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#1 2015-10-05 21:56:35

inspiredindividual
Member
Registered: 2013-09-27
Posts: 12

[SOLVED] Pulseaudio problems: sound, playback speed, microphone

I was trying to get Skype to work on my Arch system (64-bit, LXDE, headset with integrated microphone), so I installed pulseaudio, pulseaudio-alsa, pavucontrol, lib32-libpulse and lib32-alsa-plugins as detailed in the wiki. Both the headphones and the microphone are recognised, since plugging in the respective cables caused them to show up in pavucontrol (as in: "unplugged" changed to "plugged in").

I plugged in the sound, and it worked fine. Then I plugged in the microphone, and it did not work. Moreover, sound is no longer working either and audio playback is going haywire (much too fast). Furthermore, this behavior persists after disconnecting all cables, rebooting or reinstalling pulseaudio. Uninstalling pulseaudio stops the fast playback, but is no viable solution since I need pulseaudio for Skype.

Any pulseaudio debugging I found by googling depends on killing pulseaudio first, but I haven't managed to do so without the daemon respawning almost immediately. The file /etc/pulse/client.conf contains the line "autospawn=no" and there is no overriding settings file in ~/.config/pulse/ as far as I can see, but this fails to stop the respawning.

Does anyone have a suggestion how I can move forward?

Last edited by inspiredindividual (2015-10-18 12:00:08)

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#2 2015-10-06 11:09:43

inspiredindividual
Member
Registered: 2013-09-27
Posts: 12

Re: [SOLVED] Pulseaudio problems: sound, playback speed, microphone

[UPDATE 6-10-2015]
I tried setting the sampling rate into PulseAudio config files manually. Afterwards I tried turning off timer-based audio scheduling. At this point, playback was too fast in both Flash videos and HTML5 videos in both Chromium and Firefox, and in both Audacious and Audacity. Playback speed was right in VLC. There was still no sound in any of those applications. Then, I tried removing all configuration files. Now, I do have sound and playback speed is back to normal, but the microphone is still not working and there are no more things to try from the microphone section in the Pulseaudio troubleshooting wiki as far as I can see.

Any ideas?

Last edited by inspiredindividual (2015-10-06 11:10:18)

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#3 2015-10-06 19:23:50

V1del
Forum Moderator
Registered: 2012-10-16
Posts: 21,766

Re: [SOLVED] Pulseaudio problems: sound, playback speed, microphone

Give the output of

pacmd list-cards
pacmd list-sinks
pacmd list-sources

Skype tends to be finicky, if your sound works fine otherwise try editing the /usr/bin/skype script with an editor with root rights and prepend the exec line with PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=30 and try it. If that wasn't enough try PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60

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#4 2015-10-06 22:38:03

inspiredindividual
Member
Registered: 2013-09-27
Posts: 12

Re: [SOLVED] Pulseaudio problems: sound, playback speed, microphone

$ pacmd list-cards

2 card(s) available.
    index: 0
	name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	owner module: 6
	properties:
		alsa.card = "1"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA ATI HDMI"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfe8fc000 irq 30"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:01:00.1"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "1002"
		device.vendor.name = "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]"
		device.product.id = "aa10"
		device.product.name = "RV610 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 2350/2400 Series]"
		device.string = "1"
		device.description = "RV610 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 2350/2400 Series]"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	profiles:
		output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output (priority 5400, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 300, available: unknown)
		output:hdmi-surround71: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 300, available: unknown)
		off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
	active profile: <output:hdmi-stereo>
	sinks:
		alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo/#0: RV610 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 2350/2400 Series] Digital Stereo (HDMI)
	sources:
		alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo.monitor/#0: Monitor of RV610 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 2350/2400 Series] Digital Stereo (HDMI)
	ports:
		hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority 5900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"
    index: 1
	name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	owner module: 7
	properties:
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel at 0xfe7f8000 irq 29"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.product.id = "293e"
		device.product.name = "82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (P5K PRO Motherboard)"
		device.form_factor = "internal"
		device.string = "0"
		device.description = "Built-in Audio"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	profiles:
		input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Input (priority 60, available: unknown)
		output:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Output (priority 6000, available: unknown)
		output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Duplex (priority 6060, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-21: Analog Surround 2.1 Output (priority 800, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-21+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 2.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 860, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-40: Analog Surround 4.0 Output (priority 700, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-40+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 4.0 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 760, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-41: Analog Surround 4.1 Output (priority 800, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-41+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 4.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 860, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-50: Analog Surround 5.0 Output (priority 700, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-50+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 5.0 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 760, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-51: Analog Surround 5.1 Output (priority 800, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-51+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 5.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 860, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-71: Analog Surround 7.1 Output (priority 700, available: unknown)
		output:analog-surround-71+input:analog-stereo: Analog Surround 7.1 Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 760, available: unknown)
		output:iec958-stereo: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output (priority 5500, available: unknown)
		output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5560, available: unknown)
		off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
	active profile: <output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo>
	sinks:
		alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo/#1: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
	sources:
		alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo.monitor/#1: Monitor of Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
		alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo/#2: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
	ports:
		analog-input-front-mic: Front Microphone (priority 8500, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
		analog-input-rear-mic: Rear Microphone (priority 8200, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
		analog-input-linein: Line In (priority 8100, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				
		analog-output-lineout: Line Out (priority 9900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				
		analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
		iec958-stereo-output: Digital Output (S/PDIF) (priority 0, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
			properties:
$ pacmd list-sinks

2 sink(s) available.
    index: 0
	name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	flags: HARDWARE DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY 
	state: IDLE
	suspend cause: 
	priority: 9050
	volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB,   front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	        balance 0.00
	base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	volume steps: 65537
	muted: no
	current latency: 99.97 ms
	max request: 37 KiB
	max rewind: 37 KiB
	monitor source: 0
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 96000Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	used by: 0
	linked by: 1
	fixed latency: 100.00 ms
	card: 0 <alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1>
	module: 6
	properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "HDMI 0"
		alsa.id = "HDMI 0"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "3"
		alsa.card = "1"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA ATI HDMI"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfe8fc000 irq 30"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:01:00.1"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "1002"
		device.vendor.name = "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]"
		device.product.id = "aa10"
		device.product.name = "RV610 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 2350/2400 Series]"
		device.string = "hdmi:1"
		device.buffering.buffer_size = "38400"
		device.buffering.fragment_size = "9600"
		device.access_mode = "mmap"
		device.profile.name = "hdmi-stereo"
		device.profile.description = "Digital Stereo (HDMI)"
		device.description = "RV610 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 2350/2400 Series] Digital Stereo (HDMI)"
		alsa.mixer_name = "ATI R6xx HDMI"
		alsa.components = "HDA:1002aa01,00aa0100,00100000"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	ports:
		hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority 5900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"
	active port: <hdmi-output-0>
  * index: 1
	name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY 
	state: IDLE
	suspend cause: 
	priority: 9959
	volume: front-left: 11002 /  17% / -46.50 dB,   front-right: 11002 /  17% / -46.50 dB
	        balance 0.00
	base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	volume steps: 65537
	muted: no
	current latency: 99.99 ms
	max request: 37 KiB
	max rewind: 37 KiB
	monitor source: 1
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 96000Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	used by: 0
	linked by: 1
	fixed latency: 100.00 ms
	card: 1 <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0>
	module: 7
	properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "ALC883 Analog"
		alsa.id = "ALC883 Analog"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "0"
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel at 0xfe7f8000 irq 29"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.product.id = "293e"
		device.product.name = "82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (P5K PRO Motherboard)"
		device.form_factor = "internal"
		device.string = "front:0"
		device.buffering.buffer_size = "38400"
		device.buffering.fragment_size = "9600"
		device.access_mode = "mmap"
		device.profile.name = "analog-stereo"
		device.profile.description = "Analog Stereo"
		device.description = "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo"
		alsa.mixer_name = "Realtek ALC883"
		alsa.components = "HDA:10ec0883,1043829f,00100002"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	ports:
		analog-output-lineout: Line Out (priority 9900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				
		analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
	active port: <analog-output-lineout>
$ pacmd list-sources

3 source(s) available.
    index: 0
	name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo.monitor>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	flags: DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY 
	state: RUNNING
	suspend cause: 
	priority: 1050
	volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB,   front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	        balance 0.00
	base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	volume steps: 65537
	muted: no
	current latency: 0.00 ms
	max rewind: 37 KiB
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 96000Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	used by: 1
	linked by: 1
	fixed latency: 100.00 ms
	monitor_of: 0
	card: 0 <alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1>
	module: 6
	properties:
		device.description = "Monitor of RV610 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 2350/2400 Series] Digital Stereo (HDMI)"
		device.class = "monitor"
		alsa.card = "1"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA ATI HDMI"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfe8fc000 irq 30"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:01:00.1"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "1002"
		device.vendor.name = "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]"
		device.product.id = "aa10"
		device.product.name = "RV610 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 2350/2400 Series]"
		device.string = "1"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
    index: 1
	name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo.monitor>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	flags: DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY 
	state: RUNNING
	suspend cause: 
	priority: 1950
	volume: front-left: 58982 /  90% / -2.75 dB,   front-right: 58982 /  90% / -2.75 dB
	        balance 0.00
	base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	volume steps: 65537
	muted: no
	current latency: 0.00 ms
	max rewind: 37 KiB
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 96000Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	used by: 1
	linked by: 1
	fixed latency: 100.00 ms
	monitor_of: 1
	card: 1 <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0>
	module: 7
	properties:
		device.description = "Monitor of Built-in Audio Analog Stereo"
		device.class = "monitor"
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel at 0xfe7f8000 irq 29"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.product.id = "293e"
		device.product.name = "82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (P5K PRO Motherboard)"
		device.form_factor = "internal"
		device.string = "0"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
  * index: 2
	name: <alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY 
	state: RUNNING
	suspend cause: 
	priority: 9959
	volume: front-left: 48277 /  74% / -7.96 dB,   front-right: 48277 /  74% / -7.96 dB
	        balance 0.00
	base volume: 5514 /   8% / -64.50 dB
	volume steps: 65537
	muted: no
	current latency: 0.00 ms
	max rewind: 0 KiB
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 96000Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	used by: 1
	linked by: 1
	fixed latency: 100.00 ms
	card: 1 <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0>
	module: 7
	properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "ALC883 Analog"
		alsa.id = "ALC883 Analog"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "0"
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel at 0xfe7f8000 irq 29"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.product.id = "293e"
		device.product.name = "82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (P5K PRO Motherboard)"
		device.form_factor = "internal"
		device.string = "front:0"
		device.buffering.buffer_size = "38400"
		device.buffering.fragment_size = "9600"
		device.access_mode = "mmap"
		device.profile.name = "analog-stereo"
		device.profile.description = "Analog Stereo"
		device.description = "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo"
		alsa.mixer_name = "Realtek ALC883"
		alsa.components = "HDA:10ec0883,1043829f,00100002"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	ports:
		analog-input-front-mic: Front Microphone (priority 8500, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
		analog-input-rear-mic: Rear Microphone (priority 8200, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
		analog-input-linein: Line In (priority 8100, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				
	active port: <analog-input-rear-mic>

Hope that helps, I'm afraid I don't really understand what it all means.

V1del wrote:

Skype tends to be finicky

Good point, I realised that as well after perusing the forum. That's why I thought it would be best to focus on getting arecord to work first. Getting sound to work in Skype is the ultimate goal.

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#5 2015-10-09 15:13:45

inspiredindividual
Member
Registered: 2013-09-27
Posts: 12

Re: [SOLVED] Pulseaudio problems: sound, playback speed, microphone

I haven't really made any progress in the last few days, does anyone have an idea or should I just give up?

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#6 2015-10-13 23:18:39

V1del
Forum Moderator
Registered: 2012-10-16
Posts: 21,766

Re: [SOLVED] Pulseaudio problems: sound, playback speed, microphone

Sorry this one fell off the radar a bit. I can think of two things that might help with the microphone, does it work if you switch the port? 

pacmd set-source-port alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo analog-input-front-mic

if it did put that line without the preceding pacmd at the end of your /etc/pulse/default.pa if that didn't help there might be some ALSA control handling the switch so you'll have to check with alsamixer 

alsamixer -Dhw:1 #Going from the current indexes, if hw:1 isn't the correct card use F6 to switch

Last edited by V1del (2015-10-13 23:18:59)

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#7 2015-10-14 08:21:58

exidux
Member
From: Your screen.
Registered: 2014-09-19
Posts: 59

Re: [SOLVED] Pulseaudio problems: sound, playback speed, microphone

All my problems with pulse (stutter, noise, crackling, high loads) have always been solved by adding 'tsched=0' to the configuration file.
Somehow it tends to fix anything going wrong with pulse on my end.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pu … _crackling

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#8 2015-10-14 08:56:03

V1del
Forum Moderator
Registered: 2012-10-16
Posts: 21,766

Re: [SOLVED] Pulseaudio problems: sound, playback speed, microphone

@exidux
He already tried that, it lead to more stuttering, now he doesn't have it anymore and everything works except for microphone output. It depends on your card if this is of any use or will break more. It tends to break more if you just disable it globally if your card actually can use tsched fine. Skype is the special case here that might need some fiddling, but one can adjust latency for specific, problematic streams instead of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. If tsched works it leads to much better latency for general use than disabling it entirely

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#9 2015-10-14 16:45:35

exidux
Member
From: Your screen.
Registered: 2014-09-19
Posts: 59

Re: [SOLVED] Pulseaudio problems: sound, playback speed, microphone

V1del wrote:

@exidux
He already tried that. (content cut for space).

My bad, i seem to have glanced over that last post where he or she mentioned it.

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#10 2015-10-14 19:30:22

inspiredindividual
Member
Registered: 2013-09-27
Posts: 12

Re: [SOLVED] Pulseaudio problems: sound, playback speed, microphone

V1del wrote:

Sorry this one fell off the radar a bit.

Are you kidding me :-) I'm very glad that you're willing to invest time and effort to assist me, no need to apologise whatsoever.

pacmd set-source-port alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo analog-input-front-mic

I think this does what it is supposed to do, since I can see that the input device port changes in pavucontrol. Actually, I consciously set the switch to 'rear microphone' since pavucontrol says that the front microphone is 'unplugged' while the rear microphone is 'plugged in'.

This did not work, so I went to pavucontrol and set the port setting back to 'rear microphone'. At this point the microphone mysteriously started working! I have really no idea what solved the issue, since basically the only thing I did was switching ports away and back again, right?!

I tested Skype afterwards, and it works fine too. Thanks a lot for your help! Do you have any ideas as to why switching ports away and back again helped to solve the issue? (I will mark the thread as 'SOLVED' soon, I'm just leaving it open since your answer might be helpful in the future to others with the same issue.)

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