Arch Linux

tjwoosta

Member

Registered: 2008-12-18

Posts: 453

cant get stereo sound with alsa

i installed arch about 5 or 6 months ago and setup alsa for sound

The problem is that only the left speaker is working.  Somehow i have gone all this time without ever noticing.  I probably would still have not noticed except i booted into windows the other day, for the first time in about a year, and realized that I had two speakers working with media player.

i've scanned through the wiki and done some google and forum searching, but i can't seem to find anything about getting stereo sound to work with alsa.

Is anybody else having this problem?  What can i do to make both speakers work?

Last edited by tjwoosta (2009-04-30 19:35:44)

Odysseus

Member

Registered: 2009-02-15

Posts: 141

Re: cant get stereo sound with alsa

That's wierd.  What's the output of 'amixer contents'?  Just make sure nothing is skewed to one side.

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I'm the type to fling myself headlong through the magical wardrobe, and then incinerate the ornate mahogany portal behind me with a Molotov cocktail.

tjwoosta

Member

Registered: 2008-12-18

Posts: 453

Re: cant get stereo sound with alsa

[tj@myhost ~]$ amixer contents
numid=2,iface=MIXER,name='Master Playback Switch'
  ; type=BOOLEAN,access=rw------,values=2
  : values=on,on
numid=1,iface=MIXER,name='Master Playback Volume'
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw---R--,values=2,min=0,max=31,step=0
  : values=31,31
  | dBscale-min=-46.50dB,step=1.50dB,mute=0
numid=7,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Volume'
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw---RW-,values=2,min=0,max=255,step=0
  : values=255,255
  | dBscale-min=-51.00dB,step=0.20dB,mute=0
numid=5,iface=MIXER,name='Capture Switch'
  ; type=BOOLEAN,access=rw------,values=2
  : values=on,on
numid=4,iface=MIXER,name='Capture Volume'
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw---R--,values=2,min=0,max=15,step=0
  : values=15,15
  | dBscale-min=0.00dB,step=1.50dB,mute=0
numid=8,iface=MIXER,name='Digital Capture Volume'
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw---RW-,values=2,min=0,max=120,step=0
  : values=0,0
  | dBscale-min=-30.00dB,step=0.50dB,mute=0
numid=3,iface=MIXER,name='Input Source'  ; type=ENUMERATED,access=rw------,values=1,items=3
  ; Item #0 'Mic'
  ; Item #1 'Front Mic'
  ; Item #2 'CD'
  : values=0
numid=6,iface=MIXER,name='Mux Capture Volume'
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw---R--,values=2,min=0,max=4,step=0
  : values=0,0
  | dBscale-min=0.00dB,step=10.00dB,mute=0
[tj@myhost ~]$

i have no idea what any of this means

tjwoosta

Member

Registered: 2008-12-18

Posts: 453

Re: cant get stereo sound with alsa

bump?

tjwoosta

Member

Registered: 2008-12-18

Posts: 453

Re: cant get stereo sound with alsa

ok i just noticed something else that escaped my attention before

if i press the mute button on my keyboard, the sound switches from the left speaker to the right one instead of muting

so i can switch back and forth between speakers but i cant have them both at the same time

here is my ~/.fluxbox/keys file

OnDesktop Mouse1 :HideMenus
OnDesktop Mouse2 :WorkspaceMenu
OnDesktop Mouse3 :RootMenu

Mod1 Tab :NextWindow
Mod1 Shift Tab :PrevWindow
Mod1 F1 :Exec gmrun

Control Right :NextWorkspace
Control Left :PrevWorkspace

XF86AudioMute :Exec amixer -c 0 set Master toggle
XF86AudioLowerVolume :Exec amixer -c 0 set Master 1%-
XF86AudioRaiseVolume :Exec amixer -c 0 set Master 1%+
XF86AudioPlay :Exec mpc toggle
XF86AudioStop :Exec mpc stop
XF86AudioNext :Exec mpc next
XF86AudioPrev :Exec mpc prev

the volume keys work fine but mute just swicthes speakers instad of muting

Odysseus

Member

Registered: 2009-02-15

Posts: 141

Re: cant get stereo sound with alsa

Ok, try both "amixer -c 0 cset numid=2 on,off" and "amixer -c 0 cset numid=2 off,on". 
One of those should mute both, the other should unmute both... I hope.

Last edited by Odysseus (2009-05-03 18:43:56)

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I'm the type to fling myself headlong through the magical wardrobe, and then incinerate the ornate mahogany portal behind me with a Molotov cocktail.

tjwoosta

Member

Registered: 2008-12-18

Posts: 453

Re: cant get stereo sound with alsa

hmm.. i tried the commands you gave me but the same thing happens

if i use the first one it makes only my left speaker work

if i use the second one it makes only the right speaker work

neither one of them mutes or unmutes both

EDIT: Nevermind i got it!

i used

amixer -c 0 cset numid=2 on,on

to unmute both

i can also do

amixer -c 0 cset numid=2 off,off

to mute both

after doing on,on  i can now use the toggle command from my last post to mute and unmute

its strange and i dont understand what happened to make this all happen in the first place, but all is well now thank you for your help

Last edited by tjwoosta (2009-05-03 20:03:40)

tjwoosta

Member

Registered: 2008-12-18

Posts: 453

Re: cant get stereo sound with alsa

ok, now this is messed up

every time i reboot or shutdown it goes back to only the left speaker

as a crude workaround i have simply added the amixer -c 0 cset numid=2 on,on command to my ~/.fluxbox/startup file

does anybody have any idea why this is happening?

osc~

Member

From: brazil

Registered: 2007-07-06

Posts: 117

Website

Re: cant get stereo sound with alsa

run the commands and then do

alsactl store

that will store your alsa configurations

maybe that would help

tjwoosta

Member

Registered: 2008-12-18

Posts: 453

Re: cant get stereo sound with alsa

run the commands and then do

alsactl store

that will store your alsa configurations

maybe that would help

yes! 
It worked, thank you.