Mic is not working

Wlvrn · October 30, 2011, 8:13pm

Hello.

My mic is not working. Everything was okay last week. Sure I changed something but I can’t say I did something special… So what I have today.

In Phonon, there are 2 input devices: Bulit-in Audio Analog stereo and HDA Intel (ALC262 Analog). They must be the same! If I look at the output devices I see Bulit-in Audio Analog stereo, RV710/730 Digital stereo (HDMI) (it’s off) and Fictious output (it’s off too). My hardware is HDA Intel and it’s named “Bulit-in Audio Analog stereo” in output. Why do I have “Bulit-in Audio Analog stereo” AND “HDA Intel” in input?

Well, okay. But it doesn’t matter which one of them has the highest priority, there’s no sound anyway. And the “test” button is locked for the both devices.

In pavucontrol there are 3 mics: mic 1, mic 2 and linear input. Mic 1 has a constant low noise and doesn’t respond if I say something:

http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/9449/49296580.png](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/848/49296580.png/)

Mic 2 has no noise and doesn’t respond too. And I don’t touch linear input.

In alsamixer I have two mic columns (MIC and ATAPI MIC). Honestly, I don’t know which one do I need. So I checked both of them. Whad did I do:

Both are muted (MM).
Now MIC is unmuted and has max level. I hear a constant smooth noise.
Neither in pavucontrol nor in programs (Skype) the mic doesn’t work.
MIC is muted in alsamixer (noise dissapears), ATAPI MIC - unmuted.
There’s no noise.
Neither in pavucontrol nor in programs (Skype) the mic doesn’t work.
MIC and ATAPI MIC are muted.

If I run

arecord -vv -fdat foo.wav

I get this:

Recording WAVE 'foo.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Stereo
Plug PCM: ALSA <-> PulseAudio PCM I/O Plugin
Its setup is:
  stream       : CAPTURE
  access       : RW_INTERLEAVED
  format       : S16_LE
  subformat    : STD
  channels     : 2
  rate         : 48000
  exact rate   : 48000 (48000/1)
  msbits       : 16
  buffer_size  : 24000
  period_size  : 6000
  period_time  : 125000
  tstamp_mode  : NONE
  period_step  : 1
  avail_min    : 6000
  period_event : 0
  start_threshold  : 1
  stop_threshold   : 24000
  silence_threshold: 0
  silence_size : 0
  boundary     : 6755399441055744000
#+                                                 | 00%

and it stays 00%, no matter what I do.

If I run

ffmpeg -f oss -i /dev/dsp audio.mp3

I get a file “audio.mp3” in my home directory with no sound in it.

And if I try

ffmpeg -f alsa -i /dev/dsp audio.mp3

it says

<...>
ALSA lib pcm.c:2212:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM /dev/dsp
[alsa @ 0x635660] cannot open audio device /dev/dsp (No such file or directory)
/dev/dsp: Input/output error

I have no idea what to do… Any help?

Wlvrn · October 30, 2011, 8:28pm

A little note: in pavucontrol, there’s no sound of the noise when I choose mic 1. I only see it on the indicator.

oldcpu · October 30, 2011, 8:41pm

In pavucontrol you need to be looking at ‘record’ and ENSURE you have SHOW set to ‘all streams’. I don’t know the Cyrillic equivalent.

You could test your mic directly with the application ‘arecord’ (which is what I ALWAYS do). How about providing the output of the command:


arecord -l

(thats a lower case ‘L’ ).

Or better yet, with your PC connected to the internet, and with your mixer setup EXACTLY how you think it should be to record, run the diagnostic script:


/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

and select the UPLOAD/SHARE option, and when the script is complete it should give you a website/URL address. Post JUST that address here. Please do NOT clutter this thread with the content of all of the script output Just post the URL. For example on my PC I get: http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=fd988618570709ce9fbca48ec37715f6846b9684 … But your content WILL be different.

Also, is this an internal or external mic ? Also what desktop ? KDE ? Gnome ? LXDE ? XFCE ? Also , what openSUSE version ?

Wlvrn · October 30, 2011, 10:03pm

It’s empty. ~‘No applications recording sound now’. And it doesn’t depend on which alsamixer mic setup do I use (ATAPI MIC / MIC).

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

I’m not sure which mixer setup is the correct one so here are four results:

ATAPI MIC on, MIC muted:
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=757975f19345eb903ebd71661075bc1e06fc6c50
ATAPI MIC muted, MIC on (I hear a noise):
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=c8e824bbab7672fd4bd2bcfc19242a5bc41fe545
Both on:
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=2788c64301dfe6a5a7a567a919003ed40849ab03
Both muted (just in case):
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=501107889b378b3e575d772ce555a34768f5a537

Ah, sorry. Internal mic (laptop), KDE, openSUSE 11.4.

oldcpu · October 31, 2011, 12:08am

Why show one with the MIC muted? Is not the idea to record ? … Anyway lets look at this one:


**!!Amixer output**
!!-------Mixer controls for card 0 [Intel]
Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xd5200000 irq 43'
  Mixer name	: 'Realtek ALC262'
**Simple mixer control 'Mic',0**
  Front Left: Playback 28 [90%] [7.50dB] **[off]**
  Front Right: Playback 28 [90%] [7.50dB] **[off]**
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',0**
  Front Left: Capture 28 [90%] [30.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 28 [90%] [30.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',1**
  Front Left: Capture 0 **[0%]** -12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 0 **[0%]** -12.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',2**
  Front Left: Capture 0 **[0%]** -12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 0 **[0%]** -12.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'ATAPI Mic',0**
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0**
  Items: 'Mic' 'Front Mic' 'Line' 'CD'
  Item0: 'Front Mic'
**Simple mixer control 'Input Source',1**
  Items: 'Mic' 'Front Mic' 'Line' 'CD'
  Item0: 'Mic'
**Simple mixer control 'Input Source',2**
  Items: 'Mic' 'Front Mic' 'Line' 'CD'
  Item0: 'Mic'

Clearly, no recording is possible there with the source- and source-2 mic muted (except for source-0 FRONT MIC). Are you CERTAIN your internal MIC is the FRONT MIC ? . You also have the mixer’s MIC playback OFF, meaning you get no feedback to help you debug this … I also don’t understand the point of that test configuration.

Lets look at this one …


!!Amixer output
!!-------------
!!-------Mixer controls for card 0 [Intel]
Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xd5200000 irq 43'
  Mixer name	: 'Realtek ALC262'
**Simple mixer control 'Mic',0**
  Front Left: Playback 29 [94%] [9.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 29 [94%] [9.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',0**
  Front Left: Capture 28 [90%] [30.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 28 [90%] [30.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',1**
  Front Left: Capture 0 **[0%]** -12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 0 **[0%]** -12.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',2**
  Front Left: Capture 0 **[0%]** -12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 0 **[0%]** -12.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'ATAPI Mic',0**
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] **[off]**
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] **[off]**
**Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0**
  Items: 'Mic' 'Front Mic' 'Line' 'CD'
  Item0: 'Front Mic'
**Simple mixer control 'Input Source',1**
  Items: 'Mic' 'Front Mic' 'Line' 'CD'
  Item0: 'Mic'
**Simple mixer control 'Input Source',2**
  Items: 'Mic' 'Front Mic' 'Line' 'CD'
  Item0: 'Mic'

I also don’t understand the point of that configuration. Capture-1 and 2 are muted. Capture-0 is not. Capture-0 goes with Source-0 which is the FRONT MIC. Are you CERTAIN the FRONT MIC is the internal mic ?

Lets look at that configuration:


**!!Amixer output
**!!-------Mixer controls for card 0 [Intel]
Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xd5200000 irq 43'
  Mixer name	: 'Realtek ALC262'
**Simple mixer control 'Mic',0**
  Front Left: Playback 29 [94%] [9.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 29 [94%] [9.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',0**
  Front Left: Capture 28 [90%] [30.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 28 [90%] [30.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',1**
  Front Left: Capture 0 **[0%]** -12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 0 **[0%]** -12.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'Capture',2**
  Front Left: Capture 0 **[0%]** -12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 0 **[0%]** -12.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'ATAPI Mic',0**
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
**Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0**
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic' 'Front Mic' 'Line' 'CD'
  Item0: 'Front Mic'
**Simple mixer control 'Input Source',1**
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic' 'Front Mic' 'Line' 'CD'
  Item0: 'Mic'
**Simple mixer control 'Input Source',2**
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic' 'Front Mic' 'Line' 'CD'
  Item0: 'Mic'

It looks to me that capture-1 and 2 are muted. Capture-0 is not muted and it is set to the FRONT MIC. Are you certain the FRONT MIC is the correct MIC ?

I confess I don’t understand the logic when troubleshooting to selectively muting some mics, and not the other? If one can not be certain as to which control is associated with which mic, why not have them all unmuted and set to record, and then IF one can record, work backward to figure out which control is the actual control ?

I won’t bother looking there, as the point is not to mute but rather the point is to record.

Apologies, but I am not smart enough to understand your logic in different settings. … To me one should try the FRONT MIC set in all sources (0, 1, 2) and all captures unmuted with levels up. Does that yield any capture ?

If no, then try the ‘MIC’ set in all sources (0, 1, 2) and all captures unmuted with levels up. Does that yield any capture ?

Do you believe the ATAPI mic to be the internal mic ? If so, why was the playback muted in the 1st example when you tested it ?

I’m not saying your approach was bad. Just that I don’t understand it. Could you could explain the logic of your approach, as I am always keen to learn new things and maybe there was something that lead you to this approach that I missed in your post, or that needs to be posted.

… now reference your alsa configuration, I note your PC has an ALC262, and accordingly you have forced the model option sony-assamd . I note these are the model options for the ALC262:


ALC262
======
  fujitsu	Fujitsu Laptop
  hp-bpc	HP xw4400/6400/8400/9400 laptops
  hp-bpc-d7000	HP BPC D7000
  hp-tc-t5735	HP Thin Client T5735
  hp-rp5700	HP RP5700
  benq		Benq ED8
  benq-t31	Benq T31
  hippo		Hippo (ATI) with jack detection, Sony UX-90s
  hippo_1	Hippo (Benq) with jack detection
  sony-assamd	Sony ASSAMD
  toshiba-s06	Toshiba S06
  toshiba-rx1	Toshiba RX1
  tyan		Tyan Thunder n6650W (S2915-E)
  ultra		Samsung Q1 Ultra Vista model
  lenovo-3000	Lenovo 3000 y410
  nec		NEC Versa S9100
  basic		fixed pin assignment w/o SPDIF
  auto		auto-config reading BIOS (default)

Are you certain that sony-assamd is the optimal model option ? Have you tried any of the others ? Note that it is very common for a model option with a manufacturer different from that of one’ laptop to work.

The " arecord -vv -fdat foo.wav " is a good command, although you could also try:


arecord -vv -D hw:0,0 -fdat foo.wav

… but it probably will give the same. Note to observe the playback, you should not mute the mic playback.

And one finally comment … In pavucontrol play close attention to the configuration you have applied. That can cause an internal mic NOT to work (indeed its setting not to even be visible) if it is set incorrectly. Sometimes I would ask for a screen print of the pavucontrol options/settings, but in your case there is no point, as I don’t understand Cyrillic. That’s my limitation. Sorry.

And one final point … I note you have an ALC262 hardware codec. When I search for the ALC262 on the alsa web site I get this hit which suggests between alsa driver 1.0.23 and 1.0.24 there were a couple of updates to that driver (although they appear to be headphone related and not mic related).

Wlvrn · October 31, 2011, 5:19pm

oldcpu

Ah! I removed an option “sony-assamd” from 50-sound.conf and now mic works. In pavucontrol there’s only one mic and it responds good. Thank you for reminding of that option.

I didn’t know do I need ATAPI MIC or just MIC (i.e. which one is internal) so checked all of them. Yes, you’re right, that would be better if I checked both on first.

Problem is solved, thank you. If you still need me to answer some questions, I’m all yours.

oldcpu · October 31, 2011, 5:49pm

EXCELLENT !! Well done in sorting this, and thankyou for sharing your solution.

Wlvrn · October 31, 2011, 5:59pm

Thank you.

And if you’d be interested:

now, in alsamixer there is another configuration for HDA Intel (sure; that’s because it’s no longer “sony-assamd”). Master, Headphone, speaker, PCM, Mic 1 (muted), Mic Boost 1 (neither 00 nor MM, there’s an empty space under the indicator), Beep. “Sony-assamd” left me without all of them between Master and Beep indicators.