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rnabioullin

Member

Registered: 2010-10-02

Posts: 24

ALSA Issues (alsamixer - cannot open mixer)

I installed alsa-lib and alsa-utils (x86_64); when I invoke alsamixer I receive this error:

cannot open mixer: No such file or directory

The audio card is listed as the following in lspci:

Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)

Audio-related modules (snd_hda_codec, snd_hda_intel, snd_hda_codec_idt, snd_hwdep, snd_pcm, snd_timer, snd, soundcore) appear to have been loaded automatically. I have tried invoking alsaconf, but it did not detect any audio cards.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Last edited by rnabioullin (2011-07-30 22:01:26)

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: ALSA Issues (alsamixer - cannot open mixer)

Try https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=966366

Last edited by karol (2011-07-30 22:30:33)

rnabioullin

Member

Registered: 2010-10-02

Posts: 24

Re: ALSA Issues (alsamixer - cannot open mixer)

Try https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=966366

The error is different ("No such file or directory", not "Invalid argument") and I lack both .asoundrc and /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf.

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: ALSA Issues (alsamixer - cannot open mixer)

Can you run alsamixer as root?
Is you user in the 'audio' group?
Does it work in the terminal but fails in X?

Last edited by karol (2011-07-30 22:58:13)

rnabioullin

Member

Registered: 2010-10-02

Posts: 24

Re: ALSA Issues (alsamixer - cannot open mixer)

Can you run alsamixer as root?
Is you user in the 'audio' group?

That was the issue! I have added myself to the audio group and now I can use alsamixer. I was not expecting such an error to be caused by insufficient privileges. Thanks.

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: ALSA Issues (alsamixer - cannot open mixer)

I was not expecting such an error to be caused by insufficient privileges. Thanks.

Actually, neither did I, that's why I suggested things like modprobe, but a quick forum search returned multiple threads with identical errors and the solution was ... to read the wiki carefully:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Alsa#Installation

Users must be in the audio group to play sound with ALSA.