OpenSuSE 11.1 No sound after recent updates

On Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:36:33 +0000, Jim Henderson wrote:

On Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:36:33 +0000, Jim Henderson wrote:

> On Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:59:28 +0000, David Gersic wrote:
>
>>> I wouldn't even reinstall it, based on my own experience - many people
>>> have reported having problems with pulseaudio, I'd remove that from
>>> the picture and diagnose from there.
>>
>> I could do that, except that in removing it, things got worse. Or at
>> least they seem worse without it.
>
> How so? You may need to restart the X session and make sure the
> processes are not running, but the system definitely should be able to
> operate without pulse

Yeah, you'd think. I thought so too. So I removed it. Then, the output
from speaker-test looks like:

speaker-test 1.0.18

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
WAV file(s)
ALSA lib conf.c:3009snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-
pulse.conf
ALSA lib pcm.c:2205snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3009snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-
pulse.conf
ALSA lib pcm.c:2205snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3009snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-
pulse.conf
ALSA lib pcm.c:2205snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3009snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-
pulse.conf
ALSA lib pcm.c:2205snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3009snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-
pulse.conf
ALSA lib pcm.c:2205snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3009snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-
pulse.conf
ALSA lib pcm.c:2205snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3009snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-
pulse.conf
ALSA lib pcm.c:2205snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3009snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-
pulse.conf
ALSA lib pcm.c:2205snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3009snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-
pulse.conf
ALSA lib pcm.c:2205snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3009snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-
pulse.conf
ALSA lib pcm.c:2205snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory


I removed:

pulseaudio
pavumeter
padevchooser
paman
paprefs
pavucontrol
pulseaudio-utils
alsa-plugins-pulse
libpulsebrowse0
libpulse-mainloop-glib0


So, like I said, "worse", or at least it seems like it's worse this way.
I'd be perfectly happy without pulse, or with it, whichever works.


> it's a layer between applications and the sound hardware, and from
> everything I've read, there aren't applications that depend on it.

That's what I thought, but I haven't yet found anything that really
explains how this is supposed to work. If I've got it right, the apps
(ie: Banshee) are supposed to talk to the sound server. This could be
alsa, or it could be pulse. If it's pulse, then pulse talks to alsa, and
alsa drives the hardware.

But, an app could want to use alsa, so pulse provides an alsa
compatibility layer, so that the app thinks it's talking to alsa, but
it's really talking to pulse, which then talks to the real alsa.

Seems overly complicated to me.


> (Most consider it an unnecessary layer because it just adds more layers
> to diagnose).

Gee, ya think?


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[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by David Gersic

[code]--------------------
zypper lr -d
...........
So I changed the 'multimedia' temporary repo to priority 20 as you can
see. The results were less than spectacular:

Hmmm . ... I dislike NNTP. When converting to the WEB the format gets totally messed up. Its very difficult to read that.

But there appears to be a problem with zypper here. I confess 95% of the time, I use Smart package manager instead of zypper , so my zypper knowledge is slim. Plus I NEVER put so many repos in at a time. But still that appears to be a clear zypper problem. It is still trying to grab the rpms from either the CD/DVD, or the OSS, or the Update directories.

I do note there were various updates to zypper since 11.1 was released. What version of zypper do you have on your PC ?

I have zypper-1.0.12-0.1.3

Anyway, clearly you know the web site of the updated alsa apps. Simply download them to your hard drive, and then install them with:

rpm -Uvh alsa-version.rpm alsa-docs-version.rpm libasound2-version.rpm alsa-devel-version.rpm alsa-utils-version.rpm alsa-plugins-pulse-version.rpm alsa-plugins.rpm alsa-oss-version.rpm

You will have to apply the correct rpm syntax and also version number of the apps.

Note you MUST restart after updating alsa.

[hendersj]

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:59:29 +0000, David Gersic wrote:

> Seems overly complicated to me.

Same here.

When I get home tonight, I'll try the test command you're using and see
if I get the same results.

>> (Most consider it an unnecessary layer because it just adds more layers
>> to diagnose).
>
> Gee, ya think?

Yep, but remember, it's me you're talking to here. ;-) (To the lurkers,
Dave and I have known each other for years)

Jim

--
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Moderator

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:56:01 +0000, oldcpu wrote:

> But there appears to be a problem with zypper here.

Yeah, I'm coming to that conclusion was well.


> I do note there were various updates to zypper since 11.1 was released.
> What version of zypper do you have on your PC ?
>
> I have zypper-1.0.12-0.1.3

Same version here.


> Anyway, clearly you know the web site of the updated alsa apps. Simply
> download them to your hard drive, and then install them with:
>
> rpm -Uvh alsa-version.rpm alsa-docs-version.rpm libasound2-version.rpm
> alsa-devel-version.rpm alsa-utils-version.rpm
> alsa-plugins-pulse-version.rpm alsa-plugins.rpm alsa-oss-version.rpm

Ok, finally, *that* worked:

linux:/home/dgersic/tmp # rpm -Uvh alsa-1.0.21-43.1.i586.rpm alsa-
oss-1.0.17-25.11.i586.rpm alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.21-17.3.i586.rpm alsa-
devel-1.0.21-43.1.i586.rpm alsa-plugins-1.0.21-17.3.i586.rpm alsa-
utils-1.0.21-13.3.i586.rpm libasound2-1.0.21-43.1.i586.rpm
warning: alsa-1.0.21-43.1.i586.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key
ID e1bf12f6
Preparing... ###########################################
[100%]
1:libasound2 ###########################################
[ 14%]
2:alsa-utils ###########################################
[ 29%]
3:alsa-oss ###########################################
[ 43%]
4:alsa ###########################################
[ 57%]
Updating etc/sysconfig/sound...
Updating etc/sysconfig/joystick...
5:alsa-plugins-pulse ###########################################
[ 71%]
6:alsa-devel ###########################################
[ 86%]
7:alsa-plugins ###########################################
[100%]


I now have all the right versions. And, sadly, I have to report that, in
the end, it turns out to be a case of "user error".

I didn't get any sound after applying the updates, so I went back to
basics. It appears that some time between the last time I used the sound
card, and Sunday, when I applied the updates, I succeeded in unplugging
the speakers from the sound card "speaker" port and plugging them in to
the "microphone" port. <sigh>

In my own defense, I was getting a nice speaker "pop" every time
alsaconfig ran, as it enabled the sound card. Just because they were
plugged in to the wrong port, I didn't get any correct sound.

I'll go beat myself over the head now.


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[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by David Gersic

I didn't get any sound after applying the updates, so I went back to basics. It appears that some time between the last time I used the sound card, and Sunday, when I applied the updates, I succeeded in unplugging the speakers from the sound card "speaker" port and plugging them in to the "microphone" port. <sigh>

Thats happened to me before ! ... usually just after the maid was cleaning ...

Glad to read you now have sound.

The zypper problem has me puzzled. I've had other users report this, but it has not happened to me, although I only use zypper rarely, ... where Smart package manager is still the packager manager I use (primarily due to my familiarity with it). ....

On Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:26:02 +0000, oldcpu wrote:

> Glad to read you now have sound.

Me too. Thanks for your help.


> The zypper problem has me puzzled. I've had other users report this,
> but it has not happened to me, although I only use zypper rarely

Is there anything you want me to try to see if we can figure out why it's
doing this?



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David Gersic dgersic_@_niu.edu
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[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by David Gersic

Is there anything you want me to try to see if we can figure out why it's doing this?

I do not know enough about zypper to propose a way forward.

It appears as if zypper is ignoring either the "priority" that you assigned (with multimedia at 20 and everything else >=99 ) or zypper is ignoring the "no" for "enable" of the repositories that you have disabled.

But since I rarely use zypper (I use smart) we need someone who knows zypper to chime in. You could write a bug report Submitting Bug Reports - openSUSE on this but if you do, they are going to ask that you repeat the problem and try different things, and you may not wish to do that, as what they ask could be disruptive of your sound.

On Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:36:01 +0000, oldcpu wrote:

> David Gersic;2059344 Wrote:
>> Is there anything you want me to try to see if we can figure out why
>> it's doing this?
> I do not know enough about zypper to propose a way forward.

If anybody does, I'd be happy to provide debugging info, but I also don't
know it well enough to do much else at this point.


> But since I rarely use zypper (I use smart) we need someone who knows
> zypper to chime in. You could write a bug report 'Submitting Bug
> Reports - openSUSE' (http://en.opensuse.org/Submit_a_Bug) on this but if
> you do, they are going to ask that you repeat the problem and try
> different things, and you may not wish to do that, as what they ask
> could be disruptive of your sound.

Yeah, I've spent enough time fighting my machine this week. I don't
really want to know if I can repeat this one.



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David Gersic dgersic_@_niu.edu
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