Alsa-mixer can't start

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 19:41:37

Hi!
I don't know where to start this topic really but after a reboot volti couldn't start in the start in the fluxbox-systray and i couldn't get any audio. When i tried to start alsamixer with alsa-mixer, amixer commands alsamixer couldn't start and neither gnome nor xfce4-mixer could start and when i tried running the CLI ALSA frontend the terminal prompts: "cannot open mixer: No such file or directory" amixer prompts: "amixer: Mixer attach default error: No such file or directory".

Now i tried using different frontends and multiple google-searches didn't find me a solution, from a live cd i could access ALSA, i tried "ls /dev/snd/control*" which also couldn't find file or directory. My user is added to audio-group in /etc/group. Alsaconf can't find any soundcard or drivers. There is no /etc/modprobe.d/sound.conf either?

Now the really curious thing is pacman, which works flawlessly apart from this can't uninstall or install alsa, alsamixer. alsautils. Only the gtk frontends. but i can find the applications using the locate command.

I think this could be a udev issue. I updated it recently and I fooled around a little with udev to enable auto mount of usb and such as described in the arch-wiki. But I don't where to start searching or how to check where the problem lies.

I would be really thankful for any advice on where to look or help concerning this problem.
//Jonathan

karol · 2011-08-04 19:50:14

Post the output of

ls -1 /etc/modprobe.d/

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 19:55:43

$ ls -1 /etc/modprobe.d/
Gives:

modprobe.conf
ndiswrapper.conf
usb-load-ehci-first.conf

karol · 2011-08-04 19:57:23

Try

modprobe snd-pcm-oss

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 19:58:35

That gives me:

FATAL: Module snd_pcm_oss not found.

karol · 2011-08-04 20:02:23

What kernel are you using?
Run 'updatedb' and then 'locate snd-pcm-oss'.

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 20:06:26

2.6.39

updatedb
gives me:
updatedb: kan inte öppna en temporär fil för `/var/lib/mlocate/mlocate.db'

Which is Swedish and means: can't open temporary file for /var/lib/mlocate/mlocate.db

locate snd-pcm-oss
gives me:

/lib/modules/2.6.32-lts/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-pcm-oss.ko.gz

karol · 2011-08-04 20:09:30

Ah, so you're running a .39 kernel but you have modules for .32-lts kernel.

Have you tried running updatedb with sudo / as root?
Please post the output of

pacman -Q kernel26

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 20:10:58

kernel26 2.6.39.3-1

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 20:15:20

I tried updatedb as sudo now and get no error. I guess this might enable me to reinstall alsa, so I'll try that

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 20:18:46

Hmm, that didn't work.. is there a way to update the modules to fit the .39 kernel?

karol · 2011-08-04 20:19:31

mutanabbi wrote:

I tried updatedb as sudo now and get no error. I guess this might enable me to reinstall alsa, so I'll try that

OK, but that doesn't help with the kernel. Rebuild initramfs

mkinitcpio -p kernel26

and reboot.

Last edited by karol (2011-08-04 20:21:12)

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 20:22:19

I get an error output saying:
==> ERROR: module not found: `snd'
==> ERROR: module not found: `snd-rawmidi'

Otherwhise it seems to have worked

Last edited by mutanabbi (2011-08-04 20:22:40)

karol · 2011-08-04 20:26:56

did you get 'SUCCESS' after generating the initramf?
As for the missing modules, you can reinstall the kernel and try again if you want.

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 20:31:02

I get an "Image generation successful"

How do I reinstall the kernel? Is that what i have to do to get the sound working?

Sorry but I'm a bit in the dark here

karol · 2011-08-04 20:33:01

kernel provides the modules, so maybe 'pacman -S kernel26' would help.

If you're ready, reboot, cross your fingers and have a liveCD nearby ;P

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 20:34:48

Haha, I have a bunch, but I might get of Arch for a while if it crashes. Don't feel like rebuilding it tonight. Thanks for the help though. Now for a kernel reinstallation

Last edited by mutanabbi (2011-08-04 20:36:20)

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 20:39:59

Thanks again, just thought I should tell you it worked. Now sounds up and running.

karol · 2011-08-04 20:41:20

I don't know what voo-doo did you perform to mess-up kernel modules in such way, but please don't do that again :-)

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 20:49:15

Learning by doing sort of. I'll try to practise orthodox arch-management from now on, Could it be the latest udev upgrade?

karol · 2011-08-04 20:51:02

mutanabbi wrote:

Learning by doing sort of. I'll try to practise orthodox arch-management from now on, Could it be the latest udev upgrade?

I think you have installed the 2.6.32-lts kernel at some point. Why wasn't it fully removed - I don't know.

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 20:53:13

It's not the first time I managed to mess up a system, but it's good to have an idea as of why

karol · 2011-08-04 20:54:33

mutanabbi wrote:

It's not the first time I managed to mess up a system, but it's good to have an idea as of why

You can look into /var/log/pacman.log for clues.

mutanabbi · 2011-08-04 20:56:28

But i guess i would have to go back to when i installed the LTS kernel then?

karol · 2011-08-04 20:58:37

mutanabbi wrote:

But i guess i would have to go back to when i installed the LTS kernel then?

You can grep the file

[karol@black ~]$ grep -- -lts  /var/log/pacman.log
[2010-08-03 20:36] Running 'pacman -S kernel26-lts'

Arch Linux

#1 2011-08-04 19:41:37

Alsa-mixer can't start

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