Pulseaudio has no MIC input

badhat · 2011-04-15 17:21:47

I tried out the skype 2.2 beta today and discovered that my friends could see, but not hear me. I tried a test call and found that the recorder didn't work.

After looking at pavucontrol I can see that my input devices have the sliders maximized yet the bar that shows the detected volume is barely visible (though moving)!
Gnome-alsamixer also showed maximum volume for my MIC. Is there some configuration setting with Pulseaudio that I can check to see what is really going on?

Infragilis · 2011-04-15 17:43:28

Are you sure that is not in mute mode?

In alsamixer, go to Channel Mic and press the M key to activate or deactivate the microphone channel sound.

badhat · 2011-04-15 17:56:30

I only have gnome-alsamixer and there is no mute option for the gtk frontend. Is there a different package for alsamixer?

--edit--
There is a mute option (silly me) and it isn't checked. It is also unchecked in pavucontrol.

Last edited by badhat (2011-04-15 18:00:00)

skunktrader · 2011-04-15 17:59:11

alsa-utils

badhat · 2011-04-15 18:03:08

running alsamixer also does not show that the card is muted. I can see the volume bar from pavucontrol, but it seems that it isn't able to "hear" anything. I'm quite certain that my device is not broken.

siriusb · 2011-04-15 18:39:51

Are you sure the right modules are loaded? You may want to specify your sound card model in /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf like me: options snd-hda-intel model=alc883-6stack-dig
If you use your front mic, you can also try in alsamixer to enable just one capture device, disable digital and change input source to Front mic. With my onboard alc883 it worked.

badhat · 2011-04-15 21:40:57

Tried this in my /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf

 options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=1

Not sure what my exact model is, but

lsmod
00:1b:.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)

The mic is the internal one on my laptop (thinkpad t400). I don't ever use the front mic port.

siriusb · 2011-04-16 08:17:28

aplay -l will provide more info. Then check this page: http://www.mjmwired.net/kernel/Document … Models.txt

Also you may want to read this wiki page: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Alsa

Edit: and this one: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Le … nkPad_T400

Last edited by siriusb (2011-04-16 08:20:38)

badhat · 2011-04-16 19:53:27

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: CONEXANT Analog [CONEXANT Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: Conexant Digital [Conexant Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

And

$ lsmod | grep snd
snd_hda_codec_conexant    41682  1 
snd_hda_intel          21738  4 
snd_hda_codec          73739  2 snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               6134  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                71032  3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_timer              18992  1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc          7017  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd                    55132  14 snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer,thinkpad_acpi
soundcore               5986  1 snd

My loaded modules appear to differ from those in the ThinkPad T400 wiki entry... I suppose that is because I am using ALSA/Pulseaudio and the entry includes OSS entries? I do not know very much at all about linux sound so I'm a bit lost what to do with those links you've provided.

I have tried blacklisting the OSS modules as it says in the ALSA wiki and here is some additional output for anyone to see if they can help me figure out my Mic:

$ ls -l /dev/snd
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root       80 Apr 16 15:07 by-path
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  7 Apr 16 15:07 controlC0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  2 Apr 16 15:07 controlC29
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  6 Apr 16 15:07 hwC0D0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  5 Apr 16 15:13 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  4 Apr 16 15:12 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  3 Apr 16 15:11 pcmC0D1p
crw-------  1 root root  116,  1 Apr 16 15:07 seq
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 33 Apr 16 15:07 timer

valid · 2011-04-16 21:11:56

I had this problem too.

running

sudo pacman -Rns pulseaudio

fixed this. Seriously.

badhat · 2011-04-17 22:39:06

I need pulseaudio for my Desktop Environment so I cannot remove it. There must be another way.

--edit--
looking over the ALSA wiki again I noticed

options snd-hda-intel model=$model

It clearly says that this will disable my Mic and allow me to utilize the front headphone jack. I just want the Mic to work so this isn't an acceptable solution.

Last edited by badhat (2011-04-17 22:47:14)

Crimsonknave · 2011-04-18 17:37:46

When you talk or make noise into your mic does pavucontrol show that the mic is registering noise? If so try parecord which is the pulseaudio record util. Also, I know that I had to fiddle with it a bit since I've got two mics detected. I need to check the green check "Set as fallback" before it would take my mic input.

When you are on a skype call (test or normal) what shows up in the recording tab of pavucontrol? If it isn't the correct input you should be able to select the correct one from the list.

badhat · 2011-04-18 18:24:11

pavucontrol is showing something-- the volume bar is hovering just near the left end of the bar (so it's like the device is on and listening but not getting any sound- does that make sense?)

Setting as fallback changes nothing. And nothing happens when I try a test call... I've tried using recording applications before and it doesn't receive any input.

Crimsonknave · 2011-04-19 14:31:35

Hmm, I do understand what you are saying about the mic. That sounds to me like everything is set up but the mic isn't plugged in or plugged in in the wrong place.

Do you have an external mic that you could plug in to the mic port and see if you can get that to work? That way we know if it is a config issue or one specific to the builtin mic.

badhat · 2011-04-19 14:49:06

The mic is an internal laptop microphone- while there is a port for external mic use, I don't EVER use it. The internal mic and a mic connecting to the external jack are different devices, are they not?

Crimsonknave · 2011-04-19 17:17:50

They should be different devices. My thought was if you could get an external mic to work then you know it's something related to the internal one, drivers, modules or something, while if you can't then it is likely a configuration issue that is preventing all recording.

leeyee · 2011-05-08 02:31:39

Hi badhat, have you figured this out? I have exactly the same issue with you, and my laptop is also thinkpad T400!

Just another clue to this problem. When I try to use Sound Recorder, the only choice of input is: Capture. But it doesn't work. I'm pretty sure the mic is detected correctly, but just at a very low voice because when I SCREAMING, people on the other side of skype can hear me. Too bad.

EDIT 1:
Hey, I have managed to fix this problem. You just need to use

alsamixer -c 0

to open ALSA mixer in details, and then you TAB to the MIC section you will find the "Internal MIC" is muted(the "MIC" is ok, but that is useless)! It looks like this setting is not accessible in gnome or pulseaudio settings. So you turn on the "Internal MIC" here, and everything would work out. Hope this helps.

EDIT 2:
It looks like this is specifically a problem of Skype with PulseAudio. Skype would be gradually muting your microphone when you speak to it in a loud voice, and finally mute the internal mic totally. I have tried this again and again, e.g. recording with audacity doesn't have this problem, but only skype.

Last edited by leeyee (2011-05-08 04:48:49)

Crimsonknave · 2011-05-08 06:05:16

As to skype and and mics: I've always found it very helpful to uncheck the "Allow Skype to automatically adjust my mixer levels" as it never seemed to play nice with whatever drivers I had. That way it shouldn't be able to mute your mic.

leeyee · 2011-05-09 13:43:42

The problem is still not solved completely. It looks like alsamixer cannot restore settings after reboot, even I have done "alsactl store" with both root and user account. After a little research, it seems that pulseaudio would ignore alsamixer's setting after each reboot?

siriusb · 2011-05-09 15:17:48

I use pulseaudio since gnome3 and the levels are fine and restored at every boot, however I had to adjust and save them after the upgrade. Is alsa in daemons array in rc.conf?

leeyee · 2011-05-09 15:46:00

siriusb wrote:

I use pulseaudio since gnome3 and the levels are fine and restored at every boot, however I had to adjust and save them after the upgrade. Is alsa in daemons array in rc.conf?

Yes, definitely alsa is in rc.conf. The output levels are OK in my case. The only problem is with Internal Mic.

jocheem67 · 2011-05-14 07:00:54

It could be a stero/mono issue , it was in my case when going to pulse/gnome3. Install pavucontrol and in pavucontrol-inputtab put one slider to zero and the other one to about 60% . In my case this restored the function of my internal mic...in alsamixer this will show you're using some mono-inputs too on capture and in my case also mic-boost....

I spent a lot of time on the issue on my netbook asus 1005ha...somewhere on bugzilla this idea was given. Can't find it anymore though, there's a lot of bugs there regarding pulse and mic's. A lot of different solutions too..

At least the solution I provide here doesn't involve too much tweaking.Just try it...

kjozsa · 2011-06-05 09:20:56

I think I had the same problem with my internal mic with my HP notebook. What solved it was opening pavucontrol and setting the Profile at the Configuration tab (last) to Analog Stereo Duplex. It was set to analog stereo duplex for some reason.. hth.

Maki · 2011-07-10 05:30:55

I had a problem with the internal mic which pulseaudio wouldn't work with, solved it by unlocking the padlock and sliding one of the sliders to zero, now it works.

badhat · 2011-07-11 04:23:57

Which padlock? There is no such thing I can see in the pavucontrol window.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-04-15 17:21:47

Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#2 2011-04-15 17:43:28

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#3 2011-04-15 17:56:30

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#4 2011-04-15 17:59:11

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#5 2011-04-15 18:03:08

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#6 2011-04-15 18:39:51

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#7 2011-04-15 21:40:57

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#8 2011-04-16 08:17:28

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#9 2011-04-16 19:53:27

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#10 2011-04-16 21:11:56

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#11 2011-04-17 22:39:06

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#12 2011-04-18 17:37:46

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#13 2011-04-18 18:24:11

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#14 2011-04-19 14:31:35

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#15 2011-04-19 14:49:06

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#16 2011-04-19 17:17:50

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#17 2011-05-08 02:31:39

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#18 2011-05-08 06:05:16

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#19 2011-05-09 13:43:42

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#20 2011-05-09 15:17:48

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#21 2011-05-09 15:46:00

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#22 2011-05-14 07:00:54

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#23 2011-06-05 09:20:56

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#24 2011-07-10 05:30:55

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

#25 2011-07-11 04:23:57

Re: Pulseaudio has no MIC input

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