[solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

schallstrom · 2007-08-19 11:12:58

Hi board,

I installed my first Arch Linux a little while ago, and I don't manage to get the sound working. Everything looks fine in the debug output to me, Master and PCM are not muted and the volumes are raised in alsamixer, but still I don't get any sound when playing a mp3 file with madplay (though madplay is starting without error and counting the seconds).

Here's the debug output:

# lspci -v|grep -A4 audio
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)
    Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 18
    I/O ports at e000 [size=256]
    Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

--
00:13.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 (rev 10)
    Subsystem: TERRATEC Electronic GmbH Unknown device 1144
    Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 20
    I/O ports at 8800 [size=256]
    Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

# lsmod|grep '^snd'
snd_cmipci             31104  0 
snd_opl3_lib            8704  1 snd_cmipci
snd_hwdep               7300  1 snd_opl3_lib
snd_via82xx            23064  0 
snd_via82xx_modem      11528  0 
snd_ac97_codec         95780  2 snd_via82xx,snd_via82xx_modem
snd_mpu401_uart         7040  2 snd_cmipci,snd_via82xx
snd_rawmidi            19232  1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_oss            29312  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      6528  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                46672  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          6924  4 snd_opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss            38560  0 
snd_pcm                69124  5 snd_cmipci,snd_via82xx,snd_via82xx_modem,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              19204  3 snd_opl3_lib,snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc          7816  3 snd_via82xx,snd_via82xx_modem,snd_pcm
snd_mixer_oss          14592  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd                    44644  15 snd_cmipci,snd_opl3_lib,snd_hwdep,snd_via82xx,snd_via82xx_modem,snd_ac97_codec,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mixer_oss

# ls -l /dev/snd/
total 0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  0 2007-08-19 12:45 controlC0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 32 2007-08-19 12:45 controlC1
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 36 2007-08-19 12:45 hwC1D0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 24 2007-08-19 12:45 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 16 2007-08-19 12:45 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 25 2007-08-19 12:45 pcmC0D1c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 17 2007-08-19 12:45 pcmC0D1p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 56 2007-08-19 12:45 pcmC1D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 48 2007-08-19 12:45 pcmC1D0p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 49 2007-08-19 12:45 pcmC1D1p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 58 2007-08-19 12:45 pcmC1D2c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 50 2007-08-19 12:45 pcmC1D2p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  1 2007-08-19 12:45 seq
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 33 2007-08-19 12:45 timer

In lspci you can see two audio controllers: The VIA one is the onboard sound chip and the C-Media an additional PCI soundcard I installed because I suspected the onboard sound controller hardware to be broken. But it's not any better with the soundcard...

I also tried to add

options snd-via82xx ac97_quirk=0

to /etc/modprobe.conf according to information in the wiki but it didn't help.

Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Last edited by schallstrom (2007-08-22 21:27:56)

milan · 2007-08-19 11:24:26

Taken form Arch Linux Wiki:
To be able to use the sound card as a user, follow these steps:

* Add your user to the audio group:

# gpasswd -a USERNAME audio

(when executing the command above, you must be logged in as root)

Cheers!

schallstrom · 2007-08-19 11:43:41

milan, thanks for your reply.

My user is member of the audio group. Maybe I should have mentioned that in the initial post.

Other suggestions?

Fork · 2007-08-19 17:36:12

Did you save your sound levels and added alsa to your deamons list?

I just solved a sound issue i had with that. Some how the sound levels were reseting to 0.

lilsirecho · 2007-08-19 18:03:58

Check for MUTE

mac57 · 2007-08-20 19:08:37

For what it is worth, I have the same problem with a SoundBlaster CT4730. Everything LOOKS perfect, I can see all the devices, nothing is muted, all audio applications play as if they were playing correctly, right down to sox's humble "play" command, but no sound. I have finally given up and ordered a different sound card. I have Windows dual booted on the box, and sound works just fine in Windows, so I know the hardware is OK. This is a really vexing problem. With no error messages, or indications of any sort of error, there is nowhere left to turn. Good luck with your problem - I have given up and chosen a hardware solution for mine.

milan · 2007-08-20 20:15:31

You could try to disable onboard card in Bios and then try to get your PCI card working. If proper Alsa modules are loaded, and other things are set up correctly, then you could try running alsamixer and then playing with switches. Perhaps this way you will get it working. Good luck!

Cheers!

Last edited by milan (2007-08-20 20:16:08)

schallstrom · 2007-08-21 17:12:03

@Fork
Yes, alsamixer settings do get saved. Volume levels do not get resetted. alsa is in the daemons list.

@lilsirecho
Master and PCM are not muted in alsamixer. Or what do you mean?

@mac57
Sounds bad

@milan
Yes, I already disabled the on board sound in BIOS. I have no idea why lspci is still showing it.

How could I make sure that alsa is really using the C-Media sound chip and not the VIA on board sound chip?

milan · 2007-08-21 17:55:49

Look at this:
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 0 2007-08-19 12:45 controlC0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 32 2007-08-19 12:45 controlC1

This means that kernel modules for both cards were loaded. I'm not using 2 sound cards at this moment, but I'm sure you can switch from one card to another while the system is running. If you are using KDE, you can do it in kmix. So try to switch from one card to another and play with the switches and I'm pretty sure you will make your sound card work.

Cheers!

schallstrom · 2007-08-22 11:44:46

milan wrote:

Look at this:
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 0 2007-08-19 12:45 controlC0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 32 2007-08-19 12:45 controlC1
This means that kernel modules for both cards were loaded. I'm not using 2 sound cards at this moment, but I'm sure you can switch from one card to another while the system is running. If you are using KDE, you can do it in kmix. So try to switch from one card to another and play with the switches and I'm pretty sure you will make your sound card work.
Cheers!

Thanks for the hint, milan!

I don't have KDE or Gnome installed, so maybe anyone could point me to some documentation on how to switch the sound hardware used on the CLI?

milan · 2007-08-22 13:06:39

for the first soundcard: alsamixer -c 0
for the second soundcard: alsamixer -c 1

Cheers!

Last edited by milan (2007-08-22 13:07:15)

lilsirecho · 2007-08-22 15:28:14

milan;

That works with USB and internal card switching....

schallstrom · 2007-08-22 21:13:07

Okay, I finally managed to get some sound out of the stupid box.

What I first did is removing the module for the VIA sound chip (via82xx). But then madplay was complaining about /dev/dsp missing. Then I noticed a /dev/sound/dsp1 obviously representing the build in sound card. So I made a symlink /dev/sound/dsp which points to /dev/sound/dsp1. Et voila, madplay plays music and I actually hear it

Last edited by schallstrom (2007-08-22 21:19:18)

Arch Linux

#1 2007-08-19 11:12:58

[solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

#2 2007-08-19 11:24:26

Re: [solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

#3 2007-08-19 11:43:41

Re: [solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

#4 2007-08-19 17:36:12

Re: [solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

#5 2007-08-19 18:03:58

Re: [solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

#6 2007-08-20 19:08:37

Re: [solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

#7 2007-08-20 20:15:31

Re: [solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

#8 2007-08-21 17:12:03

Re: [solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

#9 2007-08-21 17:55:49

Re: [solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

#10 2007-08-22 11:44:46

Re: [solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

#11 2007-08-22 13:06:39

Re: [solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

#12 2007-08-22 15:28:14

Re: [solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

#13 2007-08-22 21:13:07

Re: [solved] Audio: Everything looks fine but I don't hear a sound

Board footer