No sound with line-out

GasPipe · 07-25-2009, 02:50 PM

Hello.

I just installed slackware-current (32bit) and I have no sound. I'm using the blue jack, which is line in by default. I have chosen it to be line-out for front speakers from Realtek HD audio manager in Vista (obviously that has nothing to do with linux). Line-out is connected to my amplifier.
The green jack (headphones) is working normally, but I don't want to use it with amplifier because I think that line has some gains for certain frequencies?

Motherboard is MSI P35 Neo-FI and it has Realtek ALC888 audio.
Alsa driver is snd_hda_intel.
I'm using KDE4.

Is there something to be configure or am I just wrong?

onebuck · 07-25-2009, 03:33 PM

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

From the 'cli' as root, you can use 'alsaconf' to setup for your system. Then run 'alsamixer' to set your setting and using a 'aslactl store' to save the settings.

'man alsaconf' will aid you to understand the setup.

samac · 07-25-2009, 03:33 PM

Open up a mixer e.g. kmix, amixer or aumix, and make sure that line out is not muted. Oh by the way, welcome to Slackware.

samac

TITiAN · 07-25-2009, 05:39 PM

Welcome to LQ!

I don't think alsaconf should be necessairy. I aggree with samac, did you try a mixer under Linux (I think the settings are reloaded upon system boot, so every OS needs its own)?

digger95 · 07-25-2009, 07:38 PM

When I had this same issue, I simply had to do what onebuck suggested. For some reason lineout was muted by default. From console or a terminal window as root, run 'alsaconf' to setup your sound card if you have not already done so, then run 'alsamixer' to unmute the line and manage your volume levels. Then run "aslactl store' to save your settings.

GasPipe · 07-26-2009, 01:40 AM

Thanks for quick replies!

Unfortunately, none of them worked.
I've unmuted all necessary channels from alsamixer (and kmix) and used alsaconf to configure my card. Still no sound. I think the problem is that alsa believes that the blue jack is line in and not line out. It's the default configuration for my motherboard for some reason. BIOS don't offer any help for this.

TITiAN · 07-26-2009, 07:59 AM

Mixers often hide some settings in order to create an easy overview. You can set what controls are enabled e.g. in gnome-volume-control when you press "settings". alsamixer actually is a good choice for this because it just shows all controls.

As you said, you want the blue jack to be line-out, which isn't the default. Hence, you must set it somewhere in your mixer.

Another possibility might be that the blue jack is used for surround sound, so its output are the 3rd and the 4th channel. Your Windows driver then routes common stereo sound to that jack (to the 3rd and 4th channel) as well. If you want to set up something similar in Linux, it's hairy, but possible with a file /etc/asound.conf. Before I can work out how it will look like, please give me the output of the command 'aplay -l' on your system, if you want to try that approach.

onebuck · 07-26-2009, 08:33 AM

Hi,

I just re-read the OP. What the OP is wanting is to re-assign the ports on the sound card. OP am I right?

Without the proper controls or utility you won't be able to re-assign physically the lines on the card.

GasPipe · 07-26-2009, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Mixers often hide some settings in order to create an easy overview. You can set what controls are enabled e.g. in gnome-volume-control when you press "settings". alsamixer actually is a good choice for this because it just shows all controls.

Yup, all possible channels are visible and unmuted.

Quote:

Another possibility might be that the blue jack is used for surround sound, so its output are the 3rd and the 4th channel. Your Windows driver then routes common stereo sound to that jack (to the 3rd and 4th channel) as well. If you want to set up something similar in Linux, it's hairy, but possible with a file /etc/asound.conf. Before I can work out how it will look like, please give me the output of the command 'aplay -l' on your system, if you want to try that approach.

Yes, I think that approach is fairly interesting. Here's output of 'aplay -l':

bash-3.1$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC888 Digital [ALC888 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Quote:

I just re-read the OP. What the OP is wanting is to re-assign the ports on the sound card. OP am I right?

You are absolutely right.

TITiAN · 07-26-2009, 09:07 AM

Please stop anything using sound, then try playing some sound (or music, just something to test the output with) with an /etc/asound.conf file like this:

Code:

pcm.dmix4 {
	type dmix
	ipc_key 1024
	ipc_perm 0666
	slave {
		pcm hw
		period_time 0
		period_size 1024
		buffer_size 4096
		rate 48000
		channels 4
	}
}
pcm.route2to4 {
	type route
	slave.pcm plug:dmix4
	slave.channels 4
	ttable.0.0 1
	ttable.1.1 1
	ttable.0.2 1
	ttable.1.3 1
}
pcm.!default {
	type asym
	playback.pcm	route2to4
	capture.pcm	plug:dsnoop
}

If no sound works at all, please post the output of "aplay <some wav file>" in order to check if the file has mistakes. As I said before, this approach can become difficult, I already tore out my hair (not literally) hacking with this kind of configuration (I have an EQ now for most apps).

GasPipe · 07-26-2009, 09:25 AM

I don't know if I should have asound.conf file, but I created it. No sound.

aplay output:

bash-3.1$ aplay 02.wav
Playing WAVE '02.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 44100 Hz, Stereo
bash-3.1$

Just relax. It's not mandatory to get this thing working. It just would be nice ;-)

onebuck · 07-26-2009, 11:36 AM

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by GasPipe

Yup, all possible channels are visible and unmuted.
<snip>

You are absolutely right.

As I stated earlier, I don't think you will find a utility to re-assign the card ports for a sound card. You might find a player that will allow some control of the ports but re-assignment is questionable. The utility of the sound card will dictate whether a port has duality functions I/O.

GasPipe · 07-26-2009, 01:34 PM

Yeah, I guess so. Amplifier is now connected to the green jack and sound is working ok.
Thanks everybody for your effort!