No Microphone On Acer Aspire 5710 After Alsa Update

Hi,
I'm having a bit of trouble with the internal mic of my laptop with Suse 10.3. It was working until like a week ago I decided to finally update the machine and the microphone stopped working. The sound works fine but it's just the microphone since the update. I updated again after that hoping it would solve the problem but it doesn't work yet. I think it detects the microphone as in KMix I get Mic, Internal Mic and line in in the inputs. Everytime I exit from KMix the capture level goes back to 0. It stays to where I set it as long as I don't quit Kmix. And the sad thing is that it was working fine till I did the update and I was using skype and everything... The kernel got updated in the update as well... so I don't exactly know which ones the problem.
I tried on skype and krecord both by recording and using the frequency spectrum. There's only a slight static on the mic and a continous clicking sound starts when I play-back the recording from the internal mic and it goes on even if I stop the play-back.

The kernel I have is 2.6.22.18-183-default
The alsa is 1.0.16.hg20080323-1.1
The sound card in Intel 82801 G.

I have the alsa-driver and alsa-firmware installed as well, they're all the latest ones from the audio repository in multimedia, the one called OpenSuse10.3_alsa_Update

Any help to get this working will be appreciated as I'm having to work with my crummy old windows laptop until the mic doesn't work... and I don't want to have to keep switching between vista and linux whenever I need the sound.

Thanks.

Shashank

Could you confirm a few things?

Provide the output of:
<span style="font-family:Courier New">cat /proc/asound/cards
rpm -qa | grep alsa
cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound</span>

Also, check your mixer to ensure your mic is not blocked there. And check your GUI (KDE or Gnome) as they can also block the mic if inappropriately set.

Hi,
Thanks for coming to my help oldcpu... here's the /proc/asound/cards:
0 [Intel ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
HDA Intel at 0xd0440000 irq 22

btw... I did the card config using alsaconf

here are the packages from rpm -qa

alsa-devel-1.0.16.hg20080323-1.1
alsa-oss-1.0.15.hg20071007-2.4
alsa-1.0.16.hg20080323-1.1
alsa-tools-devel-1.0.16.hg20080122-7.16
alsa-docs-1.0.16.hg20080323-1.1
alsa-driver-kmp-default-1.0.16.hg20080403_2.6.22.17_0.1-1.1
alsa-utils-1.0.16.hg20080315-1.3
alsa-tools-1.0.16.hg20080122-7.16
alsa-plugins-1.0.16.hg20080311-1.9
alsa-tools-gui-1.0.16.hg20080122-7.16
alsa-firmware-1.0.16.hg20080314-1.1

Here's the modprobe.d/sound
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel

I think I unblocked the mic in all the places. I tried in alsamixer and it shows it's active. In Kmixer I think it's enabled... there is some noise in the freq spectrum in krecord when capture is turned on. The mic boost is on and the capture volume is set to max but it moves down to 0 every time I quit kmixer...

I just tried doing the config with yast... and made sure the mic is turned on everywhere... but still no mic... the audio still works.

thanks


And forgot to add... here's the modprob.d/sound after configuring with yast

options snd-hda-intel enable=1 index=0 model=acer

# u1Nb.M6vFdyn6IEC:82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

I added the model acer in the yast setting as I remember you had recommended to do that in one of your older posts.

Thanks again.

0 [Intel ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
HDA Intel at 0xd0440000 irq 22 [/b]

Darn. Unfortunately, it did not identify the codec of your card. ... < sigh >

here's the modprob.d/sound after configuring with yast

options snd-hda-intel enable=1 index=0 model=acer
# u1Nb.M6vFdyn6IEC:82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

I added the model acer in the yast setting as I remember you had recommended to do that in one of your older posts.[/b]

The model options vary from PC to PC, ... how I don't recall specifying Acer as a model for the Acer-5710 audio (although it could very well be correct). We need to know the exact codec this Acer has, in order to pick the correct model option out of the ALSA-Configuration.txt file. That may, or may not, be "acer".

So, this is what I am thinking, ... with your updated alsa there are 4 possibilities:
a. you need a better model option than "acer", or
b. you need to ensure your GUI (KDE or Gnome) or your mixer (kmix or alsamixer) are not blocking your mic,
c. you need to test this mic functionality with a known functional/configured application (so maybe use something simple like arecord (see below)), and
d. you also test the mic input, in addition to the mic built in to the laptop.

Please, can you run the following two diagnostic scripts from the URL below and in turn after running them, post here the output URL that they provide.
http://en.opensuse.org/AudioTroubleshootin...led_information

(Note - I am leaving on business on monday 5-April for 4 days, and may have only very limited internet access then).

Reference arecord, take a look at the below. The arecord is applicable to more than just using a USB mic: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?t**...rding_with_ALSA

To test the recording capabilities of your USB-mic in Linux, there is a number of neat programs to try. However, since not all programs are especially designed for PlugNPlay with USB-mics, the ALSA development people has included a rather sluggish but usable recording utility that works without any fancy GUI and effect junk that could mess things up. It is called arecord and we have used its versatility above, to display devices and PCMs. It can also be used to record, hence the name.

The syntax for recording is:

arecord -f [format] -D hw:card,device -d [duration]

and if one wishes to record in cd-quality for 20 seconds using the USB microphone detected as Card #1 Device #0 as in the listing above, and save it to test.wav issue the command:

$ arecord -f cd -D hw:1,0 -d 20 test.wav

The result can be played using the aplay utility, also available in ALSA.

$ aplay -f cd test.wav

If it works, then you will be able to use the microphone in any setting, even if you have to dabble a lot to get things working correctly.[/b]

Thanks....
Here are the outputs from the two scripts
First script:
http://pastebin.ca/973922
Second script:
http://pastebin.ca/973922

The model number comes as intel 82801 G in vista.

Btw... what do you say about configuring with alsaconf? When I bought the computer the setup from yast was not working at all... but after a few alsa updates I tried aslaconf and that worked and made my mic work... Then after another update, I tried model = acer and that worked... somehow I thought you had suggested that in one of your posts to someone else... but I may be confused... anyway... it was working fine since then... And then again it stopped working so I did alsaconf... and somehow it just worked after that. this latest problem happened when I did the second-last update... and I tried to fix it all last week... but no luck yet!

Is it somehow possible to roll back my alsa to the last working version I had?

In the meantime I'm trying different models and stuff... and trying out arecord...

Thanks for helping though... and have a nice business trip (I hate those things!!!)

See you
Shashank

Here are the outputs from the two scripts
First script:
http://pastebin.ca/973922
Second script:
http://pastebin.ca/973922
[/b]

These two URLs are the same. copy and paste error, I think.

Anyway, you have an ALC268. .... Typically, rather than going by "Laptop make/model", I go by hardware-audio codec. The options for the hardware-codec/model are listed in the ALSA-Configuration.txt file (of which there IS a copy on your hard drive). .... I do recall "acer" being an option for the ALC268, but there are also others.

I'll take a look in more detail at the options for it when I get home (I'm in at the office, not on a Linux PC, preparing for tomorrow's business trip, so I can't easily check now).

My guess is the problem is some KDE or Gnome desktop function is causing you the problem. Typically in the GUI you can select which of the two mics you are using. Have you checked your audio in? Also, which desktop are you using (KDE or Gnome)?

In the case of Gnome desktop, please look here:
http://www.suseforums.net/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=225762

In the case of Gnome desktop, please look here:
http://www.suseforums.net/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=225762
[/b]

Thanks... I'm using KDE... so basically trying with arecord and krecord... still banging my head against the wall!

Oops!
Here are the two URLs again:
http://pastebin.ca/973922
http://nopaste.com/p/a1YLbprAv

and I'm using KDE

Thanks

One thing you could try, is after checking to ensure your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file is correct (ie containing the "model=acer" edit), restart your alsa in a konsole/xterm with root permissions by typing: <span style="font-family:Courier New"> rcalsasound restart</span>

Then test your mic.

Also, its not clear to me which mic you are trying to get working? The one integrated to your laptop, or the external mic. Please clarify.