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Antum
n00b
Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 15
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 Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 10:11 am Post subject: [SOLVED] -- ALSA looks good but still no sound! |
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Hello all,
I ummed and arred about posting this because it's probably getting a bit tired hearing about ALSA problems especially when I think it's something basic I have done wrong.
I've been working on getting sound working for the past two days but haven't had any luck.
I have compiled the kernel with the relevant sound modules, and I followed the gentoo alsa guide word for word and alsasound says it is booting up fine, no troubles there. So I check out the alsamixer to have a look at sound levels and it says they're all set to MAX and none of them are muted.
I emerged Amarok and tried playing songs through there but still no sound. I've checked things like cabling and amps and speakers but they're all fine.
Should I post some code from files?
Has anyone got any ideas? I've read lots of posts and people have similar problems but they;re just not the same... the fact that everything looks like its working sweet leads me to beleive it is something small I haven't tried..
Thanks all..
Last edited by Antum on Wed Sep 22, 2004 7:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jimboberella
Guru
Joined: 19 Jun 2002
Posts: 358
Location: Brisbane/Australia
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| Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 10:29 am Post subject: |
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| are the sound modules actually getting loaded? |
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Antum
n00b
Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 10:45 am Post subject: |
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I'm such a newbie, is this how you check ?
| Code: |
bash-2.05b# lsmod
Module Size Used by Tainted: P
snd-pcm-oss 35304 0 (unused)
snd-mixer-oss 11992 0 [snd-pcm-oss]
snd-seq-midi 3392 0 (autoclean) (unused)
snd-via82xx 12740 1 (autoclean)
snd-pcm 56840 1 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss snd-via82xx]
snd-ac97-codec 47132 0 (autoclean) [snd-via82xx]
snd-page-alloc 5880 0 (autoclean) [snd-via82xx snd-pcm]
snd-mpu401-uart 3264 0 (autoclean) [snd-via82xx]
snd-rawmidi 13764 0 (autoclean) [snd-seq-midi snd-mpu401-uart]
snd-seq-oss 24864 0 (unused)
snd-seq-midi-event 3552 0 [snd-seq-midi snd-seq-oss]
snd-seq 34544 2 [snd-seq-midi snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event]
snd-timer 14404 0 [snd-pcm snd-seq]
snd-seq-device 3904 0 [snd-seq-midi snd-rawmidi snd-seq-oss snd-seq]
snd 32420 0 [snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-seq-midi snd-via82xx snd-pcm snd-ac97-codec snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event snd-seq snd-timer snd-seq-device]
nvidia 1963136 0 (unused)
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paranerd
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 09 Apr 2003
Posts: 129
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| Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 1:18 pm Post subject: Re: ALSA looks good but still no sound! |
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| Antum wrote: | | I ummed and arred about posting this because it's probably getting a bit tired hearing about ALSA problems |
I'll check back tonight, Antum, when I get home - that is if you're still having problems then. My gentoo machine is there and maybe I'll be able to offer something more practical than:
I don't think you should hesitate to ask for help about ALSA. A lot of us are having problems with ALSA., as you noted.
Anyway, I just wanted to quickly say that. Later. |
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chance2105
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 10 Jun 2004
Posts: 112
Location: Norman, OK USA
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| Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 1:34 pm Post subject: Amarok ... |
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I see you tried Amarok. If I'm not mistaken, that's a KDE application. To get it to work, I bet the problem lies in your aRts setup -- check to make sure the aRts server is starts at startup, and test it. (There's a quick small 'test' button in the aRts pages of the Control Center.)
Other than that, to check to see if your ALSA modules are working, I'd try using an application that doesn't route through a sound server (eg aRts). Try using XMMS using the Alsa or the OSS sound plugins. If XMMS works and Amarok doesn't then you have a test case to whittle down the problem. |
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Antum
n00b
Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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Hi,
I looked at the aRts Control Tool and as far as I can tell it is all ok,
However when I tried you're idea of using XMMS I set the output plugin to libALSA and tried to play a sound file... I got this error:
| Quote: | | Please Check That... Your soundcard is configured properly, You have the correct output plugin selected, No other program is blocking the soundcard |
I tried each output plugin (except for diskwriter) and configured them in different ways. I made sure I didn't have amarok running in the background anywhere...
So this is the first error I get about ALSA not working, what could it mean because I can do this with no error... and also no sound.
| Code: |
bash-2.05b# aplay /home/Shared/Maroon\ 5-She\ Will\ Be\ Loved.mp3
Playing raw data '/home/Shared/Maroon 5-She Will Be Loved.mp3' : Unsigned 8 bit, Rate 8000 Hz, Mono
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If you have any more ideas, no matter how simple or complex please let me know |
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Jakub
Guru
Joined: 04 Oct 2003
Posts: 377
Location: Warsaw, Poland
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| Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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Testing ALSA with amarok is not a good idea. I couldn't get it to play anything with the gstreamer plugin when I installed it (it turned out I needed to install various gst-plugin-* packages). Amarok (the latest versions, 1.1beta2 and cvs) uses either arts (bad), gstreamer (better but still not good) or xine (the best) plugins (I'm not sure about earlier versions).
The best way to test it with aplay (as you did above). Actually I do not know why I'm writing this since I have no idea what you could be doing wrong. You do seem to have the modules loaded (maybe check if you've chosen the correct ones for your sound card?) and you unmuted all the mixers...
I take it for granted that you're sure that you're speakers are connected correctly? Does sound work in that other (evil) OS that you maybe have also installed?
EDIT: aplay will not play mp3 files (although I do not know if it should refuse to work or play garbage). Try it with a wav file.
EDIT2: Btw, can your sound card do hardawe mixing? If not, then that may be the problem (that something blocked the sound card). That would be the best explanation I could come up with. |
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Antum
n00b
Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 8:01 pm Post subject: |
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Hi,
Thanks for the input,
Well i wasn't sure if the modules were loaded properly so i went into
| Code: | | /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.4 |
and added snd-via82xx
now the output from lsmod looks a bit different
| Code: |
bash-2.05b# lsmod
Module Size Used by Tainted: P
nvidia 1963136 0 (unused)
snd-via82xx 12740 0
snd-pcm 56840 0 [snd-via82xx]
snd-timer 14404 0 [snd-pcm]
snd-ac97-codec 47132 0 [snd-via82xx]
snd-page-alloc 5880 0 [snd-via82xx snd-pcm]
snd-mpu401-uart 3264 0 [snd-via82xx]
snd-rawmidi 13764 0 [snd-mpu401-uart]
snd-seq-device 3904 0 [snd-rawmidi]
snd 32420 0 [snd-via82xx snd-pcm snd-timer snd-ac97-codecsnd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device]
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Is this better or worse than before?
And now when I use aplay, to play something simple like a WAVE file it takes ages to do anything and then it says it is playing the sound but nothing happens and then it quits.
This is the output.
| Code: |
bash-2.05b# aplay /usr/kde/3.3/share/sounds/KDE_Dialog_Appear.wav
Playing WAVE '/usr/kde/3.3/share/sounds/KDE_Dialog_Appear.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 22050 Hz, Mono
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I have no other OS to test this on, but when I was using windows it worked, I can test the amp and speakers using an external cd player or turntables and they work fine, my cable is firmly plugged into the output socket on the soundcard and leads straight to the amplifier and is plugged into the correct AUX input.
Thanks for help. |
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Jakub
Guru
Joined: 04 Oct 2003
Posts: 377
Location: Warsaw, Poland
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| Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 8:15 pm Post subject: |
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I have a system with a 2.4 kernel and although sound worked sometimes some app blocked it. What helped was reloading the modules (I just did
from the command line).
But if you've rebooted and it still doesn't work then that won't help you.
You can also put the snd-pcm-oss module in your modules autoload file (I believe it's for oss emulation but again that's not your problem).
(I have a sb live and it just worked, other cards are more problematic it would seem). |
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Antum
n00b
Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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Jakub: I'm not sure how to check if it can do hardware mixing ?
Where can I check for alsa errors or warnings, because the only place I've been able to find one is when trying to play an mp3 through XMMS...
I'm really stumped for ideas  |
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Jakub
Guru
Joined: 04 Oct 2003
Posts: 377
Location: Warsaw, Poland
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| Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 10:05 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not sure where you can check it (ALSA's docs are non-existant or outdated or confusing). If it's an onboard sound card, it probably can't do hardware mixing but it should be able to play one source of sound at a time. And you are sure that you have the VT82C686 card?
In that case someone more knowledgeable (or someone who has that card) will have to help you.
As for alsa errors, in my case they were displayed in the console (it happened once when the alsaconf script put some strange options in /etc/modules.d/alsa). But when the card was blocked by something else, nothing was displayed, and e.g. aplay did nothing, just waited. When it was unblocked, it finally played the file.
Here's ALSA's page for that sound card, maybe youll find something there:
http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/doc-php/template.php?company=VIA&card=&chip=via82c686a&module=via82xx |
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strider3700
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 10 Apr 2003
Posts: 94
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| Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 3:23 am Post subject: |
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I'm curious what kernel you are running? My sound worked beautifully forever. Yesterday I went to 2.4.27 and tried installing mythTV with it's extra modules and now no more sound. I rolled back to 2.4.26 and still no sound so I'm not sure what I've borked up.
Now that I think about it it's probably not an issue with the kernel since my old one doesn't fix it. I wonder what other modules could need rebuilt |
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strider3700
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 10 Apr 2003
Posts: 94
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| Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 4:06 am Post subject: |
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ok I ran the alsaconf command as root as described in
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=224769&highlight=alsa
I have sound. The volume setting has changed to be really quiet and I get brutal frapping now and again out of the channel that wasn't there before but it's a start |
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Antum
n00b
Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 5:51 am Post subject: |
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| How do i check what version of alsa-drivers I have emerged ? |
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strider3700
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 10 Apr 2003
Posts: 94
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| Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 6:02 am Post subject: |
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| emerge -s alsa-driver will tell you what you have and what the newest is |
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Antum
n00b
Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 9:23 am Post subject: |
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I've done lots of things since my last post, and I've 'sort of' got sound working, but not really. It makes this really wierd buzzing sound when nothing is playing and then when I play an mp3 in XMMS it sounds REALLY distorted and quiet...
I get the feeling I'm almost there but not quite.
Here's what I did to get from no sound to some crap sound:
Started off by looking at list of stuff in my computer:
| Code: | bash-2.05b# lspci | grep -i audio
0000:00:07.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
0000:00:0b.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq 5880 AudioPCI (rev 02)
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After cringing I realised there a two listings for Audio Controllers... and one was a PCI one... Man im an idiot...I thought to myself that it is more likely the PCI one is getting used.
I then read that link Jakub posted and went to the different page for my Ensoniq 5880, and after searching google for the chipset I found what I wanted, the ens1371 module.
I read on the installation page that I should be able to type:
| Code: |
bash-2.05b# modinfo soundcore
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To check that I have the sound core module built in (or however you say it) to my kernel, it turned out I had it 'built in' like a * instead of M... I really am an idiot, so i corrected that, rebuilt my kernel and copied over the old one then rebooted. (Also checked I had the Ensoniq checked as a M as well)
I followed the Gentoo Alsa guide by replacing all my via82xx with snd-ens1371. It now looked and felt like I was doing something right, I unmuted all the channels using alsamixer.
Now I'm up to the stage I described at the beginning of this post. I wrote all that boring stuff out for two reasons 1: to show you how silly I am and 2: just in case someone else is just as silly 
So... Can anyone help me out with this new problem... should I say this post is solved and just add to another ALSA problem post or carry on in here?
Thanks!
PS: aplay still doesn't do anything, doesn't even make distorted sounds |
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Antum
n00b
Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 9:28 am Post subject: |
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Aaaahhh!!!
jst checked alsamixer again and the sound levels were turned right back down, I put them up and now it plays mp3's undistorted but there is a hang of a lot of line noise or something,, its just a high pitch hum all the time.. like something is turned on full bore..
Thanks, |
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Antum
n00b
Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2004 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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SOLVED!!!!!!
Yay...
So to get rid of the line noise I had to mute the IEC958 channel in alsamixer.
It works sweet, I can now get on to the other features of linux I want to install,
Thanks for everyones help and input I really appreciate it, and I hope people who are having problems with ALSA can learn something from my troubles.
Um, how do I put solved in the subject like those other solved posts? |
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