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Distribution: Slackware64-current with "True Multilib" and KDE4Town.
Posts: 9,039
Original Poster
Rep:
After reading the change log for the 3.10.4 kernel yesterday morning, I compiled and installed it, but it did not solve the audio problem (lack of volume).
Back to the 3.8.13 kernel.
After reading the change log for the 3.10.4 kernel yesterday morning, I compiled and installed it, but it did not solve the audio problem (lack of volume).
Back to the 3.8.13 kernel.
I wonder what it is about the 3.8.13 kernel that agrees with your sound hardware more than any recent kernel. Most unusual, to say the least. I have not had any trouble with the 3.9.10 kernel. However, I have had some luck with these commands when I have switched to a new version of the 3.x.x kernel, because ALSA sometimes complains about the lack of controls for the sound card when I switch to a new version of the kernel. Maybe these commands will help you too:
Code:
alsactl init
alsactl store
The init command tells ALSA to re-initialize your sound hardware, and the store command, of course, stores the new settings.
Distribution: Slackware64-current with "True Multilib" and KDE4Town.
Posts: 9,039
Original Poster
Rep:
Installed the 3.10.5 Kernel and it did not fix the audio problem, but I'll run it for a while and see how it behaves. So far so good with xorg 1.14.2 and the new Nvidia 325.15 driver.
Distribution: Slackware64-current with "True Multilib" and KDE4Town.
Posts: 9,039
Original Poster
Rep:
Installed the 3.10.6 Kernel and it did not fix the audio volume problem, but I'll run it for a while and see how it behaves. So far so good with xorg 1.14.2 and the new Nvidia 325.15 driver.
I've followed this post with a smile...I admire your perseverance :-)
alsa has been the #1 pain in the neck for me. When it works it is great, but since leaving the 2.6 series kernels, with almost every kernel update I do, alsa changes what it detects as the sound card/chip.
I have installed Slackware on many machines (mine and friends) and so my experience has included a number of chipsets and the best detection has been anything from Creative.
To help you this is a typical scenario for me involving a chipset which the kernel reports as 'HD-Intel: Conexant ID5045'
kernel 3.0.75:
no loud pop on start up or shutdown
loud pop on resume
mixer channels: master; pcm; s/pdf, mic
sound dynamic range good but worse than windows vista
kernel 3.2.29
loud pop on start up & shutdown
no loud pop on resume
mixer channels: master; headphone; pcm; s/pdf, s/pdif default;
sound dynamic range terrible; only the top 5% is usable
Fixed by creating /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and adding line
option snd-hda-intel model=generic. This restored full volume range
and solved loud pop on startup but not on shutdown; so I added line to
/etc/rc.d/local.shutdown to unload alsa modules.
kernel 3.2.45
loud pop on start up & shutdown
no loud pop on resume
mixer channels: headphone; speaker; pcm; capture
sound dynamic range terrible
Same fix for 3.2.29 works but NOTICE the different channels detected.
Sound is much better than 3.0.75, on par with windows vista.
kernel 3.10.5 & 3.10.6:
no loud pop on start up & shutdown
but loud pop when insert & remove headphones
mixer channels: speaker; headphone; pcm; s/pdf; s/pdif default;
(NOTICE again different channels)
volume for speaker does not work.
volume range for pcm is good like kernel 3.2.45
volume range for headphones affects both speaker and headphones
which means when headphones are plugged in sound still comes out
of speakers
By the way this is without pulseaudio, gstreamer or anything;
just the alsa layer.
So I'm staying with kernel 3.2.45 on that machine, but that's how things
go with alsa.
Whenever I upgrade a kernel I have to flip the definition
in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf to 'model=generic.' or 'model=basic' or 'model=auto' to make sound work on this particular machine.
This is NOT a problem caused by Slackware, I seen to it on Gentoo and read about it for the Ubuntus as well; I think it is simply a kernel-alsa bug.
My biggest complaint is against the loud pops though; I'd rather put up with shitty sound than those.
My advice is to play around with values in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf,
although even that doesn't work for me with 3.10.5/6 kernels :-(
Distribution: Slackware64-current with "True Multilib" and KDE4Town.
Posts: 9,039
Original Poster
Rep:
Installed the 3.10.7 Kernel and it did not fix the audio volume problem, but I'll run it for the rest of the evening and see how it behaves. So far there have been no other problems using xorg 1.14.2 and the new Nvidia 325.15 driver.
In the morning I'll go back to the 3.8.13 kernel as the lack of volume when doing almost anything involving multimedia is most troublesome (a major P.I.T.A. ).
Last edited by cwizardone; 08-15-2013 at 10:29 PM.
I seriously doubt any newer kernels are going to fix the problems in ALSA any time soon.
For now I've resigned to OSSv4 as my primary audio driver and even disabled ALSA support in the kernel completely with only the minimal soundcore so that OSSv4 can operate off it on my BLFS install.
Works great without having to worry, and I can keep my newer kernels by doing simply OSSv4 rebuilds.
Distribution: Slackware64-current with "True Multilib" and KDE4Town.
Posts: 9,039
Original Poster
Rep:
Perhaps I don't understand how alsa and the kernel interact, but as the alsa version remains the same and the only change is the kernel (or a kernel module?) it would seem the fault is with the kernel?
This morning I'm using the 3.8.13 kernel along with xorg 1.14.2 and the Nvidia 325.15 driver, and all is well. The volume levels and quality have returned.
I don't recall if I mentioned the quality issue before or not, but with the newer kernels, not only is the volume level reduced by over 50%, but quality also suffers. This is probably a matter of distortion, but when the volume is turned up, with the newer kernels, loud enough to be heard, the quality of the sound is just poor enough to make it difficult to clearly understand what is being said.
This is not a problem with the 3.8.13 kernel.
If you're waiting for it to go away on its own then you may be in for a long wait. Your best bet would be to try and identify what introduced the problem and talk to the alsa kernel devs about it. You know it was ok in 3.8.13, I'd start with 3.9.0 and see whether that introduced the problem, if not try 3.9.1, and so on. The more you can narrow it down, the better chance you'll have in getting them interested.
When I had a similar problem it had always been broken so I had nothing to point at and say "There!... that broke it!", you're in a much better position than I was, but its going to take some work on your part.
Well, if as you say it's a known issue there's probably nothing to be gained by testing them, though from what I saw on that bug report, they were talking about no sound at all, and you've just been saying you're having low volume/quality issues.
Distribution: Slackware64-current with "True Multilib" and KDE4Town.
Posts: 9,039
Original Poster
Rep:
Quote:
Originally Posted by GazL
Well, if as you say it's a known issue there's probably nothing to be gained by testing them, though from what I saw on that bug report, they were talking about no sound at all, and you've just been saying you're having low volume/quality issues.
Might as well be no sound at all.
Once I have the physical volume knob on the speakers adjusted to a reasonable level with the 3.8.13 kernel and then move to any of the 3.9.4> kernels, the volume drops by at least 50%, if not more. If I leave the adjustment made to the speakers alone and boot to Xp-sp3 I have to almost, without exaggeration, turn the software volume slider to the off position.
Yesterday evening I was bouncing back and forth between Slackware64 with the 3.10.7 kernel and Xp, watching the same online video in the same browser (same version for both Linux and winblows) and the sound was far, far superior and the video was noticeably clearer (cleaner) and sharper.
If I didn't dislike mickeysoft so much on principle, and if I didn't have so much time "invested" in Linux, I would bite the bullet and use Xp. Twelve years old and it is still does somethings better than latest the versions of Linux.
Last edited by cwizardone; 08-17-2013 at 12:24 PM.
Reason: Typo.
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