-4.1# aplay -L

null

    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)

default:CARD=Intel

    HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog

    Default Audio Device

front:CARD=Intel,DEV=0

    HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog

    Front speakers

surround40:CARD=Intel,DEV=0

    HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog

    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers

surround41:CARD=Intel,DEV=0

    HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog

    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers

surround50:CARD=Intel,DEV=0

    HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog

    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers

surround51:CARD=Intel,DEV=0

    HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog

    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers

surround71:CARD=Intel,DEV=0

    HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog

    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers

bash-4.1#

Back in Penny Lane, I failed to reproduce PCM w/ huge kernel. Apparently I mixed it w/ a now erased partition an Ubuntu based distro and pulseaudio, not ALSA. My apologies If I misled you in any way. Getting older *sigh*

You could remove the /var/lib/alsa/asound.state as suggested by Allend, and then remove the alsa-utils package (with removepkg), and then compile alsa from source on your system (there is a more recent source at alsa-project.org).

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ok, so here's the screenshot you keep asking for.... no national security issues here.... unless you try to sell my screenshot to north korea.... as you can see, a PCM control is present, and if you look at what i posted in post #4, PCM is the capture source.... this is why i am getting a bit confused as to why this isn't working... everything says it's supposed to work.... but it's not... i also have PulseAudio running, and i'm wondering if either a) it's what's causing the software to not connect to the capture source, or b) it can be used to provide the audio for the software i'm using (fldigi, both the native linux version, or the windows version running under wine... same issue with both)

pulseaudio is at present unconfigured

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yes, pcm is showing as the capture device.....

Code:

bash-4.1$ cat /proc/asound/pcm

00-00: ALC888 Analog : ALC888 Analog : playback 1 : capture 1

00-02: ALC888 Analog : ALC888 Analog : capture 1

bash-4.1$

i'm not trying to rip or record the audio, i am trying to allow programs to process it, for instance an audio stream of FSK (radioteletype audio) or morse code, and turning it back into readable form. keep in mind, this WORKED when i was running on a machine with an SIS chipset, but is now NOT working after transferring to a machine with an intel chipset.

go here: http://w1hkj.com/index.htm
for an idea what kind of software i'm talking about....

also, please understand i didn't see the point in the screenshot, since the capture sliders on the display don't identify what input the capture is linked to. somehow the system sees the capture input as "pcm" but for some reason isn't actually using "pcm" as the capture input.... either there's a problem with a configuration file, or there's a problem with how the hardware actually works... this is what i'm trying to sort out. right now i'm leaning towards putting in a sound card that has the functionality i'm looking for... my concern here is that Realtek (the actual manufacturer of the audio hardware) seems to strive for Windoze-Only functionality, and when belatedly releasing linux drivers, supplies them as "crippleware".... they have a very long history of this. if you look back at devices called "winmodems", you will see what i mean.... winmodems were modems made with soundcard architecture, and drivers supplied only to micro$oft, and realtek was one of the largest suppliers.

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actually i mentioned it in post 1, but didn't explain what the software does..... it's actually doing quite a lot of things with the audio data at the same time, such as providing an audio spectrum analyzer function, and acting as a modem. and the modem function is very similar to the way a DSP-based phone modem works. as a matter of fact, internal modems in PCs are tied to the sound card hardware. the difference is that the ham radio software uses many different communication protocols, some much simpler (morse code, FSK, etc) and some much more complex (MT63, MFSK16, SSTV, etc...). you can find a few listed (along with sound clips of what they sound like) here: http://wb8nut.com/digital/

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these programs are intended to do all of this in real time, whether from a line input (if i had it actually hooked up to a radio) or from a live stream (there are tunable receivers on the web that stream audio, some even have transmit priveleges for licensed ham operators). before i switched to this machine (still using slackware), i was able to capture audio from the PCM device when i was on a web radio, tune the radio to the desired receive frequency, and decode from the live stream. since moving to the new machine, this does not work anymore, so something must be amiss with the asound configuration, or the internal (hardware) mapping of the devices.

so now i have a question for you... when you play those wav files, can you look at them on a spectrum analyzer program (which is another example of the type of software with it's usage of the PCM device)?

also, does slackware have a tool i don't currently know about that does a menu based config for asound? this would be similar to the "netconfig" tool... if it exists

the other problem i'm having is that alsaconf doesn't find the sound hardware, so it doesn't generate any conf files or asoundrc files

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if you are not using slackware, then why are you wasting my time??????
this IS, after all the slackware subforum, and there are quite a few differences in the way slackware is set up vs debian..... if i wanted help with debian i would have gone to the debian subforum....

I am sorry you feel that way but you are entitled to your opinion
I will not post to you again

i wasn't angry aus9, just a bit frustrated at going around in circles on this problem. there are configuration and package management differences between slackware and debian that aren't trivial. i have a raspberry pi running debian, so i am aware of what some of them are. the differences in package management are often what directories things get put into, and where their libraries and config files are.

slac-in-the-box, i will try your suggestion, as it looks like that is probably what is needed....

slac-in-the-box.... do i have to recompile the kernel drivers as well?

after following some of aus9's suggestions it seems i have lost more alsa funtionality... such as getting "audio output failed" errors when more than one application is open that uses audio that i didn't get before

A step in the right direction....

in slackware the instance of /etc/asound.state is actually a symbolic link to /var/lib/alsa/asound.state. when i looked at asound.state, i found it still listed SIS7012 as the driver... so i went to /var/lib/alsa, and renamed asound.state to asound.state.old, and did:

Code:

alsactl init

alsactl store

and the new asound.state now lists Intel as the driver

this fixes part of the problem. i still don't get capture from PCM