Everything ok except headphone audio

English Hardware
#1

I’ve been using OpenSuse 11.0 for about three months now, and everything (speakers, mic, webcam) works, except the audio from the headphones of my Gateway M-7844.

I tried to fix it a couple of months ago and started doing some of the things suggested in this forum. Somehow, I managed to erase GRUB! rotfl! I did learn a couple of things: watch out what you do as sudo! and related with this, the power that I have as a Linux user. After having to re-install my operative system, and having lost some important stuff, I decided to leave the headphone issue aside.

But now I need them for professional reasons, and so here I am. Would anybody please help?

Here’s some info to give a better overview of my system and settings:

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=6a1d7bb4da7057951b5e96af77e8caa48b97d23f

~> rpm -qa | grep alsa

alsa-oss-1.0.15-48.1
alsa-oss-32bit-1.0.15-48.1
alsa-utils-1.0.16-35.1
alsa-firmware-1.0.16-24.1
alsa-1.0.16-39.1
alsa-plugins-pulse-32bit-1.0.16-57.1
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.16-57.1
alsa-plugins-jack-1.0.16-57.1
FA_clalsadrv-1.2.2-0.pm.3
alsa-plugins-1.0.16-57.1
alsa-devel-1.0.16-39.1


~> rpm -qa | grep pulse
pulseaudio-esound-compat-0.9.10-26.5
libpulse-browse0-0.9.10-26.5
libpulse-mainloop-glib0-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-module-x11-0.9.10-26.5
gstreamer-0_10-pulse-0.9.5-54.1
libpulse0-32bit-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-utils-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-module-lirc-0.9.10-26.5
alsa-plugins-pulse-32bit-1.0.16-57.1
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.16-57.1
libpulse0-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth-0.9.10-26.5
libpulsecore4-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-module-gconf-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-module-zeroconf-0.9.10-26.5


~> rpm -q libasound2
libasound2-1.0.16-39.1


~> uname -a
Linux linux-kiot 2.6.25.20-0.1-default #1 SMP 2008-12-12 20:30:38 +0100 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux


~> cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound
# options snd-hda-intel model=z71v position_fix=1
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.0XJN8l9MBO5:82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

As I said, speakers webcam and mic work well; when I connect a headphone jack, the speakers don’t stop working, which I guess makes sense…Help much appreciated.

#2

OK, I note this:

~> cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound
# options snd-hda-intel model=z71v position_fix=1
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.0XJN8l9MBO5:82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

Please, what is your reference for model=z71v and for position_fix=1 ? Also, did you have that setting in place when you ran the script? Because it does not appear that way to me.

According to the script, your PC has a stac9205. The “z71v” setting is for an ALC880, which from what I can see, is not applicable to your PC’s stac9205 (ie its the wrong setting).

Instead, I recommend you try an item from this list:

	STAC9205/9254
	  ref		Reference board
	  dell-m42	Dell (unknown)
	  dell-m43	Dell Precision
	  dell-m44	Dell Inspiron

ie to try dell-m42, change your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file to:

~> cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound
# options snd-hda-intel model=dell-m42
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.0XJN8l9MBO5:82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

and restart your sound with su -c ‘rcalsasound restart’ and enter root password when prompted, restart your mixer, and test your sound.

If “dell-m42” does not work, replace it with “dell-m43” and restart your alsa sound driver, restart your mixer, and again test. Do the same for "dell-m44
and also “ref”.

If none of those work, we can try an update to alsa (and I’ll be able to give you some URLs for that).

#3

Hey oldcpu, thank you very much.

Please, what is your reference for model=z71v and for position_fix=1?

I realized that I just copied without thinking the example in SDB:Intel-HDA sound problems - openSUSE

Also, did you have that setting in place when you ran the script? Because it does not appear that way to me.

Yes, I’ve had this setting for about a month now… So it was there when I ran the script (but commented with #).

Instead, I recommend you try an item from this list:

(…)

ie to try dell-m42, change your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file to:

Code:

options snd-hda-intel model=dell-m42

options snd slots=snd-hda-intel

u1Nb.0XJN8l9MBO5:82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

This is what happens:

Using

model=ref — Sound out of speakers, but no sound out of headphones. Sound does not stop when pluging in the headp.

model=dell-m42, model=dell-m44 — Sound out of speakers, but no sound out of headphones. Sound does stop when pluging in the headphones.

model=m43 – No sound from either speakers or headphones.

Something odd:

When I try to open the Alsamixer from the terminal I get the following output (which I didn’t get this morning):

~> alsamixer
*** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused

alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: Connection refused

I tried different combinations of the script:


options snd-hda-intel model=(THE MODEL)
# options snd slots=snd-hda-intel 
# u1Nb.0XJN8l9MBO5:82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel



# options snd-hda-intel model=(THE MODEL)
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel 
# u1Nb.0XJN8l9MBO5:82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

I tried these scripts to see if uncommenting different options would help, but I got the same results (no sound in headphones).

Any further suggestions?

Thanks again,

#4

You could update to 1.0.19 of alsa, and see if that newer version has fixed the problem. To update you only need to connect your PC to the internet and send six zypper commands, per this guide: Alsa-update - openSUSE Note the update is specific to different openSUSE and different kernel versions.

In your case, with your PC connected to the internet, in a terminal/konsole with root permissions (type “su” - no quotes first) , you need to send the following six zypper commands, in sequence, one after another (copy and paste them):

zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/multimedia:/audio/openSUSE_11.0/ multimedia

zypper install alsa alsa-devel alsa-oss alsa-oss-32bit alsa-plugins alsa-plugins-pulse alsa-plugins-jack alsa-plugins-pulse-32bit alsa-utils alsa-tools alsa-firmware libasound2

zypper rr multimedia

zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/multimedia:/audio:/KMP/openSUSE_11.0_Update/ multimedia

zypper install alsa-driver-kmp-default

zypper rr multimedia

Then restart your PC and test your sound/headphone.

You may need to try all of those model options again if it does not work with any model option.

#5

Thanks oldcpu, Let me get back to you later, after trying your suggestion.

Cheers,

#6

Hi oldcpu, I installed all the packages you suggested, and retested all the previous configurations in /etc/modprobe.d/sound. I still get no sound from my headphones. I’m beginning to think it might be a hardware problem, because I get an instant of nice, loud sound through the headphones while I’m plugging the jack, but when I plug it all the way in the sounds stop.

So unless you have any other suggestions, I’ll assume its a hardware problem and will take it to a repair center.

This is the second hardware problem I’ve had with this Gateway.

I appreciate the time you took to answer. As everybody around here knows, your advice is much appreciated.

Cheers,

#7

Do you headphones work under another operating system on this PC ? (ie under WinXP or Vista).

If you provide a similar output as to what you provided last time, I’ll do a quality check:
ie run the script and provide output url:
/usr/sbin/alsa-info.shPost here the URL you are provided. Just the URL.

and also:
rpm -qa | grep alsa
rpm -qa | grep pulse
rpm -q libasound2
uname -a
cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound

#8

Hi,

This is the output of what you asked for:

$ /usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=f5500d1d56027ed8eeddcafa6ccd3e19face75f3

$ rpm -qa | grep alsa
alsa-devel-1.0.19.git20090304-2.1
alsa-oss-32bit-1.0.17.git20080715-2.45
alsa-oss-1.0.17.git20080715-2.45
alsa-firmware-1.0.19.git20090120-2.1
alsa-plugins-1.0.19.git20090303-1.6
alsa-1.0.19.git20090304-2.1
alsa-plugins-jack-1.0.19.git20090303-1.6
alsa-tools-1.0.19.git20090310-1.1
alsa-driver-kmp-default-1.0.19.20090314_2.6.25.20_0.1-1.1
FA_clalsadrv-1.2.2-0.pm.3
alsa-plugins-pulse-32bit-1.0.19.git20090303-1.6
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.19.git20090303-1.6
alsa-utils-1.0.19.git20090221-1.4

$ rpm -qa | grep pulse
pulseaudio-esound-compat-0.9.10-26.5
libpulse-browse0-0.9.10-26.5
libpulse-mainloop-glib0-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-module-x11-0.9.10-26.5
gstreamer-0_10-pulse-0.9.5-54.1
libpulse0-32bit-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-utils-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-module-lirc-0.9.10-26.5
libpulse0-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth-0.9.10-26.5
alsa-plugins-pulse-32bit-1.0.19.git20090303-1.6
libpulsecore4-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-module-gconf-0.9.10-26.5
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.19.git20090303-1.6
pulseaudio-module-zeroconf-0.9.10-26.5

$ rpm -q libasound2
libasound2-1.0.19.git20090304-2.1

$ uname -a
Linux linux-kiot 2.6.25.20-0.1-default #1 SMP 2008-12-12 20:30:38 +0100 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound

options snd-hda-intel model=dell-m43

options snd slots=snd-hda-intel

u1Nb.0XJN8l9MBO5:82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

As you can see from the /etc/modprobe.d/sound file, I have the original configuration I had from the beginning. After trying all the options you suggested, I went back to the original configuration I had (because at least my speakers and mic do work)…

Also, I’m not dual booting, and I wasn’t careful enough to check the headphone jack while the laptop was still running Vista (I installed oS right away)…

#9

Thanks, … I can’t see anything obviously wrong with that.

I recommend you raise a bug report on openSUSE, and maybe the alsa/opensuse developer will have a suggestion:
Submitting Bug Reports - openSUSE

#10

Thanks again oldcpu.

I have this hunch that it might be a hardware
thing. I’ll first check this out, and will report a bug if hardware is ok.