[SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

strix · 2014-04-01 11:11:08

I have a strange behaviour in my sound setup since last week or so. I didn't notice it at first, so I can't tell if it was an update. However I didn't change anything in my configuration. I don't hear any sound from my laptop (a HP Elitebook 8470w), not with the speakers nor with headphones. Except playing music with mpd, this works as usual. I also noticed, that my multimedia keys don't work anymore. Was there any recent change in alsa I missed?
What I tried:

> speaker-test -c 2

speaker-test 1.0.27.2

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 96 to 1048576
Period size range from 32 to 349526
Using max buffer size 1048576
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 262144
was set buffer_size = 1048576
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 10.940069

-> No sound

My config:

`--> uname -a
Linux tirion 3.13.7-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Mar 24 20:06:08 CET 2014 x86_64 GNU/Linux

/etc/asound.conf

# Use PulseAudio by default
pcm.!default {
  type pulse
  fallback "sysdefault"
  hint {
    show on
    description "Default ALSA Output (currently PulseAudio Sound Server)"
  }
}

ctl.!default {
  type pulse
  fallback "sysdefault"
}

# vim:set ft=alsaconf:

`--> aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: 92HD81B1X5 Analog [92HD81B1X5 Analog]
  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

~/.mpd/mpd.conf

music_directory		"/home/strix/Musik"
playlist_directory	"/home/strix/Musik/Playlists"
db_file			"/home/strix/.mpd/mpd.db"
log_file		"/home/strix/.mpd/mpd.log"
log_level               "verbose"
pid_file		"/home/strix/.mpd/mpd.pid"
state_file		"/home/strix/.mpd/mpdstate"
save_absolute_paths_in_playlists    "yes"

audio_output 	{
	type    "alsa"
	name    "Mukke"
        mixer_type      "software"
        device  "hw:0,0"
}

My multimedia keymapping was:

bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec amixer set Master 2%+
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec amixer set Master 2%-
bindsym XF86AudioMute exec amixer sset Master toggle

which does not work anymore. Funny thing is, I can modify the volume and mute/unmute my music with the following setup:

bindsym XF86AudioMute exec "pactl set-sink-mute 1 toggle"
bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec "pactl set-sink-volume 1 +1%"
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec "pactl set-sink-volume 1 -- -1%"

Last edited by strix (2014-04-03 13:01:17)

V1del · 2014-04-01 13:05:55

mpd is blocking your audiodevice for exclusive use (and you probably autostart it i assume) Any particular reason why you have pulse installed and hardset it to use a ALSA device (leading to said locking) instead of using

audio_output {
        type            "pulse"
        name            "pulse audio"
}

?

That said, the problems probably happened with the PA 5 update, which made some changes in how it handles the ALSA plugin. This would be totally irrelevant if you simply set mpd to use pulse/set the alsa device to the asound.conf configured pulse instead of directly to hardware though

Last edited by V1del (2014-04-01 13:07:45)

strix · 2014-04-01 13:20:18

I tried this setup, but this way, I don't have any sound at all. But your answer brings me to the question why I should need to set up and use pulse? Couldn't I just use alsa only?

ewaller · 2014-04-01 15:13:50

strix wrote:

I tried this setup, but this way, I don't have any sound at all. But your answer brings me to the question why I should need to set up and use pulse? Couldn't I just use alsa only?

Yes, and no.

If you do not want pulseaudio, fine. But you need to enable dmix

emeres · 2014-04-01 15:16:09

Did you disable the alsa audio_output section first? Addressing hardware directly is usually a bad idea, unless using an advanced configuration. Using "plug:default" in alsas audio_output section should work for both alsa and pulseaudio (through alsa). You could also leave the whole audio_output block out of mpd.conf, mpds autodetection usually works fine. If that does not work, look into pa5-alsa issues.

strix wrote:

Couldn't I just use alsa only?

Why did you install pulseaudio in the first place? Maybe you need(ed) it as a dependency, although this normally should not be. Pulseaudio is a sound server, that runs on top of alsa. Take a look here for pas features. If you do not use any of those that are pulseaduio exclusive, then you can safely drop it.
Either way you will have to change or remove addressing type in mpd.conf.

strix · 2014-04-01 18:11:20

Ok, mpd really works without specifying the output. But mpd was never really a problem. I can listen to music but everything else seems muted. I can try playing files with mplayer, vlc or watch something on youtube, that's where the sound is missing.

Rasi · 2014-04-01 22:02:07

strix wrote:

Ok, mpd really works without specifying the output. But mpd was never really a problem. I can listen to music but everything else seems muted. I can try playing files with mplayer, vlc or watch something on youtube, that's where the sound is missing.

you specified hw:0 in your alsa block. this blocks the device for any other app. just get rid of that line.

strix · 2014-04-02 10:54:46

I got rid of the whole audio_output-block, as I wrote above. No sound though...

Rasi · 2014-04-02 15:30:05

fuser -v /dev/snd/* (as root)

strix · 2014-04-02 16:16:12

.-(~)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(root@tirion)-
`--# fuser -v /dev/snd/*
                     USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0:  strix      2801 F.... pulseaudio
                     strix     23753 F.... mpd
/dev/snd/controlC1:  strix      2801 F.... pulseaudio

If mpd blocks my audio, shouldn't it work then when I stop mpd? Because that's not the case...

Edit: When I set my mpd audio_output to this:

audio_output {
        type            "pulse"
        name            "pulse audio"
}

I get the following:

.-(~)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(root@tirion)-
`--# fuser -v /dev/snd/*
                     USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0:  strix      5730 F.... pulseaudio
/dev/snd/controlC1:  strix      5730 F.... pulseaudio
/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p:   strix      5730 F...m pulseaudio

And if it helps:

`--# lspci | grep Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Turks/Whistler HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6000 Series]

Last edited by strix (2014-04-02 16:48:52)

Rasi · 2014-04-02 22:42:27

strix wrote:

.-(~)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(root@tirion)-
`--# fuser -v /dev/snd/*
                     USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0:  strix      2801 F.... pulseaudio
                     strix     23753 F.... mpd
/dev/snd/controlC1:  strix      2801 F.... pulseaudio

This is a clear indication that mpd is still set to use hw:0.

emeres · 2014-04-03 02:06:35

Kill pulseaudio and anything else using audio. Try:

speaker-test -c 2 -D plughw:PCH

(I assume PCH is the sound card you want to use)
If it does not work, check configuration, modules, as last resort delete all alsa configuration, maybe even reinstall it. Restart and try again.
If it works, try speaker-test without device switch with pulseaudio. Now if that does not work, pulseaudio is at fault. Check settings and recent changes (look here in forum). And so on.
In cases like that use a methodology to narrow the problem down to a specific piece of software or hardware by checking every bit of signals path. Start at the top or bottom, that does not matter. Otherwise you will only waste time poking at random.

strix · 2014-04-03 13:01:01

Setting the mpd audio_output to 'pulse' was the key. I restarted my system and it worked. Thank you for your help!

V1del · 2014-04-04 08:30:59

Wait what? Didn't you say that didn't work initially? Didn't you reboot/restart mpd on the first try or what was it? Well glad you got it working now

strix · 2014-04-04 08:33:21

It did work after a few restarts, removing whole config directories and reinstalling mpd, pulseaudio and alsa... It wasn't the smoothest solving method but somehow it worked...

Arch Linux

#1 2014-04-01 11:11:08

[SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#2 2014-04-01 13:05:55

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#3 2014-04-01 13:20:18

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#4 2014-04-01 15:13:50

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#5 2014-04-01 15:16:09

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#6 2014-04-01 18:11:20

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#7 2014-04-01 22:02:07

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#8 2014-04-02 10:54:46

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#9 2014-04-02 15:30:05

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#10 2014-04-02 16:16:12

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#11 2014-04-02 22:42:27

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#12 2014-04-03 02:06:35

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#13 2014-04-03 13:01:01

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#14 2014-04-04 08:30:59

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

#15 2014-04-04 08:33:21

Re: [SOLVED] No Sound except in mpd

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