Arch Linux

blargh

Member

Registered: 2011-06-15

Posts: 5

Newly installed Arch with gnome3 - Sound issue

Hello fellow archs!

I'm having such a huge issue at the moment with the sound.

Got alsa installed, and alsaconfig cant find a thing on my motherboard.

I will try to post the essential information so maybe someone will notice that I have done something wrong

lspci | grep Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)

Now one wierd part:
Doing aplay -l in gnome terminal

aplay -l
aplay: device_list:240: no soundcards found...

Straight from terminal before starting gnome up

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC889A Analog [ALC889A Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC889A Digital [ALC889A Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I checked in modprobe and tried to follow the guide http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p= … ostcount=2 but couldnt find my ACL889 inside the list for model, I just tried something.

# /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf (for v2.6 kernels)
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel
options snd-hda-intel model=6stack-dig
blacklist snd_intel8x0m

Please help! This new gnome3 looks really nice and nothing else except the sound issue seems to be wrong.

Thanks.

jayd3e

Member

Registered: 2011-03-19

Posts: 33

Re: Newly installed Arch with gnome3 - Sound issue

I would say try using pulse.  I'm on a windows PC right now so I can't tell you specifics.  But right click on the sound applet in the upper right, and go to properties.  In one of the tabs, there should be a dropdown to change sound architecture.  Try that.  B/c I believe aplay -l lists the devices that are compatible with ALSA atm, and nothing else.

triplesquarednine

Member

Registered: 2011-04-12

Posts: 630

Re: Newly installed Arch with gnome3 - Sound issue

Pulseaudio could fix the problem, but it is also possible that it is indeed causing the problem.

when PA is in use, alsamixer will see PA as your soundcard - instead of your hardware. (this can create issues)

what happens if you open alsamixer from the commandline??? (also relying on -aplay isn't always the best thing to do - i have 2 external soundcards that alsamixer (and also Jackd) can use, but PA and -aplay cannot see or use).

so you might want to try using PA, but if that doesn't work - try disabling PA and seeing if ALSA can find your card then.

have you used this soundcard with linux before??

ninez

blargh

Member

Registered: 2011-06-15

Posts: 5

Re: Newly installed Arch with gnome3 - Sound issue

Hey guys, thanks for the help...

I was clicking around and noticed why i didnt get aplay -l correct. Wasnt it the group audio with my user..

But! I noticed something. I can't add my soundcard as my default one, but I can sure see it in alsamixer if I pick it.

I have been trying what the wiki been saying, either do it by kernel or use of the ~/.asoundrc which doesnt work as I get the message that the file is either to old or corrupted.

lsmod|grep '^snd' | column -t
snd_hda_codec_realtek  297871  1
snd_hda_intel          22186   0
snd_hda_codec          77703   2  snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              6342    1  snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                73736   2  snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_timer              19488   1  snd_pcm
snd                    57384   6  snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
snd_page_alloc         7161    2  snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

ls -l /dev/snd
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root       60 Jun 16 18:23 by-path
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  8 Jun 16 18:23 controlC0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  7 Jun 16 18:23 hwC0D2
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  6 Jun 16 18:24 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  5 Jun 16 18:24 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  4 Jun 16 18:24 pcmC0D1c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  3 Jun 16 18:24 pcmC0D1p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  2 Jun 16 18:23 pcmC0D2c
crw-rw----  1 root audio 116,  1 Jun 16 18:23 seq
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 33 Jun 16 18:23 timer

Tried to remove pulseaudio by sudo pacman -Rd pulseaudio.. but it has so many depencies so it doesnt let me.

Any Ideas?

blargh

Member

Registered: 2011-06-15

Posts: 5

Re: Newly installed Arch with gnome3 - Sound issue

Pulseaudio could fix the problem, but it is also possible that it is indeed causing the problem.

when PA is in use, alsamixer will see PA as your soundcard - instead of your hardware. (this can create issues)

what happens if you open alsamixer from the commandline??? (also relying on -aplay isn't always the best thing to do - i have 2 external soundcards that alsamixer (and also Jackd) can use, but PA and -aplay cannot see or use).

so you might want to try using PA, but if that doesn't work - try disabling PA and seeing if ALSA can find your card then.

have you used this soundcard with linux before??

ninez

By the way. You are right, PA is default in alsamixer. But I have no idea how to disable it.

triplesquarednine

Member

Registered: 2011-04-12

Posts: 630

Re: Newly installed Arch with gnome3 - Sound issue

Hey guys, thanks for the help...

I was clicking around and noticed why i didnt get aplay -l correct. Wasnt it the group audio with my user..

But! I noticed something. I can't add my soundcard as my default one, but I can sure see it in alsamixer if I pick it.

I have been trying what the wiki been saying, either do it by kernel or use of the ~/.asoundrc which doesnt work as I get the message that the file is either to old or corrupted.

lsmod|grep '^snd' | column -t
snd_hda_codec_realtek  297871  1
snd_hda_intel          22186   0
snd_hda_codec          77703   2  snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              6342    1  snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                73736   2  snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_timer              19488   1  snd_pcm
snd                    57384   6  snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
snd_page_alloc         7161    2  snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

ls -l /dev/snd
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root       60 Jun 16 18:23 by-path
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  8 Jun 16 18:23 controlC0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  7 Jun 16 18:23 hwC0D2
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  6 Jun 16 18:24 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  5 Jun 16 18:24 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  4 Jun 16 18:24 pcmC0D1c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  3 Jun 16 18:24 pcmC0D1p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  2 Jun 16 18:23 pcmC0D2c
crw-rw----  1 root audio 116,  1 Jun 16 18:23 seq
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 33 Jun 16 18:23 timer

Tried to remove pulseaudio by sudo pacman -Rd pulseaudio.. but it has so many depencies so it doesnt let me.

Any Ideas?

wrong approach - if using gnome-shell it does need to be there.

I not only have an idea ~ but i do know how to fix your problem (i just need to read up, because off-hand i can't tell you how to do it).

i ALWAYS disable PA - because it is crap!   i also think it is stupid that gnome -developers decided to make it a static dependency, when there are so many issues with it.

i'll get back to you in a little while, okay?  (sometime later tonight, i just got home from work and need to relax / eat / etc..

cheerz

triplesquarednine

Member

Registered: 2011-04-12

Posts: 630

Re: Newly installed Arch with gnome3 - Sound issue

By the way. You are right, PA is default in alsamixer. But I have no idea how to disable it.

ya, when i wrote that i was dead-positive that would be the case. PA tries to act as your hardware (even though it isn't even low-latency or kernel leverl and shouldn't be trying to play that role at all - but does by design! ).

i'll be back in a while, we'll get this sorted out!

ninez

triplesquarednine

Member

Registered: 2011-04-12

Posts: 630

Re: Newly installed Arch with gnome3 - Sound issue

lol. nevermind - i already have a post elsewhere on how to disable pulseaudio in gnome3 (in fact, it is a post here in the forums!)

how dumb of me to forget

go here, scroll halfway down the page;

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=117986

i think i cover everything there...although i do remember that PA likes to startup again, if you kill it...hmmm.

if you run into this problem, google something like "disable pulseaudio + autospawn = no". 

another option would be to do something like this;

(from a terminal type)

su -c 'cp /usr/bin/pulseaudio /usr/bin/pulseaudio-f-u && rm /usr/bin/pulseaudio'

(you will be asked for your password)

this command renames pulseaudio (adding f-u to the end for fun! - because i don't like PA - and because we need to change the executables name so it is never used / found) and the second command deletes /usr/bin/pulseaudio...  this will make it impossible for PA to be re-spawned.. regardless, even if PA was running (in theory)- by following the rest of my guide in the link, ALSA will be in use, not PA.

this method will also leave you with a backup of PA's executable, in case you decide you want to try to get it working later on. myself, as a jackd-user, i have always found PulseAudio to be an annoyance, and not useful.

you might also want to take a look at the pulseaudio archwiki - in case you have missed something, that may be stopping PA from working properly (as in if you want or need PA - checking through the wiki, might be helpful, before following my guide);

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio

your problem should be fixed one way or another after this

let me know if you run into any problems, k? 

ninez

Last edited by triplesquarednine (2011-06-17 05:27:34)

blargh

Member

Registered: 2011-06-15

Posts: 5

Re: Newly installed Arch with gnome3 - Sound issue

Thanks alot ninez,

I will try this as soon as I get back from my vacation and get back to you!

Regards,
kris

triplesquarednine

Member

Registered: 2011-04-12

Posts: 630

Re: Newly installed Arch with gnome3 - Sound issue

Thanks alot ninez,

I will try this as soon as I get back from my vacation and get back to you!

Regards,
kris

no problem Kris, i'll keep an eye out