Just realized my External Mic does not work.

English Multimedia
1

When I plug it in, the internal mic remains on, and the external mic does nothing. My sound control shows (Mic In & Line In), neither work. I’m using Suse 11.3 with all the latest updates from the repositories, and Suse Updater. I’m using x32/11.3/Dell Vostro 1500.

Thanks

doug@linux-rvej:~> amixer
Simple mixer control ‘Master’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 64
Mono: Playback 25 [39%] -29.25dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Headphone’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 64
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 64 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 64 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Speaker’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 64
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 64 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 64 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘PCM’,0
Capabilities: pvolume penum
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 255
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 242 [95%] -2.60dB]
Front Right: Playback 242 [95%] -2.60dB]
Simple mixer control ‘Mic Jack Mode’,0
Capabilities: enum
Items: ‘Mic In’ ‘Line In’
Item0: ‘Mic In’
Simple mixer control ‘IEC958’,0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control ‘IEC958 Default PCM’,0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control ‘IEC958 Playback Source’,0
Capabilities: enum
Items: ‘Digital Playback’ ‘Analog Mux 1’ ‘Analog Mux 2’
Item0: ‘Digital Playback’
Simple mixer control ‘Beep’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 3
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] -18.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control ‘Capture’,0
Capabilities: cvolume cswitch penum
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 15
Front Left: Capture 8 [53%] [12.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Capture 8 [53%] [12.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Digital’,0
Capabilities: cvolume penum
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 120
Front Left: Capture 96 [80%] [18.00dB]
Front Right: Capture 96 [80%] [18.00dB]
Simple mixer control ‘Mux’,0
Capabilities: cvolume penum
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 4
Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
doug@linux-rvej:~>

2

Can you tell us some more about your hardware and software audio configuration? Please with your PC connected to the Internet run the diagnostic script in a terminal:


/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

and select the upload/share option. When the script is finally complete, it will give you a website/URL address where your audio hardware/software configuration was uploaded. Please copy that link and post the link here. Just the link.

According to this user’s experience ericflin | Slack on Vostro the internal mic is muted by default.

3

Here you go!

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=cab91045ba23f0f34b5f3bb7be7625c63c7c7596

Sound system> 82801H (ICH8), Driver>> snd_hda_intel

Thanks!

4

I note your Dell Vostro 1500 has a 32-bit openSUSE-11.3 (like you reported) with the 2.6.34.10-0.4-desktop kernel running an older 1.0.22.1 alsa driver with the 1.0.23 alsa utilities. The hardware audio codec is a STAC9205.

The Internal Mic should work, and back in July-2009 I helped a user get their mic working on this lapotp: http://forums.opensuse.org/forums/english/get-technical-help-here/hardware/418869-microphone-problem.html … I note their mixer configuration is significantly different from yours, which is a surprise given same laptop. In particular they had a digital input source control


**Simple mixer control 'Digital Input Source',0**
Items: 'Analog Inputs' 'Digital Mic 1'
Item0: 'Digital Mic 1'

which you do not have, which is puzzling.

We could make an assumption that their is a regression in the alsa configuration of the mic between their openSUSE-11.1 and your openSUSE-11.3 … So lets explore that assumption/speculation. On your PC there is an HD-Audio-Models.txt file as part of the kernel source documentation. For the 1.0.22 version of alsa, the alsa model options from that file are:


 STAC9205/9254
=============
  ref		Reference board
  dell-m42	Dell (unknown)
  dell-m43	Dell Precision
  dell-m44	Dell Inspiron
  eapd		Keep EAPD on (e.g. Gateway T1616)
  auto		BIOS setup (default)

So what you can try, is forcing one (and only one at a time) of those options, restarting your alsa sound driver, and testing the mic. Check the mixer settings when testing, to see if they change. Do NOT use Skype as your mic test program, but use another program instead (I pefer ‘arecord’ for a simple test, … but one needs to specify the correct arguments).

For example, to force the model option ‘auto’ from that list, you need with root permissios to add the following line to the START of the /etc/modprobe.d/50-sound.conf file:


options snd-hda-intel model=auto

save the change and restart (to reload alsa driver) and test your mic as a regular user. If auto does not work, then change ‘auto’ for another item in list, such as ‘dell-m42’ , save the change, restart and test.

Now I prefer using arecord to test. I find out the settings I need for arecord by typing:


arecord -l

which on my PC gives:


oldcpu@corei7:~> arecord -l
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
**card 0**: Intel [HDA Intel], **device 0**: AD198x Analog [AD198x Analog]
  Subdevices: 3/3
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
**card 1**: U0x46d0x821 [USB Device 0x46d:0x821], **device 0**: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

where on my PC one can see that my record devices are hw:0,0 and hw:1,0 . So the record command I use for testing my motherboard input mic jack hw:0,0 is:


arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c 2 -D hw:0,0 new.wav

and for recording from my USB webcam mic (which is hw:1,0) I use:


arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c 2 -D hw:1,0 new.wav

Pay attention to the arecord errors, … for example if you see something like “arecord: main:660: audio open error: Device or resource busy” then something has seized your audio device and is not sharing it. We are not interested in debugging that currently (unless we have no choice), so simply in such a case restart again and test the ‘arecord’ immediately and do NOT play around with other audio applications.

I use 2 channels ( -c 2 ) but its possible you need to use 1 channel ( -c 1 ) .

Currently the diagnostic scrip identifies your device as hw:0,0 … but you need to watch that, and also look for a change in your mixer settings allowing you to select your internal mic. Also note internal are often digital mics, so pay close attention to that possibility and make the appropriate mixer settings.

… and of course your PC WILL be different than the examples I give, and this WILL possibly change for each model option, so have an open mind for that possibility.

5

It used to work a long time ago. That I know for a fact. The problem must have occurred when I did an upgrade from 11.1 to 11.3. The other person must have done a fresh install. I will try editing like you said.

This is the current 50-sound.conf file:

options snd slots=snd-hda-intel

u1Nb.uMNsi8y_Wm3:82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

Should I add the option above the first line? or change it to the one you show? I did a locate command on that other .txt file you said was part of the kernel. nothing was found.

Thanks

6

OK, I ended up replacing the top line of the 50-sound file with the model=auto option you listed above…See video below.

test-0000.mp4 video by whereisdbn - Photobucket

I have more options, but only the internal mic works as before. I cannot get the external one working.

Thanks

7

You are supposed to ADD a line at the start. NOT replace a line. I checked, and I did say ‘add’. Please add the line.

Thanks, but I can’t follow that MP4 … Please, instead if you wish to show the new configuration run the diagnostic script:


/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

and select the UPLOAD/SHARE option, and when the script has completed, post here the website/URL address where the information is located.

NOTE there are OTHER options than ‘auto’ that can also be tried.

8

THANK YOU!

I added back the line I deleted, and then added what you told me to add…Now it works just fine. You have always been a big help!

Doug

9

Congratulations on getting this to work. Sorry to read it was so difficult to configure for 11.3. But if I understand correctly based on your experience, for a Dell Vostro 1500 on 32-bit openSUSE-11.3 to get the internal and external mic to work one needs to add the following line to the start of the /etc/modprobe.d/50-sound.conf file:


options snd-hda-intel model=auto

such that the file looks something like:


options snd-hda-intel model=auto
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.uMNsi8y_Wm3:82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
10

The file I edited looks exactly like that.

Thanks again!

11

Here we go AGAIN!

Once again my external mic no longer works. Ridiculous. I did not touch anything. Must have been an update. I am now running also 1.0.24. I have no idea what options are available for my sound card. There is no HD-Audio-Models.txt file on my computer. I used the locate command in terminal. It found nothing. I even did an updatedb. The file I edited is the same as it was after I got it working.

Thanks.

12

Clicking “Audio Setup” shows everything running on pulseaudio sound server. If I click the speaker/volume icon to choose mixer, I only get these options to adjust: Capture devices- Internal Audio Analog Stereo, Playback Streams - Event Sounds, Capture Streams - BLANK(NO CHOICES), Playback Devices - Internal Audio Analog Stereo

13

In order to understand this, I need to see the output of the diagnostic script so you can tell us more about the updated software audio configuration? Please with your PC connected to the Internet run the diagnostic script in a terminal:


/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

and select the upload/share option. When the script is finally complete, it will give you a website/URL address where your audio hardware/software configuration was uploaded. Please copy that link and post the link here. Just the link.

14

Just what the expert ordered. :slight_smile:

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=7ae5a3ebfa892925c4bddf80849437663f1c0f9e

15

Hi Doug08, please do not take this the wrong way, but you realize you did a MAJOR update that is as big, if not bigger than what an MS-Windows service pack update would do ? You updated from openSUSE-11.3 to openSUSE-11.4. That is truely massive. That is almost as big as a Win95 to Win97 update. It is not surprising things need to be reconfigured after that.

Also, in going from openSUSE-11.3 to 11.4, there was a significant change in how audio is handled in KDE. In openSUSE-11.4, pulse audio is now enabled by default.

Before:


openSUSE 11.3 "Teal"  2.6.34.10-0.4-desktop

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

Driver version:     1.0.22.1
Library version:    
Utilities version:  1.0.23

Codec: SigmaTel STAC9205

After:


openSUSE 11.4 "Celadon" , 2.6.37.6-0.11-desktop, 

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

Driver version:     1.0.23
Library version:    1.0.24.1
Utilities version:  1.0.24.2

Codec: SigmaTel STAC9205

On openSUSE-11.3:


!!Sound Servers on this system
!!----------------------------

ESound Daemon:
      Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/esd)
      Running - No

aRts:
      Installed - Yes (/opt/kde3/bin/artsd)
      Running - No

Jack:
      Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/jackd)
      Running - No

on openSUSE-11.4:



!!Sound Servers on this system
!!----------------------------

Pulseaudio:
      Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/pulseaudio)
      Running - Yes

ESound Daemon:
      Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/esd)
      Running - No

aRts:
      Installed - Yes (/opt/kde3/bin/artsd)
      Running - No

Jack:
      Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/jackd)
      Running - No

I note that the snd-hda-intel model=auto is still applied in 11.4. It is possible it is not needed in 11.4, but lets leave it in place for now.

I also note this in the latest dmesg:


  247.030586] process `skype' is using obsolete setsockopt SO_BSDCOMPAT

I don’t know what that means, other than ‘skype’ is using something that is obsolete which may not be good.

Looking at your mixer after the update to openSUSE-11.4 and it is clear that with the newer 1.0.24 alsa version, the mixer settings are signficanly changed. Hence it is not surprising the mic stopped working. You need to retune the mic. Look at these settings:


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

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

**Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfe9fc000 irq 29'
  Mixer name	: 'SigmaTel STAC9205'
**Simple mixer control 'Mic Jack Mode',0 ****
  Items: 'Mic In' 'Line In'
  Item0: 'Mic In'
**Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Playback Source',0 **
  Items: 'Digital Playback' 'Analog Mux 1' 'Analog Mux 2'
  Item0: 'Digital Playback'
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',0 **
  Front Left: Capture 8 [53%] [12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 8 [53%] [12.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'Digital',0 **
  Front Left: Capture 96 [80%] [18.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 96 [80%] [18.00dB]
**Simple mixer control 'Mux',0 **
  Front Left: Capture 0 **[0%]** [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 0 **[0%]** [0.00dB]

I do not own this audio hardware, but it is possible the ‘Mux’ being at 0% capture is the problem. Or it could be Skype just needs the /home/yourusername/.skype directory removed, and Skype restarted.

Have you tested your Mic any any application OTHER than Skype ?

I recommend also that you install the application pulse audio volume control (pavucontrol) and use that to help tune your mic for Skype. I provided guidance here on that in a blog entry: Pulseaudio Basics for openSUSE with pavucontrol - Blogs - openSUSE Forums … read on to the 2nd part of that blog, where I talk about Skype (with an example).**

16

When you helped me last time, I think I already did the 11.4 upgrade. I tried the mic on audacity, skype and other programs. All the same, no external mic. What do I do now to get it working again.

Thanks

**

17

If you had already updated to 11.4 then the 1st script output URL you gave me was totally wrong and misleading, because it clearly stated openSUSE-11.3. Only the most recent stated 11.4.

Please, what is ‘other programs’ ? I know this must be intuitively obvious to you, but it is not to me. Audacity and Skype have to be among the more difficult programs to get a mic to work with.

Please follow the advice in my post above, which I quote:

18

Your right. I did the upgrade just after you fixed the mic. I upgraded from 11.1 to 11.3 last time. That is what messed up the mic the first time. This time the upgrade to 11.4 did it. Guess what? Your suggestion to install pavucontrol SOLVED THE ISSUE! :-). I was able to switch from “mic” to “line in”. Works perfect!..Thanks to you. I have to say that people should feel very appreciative to have a person like you taking the time to help people resolve issues.

Thanks, Doug

19

Interesting !!

It appears when set to ‘mic’ it is for the ‘internal mic’ and when set for ‘line in’ it is for the external mic. I find these details very hard to predict, as every audio hardware tends to be a bit different.

Thank you for sharing your solution and congratulations on your solving this !!

20

Hi,

I am also having a similar problem. Only the integrated mic on my laptop is working and if I set my external mic to default it will not work.
I also am having a problem understanding the fix that was discussed in this forum so please explain what I need to do I would greatly appreciate it