Headset Not Working

When I plug in my headset into my computer, there is no sound output through headset nor speakers. The speakers without the headset plugged in work fine.

A few things that might cause this:

  • The speakers get muted by hardware, and Open SUSE doesn’t automatically redirect sound output to headset.
  • The headset sound output is muted.

How do I fix this, preferably without having to change my audio configuration every time I plug in or plug out my headset?

So clearly the headset being plugged in is having an effect, because the sound isn’t coming from the speakers.
It’s not a USB headset is it?

If the headset is just speakers, its function is determined by the built-in sound. If its a typical headphone jack, its likely just a speaker. If its a USB connector, then its an extra add-in sound device and you must select the active sound device in PulseAudio when you plug in the USB headphones. See my blog on PulseAudio here:

PulseAudio and Selecting the Proper Sound Card Configuration - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

Thank You,

It’s a regular male headset jack. It works on both Ubuntu and Windows, although on Ubuntu I had problems because it was muted before. I have no idea how to check that on OpenSUSE. Google isn’t giving much useful results.

The PulseAudio mixer may have a headphone output selection. So I opened up the PulseAudio Volume Control on my laptop and it does indeed have a headphone output selection. Have a look here:

http://paste.opensuse.org/view/download/59543110

My START audio test bash script will load all such applications if you don’t have them yet:

S.T.A.R.T. - SuSE Terminal Audio Reporting Tool - Version 1.11 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

Thank You,

“PulseAudio Volume Control” doesn’t want to work. If I run it through terminal it gives me the following errors:

jeroen@Jeroen-Laptop:~> pavucontrol

(process:3179): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: gtype.c:2720: You forgot to call g_type_init()

(process:3179): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `result != 0' failed

(process:3179): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: gtype.c:2720: You forgot to call g_type_init()

(process:3179): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: gtype.c:2720: You forgot to call g_type_init()

(process:3179): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_type_interface_add_prerequisite: assertion `G_TYPE_IS_INTERFACE (interface_type)' failed

(process:3179): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `result != 0' failed

(process:3179): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_type_add_interface_static: assertion `G_TYPE_IS_INSTANTIATABLE (instance_type)' failed

(process:3179): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: gtype.c:2720: You forgot to call g_type_init()

After that the application doesn’t close, but rather does nothing indefinitely. When I run it through the launcher the icon pops up for about half a minute in the task bar, then disappears. No GUI pops up.

Where did you get the control and how did you install?

I got it from: software.opensuse.org/package/pavucontrol

And you are running 12.3 right? It looks like you have some sort of version mismatch somewhere

I am running 12.3, but I installed the factory version if that changes anything.

EDIT: The same problems happen with the 12.3 version of the program.

If you have factory mixed in you have things broken. Factory is an unstable repo and unless you understand it you should not use it. You probably have pulled in other things from factory and it is hard to say what is causing the problem now.

You should NOT install the Pulse control from factory. The right version was in your standard repos already. You may have messed up everything doing it that way. Always search in YaST first before taking any other steps. I would uninstall it from factory and go back to the included version if you can.

Thank You,