Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

smartboyathome · 2011-03-12 02:37:00

As the title says, for some reason after I rebooted a few days ago my sound stopped working through my speakers but works with my headphones. I don't get why, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my configuration, does anyone else have any ideas, or perhaps could provide some tips on how to troubleshoot a problem like this?

whatshisname · 2011-03-12 02:55:20

smartboyathome wrote:

As the title says, for some reason after I rebooted a few days ago my sound stopped working through my speakers but works with my headphones. I don't get why, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my configuration, does anyone else have any ideas, or perhaps could provide some tips on how to troubleshoot a problem like this?

Try running "alsaconf" as root.

Also, I presume you've checked your mixer settings by clicking your speaker in the tray? It didn't get muted did it? And you've checked all your connections. Cables get kicked loose even for experienced users.

Last edited by whatshisname (2011-03-12 02:58:08)

smartboyathome · 2011-03-12 03:04:34

whatshisname wrote:

smartboyathome wrote:
As the title says, for some reason after I rebooted a few days ago my sound stopped working through my speakers but works with my headphones. I don't get why, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my configuration, does anyone else have any ideas, or perhaps could provide some tips on how to troubleshoot a problem like this?
Try running "alsaconf" as root.
Also, I presume you've checked your mixer settings by clicking your speaker in the tray? It didn't get muted did it? And you've checked all your connections. Cables get kicked loose even for experienced users.

Sorry I forgot to mention I'm on a netbook, so its very unlikely cables got loose and even if they did I wouldn't be able to fix that. Anyway I ran those and it didn't work, I even tried running pavucontrol and messing with settings in there (particularly the output controls) and nothing seemed to work. Any other ideas?

ngoonee · 2011-03-12 03:28:51

Use alsamixer to take a look at the volume settings for your hardware soundcard. Probably something is muted. Be aware that some alsa drivers are odd in that its actually muted when it says not muted and vice-versa.

smartboyathome · 2011-03-12 03:31:42

ngoonee wrote:

Use alsamixer to take a look at the volume settings for your hardware soundcard. Probably something is muted. Be aware that some alsa drivers are odd in that its actually muted when it says not muted and vice-versa.

Nothing is muted, and besides I only have master and capture channels, though I'm assuming this is because I am using Pulseaudio as my sound server and not Alsa.

skunktrader · 2011-03-12 15:13:49

Have you tried running pavucontrol to see if your mixer settings are what you expect them to be?

smartboyathome · 2011-03-12 15:16:08

skunktrader wrote:

Have you tried running pavucontrol to see if your mixer settings are what you expect them to be?

smartboyathome wrote:

I even tried running pavucontrol and messing with settings in there (particularly the output controls) and nothing seemed to work.

Yep I did and, like i said in that, it didn't help at all.

ngoonee · 2011-03-12 16:07:38

smartboyathome wrote:

ngoonee wrote:
Use alsamixer to take a look at the volume settings for your hardware soundcard. Probably something is muted. Be aware that some alsa drivers are odd in that its actually muted when it says not muted and vice-versa.
Nothing is muted, and besides I only have master and capture channels, though I'm assuming this is because I am using Pulseaudio as my sound server and not Alsa.

You need to use alsamixer on the underlying device, not on the emulated pulseaudio alsa device.

man alsamixer

Look for -c

smartboyathome · 2011-03-12 16:16:39

Thanks, tried that as well but no channels were muted. Turning the volume up to max on the master device had no affect. Neither did trying all combinations of muted and unmuted for the only 3 channels i could use it on (speakers, headphones, and master). The other two channels (speakers and headphones) were already at maximum.

unixbhaskar · 2011-09-23 18:30:50

I have same problem..can someone please provide us correct measure.

lilsirecho · 2011-09-23 18:40:42

If using alsamixer, call it up and select f5.

Setup the channels necessary for speakers.

darkraven · 2011-09-24 12:11:43

Same problem here.
ALSA must have trouble to detect if the headphone is plugged.
When Auto-mute is disabled in alsamixer, both my speaker and headphone have sound at the same time.
Otherwise there's no sound from speaker even if headphone is not plugged.

darkraven · 2011-09-24 12:38:32

A kernel alsa driver problem maybe.
Thought someone should bisect it.

Maybe 'Pulseaudio: ' should be removed from the title.

Last edited by darkraven (2011-09-24 12:39:20)

CappyFruit · 2012-02-28 23:15:58

I had the same problem after a new install. But finally i found the solution.

1. Open the mixer (click on the speaker icon, then mixer)
2. Setting/Configure channels
3. Move the speaker to the right column, click ok
4. Move the slider to make sound on the speaker

I hope this will solve your problems too.

bernarcher · 2012-02-29 05:55:12

Thanks for your contribution, CappyFruit, but you surely recognized that this thread is getting old. Just have a look at our policy on old threads.

Closing this thread to keep it read-only.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-12 02:37:00

Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#2 2011-03-12 02:55:20

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#3 2011-03-12 03:04:34

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#4 2011-03-12 03:28:51

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#5 2011-03-12 03:31:42

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#6 2011-03-12 15:13:49

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#7 2011-03-12 15:16:08

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#8 2011-03-12 16:07:38

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#9 2011-03-12 16:16:39

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#10 2011-09-23 18:30:50

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#11 2011-09-23 18:40:42

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#12 2011-09-24 12:11:43

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#13 2011-09-24 12:38:32

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#14 2012-02-28 23:15:58

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

#15 2012-02-29 05:55:12

Re: Pulseaudio: No sound from speakers, but headphones work fine

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