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Expez

Member

Registered: 2012-03-31

Posts: 14

[SOLVED] Problems getting sound to work with ALSA

I've been trying to get sound to work, using ALSA, but I've had little success.

speaker-test -c 2

speaker-test 1.0.25

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1018:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory

My /etc/modeprobe.d/alsa-base:

options snd_ctxfi index=0
options snd_usb_audio index=1
options snd_hda_intel index=2

My /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf:

options snd slots=snd_ctxfi,snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_intel 

lsmod | grep '^snd' | column -t :

snd_usb_audio       93493  0
snd_usbmidi_lib     18936  1   snd_usb_audio
snd_rawmidi         19458  1   snd_usbmidi_lib
snd_seq_device      5300   1   snd_rawmidi
snd_hda_codec_hdmi  24121  1
snd_ctxfi           95629  0
snd_hda_intel       23375  0
snd_hda_codec       89389  2   snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_hdmi
snd_hwdep           6389   2   snd_hda_codec,snd_usb_audio
snd_pcm             74780  5   snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_ctxfi,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_usb_audio
snd_page_alloc      7153   3   snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel,snd_ctxfi
snd_timer           19544  1   snd_pcm
snd                 59214  11  snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_ctxfi,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_seq_device,snd_rawmidi,snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_usb_audio

ls -l /dev/snd :

total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root       60 Apr  1 17:25 by-id
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root      100 Apr  1 17:25 by-path
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 14 Apr  1 17:25 controlC0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  8 Apr  1 17:25 controlC1
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 18 Apr  1 17:25 controlC2
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 13 Apr  1 17:25 hwC0D0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 12 Apr  1 17:25 pcmC0D3p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 11 Apr  1 17:25 pcmC0D7p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 10 Apr  1 17:25 pcmC0D8p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  9 Apr  1 17:25 pcmC0D9p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  7 Apr  1 17:25 pcmC1D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  6 Apr  1 17:25 pcmC1D0p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  5 Apr  1 17:25 pcmC1D1p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  4 Apr  1 17:25 pcmC1D2p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  3 Apr  1 17:25 pcmC1D3p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  2 Apr  1 17:25 pcmC1D4p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 17 Apr  1 17:25 pcmC2D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 16 Apr  1 17:25 pcmC2D0p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 15 Apr  1 17:25 pcmC2D1p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  1 Apr  1 17:25 seq
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 33 Apr  1 17:25 timer

I've been following the ALSA page on the wiki and the changes to alsa-base are from a thread linked to on that page. I suspect only one of the files alsa.conf and alsa-base are needed. If I'm understanding the wiki correctly I've now configured this in kernel space and shouldn't need to make a .asoundrc file as well.

Any suggestions what I might try to fix this?

SOLVED: The problem was that I mistakenly named 'alsa.conf' 'alsa-conf' (. and - are next to eachother on scandinavian keyboards). The alsa-base file I created would've solved it as well, but the thread I found it in didn't mention the required .conf extension. Thanks to everyone for their help :)

Last edited by Expez (2012-03-31 19:43:20)

adamrehard

Member

From: NY, USA

Registered: 2011-11-03

Posts: 154

Re: [SOLVED] Problems getting sound to work with ALSA

I've gotten that same error, and I believe that alsa has to be in the daemons list in rc.conf and you have to be in the alsa group, if you're not already.
You will want to install the alsa-utils package (and therefore alsamixer) so you can check if the channels are muted.

---

"The box said requires Vista or better, so I installed Arch"
Windows != Linux

Expez

Member

Registered: 2012-03-31

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Problems getting sound to work with ALSA

I've gotten that same error, and I believe that alsa has to be in the daemons list in rc.conf and you have to be in the alsa group, if you're not already.
You will want to install the alsa-utils package (and therefore alsamixer) so you can check if the channels are muted.

I have installed the alsa-utils package and made sure only the appropriate channels are muted.

The wiki states that after the speaker test is successful the settings can be stored and then the ALSA daemon added to the daemons array in rc.conf. As far as I can tell the only reason to add the alsa deamon is to restore the alsamixer settings. Thus I haven't taken this step, because I've had no chance to verify if the settings are correct.

edit: I'm not a member of the alsa group. What does membership in this group do? I suspect it's only to restore alsamixer settings. I'm a member of the audio group, though.

Last edited by Expez (2012-03-31 14:24:02)

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,605

Re: [SOLVED] Problems getting sound to work with ALSA

Files in /etc/modprobe.d/ need to end in .conf. So your alsa-base file is ignored.

The alsa group doesn't exist, it doesn't do anything. You do need to be in the audio group. Except if you have consolekit set up properly (that's a big "if" ), then the audio group isn't needed.

Last edited by Gusar (2012-03-31 14:29:28)

Expez

Member

Registered: 2012-03-31

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Problems getting sound to work with ALSA

Files in /etc/modprobe.d/ need to end in .conf. So your alsa-base file is ignored.

The alsa group doesn't exist, it doesn't do anything. You do need to be in the audio group. Except if you have consolekit set up properly (that's a big "if" ), then the audio group isn't needed.

Do I need both of those files in modprobe.d or are they doing the same thing?

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,605

Re: [SOLVED] Problems getting sound to work with ALSA

I'm not familiar with the slots option, but from what I could quickly learn, yeah, it does the same as the index options. So you can actually drop the alsa-base file completely.

Which means your issue is elsewhere. But where exactly, I don't know. Someone who has X-Fi hardware might be able to help.