ALSA disappearing after updating 10.04.

thethinker · 08-18-2010, 06:12 PM

Hey all,
So I ran my updates today (I'm running 10.04) and was required to restart. I did so, but after logging in none of my sound worked. In fact, the entire sound structure appeared to vanish. I could not access alsamixer (either user or root: Looks like this

Code:

$ alsamixer
cannot open mixer: No such file or directory
$ sudo alsamixer
cannot open mixer: No such file or directory
$ which alsamixer
/usr/bin/alsamixer

I also cannot play things from Pandora or Rythembox (which I used to play CDs). I can open the sound preferences window but there is nothing under Hardware, so perhaps the update threw out my device driver? I can see if I can reinstall, but I'd rather an easier fix if there is one out there. I hate screwing with the sound when there is a simple way to do something.

Thanks!

camorri · 08-19-2010, 05:25 AM

Open a konsole and run the command 'lsmod | grep snd' and see if you get output like this :

lsmod | grep snd
snd_hda_codec_realtek 301932 1
snd_hda_intel 25446 5
snd_hda_codec 91339 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 7102 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_dummy 1814 0
snd_seq_oss 34705 0
snd_seq_midi_event 7267 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 61273 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 7144 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss 47389 0
snd_pcm 93590 4 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 23556 3 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_mixer_oss 16702 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd 73587 20 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_se q_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mixer_oss
soundcore 7995 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 8660 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

If you do, then alsa is loaded and running. If not, you will need to load the driver. The command 'modprobe nameofthedrive' will do it. If you do not know the name of the driver, from a konsole post the output from 'lspci' and we'll see if we can find out the name for you.

tommcd · 08-19-2010, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thethinker

I could not access alsamixer (either user or root ...

To finf out what happened to alsamixer run:

Code:

aptitude search alsa

A "p" before a package means it is purged (i.e., not installed) An "i" before a package means it is installed. If you see a "B" before a package it means there are broken dependencies.
Also, do you have pulseaudio installed? Or did you remove it like me? If you still have pulseaudio, run in the terminal:

Code:

aptitude search pulseaudio