MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

chris_debian · 2009-03-22 08:21:36

Hi, all.

I've spent a week trying to get some sound working, after my install.

I've had some suggestions on another thread I started (http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=67820)

I've tried every conceivable option in my mpd.conf, and also in ALSA. I also took the option that i'd expect in another (in)famous OS and tried to use the soundcard that my PC wanted to use, not the one I wanted to.

I'm now at the stage where I will probably remove any trace of mpd and re-install ALSA from scratch.

All I want is for my sound to work. It looks like I may have to fall back to rhythmbox or something similar in my xfce environment.

When I try to play avi's through VLC, the sound settings never stay the same, so I can't use that to diagnose, either, as the soundcard ID's keep changing.

Having used GNU/Linux for 11 years now, I can't beleive that this is so difficult.

Any polite suggestions for a back to basics approach would be really well received.

Many thanks,

Chris.

Last edited by chris_debian (2009-03-22 08:23:34)

Berseker · 2009-03-22 09:50:00

I think should be easy to help you if you post at least, the model of your sound device..

btw, after posting here the result of lspci, try following this wiki first
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ALSA

chris_debian · 2009-03-22 10:07:43

Thanks.

My lspci looks like this, haven't edited it in-case I delete something useful:

00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 0 (rev a2)
00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 1 (rev a2)
00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 5 (rev a2)
00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 4 (rev a2)
00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:00.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 3 (rev a2)
00:00.7 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 2 (rev a2)
00:02.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:03.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:04.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:09.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:0a.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 LPC Bridge (rev a2)
00:0a.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP51 SMBus (rev a2)
00:0a.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Memory Controller 0 (rev a2)
00:0b.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a2)
00:0b.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a2)
00:0d.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 IDE (rev a1)
00:0e.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Serial ATA Controller (rev a1)
00:0f.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Serial ATA Controller (rev a1)
00:10.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 PCI Bridge (rev a2)
00:10.2 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 AC97 Audio Controller (rev a2)
00:14.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Ethernet Controller (rev a1)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV610 video device [Radeon HD 2400 PRO]
03:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc RV610 audio device [Radeon HD 2400 PRO]
04:07.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 07)
04:07.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Live! Game Port (rev 07)

Thanks,

Chris.

chris_debian · 2009-03-22 10:48:32

I also have an on-board sound device.

Nepherte · 2009-03-22 10:51:47

It looks like you have 3 audio components in your pc, something that definetely could cause some issues.

00:10.2 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 AC97 Audio Controller (rev a2)
03:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc RV610 audio device [Radeon HD 2400 PRO]
04:07.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 07)

It's probably trying to use the wrong one. I guess you would want the creative card to work. You should be able to disable the nvidia on board sound card in bios. That's something you can start with.

chris_debian · 2009-03-22 11:15:33

Cool! But what if I want to use 2 out of the 3 devices? I thought the A in ALSA stood for Advanced.

I'll have a look at the ALSA wiki as pointed out earlier. I've just never had problems setting-up sound on this machine.

Thanks,

Chris.

KimTjik · 2009-03-22 11:19:48

The "AUDIO OUTPUT" section in mpd.conf is seldom necessary to use, except for occasions when mpd is set to play through a non-default device while your system is set to use default (pretty if you have more than one sound-system hooked up).

In the "MIXER" section it's enough to put something like this:

mixer_type "alsa"
mixer_device "default"
mixer_control "PCM"

mpd will now make use of the default sound-card (but as Nepherte points out you need to find out how your system is configured, for example by aplay -l you'll see what device is set to "0" and "1" and so on if you use several), and the "mixer_control" relates to the volume regulator in the client, in your case Sonata.

Anyway, as far as I can see mpd at least connects to your music directory, which is a progress in itself!

Edit: don't be upset about ALSA, even though not perfect, because what you're now dealing with is the same as on every operating system. Arch is more KISS in a way so certain things you have to do manually. You might either correct it by in which order modules are loaded or use a asound.conf in /etc.

Last edited by KimTjik (2009-03-22 11:26:16)

chris_debian · 2009-03-22 11:45:58

Guys,

I was just really pi??ed-off with things. I love Arch and mpd looks good. I know the error is me, not the software. I'm just installing alsaplayer with either is/ or provides aplayer.

Cheers,

Chris.

chris_debian · 2009-03-22 11:50:45

Something to think about:

aplay -l


**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: ATI HDMI [ATI HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Live [SBLive 5.1 [SB0060]], device 0: emu10k1 [ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback]
  Subdevices: 32/32
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
  Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
  Subdevice #4: subdevice #4
  Subdevice #5: subdevice #5
  Subdevice #6: subdevice #6
  Subdevice #7: subdevice #7
  Subdevice #8: subdevice #8
  Subdevice #9: subdevice #9
  Subdevice #10: subdevice #10
  Subdevice #11: subdevice #11
  Subdevice #12: subdevice #12
  Subdevice #13: subdevice #13
  Subdevice #14: subdevice #14
  Subdevice #15: subdevice #15
  Subdevice #16: subdevice #16
  Subdevice #17: subdevice #17
  Subdevice #18: subdevice #18
  Subdevice #19: subdevice #19
  Subdevice #20: subdevice #20
  Subdevice #21: subdevice #21
  Subdevice #22: subdevice #22
  Subdevice #23: subdevice #23
  Subdevice #24: subdevice #24
  Subdevice #25: subdevice #25
  Subdevice #26: subdevice #26
  Subdevice #27: subdevice #27
  Subdevice #28: subdevice #28
  Subdevice #29: subdevice #29
  Subdevice #30: subdevice #30
  Subdevice #31: subdevice #31
card 1: Live [SBLive 5.1 [SB0060]], device 2: emu10k1 efx [Multichannel Capture/PT Playback]
  Subdevices: 8/8
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
  Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
  Subdevice #4: subdevice #4
  Subdevice #5: subdevice #5
  Subdevice #6: subdevice #6
  Subdevice #7: subdevice #7
card 1: Live [SBLive 5.1 [SB0060]], device 3: emu10k1 [Multichannel Playback]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: ICH [Intel ICH], device 0: Intel ICH [Intel ICH]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: ICH [Intel ICH], device 2: Intel ICH - IEC958 [Intel ICH - IEC958]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

chris_debian · 2009-03-22 12:00:55

This may be part of what I did wrong:

All necessary modules should be detected and loaded automatically by udev. No special configuration has to be done unless you use ISA cards. NEVER use alsaconf if you have a PCI or ISAPNP sound card, as the entries alsaconf adds to the modprobe.conf file might break udev's autodetection.

I wonder how I can un-do this alsaconf mistake? I'll continue to read the wiki.

KimTjik · 2009-03-22 12:04:36

As you see the onboard card i set to default. If you don't use it might be disabled in BIOS, if you use it but don't want to fiddle with modules you can set card 1 as default by creating the file /etc/asound.conf with the following text:

pcm.!default {
type hw
card 1
}
ctl.!default {
type hw
card 1
}

The backdraw with this approach is that some few applications don't "follow orders" so to speak and still use card 0. You could post your rc.conf and see if we can change the order of modules to get the Creative card becoming card 0 (in case you don't want to disable the onboard device all together).

Another glance at it and you see that there's another funny thing: card 0 is your HDMI capable graphic-card (that's how I read it). I don't think that's want you want in case this isn't a home-theatre system (and I don't know about HDMI capabilities in Linux anyway). Your onboard device is only third in order. Generally speaking, if it wouldn't have been for the HDMI capable graphic-card, the initial automatic configuration would have set your Creative Live! card as the default device. With this facts your rc.conf should be the key to solve this.

Last edited by KimTjik (2009-03-22 12:09:36)

chris_debian · 2009-03-22 12:16:04

Thanks, KimTjik.

I won't change my /etc/asound.conf, yet, just in-case my rc.conf is at fault. This is what it looks like:

#
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
#

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# LOCALIZATION
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime"
# USEDIRECTISA: use direct I/O requests instead of /dev/rtc for hwclock
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
#
LOCALE="en_GB.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="UTC"
USEDIRECTISA="no"
TIMEZONE="Europe/London"
KEYMAP="uk"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# HARDWARE
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# MOD_AUTOLOAD: Allow autoloading of modules at boot and when needed
# MOD_BLACKLIST: Prevent udev from loading these modules
# MODULES: Modules to load at boot-up. Prefix with a ! to blacklist.
#
# NOTE: Use of 'MOD_BLACKLIST' is deprecated. Please use ! in the MODULES array.
#
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
#MOD_BLACKLIST=() #deprecated
MODULES=()

# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# HOSTNAME: Hostname of machine. Should also be put in /etc/hosts
#
HOSTNAME="aslan"

# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available interfaces.
#
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
#   - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
#   - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
# 
# DHCP:     Set your interface to "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
# Wireless: See network profiles below
#
usb0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(usb0 eth0)

# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
#   - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
#
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
 
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up.  These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
#   - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
#   - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
#
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d
#
# This now requires the netcfg package
#
#NETWORKS=(main)

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# DAEMONS
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
#   - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
#
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network netfs crond hal avahi-daemon cups mpd slim)

lsmod|grep '^snd'
snd_usb_audio         100256  0 
snd_usb_lib            19968  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_seq_oss            35584  0 
snd_emu10k1           154272  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      9344  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                58336  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_intel8x0           36648  0 
snd_rawmidi            25344  2 snd_usb_lib,snd_emu10k1
snd_seq_device          9364  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_emu10k1,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi
snd_pcm_oss            45440  0 
snd_mixer_oss          18944  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_ac97_codec        123992  2 snd_emu10k1,snd_intel8x0
snd_hda_intel         531252  0 
snd_util_mem            6016  1 snd_emu10k1
snd_pcm                82952  6 snd_usb_audio,snd_emu10k1,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm_oss,snd_ac97_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer              24720  3 snd_emu10k1,snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc         11792  4 snd_emu10k1,snd_intel8x0,snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_hwdep              10632  3 snd_usb_audio,snd_emu10k1,snd_hda_intel
snd                    65096  14 snd_usb_audio,snd_seq_oss,snd_emu10k1,snd_seq,snd_intel8x0,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_ac97_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_hwdep

ls -l /dev/snd/
total 0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  5 2009-03-22 12:07 controlC0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 20 2009-03-22 12:07 controlC1
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 15 2009-03-22 12:07 controlC2
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 22 2009-03-22 12:07 controlC3
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  4 2009-03-22 12:07 hwC0D0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  7 2009-03-22 12:07 hwC2D0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  8 2009-03-22 12:07 midiC2D0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  3 2009-03-22 12:07 pcmC0D3p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 19 2009-03-22 12:07 pcmC1D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 18 2009-03-22 12:07 pcmC1D0p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 17 2009-03-22 12:07 pcmC1D1c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 16 2009-03-22 12:07 pcmC1D2p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 14 2009-03-22 12:07 pcmC2D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 13 2009-03-22 12:07 pcmC2D0p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 12 2009-03-22 12:07 pcmC2D1c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 11 2009-03-22 12:07 pcmC2D2c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 10 2009-03-22 12:07 pcmC2D2p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  9 2009-03-22 12:07 pcmC2D3p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 21 2009-03-22 12:07 pcmC3D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  6 2009-03-22 12:07 seq
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  2 2009-03-22 12:07 timer

Last edited by chris_debian (2009-03-22 12:18:21)

KimTjik · 2009-03-22 12:30:47

Hm, I feel like I've missed some fundamental changes in Arch lately, and I just checked another machine running Arch here and the empty MODULES=() is correct. I've to read up on this. In the past I could simply rearrange modules in that line to get them loaded the way I wanted. I won't be back before late evening, maybe, but I check in and see how you're doing.

Just as a test you could in mpd.conf in the "AUDIO OUTPUT" section set it to "hw:1,0" and see if you get some output. According to aplay -l the playback device for the Creative Live! card is "card 1" and "device 0". It should work at least in mpd, even though this wouldn't be a system wide setting.

Edit before I go: if you try "hw:1,0" comment out anything in the "MIXER" section so it doesn't interfere. Regulate volume by "alsamixer -c 1", which means you select card 1.

Last edited by KimTjik (2009-03-22 12:43:48)

chris_debian · 2009-03-22 18:32:12

Thanks, KimTjik.

The strange thing is, my SBLive mixer was

alsamixer -c 2

I commented out the mixer stuff as you suggested, and checked the volume wasn't muted. I restarted the daemon and started Sonato from an xterm. The song tried to play, and then stopped, without making any noise. No error messages were seen.

Thanks for trying.

Chris.

xaff · 2009-03-22 19:17:44

OK, first of all, add alsa to daemons in rc.conf

Secondly, could you show your /etc/asound.conf and ~/.asoundrc?

Edit:
Please show the output of "aplay -L" as well (uppercase L)

Last edited by xaff (2009-03-22 19:19:43)

Rasi · 2009-03-22 19:38:19

find the your soundmodules by running

lsmod | grep ^snd

this should give you your 3 soud modules (i dont know the names of them, but it should be pretty obvious which ones to chose)

then put the 3 modules in /etc/modprobe.conf - in the order you want them to be used. (1st module card0, 2nd module card1, etc.)

restart and enjoy

chris_debian · 2009-03-22 20:11:09

Does this help?

 lsmod | grep ^snd
snd_usb_audio         100256  0 
snd_usb_lib            19968  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_seq_oss            35584  0 
snd_emu10k1           154272  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      9344  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                58336  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_intel8x0           36648  0 
snd_rawmidi            25344  2 snd_usb_lib,snd_emu10k1
snd_seq_device          9364  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_emu10k1,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi
snd_pcm_oss            45440  0 
snd_mixer_oss          18944  2 snd_pcm_oss
snd_ac97_codec        123992  2 snd_emu10k1,snd_intel8x0
snd_hda_intel         531252  1 
snd_util_mem            6016  1 snd_emu10k1
snd_pcm                82952  6 snd_usb_audio,snd_emu10k1,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm_oss,snd_ac97_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer              24720  3 snd_emu10k1,snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc         11792  4 snd_emu10k1,snd_intel8x0,snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_hwdep              10632  3 snd_usb_audio,snd_emu10k1,snd_hda_intel
snd                    65096  14 snd_usb_audio,snd_seq_oss,snd_emu10k1,snd_seq,snd_intel8x0,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_ac97_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_hwdep

skottish · 2009-03-22 20:37:45

Do you have an audio device like a microphone plugged into USB?

Rasi · 2009-03-22 20:45:28

snd_usb_audio
snd_intel8x0
snd_emu10k1

/etc/modprobe.conf

options snd-usb_audio index=2
options snd-intel8x0 index=3

this would make sure that emu10k1 would be loaded first

Last edited by Rasi (2009-03-22 20:47:25)

byte · 2009-03-22 21:02:07

Putting them in the desired order in MODULES (rc.conf) might also help.

xaff · 2009-03-23 07:10:21

The order doesn't really matter with properly configured alsa.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-22 08:21:36

MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#2 2009-03-22 09:50:00

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#3 2009-03-22 10:07:43

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#4 2009-03-22 10:48:32

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#5 2009-03-22 10:51:47

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#6 2009-03-22 11:15:33

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#7 2009-03-22 11:19:48

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#8 2009-03-22 11:45:58

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#9 2009-03-22 11:50:45

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#10 2009-03-22 12:00:55

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#11 2009-03-22 12:04:36

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#12 2009-03-22 12:16:04

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#13 2009-03-22 12:30:47

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#14 2009-03-22 18:32:12

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#15 2009-03-22 19:17:44

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#16 2009-03-22 19:38:19

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#17 2009-03-22 20:11:09

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#18 2009-03-22 20:37:45

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#19 2009-03-22 20:45:28

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#20 2009-03-22 21:02:07

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

#21 2009-03-23 07:10:21

Re: MPD doesn't work, I need to set-up my sound from scratch.

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