Audio Conferecing - Unable to get Microphone Working

Bought it on ebay.de for 10€.

Does it have a brand / model ? I would be happy to get a usb microphone that is detected/supported by the OS

I have tried recording multiple times … used audicaty and online microphone tests… AND JUST FAILURE …
jUST STATIC NOISE …

Will try a usb microphone solutio0n ? If i can get a usb microphone that works properly in linux …

I am coming in a bit late to this thread.

Once you sort/decide on your hardware configuration, it would assist in understanding your PC configuration, such that hopefully additional helpful recommendations can be given, if you would run a diagnostic script on your GNU/Linux sound configuration, and share those configuration results with us.

You can do that by with ‘regular user’ permissions, with PC connected to the internet, copying and pasting the following command into an xterm, and execute the command to run the diagnostic script:

/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

select “UPLOAD/SHARE” when prompted. Let the script run to completion. When the script is complete, look in the xterm, and you will read


Your ALSA information is located at http://alsa-project.org/db/somenumber
Please inform the person helping you.

share here please that " http://alsa-project.org/db/somenumber " and we can look at the script and (1) advise you of anything misconfigured in your mixer, (2) possibly identify other issues, and (3) possibly come up with a recording test to prove your recording works properly.

I notice you ran the diagnostic script earlier. In the dmesg I note:


   13.757186] snd_hda_codec_realtek hdaudioC0D0: ALC262: SKU not ready 0x411111f0

My hope that is not a serious message.

Looking at the script, according to arecord, your PC has two recording devices:


ARECORD

**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC262 Analog [ALC262 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 2: ALC262 Alt Analog [ALC262 Alt Analog]
  Subdevices: 2/2
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1

which are hw:0,0 and hw:0,2

Looking at your PC’s mixer settings:


Simple mixer control 'Front Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Front Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 2 [67%] [20.00dB]
  Front Right: 2 [67%] [20.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',1
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Front Left: Capture 31 [100%] [34.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 31 [100%] [34.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',2
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] -12.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] -12.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Front Mic' 'Rear Mic' 'Line'
  Item0: 'Line'
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',1
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Front Mic' 'Rear Mic' 'Line'
  Item0: 'Front Mic'
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',2
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Front Mic' 'Rear Mic' 'Line'
  Item0: 'Rear Mic'
Simple mixer control 'Rear Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Rear Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]

For your HP Z600 workstation I note the following:

  • Front Mic while ON is @ 100% playback and boost at 67%.
  • Rear Mic while ON is @ 0% playback, and boost at 0% boost.
  • Capture-1 is at 100%, Capture-2 is muted (0% and OFF).
  • Input source ‘0’ is assigned to “Line” (and hence it will not record audio). Further Line is OFF at 0%.
  • Input source ‘1’ is assigned to Front Mic
  • Input source ‘2’ is assigned to Rear Mic

From the above, any Microphone connected to Line or to the Rear Mic won’t record.

Is it the ‘front mic’ that you are physically using? (You have not told us)

First lets try and determine which jack is the rear jack and/or the front jack.

From script I note your PC has input for recording on hw:0,0 and hw:0,2. So with mic plugged to the front mic slot try as a regular user in an xterm:


arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c2 -D hw:0,0 soundtest.wav

Talk into the mic for 10 seconds, then press to abort the recording. Then test to see if that recorded sound by sending the command:

aplay soundtest.wav 

Does that give any sound?

Also try (again as a regular user in an xterm):


arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c2 -D hw:0,2 soundtest.wav 

Again talk into the mic for 10 seconds, then press to abort the recording. Then test to see if that recorded sound by sending the command:


aplay soundtest.wav

Does that give any sound?

Repeat the above with headset w/mic plugged into the rear mic slot.

Hi OldCPU, kindly allow me to re-run the script as i have done svereal modifications to the settings, many modifications infact …

Here is the new link : - Your ALSA information is located at http://alsa-project.org/db/?f=c21a07e5de4266f227daa6df1a4856585ec908dd

May we start with this ?

Also, yes, I am recording with the Front Mic.

Below, I reattach all my PulseAudio Screenshots.

a. Configuration - Pasteboard - Uploaded Image

Pls notice that i dont have " Analog Output + Analog input ", therefore the nearest thing that i can think off
is “Analog Stereo Duplex”

b. Input Devices - Pasteboard - Uploaded Image

Correct ?

c. Output Devices - Pasteboard - Uploaded Image

Movies / Youtube, etc is working fine.

d. Recording - Pasteboard - Uploaded Image - Blank except when an application is recording -

Do i select “Monitor of Built-in Audio Analog Stereo” or “Built-in Audio Analog Stereo”

e. Playback - Pasteboard - Uploaded Image - Application name appears when in use -

Movies / Youtube, etc is working fine.

Thanks.

Also …

arecord -l

**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC262 Analog [ALC262 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 2: ALC262 Alt Analog [ALC262 Alt Analog]
Subdevices: 2/2
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Subdevice #1: subdevice #1

Next, my xfce4-mixer screenshots are below …

Playback - https://pasteboard.co/JwtnisQ.png
Capture - https://pasteboard.co/JwtnpFr.png
Options - https://pasteboard.co/Jwtnwrf.png

Some comments wrt pavucontrol:

Recording, you asked: "Do i select “Monitor of Built-in Audio Analog Stereo” or “Built-in Audio Analog Stereo” " - my recommendation is to try both as I do not have your hardware.

Output devices - your setting for “built in audio analog/stero” looks suspicous to me, but I can not be certain as I do not have your hardware.

I note from that script that the arecord output is still:


ARECORD

**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC262 Analog [ALC262 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 2: ALC262 Alt Analog [ALC262 Alt Analog]
  Subdevices: 2/2
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #

I don’t know what type of microphone you have, if it is dedicated, or if it is integrated as part of a headphone?

I note the headphone is muted:


Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] -46.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] -46.50dB] [off]

Front Mic appears to be appropriately enabled:


Simple mixer control 'Front Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Front Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 2 [67%] [20.00dB]
  Front Right: 2 [67%] [20.00dB]

I note any mic plugged into Line will be muted:


Simple mixer control 'Line',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Line Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]

I note capture 0 and 1 set to capture, and capture 2 switched OFF. I do not know your hardware, so I do not know what capture-0, nor capture-1, nor capture-2 mean in relation to your hardware (although I have suspicions). My understanding thou is the appropriate capture must be enabled to record audio - I think < but not sure > capture-0 is likely your front mic.


Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Front Left: Capture 31 [100%] [34.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 31 [100%] [34.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',1
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Front Left: Capture 31 [100%] [34.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 31 [100%] [34.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',2
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Front Left: Capture 27 [87%] [28.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 27 [87%] [28.50dB] [off]

You have an auto-mute mode set which could be complicating this:


Simple mixer control 'Auto-Mute Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Disabled' 'Speaker Only' 'Line Out Speaker'
  Item0: 'Line Out Speaker'

I would recommend disabling the above auto-mute for this testing. We don’t want the auto-mute disabling inappropriately blocking your recording efforts, while trying to figure out how your PC hardware works. ie change from “Line Out Speaker” to “Disabled”.

I note input source-0 set to Front Mic, and input source-1 set to Front Mic, and input source-2 set to Rear Mic


Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Front Mic' 'Rear Mic' 'Line'
  Item0: 'Front Mic'
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',1
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Front Mic' 'Rear Mic' 'Line'
  Item0: 'Front Mic'
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',2
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Front Mic' 'Rear Mic' 'Line'
  Item0: 'Rear Mic'

I don’t know if setting 2 input sources (ie source 0 and source 1) to the same mic could cause an issue (I don’t know as I don’t have your hardware).

I note rear Mic disabled so that should not cause an issue if your PC is wired correctly and if you are using the front Mic:


Simple mixer control 'Rear Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] -34.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Rear Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]

Did you try the ‘arecord’ commands that I provided in an earlier post? Please try them. If you see any errors when trying them, please post the errors.

Noted …

Output devices - your setting for “built in audio analog/stero” looks suspicous to me, but I can not be certain as I do not have your hardware.

Noted… Its integrated on the motherboard of the machine.

I don’t know what type of microphone you have, if it is dedicated, or if it is integrated as part of a headphone?

Its a standalone lapel mic with 3.5mm jack which is plugged into the Front Mic socket.
Its not part of a headphone.

Front Mic appears to be appropriately enabled:

Simple mixer control ‘Front Mic’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Front Mic Boost’,0
Capabilities: volume
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: 0 - 3
Front Left: 2 [67%] [20.00dB]
Front Right: 2 [67%] [20.00dB]

Noted. Good.

I note capture 0 and 1 set to capture, and capture 2 switched OFF. I do not know your hardware, so I do not know what capture-0, nor capture-1, nor capture-2 mean in relation to your hardware (although I have suspicions). My understanding thou is the appropriate capture must be enabled to record audio - I think < but not sure > capture-0 is likely your front mic.

Simple mixer control ‘Capture’,0
Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 31
Front Left: Capture 31 [100%] [34.50dB] [on]
Front Right: Capture 31 [100%] [34.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Capture’,1
Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 31
Front Left: Capture 31 [100%] [34.50dB] [on]
Front Right: Capture 31 [100%] [34.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Capture’,2
Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 31
Front Left: Capture 27 [87%] [28.50dB] [off]
Front Right: Capture 27 [87%] [28.50dB] [off]

Capture needs to be ON right ?
This is the Master for the Mic Capture ? Or are these separate controls for auxiliary capture devices ?

You have an auto-mute mode set which could be complicating this:

Simple mixer control ‘Auto-Mute Mode’,0
Capabilities: enum
Items: ‘Disabled’ ‘Speaker Only’ ‘Line Out Speaker’
Item0: ‘Line Out Speaker’

I would recommend disabling the above auto-mute for this testing. We don’t want the auto-mute disabling inappropriately blocking your recording efforts, while trying to figure out how your PC hardware works. ie change from “Line Out Speaker” to “Disabled”.

Noted …Where do i do this change ?

I note input source-0 set to Front Mic, and input source-1 set to Front Mic, and input source-2 set to Rear Mic

Simple mixer control ‘Input Source’,0
Capabilities: cenum
Items: ‘Front Mic’ ‘Rear Mic’ ‘Line’
Item0: ‘Front Mic’
Simple mixer control ‘Input Source’,1
Capabilities: cenum
Items: ‘Front Mic’ ‘Rear Mic’ ‘Line’
Item0: ‘Front Mic’
Simple mixer control ‘Input Source’,2
Capabilities: cenum
Items: ‘Front Mic’ ‘Rear Mic’ ‘Line’
Item0: ‘Rear Mic’

I don’t know if setting 2 input sources (ie source 0 and source 1) to the same mic could cause an issue (I don’t know as I don’t have your hardware).

Noted. I tried removing it via the xfce4-mixer but to no avail …Will try a reboot or desktop restart

Did you try the ‘arecord’ commands that I provided in an earlier post? Please try them. If you see any errors when trying them, please post the errors.

Yes … Just plain static when i run ‘aplay soundtest.wav’

Hi …Also my output of alsamixer ( from a terminal )
shows my Card/Chip as PulseAudio …

alsamixer - https://pasteboard.co/Jwwj1tR.png

Is this normal ? It doesnt show my mic as a capture source ?
I have to goto F6 - > Select ‘0 HDA Intel’ to get to the controls
of the Front Mic as shown below;

F6 - https://pasteboard.co/JwwkEnZ.png

It should be an option in alsamixer to disable auto-mute.

Alternatively you could try the amixer command. I don’t have your hardware, so I can only ‘guess’ as to the amixer command without actually testing it first on my PC. Something like (as a regular user in an xterm):


/usr/bin/amixer -c 0 sset "Auto-Mute Mode" Disabled

Did you get any error messages besides static? Getting static with no error messages suggests to me the recording is working, but that the record levels are muted for some reason.

You could try also with root permissions in an xterm, so that we can confirm there are no permission issues, although I do not believe that to be the case (ergo I would be surprised if root permissions work).

Capture needs to be ON. I do not know your hardware so I can not answer your question about ‘Master’ for capture.

You could also try enabling capture-2 in the off chance it is the font mic, and that my assumption that capture-0 is your front mic is wrong.

You can enable that via the following command in an xterm (again, I am guessing as I don’t have your hardware):


/usr/bin/amixer -c 0 sset "Capture,2" cap

… and in case curious, I think to disable it would be something like:


/usr/bin/amixer -c 0 sset "Capture,2" nocap

Again - I am guessing not having your hardware to test.

Then once capture is on, one can adjust record levels with amixer with alsamixer, or with amixer with something like:


/usr/bin/amixer -c 0 sset "Capture,2" 40

I selected ‘40’ as an arbitrary record level. I do not know the appropriate level for your hardware.
.

Done via the command above. Output as below …



$ amixer -c 0 sset "Auto-Mute Mode" Disabled


Simple mixer control 'Auto-Mute Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Disabled' 'Speaker Only' 'Line Out+Speaker'
  Item0: 'Disabled'



Pls see the screenshot of alsamixer below after the command was executed.

Mute Disabled - Pasteboard - Uploaded Image

Also …Is it normal for my Card/Chip to show as PulseAudio …

alsamixer - Pasteboard - Uploaded Image

This is what i feel is wrong - my card is not the default soundacrad ?
I have to goto F6 - > Select ‘0 HDA Intel’ to get to the controls
of the Front Mic as shown below;

F6 - Pasteboard - Uploaded Image

I think one can do this with amixer commands:

My guess, to change " ‘Input Source’, 1" to something other than Front Mic, the command would be something like:


/usr/bin/amixer -c 0 sset "Input Source,1" 'Line'

and to change it back to ‘Front Mic’:


/usr/bin/amixer -c 0 sset "Input Source,1" 'Front Mic'

and to change it to ‘Rear Mic’:


/usr/bin/amixer -c 0 sset "Input Source,1" 'Rear Mic'


and for example, to change “Input Source,2” to the ‘Front Mic’ the command could be:


/usr/bin/amixer -c 0 sset "Input Source,2" 'Front Mic'

I suspect with these examples, you get the idea. Hopefully I have the correct syntax for your hardware.

Output of;

$ arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c2 -D hw:0,0 soundtest.wav



Recording WAVE 'soundtest.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 8000 Hz, Stereo


Warning: rate is not accurate (requested = 8000Hz, got = 44100Hz)
         please, try the plug plugin 


Hardware PCM card 0 'HDA Intel' device 0 subdevice 0


Its setup is:


  stream       : CAPTURE
  access       : RW_INTERLEAVED
  format       : S16_LE
  subformat    : STD
  channels     : 2
  rate         : 44100
  exact rate   : 44100 (44100/1)
  msbits       : 16
  buffer_size  : 22052
  period_size  : 5513
  period_time  : 125011
  tstamp_mode  : NONE
  tstamp_type  : MONOTONIC
  period_step  : 1
  avail_min    : 5513
  period_event : 0
  start_threshold  : 1
  stop_threshold   : 22052
  silence_threshold: 0
  silence_size : 0
  boundary     : 6207086186423386112
  appl_ptr     : 0
  hw_ptr       : 0
##+                                                | 02%
^C



When i play the sound file back … its just plain static, as normal user or via sudo ( running sudo arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c2 -D hw:0,0 soundtest.wav )

Honestly, I typically don’t use alsamixer (nor the xfce variant) so I don’t know what to expect to see there - but my suspicion is the answer is YES.

Nominally the default sound device is card-0. Card-0 is the one where I believe your record hardware connected.

I am wondering if I had the ‘arecord’ command wrong for your hardware … hmm … Typically if I had the commands wrong one would get an error. Try these commands in an xterm (notice I am using ‘c0’ this time:


arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c0 -D hw:0,0 soundtest.wav

stop recording with CTRL-C and again try to play back soundtest.wav to see if recorded.

and also try:


arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c0 -D hw:0,2 soundtest.wav

stop recording with CTRL-C and again try to play back soundtest.wav to see if recorded.

In the off chance that pulse audio is the issue, we could try those arecord commands disabling pulse audio. ie

pasuspender -- arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c0 -D hw:0,0 soundtest.wav 

stop recording with CTRL-C and again try to play back soundtest.wav to see if recorded.

pasuspender -- arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c0 -D hw:0,2 soundtest.wav

stop recording with CTRL-C and again try to play back soundtest.wav to see if recorded.

Error msg received …

$ arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c0 -D hw:0,0 soundtest.wav

 arecord: main:608: value 0 for channels is invalid 

c - stands for channels ? SO for the mic, its mono … c2 is correct ( or c1 but not c0 right ?) ?

Yes, you could try with c1.

Your PC has an ALC262 codec.

I notice in the kernel documentation for the 4.12 kernel for alsa hd-audio models that there is an entry for the ALC262 for a mic:


ALC262

inv-dmic
    Inverted internal mic workaround

I doubt that this is applicable to your HP Z600, but I supose it would not hurt to test if specifying this model would sort your mic issue.

To do this, with root permissions, either modify or create a /etc/modprobe.d/50-sound.conf and add a line that looks something like this:


options snd-hda-intel model=inv-dmic

Its been years since I recommended the above approach - so I am not so sure if it is still viable nor if I have the syntax correct. Still it doesn’t hurt to try.

Save that change, then reboot your PC to reload the sound module. Test ALL of your sound, including the mic - as there is a risk that could cause more harm than good. Use the arcord test (not the ‘c0’ version) that I proposed.

Note that if you go into YaST > Sound it will delete that entry, so do NOT go in to YaST > Sound if you wish to test what I propose.

If it does not work, then remove that entry in the 50-sound.conf file.

Hi …

#cat /etc/modprobe.d/50-sound.conf

options snd slots=snd-hda-intel snd-hda-intel model=inv-dmic
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

Then,

arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c2 -D hw:0,0 soundtest.wav

or

arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c2 -D hw:0,2 soundtest.wav

And play via;

#aplay soundtest.wav

In both cases - its dead silent … at earlier we had static/hissing noise …