Audio not working in 11.2 RC2

[TheBlackCat]

Audio has never worked in 11.2 for me. I was hoping it would work in RC2, but still nothing. It doesn't work in flash, KDE programs, or gnome programs. It does work, however, in the YaST sound test module. It does not work, though, if I login as root. In KDE when I try to open a sound or video file I get:

Notification from Phonon: KDE's Multim...(cut off)
The audio playback device HDA Intel (STAC92xx Analog) does not work. Falling back to .

I only have one audio device (device 0 in yast). I am using KDE 4.3 repos, and the kernel-desktop X86-64 kernel (which was selected by default). Sound worked fine in 11.1 and continues to work fine (I am dual booting). Changing the Phonon backend does not change anything.

[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by TheBlackCat

Audio has never worked in 11.2 for me. I was hoping it would work in RC2, but still nothing. It doesn't work in flash, KDE programs, or gnome programs. It does work, however, in the YaST sound test module. It does not work, though, if I login as root. In KDE when I try to open a sound or video file I get:

Notification from Phonon: KDE's Multim...(cut off)
The audio playback device HDA Intel (STAC92xx Analog) does not work. Falling back to .

I only have one audio device (device 0 in yast). I am using KDE 4.3 repos, and the kernel-desktop X86-64 kernel (which was selected by default). Sound worked fine in 11.1 and continues to work fine (I am dual booting). Changing the Phonon backend does not change anything.

This could be worth writing a bug report on. There is guidance here on writing bug reports: Submitting Bug Reports - openSUSE ... ensure you raise it against component sound.

How about running the diagnostic script and posting here the output URL provided when the script completes? (be certain to select YES to the SHARE/UPLOAD option):

/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

When you post your bug report, run that script with the "no upoad option" which will put a text file in the /tmp directory called alsa-info.txt. Include that file as an attachment to your bug report.

/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh --no-upload

[TheBlackCat]

Here is the link: http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=00...8083ee5620e7f7

[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by TheBlackCat

Here is the link: http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=00...8083ee5620e7f7

Thanks.

I note 2 hardware devices on your PC for sound:

!!Soundcards recognised by ALSA
!!-----------------------------

 0 [Intel          ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
                      HDA Intel at 0xf6ffc000 irq 21
 1 [Em28xxAudio    ]: Empia Em28xx AudEm28xx Audio - Em28xx Audio
                      Empia Em28xx Audio

where the HDA-Intel codec info gives:

!!HDA-Intel Codec information
!!---------------------------
Codec: SigmaTel STAC9205

But clearly there is something seriously wrong in the card setup:

!!Amixer output
!!-------------

!!-------Mixer controls for card 0 [Intel]

ALSA lib conf.c:3601:(snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-pulse.conf
ALSA lib control.c:902:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL hw:0
amixer: Control device hw:0 open error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3601:(snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-pulse.conf
ALSA lib control.c:902:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL hw:0
amixer: Mixer attach hw:0 error: No such file or directory

!!-------Mixer controls for card 1 [Em28xxAudio]

ALSA lib conf.c:3601:(snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-pulse.conf
ALSA lib control.c:902:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL hw:1
amixer: Control device hw:1 open error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3601:(snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /etc/alsa-pulse.conf
ALSA lib control.c:902:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL hw:1
amixer: Mixer attach hw:1 error: No such file or directory

I note: "Cannot access file /etc/alsa-pulse.conf". That should be accessible with NO problem.

A stac9205 should work with no problem with 11.2 RC2. Thats very puzzling. Your other sound device I know NOTHING about. Is it a PCI card?

How did you install RC2 ? Was it a clean install ?

Immediately after reboot, and after confirming your sound does not work, as a regular user (in your /home/user directory) with your PC connected to the internet, type:

dmesg > dmesg.txt && curl -F file=@dmesg.txt nopaste.com/a

and post the URL. I typically search for all occurences of "snd", "alsa", "hda" which sometimes gives a hint as to the sound problem.

Regardless, you should IMHO immediately write a bug report: Submitting Bug Reports - openSUSE

[TheBlackCat]

I submitted a bug report.

Originally Posted by oldcpu

I note 2 hardware devices on your PC for sound:

The Em28xxAudio device is my USB TV tuner (Hauppauge HVR 950). This problem exists whether it is connected or not.

Originally Posted by oldcpu

But clearly there is something seriously wrong in the card setup:

--snip--

I note: "Cannot access file /etc/alsa-pulse.conf". That should be accessible with NO problem.

pulseaudio conflicts with the kde4_pure pattern, so it got uninstalled when I installed that pattern. I reinstalled it but it didn't help. Here is the new output:

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=61...4f1fe2c4b9731d

Originally Posted by oldcpu

How did you install RC2 ? Was it a clean install ?

No, I did a clean install of M7 or M8, though.

Originally Posted by oldcpu

Immediately after reboot, and after confirming your sound does not work, as a regular user (in your /home/user directory) with your PC connected to the internet, type: ...

I'll have to do that later, my computer is running some stuff I can't stop right now.

[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by TheBlackCat

I reinstalled it but it didn't help. Here is the new output:

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=61...4f1fe2c4b9731d

Actually, things are MUCH better now. I note this:

!!Amixer output
!!-------------
!!-------Mixer controls for card 0 [Intel]
Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf6ffc000 irq 21'
Mixer name : 'SigmaTel STAC9205'
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
Mono: Playback 64 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
Front Left: Playback 64 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]
Front Right: Playback 64 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
Front Left: Playback 64 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]
Front Right: Playback 64 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
Front Left: Playback 255 [100%]
Front Right: Playback 255 [100%]

Note what I have highlighted in red. Your PC appears to have 3 volume controls (4 if one counts the headphones): Master, Speaker, and PCM. I believe for the speakers to have volume, you MUST unmute Speaker (and for Headphones must unmute Headphone). They are muted now according to your mixer.

[TheBlackCat]

Changing the volume fixed things in some cases, but not other. For instance some video files will have sound, others won't. Flash doesn't have sound, but flv files on my hard drive do. It does not appear to be dependent on the file type, since some videos with a certain file type will have sound but others won't. Some programs produce sound, others don't. I don't get it.

[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by TheBlackCat

Changing the volume fixed things in some cases, but not other. For instance some video files will have sound, others won't. Flash doesn't have sound, but flv files on my hard drive do. It does not appear to be dependent on the file type, since some videos with a certain file type will have sound but others won't. Some programs produce sound, others don't. I don't get it.

This is likely because of a problem with codecs.

Note the intent behind Milestone releases and RC releases is more to test the basic applications packaged by Novell/SuSE-GmbH, than to test 3rd party apps that Novell/SuSE-GmbH deliberately NOT package. And if one is to test such 3rd party apps, it helps if one really understands some of the user basics in how the codecs are packaged for openSUSE. It also helps if one understands specific details are needed so that the problem can be examined.

For Flash NOT having sound, it could be because of:

• the web site you visited
• the plugin you are using (gecko-mediaplayer, or mplayerplug-in, or no plugin - I can can play flash with firefox with no plugin).
• a 64-bit problem with flash - some users experience such problems - I saw something along these lines on my laptop (64-bit) that I was able to solve by adding a symbolic link per a post on this forum
• libflashsupport causing problems - simply remove it, but keep flash-player

When you say some video files have sound and others do not, that is too general to nail down what codecs are providing the problem (by their absence) or what players have the problem. You need to specify what media player you are using (version # and who packaged it) and you need to specific what audio codec is in the video file (install mediainfo from packman to help you with that).

Note if one is going to help test, then one HAS to provide the detailed information, else there is really little point as its not possible to either help or replicate the problem.

In my view providing help on a milestone or on a beta release should NOT be the same as elsewhere in the forum. One EXPECTS that milestone/beta testers are willing to provide detailed information when they have a failure. A good way to do this, is imagine YOU are the person who is trying to help. What do you want to know? Do YOU want to know what media PLAYER? Do you want to know what type of video/audio FILE? If you do NOT know, how would YOU go about providing help?

[TheBlackCat]

The reason I haven't given more details is because I haven't finished working out exactly what the problem is. It appears that wmvhd sound does not work ever, not on xine, gstreamer, mplayer, or vlc-based media players. mkv sound works sometimes, and does not appear dependent on the underlying codec, although it may be an issue of 2.0 sound not working while 5.1 does (no, I don't have that backwards). Avi seems to have sound, as does quicktime and mpeg. I do not have any video plugins in firefox besides the default mozplugger and silverlight. mkv seems to have particular problems on phonon-based media players, but that is not new for 11.2. I do not have libflashsupport nor have I ever had it.