[SOLVED] Internal Speaker (pcsp) not working

Miche · 2009-04-28 22:39:34

UPDATE: solved muting all Analog Loopback channels in alsamixer

----

Hi everybody,

i'm tuning the lucky arch installation on a DELL Studio XPS 13. No troubles in video card configuration, neither in wireless drivers, but i'm getting big problems with audio playback. I mean every kind of audio playback.

I firstly read out the docs and topics around here but couldn't find a solution. Alsaconf says ok, alsamixer channels activated and configuration stored, but audio playing software (kde sounds, juk, amarok, vlc, flashplugin) is not producing any sound. As these softwares are not complaining about audio matters, and the multimedia module in Kde Control is describing this only as not working, i suppose the cause must be pcsp (which i disabled rc.conf).

Some more info:

bash-3.2# lsmod | grep snd
snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi     2740  1 
snd_hda_codec_idt      55732  1
snd_seq_oss            29888  0
snd_seq_midi_event      5972  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                48176  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          6080  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_hda_intel          25384  2
snd_hda_codec          60340  3 snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               6904  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm_oss            38112  0
snd_pcm                67992  3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              19260  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc          8092  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_mixer_oss          14388  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd                    51460  15 snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mixer_oss
soundcore               6080  1 snd

bash-3.2# cat /etc/modprobe.conf
#
# /etc/modprobe.conf (for v2.6 kernels)
#
#

options snd-pcsp index=2

bash-3.2# cat /etc/modprobe.conf
#
# /etc/modprobe.conf (for v2.6 kernels)
#
#

options snd-pcsp index=2

Any help is really appreciated, thank you
Miche

Last edited by Miche (2009-05-03 09:48:53)

X/ax · 2009-04-28 22:41:22

For all I know, the module for pc speaker is "pcspkr", and auto-loading modules should be done in rc.conf: MODULES = (...)

Miche · 2009-04-29 18:08:31

Hi X/ax
thank you for answering..

i checked out the rc.conf file and discovered there was no mention of pcspkr. then tried

bash-3.2# lsmod | grep pcsp
pcspkr                  2196  0

seems the module is active, doesn't it?
anyway i added the module name at the end of the MODULES list in rc.conf, but rebooting gave no effect on audio playing.

bash-3.2# cat /etc/rc.conf | grep MODULES
# MODULES: Modules to load at boot-up. Prefix with a ! to blacklist.
# NOTE: Use of 'MOD_BLACKLIST' is deprecated. Please use ! in the MODULES array.
MODULES=(forcedeth snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-hwdep snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-timer sndsnd-hda-intel soundcore pcspkr)

thank you again

mcover · 2009-04-30 00:39:23

snd-pcsp and pcspkr both claim the same hardware and are both responsible for making your machine "beep" - i disabled both of them. you don't need them for your audio-playback. looking for issues of your sound-output by suspecting snd-pcsp or pcspkr is a dead end.

getting sound can sometimes be an adventure, i had that problem before. but often it just turns out to be some well hidden mute switch in alsamixer or some volume settings. it might be a problem with kde4's sound server. i don't use kde4 on a regular basis, so i can't help too much with that (back when i used kde3 i had to configure aRts but kde4 discontinued aRts in favor of phonon).

mcover · 2009-04-30 00:51:33

after a quick search for dell snd-hda-intel i found that maybe adding

options snd-hda-intel model=dell-m6

to modprobe.conf might help.

there were also a couple other options and aliases to put in modprobe.conf, but see for yourself:

sources:
http://forums.opensuse.org/1941570-post18.html
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-806620.html

sure there is lots more on this.

Last edited by mcover (2009-04-30 00:52:09)

Miche · 2009-04-30 16:51:24

thank you guys.

i'm giving up the reserch on pcsp/pcspkr and coming back checking all alsamixer and kde4 configuration.. unfortunatly i found no solution: all alsamixer channels are active and up enough, kMix channels the same. The multimedia module in Kde4 Control Settings gives no problems (except for pcsp) and clicking "Test" button makes no kind of sound, but neuther give error message and works until i stop it.

i tried adding that line to modprobe.conf too, but rebooting gave no solution.

tried reading the dell linux wiki too (http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Tech/Audio) but seems have a different card.

ideas or other checks i could do? thank you

Miche · 2009-05-03 09:47:35

mcover wrote:

snd-pcsp and pcspkr both claim the same hardware and are both responsible for making your machine "beep" - i disabled both of them. you don't need them for your audio-playback. looking for issues of your sound-output by suspecting snd-pcsp or pcspkr is a dead end.
getting sound can sometimes be an adventure, i had that problem before. but often it just turns out to be some well hidden mute switch in alsamixer or some volume settings. it might be a problem with kde4's sound server. i don't use kde4 on a regular basis, so i can't help too much with that (back when i used kde3 i had to configure aRts but kde4 discontinued aRts in favor of phonon).

absolutly needed quotation as in the end it has been discovered that in-activating Analog Loopback channels in alsamixer solved the problem

i'm not sure this was the unique step in order to get alsa working (i read and followed suggentions from many many forums and wikis) but finally i found a post where the problem for a sound blaster owner was solved disabling the iec958 channel. That was the input for a deeper research in alsamixer configuration.

Thank you very much. keep enjoyng archlinux.
Miche

Arch Linux

#1 2009-04-28 22:39:34

[SOLVED] Internal Speaker (pcsp) not working

#2 2009-04-28 22:41:22

Re: [SOLVED] Internal Speaker (pcsp) not working

#3 2009-04-29 18:08:31

Re: [SOLVED] Internal Speaker (pcsp) not working

#4 2009-04-30 00:39:23

Re: [SOLVED] Internal Speaker (pcsp) not working

#5 2009-04-30 00:51:33

Re: [SOLVED] Internal Speaker (pcsp) not working

#6 2009-04-30 16:51:24

Re: [SOLVED] Internal Speaker (pcsp) not working

#7 2009-05-03 09:47:35

Re: [SOLVED] Internal Speaker (pcsp) not working

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