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#1 2012-09-21 11:25:04

Senseoflife
Member
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 25

Pulseaudio: dummy output

I need help to solve this strange problem. I'm using gnome 3 and pulseaudio says me the only output is 'Dummy output'. So, no sound at all.
Alsa recognizes the card but the only available channel is 'Beep' (at least, it's the only channel in alsamixer).
Here is some useful stuff:

lspci
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03)

lsmod | grep snd
snd_hda_codec_realtek    50748  1 
snd_hda_intel          21808  0 
snd_hda_codec          83164  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_pcm                61301  3 snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,saa7134_alsa
snd_page_alloc          5901  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               4746  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_timer              14902  1 snd_pcm
snd                    44906  9 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,saa7134_alsa
soundcore               4378  1 snd

cat /proc/asound/cards 
 0 [Intel          ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
                      HDA Intel at 0xf2100000 irq 41
 1 [SAA7134        ]: SAA7134 - SAA7134
                      saa7133[0] at 0xf2004000 irq 19

aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****               [That is.. no cards listed]

The second card listed in /proc/asound/cards is a TV tuner (never used), so don't consider it.
I think is a problem related to alsa, because i have no sound at all, even in console. As I said before, alsamixer gives me only one channel (beep, operating as usual) when I select (F6) the intel card.
Sorry for my English, I'm Italian smile

Last edited by Senseoflife (2012-09-21 11:26:29)

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#2 2012-09-21 11:29:42

Senseoflife
Member
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 25

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

I've forgotten to say there's no problem in Xp (yes, I installed it to verify if the card was broken).

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#3 2012-09-21 13:39:14

nomorewindows
Member
Registered: 2010-04-03
Posts: 3,362

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

You may have to try OSS.


I may have to CONSOLE you about your usage of ridiculously easy graphical interfaces...
Look ma, no mouse.

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#4 2012-09-21 13:50:57

Senseoflife
Member
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 25

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

nomorewindows wrote:

You may have to try OSS.

Why? I've always used pulseaudio without any problem. Is there a way to understand what happened to my system? I'd like to revert to use pulseaudio and alsa as before, if possibile. If not, I'll give a chance to oss. Any idea?

Last edited by Senseoflife (2012-09-21 13:51:36)

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#5 2012-09-21 13:56:52

65kid
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2011-01-26
Posts: 663

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

does "aplay -l" list cards as root? if so, I assume your consolekit session isn't set up correctly and you therefore don't have permissions to access the audio devices. how do you login?

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#6 2012-09-21 14:26:01

nomorewindows
Member
Registered: 2010-04-03
Posts: 3,362

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

I've used OSS on one machine only to find out ALSA was better for it.
Is your user part of the audio group?


I may have to CONSOLE you about your usage of ridiculously easy graphical interfaces...
Look ma, no mouse.

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#7 2012-09-21 18:10:59

Senseoflife
Member
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 25

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

65kid wrote:

does "aplay -l" list cards as root? if so, I assume your consolekit session isn't set up correctly and you therefore don't have permissions to access the audio devices. how do you login?

No cards listed even as root. However, I login using gdm but there's no sound in console too.

Is your user part of the audio group?

Yes, I'm part of the audio group.

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#8 2012-09-23 12:58:27

Senseoflife
Member
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 25

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

Ideas?

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#9 2012-09-23 14:25:52

Andrew.B
Member
From: Moscow, Russia
Registered: 2010-12-07
Posts: 23

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

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#10 2012-09-23 15:53:33

Senseoflife
Member
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 25

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

Andrew.B wrote:

I .. but not me sad . Neither fuser nor pulseaudio -vvvv show anything useful. I suspect the problem is with alsa that doesn't recognize the audio card correctly: without an available output channel, pulseaudio can only show a 'dummy output'.

Last edited by Senseoflife (2012-09-23 15:55:01)

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#11 2012-09-24 00:14:29

ngoonee
Forum Fellow
From: Between Thailand and Singapore
Registered: 2009-03-17
Posts: 7,354

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

Senseoflife wrote:

I suspect the problem is with alsa that doesn't recognize the audio card correctly: without an available output channel, pulseaudio can only show a 'dummy output'.

Sounds likely, if aplay -l doesn't return anything. You should figure out what you can about the audio card and ask on alsa-user or something similar.


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.
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#12 2012-09-24 08:14:51

Senseoflife
Member
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 25

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

ngoonee wrote:
Senseoflife wrote:

I suspect the problem is with alsa that doesn't recognize the audio card correctly: without an available output channel, pulseaudio can only show a 'dummy output'.

Sounds likely, if aplay -l doesn't return anything. You should figure out what you can about the audio card and ask on alsa-user or something similar.

Wow.. sad .. Could it be a hardware problem? I mean, something wrong with the connections. In the meanwile I'll ask on alsa-user and post here alle the news and (I hope) the solutions.

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#13 2012-09-24 10:00:51

nomorewindows
Member
Registered: 2010-04-03
Posts: 3,362

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

Have you backed out your kernel to see if you regain your audio?


I may have to CONSOLE you about your usage of ridiculously easy graphical interfaces...
Look ma, no mouse.

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#14 2012-09-24 18:39:27

Senseoflife
Member
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 25

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

nomorewindows wrote:

Have you backed out your kernel to see if you regain your audio?

No..unfortunately not.

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#15 2012-09-24 23:49:16

nomorewindows
Member
Registered: 2010-04-03
Posts: 3,362

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

Senseoflife wrote:
nomorewindows wrote:

Have you backed out your kernel to see if you regain your audio?

No..unfortunately not.

Try reinstalling linux-3.4.9 or something like that to see if it will restore function.  Hopefully you still have package file in the cache.


I may have to CONSOLE you about your usage of ridiculously easy graphical interfaces...
Look ma, no mouse.

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#16 2012-09-30 02:42:42

walterjwhite
Member
Registered: 2011-05-01
Posts: 207

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

Hi,

I have the same problem, have you tried unloading all of your snd_ ... modules and then try reloading them?  That works for me, but it isn't a good solution.  I also have gentoo/funtoo Linux working and it works out of the box.  There is something weird with how the modules are loaded in Arch.


Walter

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#17 2012-09-30 14:37:02

Senseoflife
Member
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 25

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

walterjwhite wrote:

Hi,

I have the same problem, have you tried unloading all of your snd_ ... modules and then try reloading them?  That works for me, but it isn't a good solution.  I also have gentoo/funtoo Linux working and it works out of the box.  There is something weird with how the modules are loaded in Arch.


Walter

Wow.. I'll try as soon as I can!

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#18 2012-09-30 15:27:32

walterjwhite
Member
Registered: 2011-05-01
Posts: 207

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

Also, I decided to switch to systemd as it appears to be working better for me now.  That 'permanently' fixes the sound problem.  I don't have to reload the modules to get sound, it just works.


Walter

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#19 2012-09-30 17:18:58

nomorewindows
Member
Registered: 2010-04-03
Posts: 3,362

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

systemd doesn't do anything different, it starts the same daemon for alsa, oss, etc.


I may have to CONSOLE you about your usage of ridiculously easy graphical interfaces...
Look ma, no mouse.

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#20 2012-10-01 16:44:46

Alucryd
Developer
From: France
Registered: 2011-05-07
Posts: 110
Website

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

Hi all, I also have a somewhat similar problem, I only have a Dummy Output with pulse (and Gnome 3). The thing is sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and it seems to be completely random... My soundcards are always listed in lspci, but even with the correct modules loaded, they aren't detected as soundcards. Using systemd too btw.

lspci
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GK104 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1)

lsmod | grep snd
snd_hda_intel          25700  1 
snd_hda_codec          97432  1 snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               6300  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                74926  2 snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc          7217  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer              18966  1 snd_pcm
snd                    60021  5 snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
soundcore               5442  1 snd

cat /proc/asound/cards
--- no soundcards ---

Also modprobe won't let me unload and reload the snd_hda_intel module, says it's in use.


The bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame.

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#21 2012-10-01 16:48:36

Alucryd
Developer
From: France
Registered: 2011-05-07
Posts: 110
Website

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

A couple restarts and it works again, here is some output:

lsmod | grep snd
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     23704  2 
snd_hda_codec_realtek    59152  1 
snd_hda_intel          25700  7 
snd_hda_codec          97432  3 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               6300  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                74926  4 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                    60021  20 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
soundcore               5442  1 snd

cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [PCH            ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
                      HDA Intel PCH at 0xf7a30000 irq 52
 1 [NVidia         ]: HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
                      HDA NVidia at 0xf7080000 irq 17

I have no idea why it would do something like that and it is kinda annoying. The motherboard is an ASUS Maximus V Gene if that matters.


The bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame.

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#22 2012-10-11 15:59:33

Senseoflife
Member
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 25

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

Bad news (for me). There's no difference at all using systemd. And I don't have an old kernel to reinstall.. This thing is driving me mad!

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#23 2012-10-11 17:08:14

nomorewindows
Member
Registered: 2010-04-03
Posts: 3,362

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

Senseoflife wrote:

Bad news (for me). There's no difference at all using systemd. And I don't have an old kernel to reinstall.. This thing is driving me mad!

Is it in your /var/cache/pacman/pkg or have you cleared them all out?
If it still exists, pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/linux-3.4.9-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz


I may have to CONSOLE you about your usage of ridiculously easy graphical interfaces...
Look ma, no mouse.

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#24 2012-10-12 08:38:25

Senseoflife
Member
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 25

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

nomorewindows wrote:
Senseoflife wrote:

Bad news (for me). There's no difference at all using systemd. And I don't have an old kernel to reinstall.. This thing is driving me mad!

Is it in your /var/cache/pacman/pkg or have you cleared them all out?
If it still exists, pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/linux-3.4.9-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz

There's anything in cache. But I've found some kernels I had previously saved! With the 3.4.7 (the latest I have) the problem remains. With the 3.3.7 (the oldest), sound returns to work as usual. With 3.4.2, no sound again. Now?

EDIT:
More news! I can shutdown the pc properly now, while before it always remained powered on. I guess there's something that doesn't work with new kernels and the motherboard (remember that the sound card is integrated). Is it possible?

Last edited by Senseoflife (2012-10-12 13:06:54)

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#25 2012-10-13 11:37:56

Admetus
Member
Registered: 2012-10-08
Posts: 4

Re: Pulseaudio: dummy output

Senseoflife wrote:

I need help to solve this strange problem. I'm using gnome 3 and pulseaudio says me the only output is 'Dummy output'. So, no sound at all.
Alsa recognizes the card but the only available channel is 'Beep' (at least, it's the only channel in alsamixer).

A stab in the dark, but I've come across the dummy output problem twice while using the distros that pair ALSA and pulseaudio, I can't remember the solution but it was quite simple.  I've seen solved threads in Ubuntu and Debian forums, those might be worth a quick search.

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