ALSA sound not working

English Hardware
1

I have a Gigabyte GA-73PVM MB with an onboard ALC889 codec. Sound works OK in 32-bit OpenSUSE 11.1, but with 64-bit OpenSUSE 11.3 I get no sound. I tried to follow the guidelines at SDB:Intel-HDA sound problems - openSUSE but when I edit the file 50-sound.conf and restart the server it complains that ‘model’ is an unrecognised keyword. I can’t get it to accept any changes.
Anyone know how to get this working ? The driver is snd-hda-intel.
Script ‘aadebug’ says that alsa is installed correctly.
AM

2

I’ve never heard of Script ‘aadebug’. Perhaps you could enlighten me ?

You say the server complained “model” is an unrecognized keyword. Can you post the EXACT syntax of the 50-sound.conf file that you tried ?

If you provide some more information, we can also do a quality check of your PC’s audio configuration and possibly provide better recommendations (ie the information suggested to be provided per our multimedia stickie: http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/multimedia/309430-welcome-multimedia-sub-area.html ) , and I quote it here to make this easier for you:

Please post in this … sub-forum, providing in your post the following information:

/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

and select the SHARE/UPLOAD option and after the script finishes it will give you a URL to pass to the support personnel. Please post here the output URL/website-address that gives. Just the URL/website-address. You may need to run that script twice (the first time with root permissions to update in the /usr/sbin directory, and the second time to get the URL).
.
Note if for some reason that gives you no website/url/address then run it with the no-upload option:

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

and post the file /etc/alsa-info.txt it creates to Pastebin.com and press SUBMIT on that site and again post here the URL/website-address it provides.

.
… some clarification on running the script “alsa-info.sh” … when you run:

/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

you should get something like this (if it asks for an update, select NO):
http://thumbnails33.imagebam.com/9280/a5973e92794041.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/a5973e92794041)

followed by this (select the SHARE/UPLOAD option):
http://thumbnails30.imagebam.com/9280/5e84f992794044.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/5e84f992794044)

followed by this (its quickest if you simply select ‘NO’ to seeing the output - you will see it on the web page) :
http://thumbnails32.imagebam.com/9280/214da092794048.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/214da092794048)

followed by this (where in RED is the URL).
http://thumbnails23.imagebam.com/9280/d9858092794051.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/d9858092794051)

Just post the URL you get (similar to the RED URL in my example, but yours will be different).

Again, if you can not get that, then run this with the no upload option:

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


which will create the file /tmp/alsa-info.txt.  Copy that file and paste it on [Pastebin.com](http://pastebin.com) and press submit. That will give you a URL address. Please post that URL here.

Also provide the following:
  • in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: rpm -qa ‘alsa’ #and post output here
  • in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: rpm -qa ‘pulse’ #and post output here
  • in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: rpm -q libasound2 #and post output here
  • in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: uname -a #and post output here
  • …
  • for openSUSE-11.2 or newer, in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: cat /etc/modprobe.d/50-sound.conf #and post output here
3

I did a surf on this and found:
Aadebug - ALSA wiki
… last update May-2007.

I note the alsa-info.sh script (that I requested you run) is MUCH newer and MUCH more up to date.

4

Thanks for this. Here’s a detailed response.

‘aadebug’ is a script I found on the alsa website at
Aadebug - ALSA wiki.
[Your point noted…!]

This is the ‘50-sound.conf’ that I tried:

options snd slots=snd-hda-intel model=auto

WL76.Z5VyitRBNX0:MCP73 High Definition Audio

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

and when I did ‘rcalsasound restart’ it gave a bunch of error messages, and
dmesg showed this: [13282.096136] snd: Unknown parameter `model’
Originally, the .conf file was the same but without the ‘model=auto’ bit.

The data generated by ‘alsa-info.sh’ is at:
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=0af82309b0c8bbcc9f04fd84fa131bb177451b15

rpm -qa ‘alsa’:

alsa-utils-1.0.23-1.8.x86_64
alsa-oss-1.0.17-29.2.x86_64
alsa-1.0.23-2.12.x86_64
alsa-oss-32bit-1.0.17-29.2.x86_64
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.23-1.9.x86_64
alsa-plugins-32bit-1.0.23-1.9.x86_64
alsa-plugins-1.0.23-1.9.x86_64
alsa-plugins-pulse-32bit-1.0.23-1.9.x86_64

rpm -qa ‘pulse’:

libpulse-mainloop-glib0-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-utils-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
libpulse-browse0-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
libpulse0-32bit-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.23-1.9.x86_64
pulseaudio-module-gconf-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-module-zeroconf-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
alsa-plugins-pulse-32bit-1.0.23-1.9.x86_64
libpulse0-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-esound-compat-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-module-lirc-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-module-x11-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64

rpm -q libasound2:

libasound2-1.0.23-2.12.x86_64

uname -a:
Linux pcc 2.6.34.7-0.7-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT 2010-12-13 11:13:53 +0100 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

5

The syntax looks ok, but I’m not 100% certain. Had it been me, I would have tried:


options snd-hda-intel model=auto
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# WL76.Z5VyitRBNX0:MCP73 High Definition Audio
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

I checked for an ALC889 and I noted the following list of options (that included auto) :

ALC882/883/885/888/889
======================
  3stack-dig	3-jack with SPDIF I/O
  6stack-dig	6-jack digital with SPDIF I/O
  arima		Arima W820Di1
  targa		Targa T8, MSI-1049 T8
  asus-a7j	ASUS A7J
  asus-a7m	ASUS A7M
  macpro	MacPro support
  mb5		Macbook 5,1
  macmini3	Macmini 3,1
  mba21		Macbook Air 2,1
  mbp3		Macbook Pro rev3
  imac24	iMac 24'' with jack detection
  imac91	iMac 9,1
  w2jc		ASUS W2JC
  3stack-2ch-dig	3-jack with SPDIF I/O (ALC883)
  alc883-6stack-dig	6-jack digital with SPDIF I/O (ALC883)
  3stack-6ch    3-jack 6-channel
  3stack-6ch-dig 3-jack 6-channel with SPDIF I/O
  6stack-dig-demo  6-jack digital for Intel demo board
  acer		Acer laptops (Travelmate 3012WTMi, Aspire 5600, etc)
  acer-aspire	Acer Aspire 9810
  acer-aspire-4930g Acer Aspire 4930G
  acer-aspire-6530g Acer Aspire 6530G
  acer-aspire-7730g Acer Aspire 7730G
  acer-aspire-8930g Acer Aspire 8930G
  medion	Medion Laptops
  medion-md2	Medion MD2
  targa-dig	Targa/MSI
  targa-2ch-dig	Targa/MSI with 2-channel
  targa-8ch-dig Targa/MSI with 8-channel (MSI GX620)
  laptop-eapd   3-jack with SPDIF I/O and EAPD (Clevo M540JE, M550JE)
  lenovo-101e	Lenovo 101E
  lenovo-nb0763	Lenovo NB0763
  lenovo-ms7195-dig Lenovo MS7195
  lenovo-sky	Lenovo Sky
  haier-w66	Haier W66
  3stack-hp	HP machines with 3stack (Lucknow, Samba boards)
  6stack-dell	Dell machines with 6stack (Inspiron 530)
  mitac		Mitac 8252D
  clevo-m540r	Clevo M540R (6ch + digital)
  clevo-m720	Clevo M720 laptop series
  fujitsu-pi2515 Fujitsu AMILO Pi2515
  fujitsu-xa3530 Fujitsu AMILO XA3530
  3stack-6ch-intel Intel DG33* boards
  intel-alc889a	Intel IbexPeak with ALC889A
  intel-x58	Intel DX58 with ALC889
  asus-p5q	ASUS P5Q-EM boards
  mb31		MacBook 3,1
  sony-vaio-tt  Sony VAIO TT
  auto		auto-config reading BIOS (default)

I read of a Linux user with the GA-73PVM-S2H mother board get the option “6stack-dig” to work in providing sound.

I also read of a GA-73PVM-S2H user get sound to work with the option ‘auto’. So you should not have received a message " unknown parameter `model’ " . I also note this from the diagnostic script:

!!ALSA Version
!!------------

Driver version:     
Library version:    
Utilities version:  1.0.23

with no entry next to “Driver version” which suggests to me the alsa driver is not loaded.


Also this entry confirms that (with nothing inside):

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

ie no sound cards recognized by ALSA.

and I note this in the dmesg:

[13281.999935] HDA Intel 0000:00:09.0: PCI INT A disabled
[13282.096136] snd: Unknown parameter `model'

That suggests either

  • you have sound switched OFF in your BIOS. Check your BIOS to ensure sound is switched ON, or
  • your alsa install is corrupt and you need to force a re-install of all your alsa apps, or
    *]the driver does not like your ALC889 (which would be a surprise to me)
6

OK - I’ll look at reinstalling the alsa components.
I think sound must be OK in the BIOS because it works OK with OpenSUSE 11.1 - I have both 11.1 and 11.3 installed, and dual boot with GRUB (also I did check the BIOS…).
Can I load or start the driver manually ?
AM

7

rcalsasound restart should have done that. It failed.

Try forcing a re-install of all the alsa apps. Don’t forget to do same for libasound2.

8

I reinstalled these components.

alsa-utils-1.0.23-1.8.x86_64
alsa-oss-1.0.17-29.2.x86_64
alsa-1.0.23-2.12.x86_64
alsa-oss-32bit-1.0.17-29.2.x86_64
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.23-1.9.x86_64
alsa-plugins-32bit-1.0.23-1.9.x86_64
alsa-plugins-1.0.23-1.9.x86_64
alsa-plugins-pulse-32bit-1.0.23-1.9.x86_64
libpulse-mainloop-glib0-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-utils-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
libpulse-browse0-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
libpulse0-32bit-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.23-1.9.x86_64
pulseaudio-module-gconf-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-module-zeroconf-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
alsa-plugins-pulse-32bit-1.0.23-1.9.x86_64
libpulse0-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-esound-compat-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-module-lirc-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
pulseaudio-module-x11-0.9.21-10.1.1.x86_64
libasound2-1.0.23-2.12.x86_64

Still no sound on 11.3. It does work OK on 11.1 (on the same hardware).

I ran the ‘alsa-info.sh’ script on both OpenSUSE versions, and posted
the results as follows:

11.3

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=daafb77a042dc16e00f291fcc3c06924bc51685a

11.1

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=aba155169f7fb4f43824ef0fb63a7c53955186b1

Any further suggestions would be appreciated ! I tried changing ‘model=auto’ to
‘model=3stack-dig’; no effect.

Thanks,
AM