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Quick question: could someone tell me if there is a surefire test to establish if my sound system is using alsa or not?
I "think" I have got alsa running, but alsaconf does not detect my sound card (onboard CM8738 chip).
Sounds are working OK (except no streaming audio in RealPlayer), but how can I check whether it is alsa or some other sound system that is producing the sound?
I was experimenting with the SourceMage distro last week and after installing alsa there, I ran alsaconf and it picked up my CM8738 straight away, so I'm not sure why the same is not happening in Arch.
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You could:
1. try playing a .wav with aplay. aplay is part of alsa-utils and is a "command-line sound recorder and player for ALSA sound-card driver"
2. If you compiled your own mplayer with alsa support, use -ao alsa9 and try to play any type of audio file.
Don't forget to post your PKGBUILD in your thread when you announce a new package in incoming.
see HERE for details
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Thanks - but it's bad news, this shows alsa is not working!
I could really use some help with this problem. Sorry to post at length, but I have been trying to crack this one for days and don't seem to be getting anywhere. I am running the 2.6.1 kernel and have a CM8738 onboard sound chip.
aplay -v /opt/kde/share/sounds/....wav nothing happens for about 20 seconds, then no audible output but:
aplay -v /opt/kde/share/sounds/KDE_Window_Open.wav
Playing WAVE '/opt/kde/share/sounds/KDE_Window_Open.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 22050 Hz, Stereo
Plug PCM: Hardware PCM card 0 'C-Media PCI CMI8738-MC6' device 0 subdevice 0Its setup is:
stream : PLAYBACK
access : RW_INTERLEAVED
format : S16_LE
subformat : STD
channels : 2
rate : 22050
exact rate : 22050 (22050/1)
msbits : 16
buffer_size : 11025
period_size : 2756
period_time : 124988
tick_time : 1000
tstamp_mode : NONE
period_step : 1
sleep_min : 0
avail_min : 2756
xfer_align : 2756
start_threshold : 11024
stop_threshold : 11025
silence_threshold: 0
silence_size : 0
boundary : 1445068800
aplay -l gives:
aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: CMI8738MC6 [C-Media PCI CMI8738-MC6], device 0: CMI8738-MC6 [C-Media PCI DAC/ADC]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CMI8738MC6 [C-Media PCI CMI8738-MC6], device 1: CMI8738-MC6 [C-Media PCI 2nd DAC]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CMI8738MC6 [C-Media PCI CMI8738-MC6], device 2: CMI8738-MC6 [C-Media PCI IEC958]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Despite this, alsaconf reports: "No supported PnP or PCI card found"
lsmod gives:
snd_seq_midi 6432 0
snd_opl3_synth 14148 0
snd_seq_instr 8384 1 snd_opl3_synth
snd_seq_midi_emul 6784 1 snd_opl3_synth
snd_ainstr_fm 2176 1 snd_opl3_synth
snd_seq_oss 33120 0
snd_seq_midi_event 6176 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 54736 8 snd_seq_midi,snd_opl3_synth,snd_seq_instr,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_pcm_oss 48964 0
snd_mixer_oss 16768 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_cmipci 32696 1
snd_pcm 90784 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_cmipci
snd_page_alloc 8996 1 snd_pcm
snd_opl3_lib 9056 2 snd_opl3_synth,snd_cmipci
snd_timer 22180 3 snd_seq,snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib
snd_hwdep 7168 1 snd_opl3_lib
snd_mpu401_uart 6272 1 snd_cmipci
snd_rawmidi 20512 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 6280 6 snd_seq_midi,snd_opl3_synth,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi
snd 45476 18 snd_seq_midi,snd_opl3_synth,snd_seq_instr,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_cmipci,snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib,snd_timer,snd_hwdep,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore 7232 1 snd
All the modules shown by lsmod in my working SourceMage installation are also present in Arch.
My /etc/modprobe.conf (again this matches SourceMage):
# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
alias snd-card-0 snd-cmipci
alias snd-card-1 snd-cmipci
alias snd-slot-1 snd-card-1
alias snd-card-2 snd-cmipci
alias snd-slot-2 snd-card-2
alias snd-card-3 snd-cmipci
alias snd-slot-3 snd-card-3
alias snd-card-4 snd-cmipci
alias snd-slot-4 snd-card-4
alias snd-card-5 snd-cmipci
alias snd-slot-5 snd-card-5
alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss
alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss
alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss
# module options should go here# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
# card #1
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
Finally, I have checked in alsamixer and aumix that there are no muted settings and that volumes are set where necessary. I have run out of ideas....!
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Have you read this, from the FAQ:
Multimedia
Issues with sound, video and the like.Only root can access /dev/dsp!
The file system permissions on the audio devices are quite restrictive by default. You should consider creating a group named ''audio'' and add these lines to your /etc/devfsd.conf:
# Allow access to sound devices for group "audio"
REGISTER ^sound/.* PERMISSIONS root.audio 0660This will give read/write permissions to the sound devices for root and members of the ''audio'' group. Simply add any users that need sound to this group. Do not forget HUPing the devfs-daemon to let these changes take effect.
Don't forget to post your PKGBUILD in your thread when you announce a new package in incoming.
see HERE for details
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Yes, I'd done that. No alsa when logged in as root either.
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What does alsamixer tell you? It sounds like aplay is playing fine but the channels are muted.
I have discovered that all of mans unhappiness derives from only one source, not being able to sit quietly in a room
- Blaise Pascal
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Also, if you have files in /dev/snd, specifically pcm*, then alsa is set up and detected your sound card fine.
I have discovered that all of mans unhappiness derives from only one source, not being able to sit quietly in a room
- Blaise Pascal
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Files are present in /dev/snd
Alsamixer shows high volume settings for Master, PCM, Synth and PCSpk: nothing is muted. I have compared the settings with those in SourceMage and they are similar.
I am puzzled why alsaconf cannot detect the card. Also kmix gives:
kmix: Trying Alsa 0.9x Device hw:0
kmix: Trying Alsa 0.9x Device hw:1
kmix: ERROR: Alsa mixer cannot be found.
Please check that the soundcard is installed and the
soundcard driver is loaded.
kmix:
kmix: Trying Alsa 0.9x Device hw:1
kmix: ERROR: Alsa mixer cannot be found.
Please check that the soundcard is installed and the
soundcard driver is loaded.
kmix:
kmix: Sound drivers supported: ALSA0.9 + OSS
Sound drivers used: ALSA0.9
kmix: Mixer number: 0 Name: C-Media PCI CMI8738-MC6
kmix: Inserted mixer 0:C-Media PCI CMI8738-MC6
I find the kmix output confusing!
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did you add:
REGISTER ^snd/.* PERMISSIONS root.audio 0660
to your devfsd.conf?
and did you create an audio group? (personally i use root.users 0660)
LOOKUP snd MODLOAD
LOOKUP dsp MODLOAD
LOOKUP mixer MODLOAD
LOOKUP sequencer MODLOAD
in your devfsd.conf also may help.
AKA uknowme
I am not your friend
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Thanks Sarah31, but "yes, yes and did that".
I was reading somewhere on Google that I should have a file /etc/asound.state. I do not; or at least I did not until I copied the one over from my SourceMage installation to see if that would help. It didn't, but does the fact that alsa did not generate that file suggest a problem or even how to solve it?
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I have solved it! I needed to mute the Exchange channel (whatever that is) in alsamixer. I had checked so many times that nothing was muted that it's ironic to find the answer lay in actually needing to mute something!
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