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Slackware 12.2 Sound Problem

I have been trying to Google this problem for hours now but I can't quite fix it. I at least want my headphones to work with ALSA or OSS, anything that will get sound.

Code:

$ lsmod | grep snd

snd_mixer_oss          18176  1

snd_hda_intel        424980  1

snd_pcm                71684  1 snd_hda_intel

snd_timer              23304  1 snd_pcm

snd_page_alloc        12040  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

snd_hwdep              11012  1 snd_hda_intel

snd                    55076  5 snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_hwdep

soundcore              10080  2 snd

Code:

$ lspci | grep Audio

00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

Code:

$ modinfo -p snd_hda_intel

power_save_controller:Reset controller in power save mode.

enable_msi:Enable Message Signaled Interrupt (MSI)

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

probe_mask:Bitmask to probe codecs (default = -1).

bdl_pos_adj:BDL position adjustment offset.

position_fix:Fix DMA pointer (0 = auto, 1 = none, 2 = POSBUF).

model:Use the given board model.

enable:Enable Intel HD audio interface.

id:ID string for Intel HD audio interface.

index:Index value for Intel HD audio interface.

power_save:Automatic power-saving timeout (in second, 0 = disable).

I installed LinuxPkg_5.09.tar.bz2 from the Realtek site automatic and manual installation. I tried "alsaconf" several times, it sees my card and everything. I unmuted everything. Rebooted several times. "xine-check" produced no errors, just a lot of [hints]. Actually I haven't received any error "dmesg" doesn't produce any errors when I play music, xmms plays music without sound.
I'm stuck..
The only thing that seems weird to me is why is it "snd-hda-intel"? my card is AMD there is another driver

Code:

$ slocate snd-atiixp

/lib/modules/2.6.27.7/kernel/sound/pci/snd-atiixp-modem.ko

/lib/modules/2.6.27.7/kernel/sound/pci/snd-atiixp.ko

but nothing happens when I load that one. Any ideas? :)

Thinking off the top of my head here, because I think I recently had an issue with no sound in Slax, unless I ran as root.

So, put on a tinfoil hat, and run X as root, and see if you have sound. If so, then it's a permissions issue. I'll try to scan my brain for what I had to do, in the meantime, and hopefully I, or one of the gurus here can help out.

cheers,

Another simple thing to check: unmuting audio outputs with alsamixer isn't always enough, sometimes you also have to turn up the volume on the master and the speaker out channels before you'll hear anything. Also do alsactl store after adjusting the mixer with alsamixer, if you don't do that the audio might come up muted or at zero volume after the next reboot.

I had a very similar issue up until yesterday. When I set up my normal user, I added the account to a variety of groups, one of which was audio.

Open a terminal and, as your user, type

Code:

groups

When I type that, I get

Code:

$ groups

users disk lp wheel audio video games plugdev

What does that command give you?

I tried running X as root, vlc as root, and xmms as root, still doesn't work...

Quote:

unmuting audio outputs with alsamixer isn't always enough, sometimes you also have to turn up the volume on the master and the speaker out channels before you'll hear anything. Also do alsactl store after adjusting the mixer with alsamixer, if you don't do that the audio might come up muted or at zero volume after the next reboot.

Everything in "alsamixer" is unmuted, and its a laptop so there is no physical volume switches.

On groups...

$ groups
users wheel floppy audio video cdrom games plugdev

do I have to be in the "disk" and "lp" users?

Not really, I just use a "belt and braces" approach :) I have the lp group to enable hplip to use my printer.

Do you have kmix running? I find that running that and checking the volumes there can make a difference. I would also advise checking the Sound System option in the control center, try fiddling with the different options to see if it makes a difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by replay019 (Post 3415454)

Everything in "alsamixer" is unmuted, and its a laptop so there is no physical volume switches.

alsamixer has a volume bar for each audio channel. In addition to making sure the Master and PCM channels are unmuted, the up arrow key should be applied to each volume bar to raise the volume to at least 70. (You may have been doing that already.)

To elaborate on XavierP's suggestion. If you are in KDE, go to Settings > Sound & Multimedia > Sound System and check the following things:

1 - "Enable the sound system" is checked
2 - When you click the "Test Sound" button you should hear the KDE startup song
3 - On the "Hardware" tab, select the audio device "Autodetect" (it should autodetect, I think)
4 - Check the "Full Duplex" box for good luck
5 - Ignore the MIDI device setting for now

Quote:

Do you have kmix running? I find that running that and checking the volumes there can make a difference.

Everything in 'kmix' is running fine with green buttons.

Quote:

To elaborate on XavierP's suggestion. If you are in KDE, go to Settings > Sound & Multimedia > Sound System and check the following things:

1 - "Enable the sound system" is checked
2 - When you click the "Test Sound" button you should hear the KDE startup song
3 - On the "Hardware" tab, select the audio device "Autodetect" (it should autodetect, I think)
4 - Check the "Full Duplex" box for good luck
5 - Ignore the MIDI device setting for now

Everything except the "Full Duplex" box w
as enabled. No sound.. :(
I had freeBSD running before slackware and the sound worked fine. Any other ideas? :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by replay019 (Post 3415504)

Any other ideas? :)

Hmm, I'm running low on ideas now, but try this. In a terminal window, as root,

cat /proc/asound/cards

If more than one sound device shows up, it's possible the wrong sound card has been assigned to be the default ALSA audio output.

Quote:

cat /proc/asound/cards

Code:

$ cat /proc/asound/cards

 0 [SB            ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI SB

                      HDA ATI SB at 0xd2400000 irq 16

Can't tell, is it one card or two?

Quote:

Originally Posted by replay019 (Post 3415518)

Code:

$ cat /proc/asound/cards

 0 [SB            ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI SB

                      HDA ATI SB at 0xd2400000 irq 16

Can't tell, is it one card or two?

That's one card, looks right as far as having the correct default audio device.

So the card is installed correctly with the drivers, its not permission issue, or a mute issue. A kernel or ALSA bug maybe?

Quote:

Originally Posted by replay019 (Post 3415524)

A kernel or ALSA bug maybe?

I can't quite conclude that right now. Some of my Googling suggests that the "snd-hda-intel" module will be mute unless it's given the correct "model=xxx" parameter, and that selecting the right model parameter is often something that's done (in /etc/modprobe.d/sound) by trial and error:

Link

So why not do the following and see what's there right now:

cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound

"alsaconf" added

Code:

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel

to /etc/modprobe.d/sound

I Google some posts and it told me to add this line

Code:

options snd-hda-intel index=1 model=hp

Code:

$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel

options snd-hda-intel index=0 model=hp

although I haven't restarted to try it out, or is there a command I can do it without a restart? I think the 'model' might be off?..

Quote:

Originally Posted by replay019 (Post 3415554)

...is there a command I can do it without a restart? I think the 'model' might be off?..

I don't know the answer for sure, so I'll not venture a guess. One place to look for the correct model parameter might be to google for "snd-hda-intel" alsa model "$YOUR_MOTHERBOARD" and see what comes up.