Need Help With Sound - ALSA

sgamble · 2012-04-04 17:21:03

I have tried for the past week to get my sound working
reading through the forums at Chakra and Arch Linux.

I keep ending up at the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture wiki
and have worked through the configuration guide
several times. I have tried to set the default sound following the guide for kernal and user space...

I did get some changes when adding the new conf files (/etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf) (~/.asoundrc)
after rebbot, my system gave a message wanting to disable a sound card - the one I want to use as
my main sound device? I have deleated all the text in the new files for now.

This is an ASUS laptod I have had for three years. Its main use is as a CAD workstation it has 2 ATI Mobility Raedon 4870 graphic cards
in crossfire, They both have the HDMI output and ALSA sees them both as sound devices, and I assume the motherboard has its built in sound card
which is the one I want to use. I have never used the HDMI sound.

Sound cards recognized by ALSA, and activated:
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:3a3e]
01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: ATI Technologies Inc HD48x0 audio [1002:aa30]
02:00.1 Audio device [0403]: ATI Technologies Inc HD48x0 audio [1002:aa30]

List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC1200 Analog [ALC1200 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC1200 Digital [ALC1200 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: HDMI_1 [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

[scott@chakra-linux ~]$ cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [Intel ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
HDA Intel at 0xfbaf8000 irq 48
1 [HDMI ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfbbfc000 irq 49
2 [HDMI_1 ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfbcfc000 irq 50I

I have come to the conclusion that I need some more expert help...I have been going round in circles and have not heard the smallest sound
so far.

I have been learning lots and am finding my way around Chakra a lot better. I still have difficulty following some of the language in the guides
and I must be getting the naming of the cards of the syntax and spacing of text in making the cinfiguration files wrong.

I am hoping that with some guidence I can get the sound working...It was working on this machine using Ubuntu 10.04 after that I have tried several
updated Ubuntu Live ISO, as well as latest openSUSE ISO all had no sound (out of the box)...I have Windows installed on its own drive with Chakra - sound in Windows works.

I am working under the asumption that with the three sound devices Chakra is confused about which one to use and there is a conflict somewhere
stopping my sound?

Can I stop Chakra from seeing the two HDMI cards so at least there is only one card to get working?

Well as I said I keep going in circles with this and need some help

Thank you

IsmaelVC · 2012-04-04 20:20:43

Hi!

I am sorry if this doesn't help, I have also ATI in one computer, don't remmember why some time ago sound stoped working, I had to use pulseaudio, wich is nice this time around, but I can't get it to use the ATI instead it uses an intel integrated, but it works! I suggest trying pulseaudio + veromix and get a functional audio, then you can try to configure it as you want, when I have time I will try to setup sound in my PC correctly.

So if it is a priority to have sound in your laptop, try it and see if it works for you then you could fiddle with the issue more, after having working audio first.

jmc · 2012-04-04 21:11:52

I guess your problems are related to the fact that you have (or Linux thinks you have) more than one audio output available, so the default sound card used by ALSA (the first one, if not otherwise specified) depends on the load order of the kernel modules, which is kinda random.

What you can do is: use PulseAudio (as IsmaelVC suggests) and then choose the audio output device you want to use by default, or add some /etc/modprobe.d/ configuration file to impose a certain ordering on the kernel modules loading.

sgamble · 2012-04-04 21:58:17

Thank you for your replys...
I would like to try and fix this if I can using the default Chakra
sound set up(not switching to pulseaudio) I reallly like what the Chakra team is trying to do
and am trying to get this system working and keeping it as true to the core Chakra intent as I
can. While it is very frustrating not to have sound I am wanting to try and work through this problem using the default set up.

It is the not knowing if it will work that is hard, I have allready spent several days trying to get this working
It would be nice to know "yes you can get this working, you just have to create the right relationships inside the file structure of Chakra.. keep at it"

I will be jumping up and down and screaming!! if I ever get this working.

I just need to find the right sound GURU to support me in.

1. making or "blacklisting" the two audio HDMI devices to be invisable to Chakra to make my sound setup less complicated
2.Once I am dealing with the default sound device ....get it working!

sgamble · 2012-04-04 22:07:25

jmc wrote:

What you can do is: use PulseAudio (as IsmaelVC suggests) and then choose the audio output device you want to use by default, or add some /etc/modprobe.d/ configuration file to impose a certain ordering on the kernel modules loading.

I did try following the Alsa wiki to make a file at /etc/modprobe.d a few times but I must have gotten the correct naming and syntax wrong after trying to do this when I rebooted I got a message saying a sound card had been disabled etc do you want to keep ignoring this device.

Funny thing is it was the device Iwas trying to set up as default.

Would it be advisable to "blacklist" or make invisable to linux the two HDMI sound devices of my video cards ( i never use them) as a starting point to make the sound setup more simple?

And what would be the best way to do this?

IsmaelVC · 2012-04-05 05:17:49

I switched to pulseaudio because of that!

I kept getting error messages and asking if I wanted to forget devices.

While it is right to think sticking as much as posible to "official" chakra it doesn't mean it will work smoothly on all devices, thats why there are alternatives, thankfuly

If you take a look at chakra packages, you can see pulseaudio is actually suported as an "official" package, hope you can fix the issue with alsa,

I would have tried fixing alsa in my PC sooner, but honestly I think pulseaudio+veromix is way better (if alsa hadn't failed I would have never found such a kick ass combination), thats why I haven't changed and porbably wont unless pulseaudio stops working or if I can have the power of veromix with alsa.

So for me the only things left are enabling mi HDMI sound card correctly, but above all I will try to make the equalizer work in the weekend.

My suggestion is not to close to other possibilities, sometimes you find better stuff, and first fix the top priority issues, in my case it is only sound, making gtk integration work with libreoffice, and thats all stoping me from having a perfect desktop!

Last edited by IsmaelVC (2012-04-05 05:23:08)

SteveK · 2012-04-05 09:36:33

I did get some changes when adding the new conf files (/etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf) (~/.asoundrc)
after rebbot, my system gave a message wanting to disable a sound card - the one I want to use as
my main sound device

I think that as all three cards use snd_hda_intel,(see http://chakra-project.org/bbs/viewtopic … 85#p51885) this is expected, and the reason why blacklisting is probably not the way to go in this case.

List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC1200 Analog [ALC1200 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Does this show up in sytemsettings>multimedia>phonon?, and is it at the top of the list? (specifically look for a reference to analog) hover your mouse for more details in a tooltip.

I also second (third?) at least trying pulse audio to see if may resolve things more easily.

sgamble · 2012-04-05 16:29:20

At the top of list for the phonon settings is as follows:

HDA intel (ALC1200 Analog)

the tool tip gives "this will try the following devices and use the first
device that works" then 1.ALSA:x-phonon card =0, DEV=0
2.plughw:card=0,DEV=0

Perhaps I should try pulseaudio as suggested.

Which packages do I need?
Can I install from sudo pacman -S ?
How to install veromix plasmoid ?

Do I have to uninstall anything?

If anyone could point me to a good guide to try pluseAudio
that explanes how to install and set up?

Thank you

SteveK · 2012-04-05 16:44:11

You should just need to install as follows:

sudo pacman -S kdeplasma-addons-applets-veromix

This should install all necessary dependencies including pulseaudio itself.

Let's see how you get on with that first.

sgamble · 2012-04-05 19:41:10

Thank you SteveK.
I will try the install of pulseaudio tonight and let you know how it went.

sgamble · 2012-04-06 15:26:03

I managed to install pulseaudio and veromix.
I tried many configurations and still no sound.
I did see some movement in the veromix, the levels were moving while
playing an audio file. Speaker test did not work....had a device busy error.

I decided to do a fresh install since I have been messing with all the settings so much.
So now I have a clean install with just the default sound settings and no sound.

I will work through the guide at https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ALSA again.
Perhaps I can get some help editing the .conf files to set the default sound card?

I really do not know how else to proceed?
Any ideas? I dont want to give up on Chakra...but I do need sound working!

jmc · 2012-04-06 19:42:34

Of course we're ready to help you, but I think that for an issue such as yours IRC might be an easier place to discuss and get live feedback.
Just jump into #chakra on Freenode and ask for help.

IsmaelVC · 2012-04-06 21:05:24

Hi!

I'm sorry, I have remembered that I had to:

start-pulseaudio-kde

Then log in and out and test sound.

If you run into this problem:

[ismaelvc@chakra-pc ~]$ start-pulseaudio-kde
W: [pulseaudio] authkey.c: Failed to open cookie file '/home/ismaelvc/.pulse-cookie': Permiso denegado
W: [pulseaudio] authkey.c: Failed to load authorization key '/home/ismaelvc/.pulse-cookie': Permiso denegado
E: [pulseaudio] main.c: Falló el inicio del demonio.

What I did is delete the file, I think you'll have to use sudo on this one. (Note: I didn't have any problem by removing it, but you may want to try inkane suggestion first, I couldn't do this because by the time I red inkane's post I allready had deleted the file (from now on I allways backup any file before removing it, or just change its name like this example: .pulse-cookie.original))

Note: Permiso denegado= Permission denied
Fallo el inicio del demonio=Daemon start failed.

rm -r /home/ismaelvc/.pulse-cookie

Also as inkane suggest you could try to "chown it" what I think he means is to change the file permission so you can use it with root and your normal user. You will have to look for the code to do this because I have never done this in cli, but you can allways do it from dolphin-->find the file-->right click-->root options.

Inkane wrote:

No need to delete .pulse-cookie, just chown it.

Now I remember sound in alsa stopped working for me after this update:

http://chakra-project.org/bbs/viewtopic.php?id=6783

Here is the thread that solved it for me!

http://chakra-project.org/bbs/viewtopic.php?id=6943&p=2

Edit: Make sure your user is added to the "audio" group:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Users_and_Groups

Edit 2:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chown

Edit 3: In every chakra install that I have preformed recently (last month) I have had no issue with alsa (even kmixer is fixed now), but now I have pulseaudio in all my machines, and installing pulseaudio in my new installs is now something I allways do.

Last edited by IsmaelVC (2012-04-07 00:59:18)

sgamble · 2012-04-07 15:54:29

Thank you IsmaelV,
So without running the command - ,start-pulseaudio-kde
my testing of pulseaudio was void?

I did reboot several times and changed the audio back end from gsstreamer to vlc and back again.
It did seem that pulseaudio had taken over from ALSA?

jmc has suggested that I go the the #chakra irc and aks for help there...thank you jmc.

can someone suggest the best time to try irc?
I am in the USA but I see users from all over the world, which is very exciting but makes it hard to figure out the best time to get help?
Also is there any persone on the chakra team who would be best to try and help fix this audio problem?

Thank you,
Scott

IsmaelVC · 2012-04-07 22:07:52

Well in my case it was because I also reinstalled chakra (in another computer at the time of the broken alsa), and installed and uninstalled pulseaudio trying to figure out if it was a bad package, but in the end after doing the start-pulseaudio-kde and fixing the cookie issue it worked!!!

So, yes I think it may be void, but the only certain way to find out is if you try again, I wish I had remembered earlier, but you know... vacations! lol

please try again with pulseaudio and do what I tell you I hope this fixes it for you!

If not please report back!

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#1 2012-04-04 17:21:03

Need Help With Sound - ALSA

#2 2012-04-04 20:20:43

Re: Need Help With Sound - ALSA

#3 2012-04-04 21:11:52

Re: Need Help With Sound - ALSA

#4 2012-04-04 21:58:17

Re: Need Help With Sound - ALSA

#5 2012-04-04 22:07:25

Re: Need Help With Sound - ALSA

#6 2012-04-05 05:17:49

Re: Need Help With Sound - ALSA

#7 2012-04-05 09:36:33

Re: Need Help With Sound - ALSA

#8 2012-04-05 16:29:20

Re: Need Help With Sound - ALSA

#9 2012-04-05 16:44:11

Re: Need Help With Sound - ALSA

#10 2012-04-05 19:41:10

Re: Need Help With Sound - ALSA

#11 2012-04-06 15:26:03

Re: Need Help With Sound - ALSA

#12 2012-04-06 19:42:34

Re: Need Help With Sound - ALSA

#13 2012-04-06 21:05:24

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#14 2012-04-07 15:54:29

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#15 2012-04-07 22:07:52

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