Arch Linux

reddhawk

Member

Registered: 2012-07-02

Posts: 28

Houston, we have no audio.

A few days ago my laptop has become totally silent. It was a while since I did not use arch, so i did the update to the entire system. Now the audio is gone and i don't know why
I post some outputs to give you clues.

$ sudo lspci -nn | grep -i audio
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293e] (rev 03)
01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RV710/730 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4000 series] [1002:aa38]

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: HDA Generic [HDA Generic]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

$ lsmod | grep '^snd' | column -t
snd_hda_codec_hdmi  23672  1
snd_hda_intel       24053  0
snd_hda_codec       94273  2  snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep           6300   1  snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm             74958  3  snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc      7217   2  snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer           18966  1  snd_pcm
snd                 58997  6  snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel

$ ls -l /dev/snd/
totale 0
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root       80  2 lug 12.50 by-path
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  5  2 lug 12.50 controlC0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  8  2 lug 12.50 controlC1
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  4  2 lug 12.50 hwC0D0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  7  2 lug 12.50 hwC1D0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  3  2 lug 12.50 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  2  2 lug 14.03 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  6  2 lug 12.50 pcmC1D3p
crw-rw----  1 root audio 116,  1  2 lug 12.50 seq
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 33  2 lug 12.50 timer

$ speaker-test -c 2

speaker-test 1.0.25

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Home directory /home/johnny not ours.
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 2048 to 16384
Period size range from 1024 to 1024
Using max buffer size 16384
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 1024
was set buffer_size = 16384
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5,651784
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5,973293
 0 - Front Left
^C
$ 

The alsa installed packages are:

alsa-utils
alsa-lib
alsa-firmware
alsa-plugins

lspci -nn

$ uname -a
Linux frankenstein 3.4.4-2-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Jun 24 18:59:47 CEST 2012 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Last edited by reddhawk (2012-07-02 14:58:15)

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: Houston, we have no audio.

Home directory /home/johnny not ours.

Dunno how you got that.

You have two audio cards - tell ALSA which one it should use. Info is in the wiki article.

And it's Houston, not Huston.

reddhawk

Member

Registered: 2012-07-02

Posts: 28

Re: Houston, we have no audio.

Thank you for the title, i missed a "o"

I bought this laptop about 3 years ago but i never used this config file. However, for the avoidance of doubt, i just created this file in my home folder:

~/.asoundrc

default.pcm.card 0
defaults.pcm.device 0
defaults.ctl.card 0

but the issue persists.

Last edited by reddhawk (2012-07-02 17:52:39)

root

Member

From: 127.0.0.1

Registered: 2012-04-13

Posts: 297

Re: Houston, we have no audio.

Are you in the audio group?

---

\(o_X)/
                        'Cause I wanna be an Archy - An Archy in the UK // Sex Pistols

reddhawk

Member

Registered: 2012-07-02

Posts: 28

Re: Houston, we have no audio.

yes

xelados

Member

Registered: 2007-06-02

Posts: 314

Website

Re: Houston, we have no audio.

I'm having similar issues. Except I know my hardware is working because I can unmute my front mic and I hear stuff. I think my issue may be configuration.

EDIT: I have no clue how it happened, but rebooting seemed to have fixed the issue, despite rebooting a few times during the process of looking for answers. We'll see how it acts tomorrow.

Here's my info and configs:

/etc/asound.conf

defaults.pcm.card 0
defaults.pcm.device 0
defaults.ctl.card 0
pcm.!default {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "dmixer"
}

pcm.default {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "dmixer"
}

pcm.dsp0 {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "dmixer"
}
pcm.dmixer {
    type dmix
    ipc_key 1024
    ipc_key_add_uid false
	ipc_perm 0666
    slave {
        pcm "hw:0,0"
		rate 48000
		period_time 0
		period_size 1024
		buffer_size 8192
    }
    bindings {
        0 0
        1 1
    }
}

pcm.medna {
	type dmix
    ipc_key 1024
    ipc_key_add_uid false
	ipc_perm 0666
    slave {
        pcm "hw:0,0"
		rate 48000
		period_time 256
		period_size 4096
		buffer_size 8192
    }
    bindings {
        0 0
        1 1
    }
}

ctl.dmixer {
    type hw
    card 0
}

ctl.medna {
	type hw
	card 0
}

~/asoundrc

pcm.skype {
   type asym
   playback.pcm "skypeout"
   capture.pcm "skypein"
}

pcm.skypein {
   # Convert from 8-bit unsigned mono (default format set by aoss when
   # /dev/dsp is opened) to 16-bit signed stereo (expected by dsnoop)
   #
   # We cannot just use a "plug" plugin because although the open will
   # succeed, the buffer sizes will be wrong and we will hear no sound at
   # all.
   type route
   slave {
      pcm "skypedsnoop"
      format S16_LE
   }
   ttable {
      0 {0 0.5}
      1 {0 0.5}
   }
}

pcm.skypeout {
   # Just pass this on to the system dmix
   type plug
   slave {
      pcm "dmix"
   }
}

pcm.skypedsnoop {
   type dsnoop
   ipc_key 1133
   slave {
      # "Magic" buffer values to get skype audio to work
      # If these are not set, opening /dev/dsp succeeds but no sound
      # will be heard. According to the ALSA developers this is due
      # to skype abusing the OSS API.
      pcm "hw:0,0"
      period_size 256
      periods 16
      buffer_size 16384
   }
   bindings {
      0 0
   }
}

lspci | grep -i audio

00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) (rev 40)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GF116 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)

lsmod | grep "^snd"

snd_hda_codec_hdmi     23672  4 
snd_hda_codec_realtek    60377  1 
snd_hda_intel          24053  0 
snd_hda_codec          94273  3 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel
snd_usb_audio          93519  0 
snd_usbmidi_lib        18744  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_rawmidi            18479  1 snd_usbmidi_lib
snd_hwdep               6300  2 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_device          5300  1 snd_rawmidi
snd_pcm                74958  4 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc          7217  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer              18966  1 snd_pcm
snd                    58997  11 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_usb_audio,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_device

aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC892 Analog [ALC892 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC892 Digital [ALC892 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

aplay -L

null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
sysdefault:CARD=SB
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=SB,DEV=0
    HDA ATI SB, ALC892 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=2
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output

Since this issue didn't occur until I booted this morning, I figured I'd also provide pacman activity since yesterday. The only audio-related stuff before I booted up this morning (around 11AM) was an MPD upgrade. I hadn't touched my audio config before this except when I setup the skype things a few weeks ago:

cat /var/log/pacman.log | grep "^\[2012-07-0[23]"

[2012-07-02 01:07] Running 'pacman -S cgit'
[2012-07-02 01:07] Setting ownership of /var/cache/cgit to http:http ... changed ownership of ‘var/cache/cgit’ from root:root to http:http
[2012-07-02 01:07] done.
[2012-07-02 01:07] cgit looks at /etc/cgitrc for configuration. there is an example configuration file in its manpage.
[2012-07-02 01:07] installed cgit (0.9.0.3-1)
[2012-07-02 02:50] Running 'pacman -S nginx'
[2012-07-02 02:50] installed nginx (1.2.1-1)
[2012-07-02 03:01] Running 'pacman -Rns nginx'
[2012-07-02 03:01] removed nginx (1.2.1-1)
[2012-07-02 03:01] Running 'pacman -S httpd'
[2012-07-02 03:01] Running 'pacman -S apache'
[2012-07-02 03:01] installed apr (1.4.6-1)
[2012-07-02 03:01] installed unixodbc (2.3.1-1)
[2012-07-02 03:01] installed apr-util (1.4.1-1)
[2012-07-02 03:01] installed apache (2.2.22-4)
[2012-07-02 11:32] Running 'pacman -Syu'
[2012-07-02 11:32] synchronizing package lists
[2012-07-02 11:32] starting full system upgrade
[2012-07-02 11:33] removed python-beautifulsoup (3.2.0-2)
[2012-07-02 11:33] upgraded ca-certificates (20120212-1 -> 20120623-1)
[2012-07-02 11:33] installed python2-beautifulsoup3 (3.2.1-1)
[2012-07-02 11:33] upgraded python2-lxml (2.3.4-1 -> 2.3.4-2)
[2012-07-02 11:33] upgraded calibre (0.8.58-1 -> 0.8.58-3)
[2012-07-02 11:33] warning: /etc/mpd.conf installed as /etc/mpd.conf.pacnew
[2012-07-02 11:33] upgraded mpd (0.16.8-3 -> 0.17-1)
[2012-07-03 10:51] Running 'pacman -Syu'
[2012-07-03 10:51] synchronizing package lists
[2012-07-03 10:51] starting full system upgrade
[2012-07-03 10:51] upgraded calibre (0.8.58-3 -> 0.8.58-4)
[2012-07-03 10:51] upgraded initscripts (2012.06.2-1 -> 2012.06.3-1)
[2012-07-03 10:51] upgraded libldap (2.4.31-3 -> 2.4.31-4)
[2012-07-03 11:29] Running 'pacman -S alsa-lib'
[2012-07-03 11:29] Running 'pacman -S smplayer'
[2012-07-03 11:29] Running 'pacman -S mplayer'
[2012-07-03 11:29] upgraded mplayer (34799-1 -> 34799-1)
[2012-07-03 11:55] Running 'pacman -S alsa-plugins'
[2012-07-03 11:55] installed alsa-plugins (1.0.25-1)
[2012-07-03 11:55] Running 'pacman -R alsa-plugins'
[2012-07-03 11:55] removed alsa-plugins (1.0.25-1)
[2012-07-03 12:03] Running 'pacman -S amd-ucode'
[2012-07-03 12:03] 
[2012-07-03 12:03] ==> To apply the microcode update on boot, load the 'microcode' module
[2012-07-03 12:03] ==> by adding it to the MODULES array in rc.conf:
[2012-07-03 12:03] ==>  MODULES=(... microcode)
[2012-07-03 12:03] 
[2012-07-03 12:03] installed amd-ucode (2012.01.17-3)
[2012-07-03 13:17] Running 'pacman -S gstreamer0.10-plugins'
[2012-07-03 14:44] Running 'pacman -S gstreamer0.10-plugins'
[2012-07-03 14:45] upgraded gstreamer0.10-bad-plugins (0.10.23-2 -> 0.10.23-2)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed libvisual (0.4.0-4)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed gstreamer0.10-base-plugins (0.10.36-1)
[2012-07-03 14:45] upgraded gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg (0.10.13-1 -> 0.10.13-1)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed libavc1394 (0.5.4-1)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed libiec61883 (1.2.0-3)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed gconf (3.2.5-2)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed libproxy (0.4.7-2)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed gsettings-desktop-schemas (3.4.2-1)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed glib-networking (2.32.3-1)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed libsoup (2.38.1-1)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed libgnome-keyring (3.4.1-1)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed libsoup-gnome (2.38.1-1)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed gstreamer0.10-good-plugins (0.10.31-1)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed gstreamer0.10-ugly (0.10.19-1)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed libmpeg2 (0.5.1-3)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed libsidplay (1.36.59-5)
[2012-07-03 14:45] installed gstreamer0.10-ugly-plugins (0.10.19-1)

Last edited by xelados (2012-07-03 19:27:09)

---

sporkbox@GitHub

root

Member

From: 127.0.0.1

Registered: 2012-04-13

Posts: 297

Re: Houston, we have no audio.

If it isn't because of the audio group I would check that

Home directory /home/johnny not ours.

message.

You should check the permission of that folder and make sure your user 'johnny' is actually the owner of it all,

ls -l /home/johnny

In the same way, as you state that it happened after a recent upgrade a look at the pacman log and see if there is some useful you might have missed seems also a good idea. Just like what brebs mentions of telling ALSA what card to use in case you did not so far.

---

\(o_X)/
                        'Cause I wanna be an Archy - An Archy in the UK // Sex Pistols

reddhawk

Member

Registered: 2012-07-02

Posts: 28

Re: Houston, we have no audio.

If it isn't because of the audio group I would check that

Home directory /home/johnny not ours.

message.

You should check the permission of that folder and make sure your user 'johnny' is actually the owner of it all,

ls -l /home/johnny

Uh yes! I forgot it.... i am not proud of it, i know, but... my home is shared with windows on a ntfs partition. So, the output is this:

$ ls -l /home/johnny
total 93
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root  4096  3 lug 12.09 Desktop
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root  4096  1 lug 02.17 Documents
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 40960  3 lug 23.05 Downloads
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28672  3 lug 23.08 Pictures
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root  4096  2 lug 09.29 Mine
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root  4096  3 lug 01.46 Music
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root  4096 15 giu 15.08 Progs
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root  4096  3 lug 12.00 Video

But i don't think it's the main problem. Even if i try to play audio from the root user i get the same results.
But there is a difference. I use gnome3 and from root i can see the audio icon on the dock. From johnny i can't see it.
I could also reinstall archlinux, is not a problem. And next time i could try to do something better with home folders (even if this way of sharing files between linux and windows is a little orgasm). What do you think?

In the same way, as you state that it happened after a recent upgrade a look at the pacman log and see if there is some useful you might have missed seems also a good idea. Just like what brebs mentions of telling ALSA what card to use in case you did not so far.

nah ... Sorry but I cannot check the pacman log since the update I talk about has been done some time ago. Now i don't even know what time to look.

---

Please don't beat the hell out of me

EDIT:
However, thinking about it, would be smarter to create \home in the same \root partition. Also because I could still link the documents, music etc folders to the respective folders in my windows partition.

Last edited by reddhawk (2012-07-04 07:10:51)

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,362

Re: Houston, we have no audio.

Having the home directory on an NTFS partition is partially supported only, I think (you could have a quick search around to confirm that). With 'partially' in this case meaning 'you're on your own'.

---

Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

root

Member

From: 127.0.0.1

Registered: 2012-04-13

Posts: 297

Re: Houston, we have no audio.

I could also reinstall archlinux, is not a problem. And next time i could try to do something better with home folders (even if this way of sharing files between linux and windows is a little orgasm). What do you think?

I would definitely give it a go in order to get full support for your setup.

---

\(o_X)/
                        'Cause I wanna be an Archy - An Archy in the UK // Sex Pistols