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dufresnep

Member

Registered: 2008-02-03

Posts: 14

alsa mixer problems

In gnome, the volume control is muted and give this message:
The volume control did not find any elements and/or devices to control. This means either that you don't have the right GStreamer plugins installed, or that you don't have a sound card configured.

alsamixer
Card: HDA Intel
│ Chip: Realtek ALC883
Headphone is 00 (not muted), but I cannot raise the level!

[root@Acturus paul]# amixer

Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback [on]
  Front Right: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Front',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Front Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Front Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%]
  Front Right: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'Surround',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-46.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-46.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Center',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-46.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'LFE',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-46.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'CD',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
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: 0 [0%]
  Front Right: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'PC Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [-12.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [-12.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',1
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [-12.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [-12.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Channel Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '2ch' '4ch' '6ch'
  Item0: '2ch'
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic' 'Front Mic' 'Line' 'CD'
  Item0: 'Mic'
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',1
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic' 'Front Mic' 'Line' 'CD'
  Item0: 'Mic'
[root@Acturus paul]# Card: HDA Intel                                                              │
bash: Card:: command not found
[root@Acturus paul]# │ Chip: Realtek ALC883                                                         │
bash: │: command not found

[root@Acturus paul]# aplay /usr/share/sounds/generic.wav
Playing WAVE '/usr/share/sounds/generic.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 44100 Hz, Mono
...works, although I would feel a bit lower level than I would expect

I deactivated oss-mixer in my etc/rc.conf thinking it could help:
MODULES=(skge slhc !snd-mixer-oss !snd-pcm-oss snd-hwdep snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-timer snd snd-hda-intel soundcore)

lsmod|grep '^snd'
[root@Acturus paul]# lsmod | grep '^snd'
snd_seq_oss            29568  0
snd_seq_midi_event      6656  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                47056  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          7052  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_hda_intel         295840  0
snd_pcm                69124  1 snd_hda_intel
snd_timer              19332  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc          8200  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_hwdep               7428  1 snd_hda_intel
snd                    45476  7 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_hwdep
[root@Acturus paul]#

[root@Acturus paul]# ls -l /dev/snd
total 0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  0 2008-02-04 14:10 controlC0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  4 2008-02-04 14:10 hwC0D0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 24 2008-02-04 14:10 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 16 2008-02-04 14:10 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 25 2008-02-04 14:10 pcmC0D1c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 17 2008-02-04 14:10 pcmC0D1p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 26 2008-02-04 14:10 pcmC0D2c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  1 2008-02-04 14:10 seq
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 33 2008-02-04 14:10 timer
[root@Acturus paul]#

[root@Acturus paul]# uname -a
Linux Acturus 2.6.23-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Jan 15 06:34:36 UTC 2008 i686 Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.66GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

I just migrated from x86_64 to i686.
In x86_64, each time I was launching GNOME, it was proposing to remove gnome-volume

[root@Acturus paul]# pacman -Qs gstreamer
local/gstreamer0.10 0.10.15-1
    GStreamer Multimedia Framework
local/gstreamer0.10-alsa 0.10.15-1 (gstreamer0.10-plugins)
    GStreamer alsa plugin
local/gstreamer0.10-base 0.10.15-1 (gstreamer0.10-plugins)
    GStreamer Multimedia Framework Base Plugins (gst-plugins-base)
local/gstreamer0.10-cdparanoia 0.10.15-1 (gstreamer0.10-plugins)
    GStreamer CDParanoia plugin
local/gstreamer0.10-flac 0.10.6-1 (gstreamer0.10-plugins)
    GStreamer flac plugin
local/gstreamer0.10-gconf 0.10.6-1 (gstreamer0.10-plugins)
    GStreamer GConf plugin
local/gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs 0.10.15-1 (gstreamer0.10-plugins)
    GStreamer gnome-vfs plugin
local/gstreamer0.10-good 0.10.6-1 (gstreamer0.10-plugins)
    GStreamer Multimedia Framework Good Plugins (gst-plugins-good)
local/gstreamer0.10-ogg 0.10.15-1 (gstreamer0.10-plugins)
    GStreamer OGG plugin
local/gstreamer0.10-vorbis 0.10.15-1 (gstreamer0.10-plugins)
    GStreamer Vorbis plugin
local/totem 2.20.1-3 (gnome-extra)
    A GNOME2 integrated movie player based on Gstreamer.
[root@Acturus paul]#

[root@Acturus paul]# pacman -Qs alsa
local/alsa-lib 1.0.15-1
    An alternative implementation of Linux sound support
local/alsa-oss 1.0.15-1
    OSS compatibility library
local/alsa-utils 1.0.15-2
    An alternative implementation of Linux sound support
local/gnome-alsamixer 0.9.6-2
    Gnome ALSA mixer
local/gstreamer0.10-alsa 0.10.15-1 (gstreamer0.10-plugins)
    GStreamer alsa plugin
[root@Acturus paul]#

hum, gnome-alsamixer was not working, but I just launced it from gnome-terminal as root, and it works.
maybe I have not all the rights I need.

[root@Acturus paul]# groups
root bin daemon sys adm disk wheel log

[root@Acturus paul]# dmesg|grep audio
[root@Acturus paul]#
I find a bit strange that there is nothing.

Motherboard is a P5GZ-MX.

[root@Acturus paul]# lspci -vnn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ/P/PL Memory Controller Hub [8086:2770] (rev 02)
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:817a]
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
    Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information <?>

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2772] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:817a]
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
    Memory at dfe00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
    I/O ports at 9800 [size=8]
    Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
    Memory at dfe80000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
    Capabilities: [90] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
    Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2

00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller [8086:27d8] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:8249]
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 20
    Memory at dfef8000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
    Capabilities: [60] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
    Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00

00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:27d0] (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
    Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
    I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000efff
    Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
    Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
    Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:8179]
    Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2

00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:27c8] (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:8179]
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
    I/O ports at a000 [size=32]

00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:27c9] (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:8179]
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
    I/O ports at a400 [size=32]

00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:27ca] (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:8179]
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
    I/O ports at a800 [size=32]

00:1d.3 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:27cb] (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:8179]
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 20
    I/O ports at b000 [size=32]

00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller [8086:27cc] (rev 01) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:8179]
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
    Memory at dfeffc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
    Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
    Capabilities: [58] Debug port: BAR=1 offset=00a0

00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge [8086:244e] (rev e1) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
    Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
    I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff
    Memory behind bridge: dff00000-dfffffff
    Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 0000000040000000-00000000400fffff
    Capabilities: [50] Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:8179]

00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge [8086:27b8] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:8179]
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
    Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information <?>

00:1f.1 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller [8086:27df] (rev 01) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:8179]
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
    I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
    I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
    I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
    I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
    I/O ports at ffa0 [size=16]

00:1f.2 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller [8086:27c0] (rev 01) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO])
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:2601]
    Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
    I/O ports at c800 [size=8]
    I/O ports at c400 [size=4]
    I/O ports at c000 [size=8]
    I/O ports at b800 [size=4]
    I/O ports at b400 [size=16]
    Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2

00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller [8086:27da] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:8179]
    Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 18
    I/O ports at 0400 [size=32]

01:04.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8001 Gigabit Ethernet Controller [11ab:4320] (rev 14)
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Marvell 88E8001 Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Asus) [1043:811a]
    Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 19
    Memory at dfffc000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    I/O ports at d800 [size=256]
    Expansion ROM at 40000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
    Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
    Capabilities: [50] Vital Product Data <?>

[root@Acturus paul]# amixer set Master 90% unmute
amixer: Unable to find simple control 'Master',0
Is this normal?

Edit1:
I think I remeber my motherboard manual was saying that the plugs can act in two modes: headphone and surrond.
Something like in headphone mode, red plug is mic, and in surround mode, red plug is rear speakers.
I expect it to work in headphone, (I just have a cheap amplifier in green plug), but it seems to be in surround mode.
Knows any way to change this?

Last edited by dufresnep (2008-02-04 20:09:26)

peart

Member

From: Kanuckistan

Registered: 2003-07-28

Posts: 510

Re: alsa mixer problems

You don't seem to be in the audio group.  That might be causing the problem.

Edit: oops, just noticed you ran the 'groups' command as root.  Nevermind!

Last edited by peart (2008-02-04 20:09:26)

dufresnep

Member

Registered: 2008-02-03

Posts: 14

Re: alsa mixer problems

well, I was indeed missing audio in user paul!
now I have:[paul@Acturus ~]$ groups
adm disk wheel games audio optical storage users

and yes, gnome volume applet works now, thanks!

I still have the feeling that alsa is in some surround mode rather than headphone mode.
If this even make sense.