Arch Linux

andronas

Member

Registered: 2016-10-23

Posts: 12

[SOLVED] Gnome Sound Settings - No Devices Listed

So I've had a problem recently where I don't have any sound devices listed in Gnome Sound Settings, but I can control everything fine with alsamixer. What might be the problem? I have searched the forum and couldn't find anything that helped. I tried reinstalling some pulse audio packages like pulseaudio-alsa and pavucontrol, but this doesn't seem to help.

Edit: also, I have noticed that it takes a long time for the desktop to show up from the login screen of gdm.

Last edited by andronas (2017-01-10 00:26:44)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,723

Re: [SOLVED] Gnome Sound Settings - No Devices Listed

Post

sudo fuser -v /dev/snd/*
aplay -lL

usual suspects are that you installed a midi sequencer daemon like timidity or fluidsynth and enabled their respective systemd system service files. They will start before your session is up, grab and hog your audio card and pulse can't access them anymore. If that is the case, disable the service files again, and set them up as a Systemd User Service instead

andronas

Member

Registered: 2016-10-23

Posts: 12

Re: [SOLVED] Gnome Sound Settings - No Devices Listed

Post

sudo fuser -v /dev/snd/*
aplay -lL

usual suspects are that you installed a midi sequencer daemon like timidity or fluidsynth and enabled their respective systemd system service files. They will start before your session is up, grab and hog your audio card and pulse can't access them anymore. If that is the case, disable the service files again, and set them up as a Systemd User Service instead

`--> sudo fuser -v /dev/snd/*
                     USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0:  gdm         478 F.... pulseaudio
                     andronas    801 F.... firefox
/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p:   andronas    801 F...m firefox
/dev/snd/timer:      andronas    801 f.... firefox

--> aplay -lL
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
default
    Default ALSA Output (currently PulseAudio Sound Server)
sysdefault:CARD=MID
    HDA Intel MID, CX20585 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, CX20585 Analog
    Front speakers
surround21:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, CX20585 Analog
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, CX20585 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, CX20585 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, CX20585 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, CX20585 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, CX20585 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
hdmi:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=MID,DEV=1
    HDA Intel MID, HDMI 1
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=MID,DEV=2
    HDA Intel MID, HDMI 2
    HDMI Audio Output
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 0: CX20585 Analog [CX20585 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,723

Re: [SOLVED] Gnome Sound Settings - No Devices Listed

firefox blocking? Shouldn't be, are you using firejail with firefox by chance? It has known issues with accessing the pulse daemon outside the sandbox, try without it, or try to use the experimental memfd shared memory mode if it wasn't that post your /etc/asound.conf or potential ~/.asoundrc and as it seems that your real pulse isn't running at all

journalctl --user-unit=pulseaudio.service

might be useful as well, have you ever done any manual pulse configuration somewhere by chance?

Last edited by V1del (2016-12-04 20:03:37)

andronas

Member

Registered: 2016-10-23

Posts: 12

Re: [SOLVED] Gnome Sound Settings - No Devices Listed

firefox blocking? Shouldn't be, are you using firejail with firefox by chance? It has known issues with accessing the pulse daemon outside the sandbox, try without it, or try to use the experimental memfd shared memory mode if it wasn't that post your /etc/asound.conf or potential ~/.asoundrc and as it seems that your real pulse isn't running at all

journalctl --user-unit=pulseaudio.service

might be useful as well, have you ever done any manual pulse configuration somewhere by chance?

`--> cat /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:

I have never used firejail before. The problem exists from login, before firefox is ever started, so I doubt firefox is the core issue. Sound plays just fine, technically. I just can't access the sound devices from gnome's sound settings. I can set sound and use it just fine with alsamixer. As far as I know, I've never done any manual pulse configuration.

Last edited by andronas (2016-12-04 20:12:10)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,723

Re: [SOLVED] Gnome Sound Settings - No Devices Listed

For some reason your own pulse can't start try a

pulseaudio -vvv

and post the output.

andronas

Member

Registered: 2016-10-23

Posts: 12

Re: [SOLVED] Gnome Sound Settings - No Devices Listed

`--> pulseaudio -vvv
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_NICE, (31, 31)) failed: Operation not permitted
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_RTPRIO, (9, 9)) failed: Operation not permitted
D: [pulseaudio] core-rtclock.c: Timer slack is set to 50 us.
D: [pulseaudio] core-util.c: RealtimeKit worked.
I: [pulseaudio] core-util.c: Successfully gained nice level -11.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: This is PulseAudio 9.0
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Compilation host: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Compilation CFLAGS: -march=x86-64 -mtune=generic -O2 -pipe -fstack-protector-strong -Wall -W -Wextra -Wno-long-long -Wno-overlength-strings -Wunsafe-loop-optimizations -Wundef -Wformat=2 -Wlogical-op -Wsign-compare -Wformat-security -Wmissing-include-dirs -Wformat-nonliteral -Wpointer-arith -Winit-self -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wfloat-equal -Wmissing-prototypes -Wredundant-decls -Wmissing-declarations -Wmissing-noreturn -Wshadow -Wendif-labels -Wcast-align -Wstrict-aliasing -Wwrite-strings -Wno-unused-parameter -ffast-math -fno-common -fdiagnostics-show-option -fdiagnostics-color=auto
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Running on host: Linux x86_64 4.8.11-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Nov 27 09:26:14 CET 2016
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Found 4 CPUs.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Page size is 4096 bytes
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Compiled with Valgrind support: no
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Running in valgrind mode: no
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Running in VM: no
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: Optimized build: yes
D: [pulseaudio] main.c: FASTPATH defined, only fast path asserts disabled.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Machine ID is 88d616978fe64a71ad9aa27080e904c5.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Session ID is c2.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Using runtime directory /run/user/1000/pulse.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Using state directory /home/andronas/.pulse.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Using modules directory /usr/lib/pulse-9.0/modules.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Running in system mode: no
E: [pulseaudio] pid.c: Daemon already running.

andronas

Member

Registered: 2016-10-23

Posts: 12

Re: [SOLVED] Gnome Sound Settings - No Devices Listed

For some reason your own pulse can't start try a

pulseaudio -vvv

and post the output.

Well, I think pulse is working.

`--> pulseaudio --start -vv
D: [pulseaudio] conf-parser.c: Parsing configuration file '/etc/pulse/client.conf'
D: [pulseaudio] conf-parser.c: /etc/pulse/client.conf.d does not exist, ignoring.
I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Daemon startup successful.

So that doesn't appear to be the issue.

One thing I have noticed is that when I try to start pavucontrol, the program hangs when it says it's connecting to pulseaudio.

Also, for the journalctl command:

-- Reboot --
Dec 12 23:40:28 stygian systemd[674]: Starting Sound Service...
Dec 12 23:40:28 stygian systemd[674]: Started Sound Service.
-- Reboot --

Last edited by andronas (2016-12-14 18:12:11)

ronalde

Member

From: Oss, The Netherlands

Registered: 2013-04-18

Posts: 6

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Gnome Sound Settings - No Devices Listed

If you want to know which process is blocking which alsa output interface you could run my alsa-capabilities script:

bash <(wget -q -O - "https://lacocina.nl/alsa-capabilities")
## or 
bash <(curl -s "https://lacocina.nl/alsa-capabilities")
## or 
wget "https://lacocina.nl/alsa-capabilities" && bash alsa-capabilities

Regard,
Ronald

andronas

Member

Registered: 2016-10-23

Posts: 12

Re: [SOLVED] Gnome Sound Settings - No Devices Listed

What worked for me:

Following the advice in this thread:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 8#p1640638

Which was to follow the wiki for resetting PulseAudio: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pu … tup_failed

After getting the log file produced from these commands:

sudo killall pulseaudio
LANG=C pulseaudio -vvvv --log-time=1 > ~/pulseverbose.log 2>&1

I got the commands from: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PulseAudio/Log but had to edit them to make them work. autospawn was already set to no, so the first command wasn't needed. Killall wouldn't work without sudo.

The reason the log file worked is that it included the "pa_pid_file_create() failed" phrase.

Thank you guys & cryzed especially for knowing what to do with the log file.

Last edited by andronas (2017-01-10 00:36:15)