Macbook Pro 8,2 - No Microphone

Slabity · 2014-04-09 07:32:28

I've recently needed to install Skype on my computer for work. Unfortunately, while the webcam seems to work fine, there is no audio being recorded.

I tried recording via arecord, and the sound file produced contains no sound.

My alsamixer gives me the options of Master, Headphones, Speaker, Bass Speaker, PCM, Line Boost, Mic Boost, a few different S/PDIF selections, and an Auto-Mute selection. But my amixer utility report the following:

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono: Playback 56 [44%] [-35.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 127 [100%] [6.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 127 [100%] [6.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 127 [100%] [6.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 127 [100%] [6.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Bass Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 127 [100%] [6.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 127 [100%] [6.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 207 [81%] [-9.60dB]
  Front Right: Playback 207 [81%] [-9.60dB]
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Mono
  Mono: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Line Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 2 [67%] [20.00dB]
  Front Right: 2 [67%] [20.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Mono
  Mono: Capture [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 3 [100%] [30.00dB]
  Front Right: 3 [100%] [30.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Default PCM',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',1
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',2
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',16
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 63
  Front Left: Capture 63 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 63 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Auto-Mute Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Disabled' 'Enabled'
  Item0: 'Enabled'
Simple mixer control 'Digital',0
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 120
  Front Left: Capture 120 [100%] [30.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 120 [100%] [30.00dB]

As you can see, there is a mic section:

Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Mono
  Mono: Capture [on]

And my lspci -k returns the following:

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Apple MacBookPro8,2 [Core i7, 15", 2011]
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
	Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel

I'm going to be honest, I have no idea where to start debugging. I've never really had to work with my microphone on this computer before, so if anyone has any idea, please let me know.

SilverOne · 2014-04-11 08:10:40

Hi there,

did you install the lib32-libpulse package ? i have the same computer you do and it worked (a few months ago).

Last edited by SilverOne (2014-04-11 08:11:04)

Slabity · 2014-04-14 02:02:57

Hey, that seems to have worked. I'm actually surprised though, I thought pulseaudio was deprecated to alsa?

SilverOne · 2014-04-15 12:42:44

Well i have no idea , i just know it works with pulseaudio.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-04-09 07:32:28

Macbook Pro 8,2 - No Microphone

#2 2014-04-11 08:10:40

Re: Macbook Pro 8,2 - No Microphone

#3 2014-04-14 02:02:57

Re: Macbook Pro 8,2 - No Microphone

#4 2014-04-15 12:42:44

Re: Macbook Pro 8,2 - No Microphone

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