Arch Linux

Arch27

Member

Registered: 2021-01-05

Posts: 4

[SOLVED] ALSA - no sound after unmuting the channels

Hi

I'm new to Arch and I'm trying to make sound work by following the wiki instructions but I don't know how to do it.  I know there are other posts like this one but I don't understand the solutions or know whether or not they work in my case.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ad … e_channels

I have the following ALSA packages:

alsa-lib 1.2.4-3
alsa-topology-conf 1.2.4-2
alsa-ucm-conf 1.2.4-2
alsa-utils 1.2.4-2
zita-alsa-pcmi 0.3.2-3

The wiki says I need to write

$ amixer sset Master unmute
$ amixer sset Speaker unmute
$ amixer sset Headphone unmute

but the output of those is

amixer: Unable to find simple control

so I tried to use alsamixer and it looks like this

https://i.ibb.co/fF2dQYf/photo.png

If I press F6, I can see multiple options. I unmuted Master and changed its "db gain"

https://i.ibb.co/YWDs6Lf/photo2.png

https://i.ibb.co/S7g49pZ/photo3.png

After that I ran "speaker-test -c 2" and its output was

speaker-test 1.2.4

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1075:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory

I also tried watching some videos and they have no sound.

The output of cat /proc/asound/cards is

 0 [HDMI           ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel HDMI
                      HDA Intel HDMI at 0xc2610000 irq 33
 1 [PCH            ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
                      HDA Intel PCH at 0xc2614000 irq 31
 2 [NVidia         ]: HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
                      HDA NVidia at 0xc1000000 irq 17

The output of lspci | grep audio is

00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GK107 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1)

What should I do?

Mod edit: Removed oversized images -- V1del

Last edited by Arch27 (2021-01-05 19:52:08)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,352

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA - no sound after unmuting the channels

Please don't embed huge images directly.

You are currently adjusting and trying to use the intel HDMI card. Which is highly unlikely to be what you want. So you first need to change the default card to the actual device which is likely 1 : https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ad … sound_card

I'd personally recommend you install and use pulseaudio and pavucontrol instead as it makes proper handling of what plays where and which card is used when somewhat easier and more intuitive.

Arch27

Member

Registered: 2021-01-05

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA - no sound after unmuting the channels

Please don't embed huge images directly.

You are currently adjusting and trying to use the intel HDMI card. Which is highly unlikely to be what you want. So you first need to change the default card to the actual device which is likely 1 : https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ad … sound_card

I'd personally recommend you install and use pulseaudio and pavucontrol instead as it makes proper handling of what plays where and which card is used when somewhat easier and more intuitive.

Thanks for the reply.

I installed pulseaudio, pavucontrol, pulseaudio-alsa.

I added

defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.ctl.card 1

to /etc/asound.conf.

I rebooted and the sound works now.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,352

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA - no sound after unmuting the channels

You shouldn't use that if you use pulseaudio, as that will conflict with it's controls (sorry I realize I might've worded this confusingly),  remove the file and install pulseaudio-alsa instead to have all audio belongings centralized.

Arch27

Member

Registered: 2021-01-05

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA - no sound after unmuting the channels

You shouldn't use that if you use pulseaudio, as that will conflict with it's controls (sorry I realize I might've worded this confusingly),  remove the file and install pulseaudio-alsa instead to have all audio belongings centralized.

My bad, you didn't mention pulseaudio-alsa.

I uninstalled pulseaudio and there are no conflicts with pulseaudio-alsa now.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,352

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA - no sound after unmuting the channels

... No, you'd need both but you wouldn't need

defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.ctl.card 1

but if you are fine with just ALSA that's alright

Last edited by V1del (2021-01-05 21:14:11)

Arch27

Member

Registered: 2021-01-05

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] ALSA - no sound after unmuting the channels

... No, you'd need both but you wouldn't need

defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.ctl.card 1

but if you are fine with just ALSA that's alright

Well, I'd rather keep the file and pulseaudio-alsa.

I'm satisfied with the outcome and it solved my problem so I won't make other changes.

Last edited by Arch27 (2021-01-05 21:32:04)