Arch Linux

depesz

Member

Registered: 2009-11-11

Posts: 6

[SOLVED] microphone not working

I have arch on 2 machines:
1. laptop, i686
2. desktop, x86_64

on both machines i can't get microphone to work in skype and ekiga.

on desktop there is also windows, so i was able to check that microphone itself works.

on laptop, before arch, there was kubuntu, and it worked as well.

since i have abolututely no idea on how to debug problems with sound i would like to ask for some assistance regarding how to debug and fix the problem.

I tried searching forums and wiki, found some information, but nothing really seemed to work.

on laptop:

=$ lspci -v| perl -ni -e 'print if /audio|sound/i../^\s*$/'
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Compaq 6710b
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        Memory at e4504000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
        Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

=$ sudo lsmod | grep -i snd
snd_hda_codec_analog    61372  1
snd_seq_dummy           2720  0
snd_seq_oss            31232  0
snd_seq_midi_event      7036  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                53808  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          6792  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_hda_intel          27528  3
snd_hda_codec          72700  2 snd_hda_codec_analog,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               7712  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm_oss            40320  0
snd_mixer_oss          17564  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                74496  4 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              21188  3 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd                    58820  15 snd_hda_codec_analog,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               6944  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          8900  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

=$ uname -a
Linux xxx 2.6.31-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Nov 10 19:48:17 CET 2009 i686 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7300 @ 2.00GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

on desktop:

=$ lspci -v| perl -ni -e 'print if /audio|sound/i../^\s*$/'
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 8357
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
        Memory at f7ff8000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
        Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

=$ sudo lsmod | grep -i snd
snd_hda_codec_realtek   286788  1
snd_seq_dummy           3588  0
snd_seq_oss            36320  0
snd_seq_midi_event      8640  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_hda_intel          32232  4
snd_seq                64768  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_hda_codec          83200  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_seq_device          8372  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss            47360  0
snd_hwdep              10056  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_mixer_oss          21024  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                91848  4 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              25456  3 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd                    77224  17 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_seq_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_seq,snd_hda_codec,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_hwdep,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               8768  1 snd
snd_page_alloc         10832  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

=$ uname -a
Linux h3po4 2.6.31-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Nov 10 19:01:40 CET 2009 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

on both machines i get sound output without any problem - it's just input that doesn't work.

Last edited by depesz (2009-11-17 12:51:22)

grey

Member

From: Europe

Registered: 2007-08-23

Posts: 679

Re: [SOLVED] microphone not working

Are you using alsa? If yes you could try the command line tools:
1. alsamixer -> F4 -> open all capture devices. This will give you terrible sound quality, but the goal is to get any sound at all.
2. arecord --verbose --duration=3 > test.wav
3. aplay test.wav
4. adjust alsamixer settings to get reasonable sound

If that doesn't work, post the output of 'arecord --list-devices'.

---

Good ideas do not need lots of lies told about them in order to gain public acceptance.

depesz

Member

Registered: 2009-11-11

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] microphone not working

@grey - now i feel stupid. it worked. I have no idea what i screwed previously, but now there are no problems.

grey

Member

From: Europe

Registered: 2007-08-23

Posts: 679

Re: [SOLVED] microphone not working

now i feel stupid

Happens to all of us. Pls. mark as solved (editing the first post will let you edit its title).

---

Good ideas do not need lots of lies told about them in order to gain public acceptance.

depesz

Member

Registered: 2009-11-11

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] microphone not working

@grey - thanks again. marked.