Microphone (internal or external) no longer works after upgrade from 12.3 to 13.1

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

On my Asus G73Jh2 laptop (uname -a = “Linux pinto 3.11.6-4-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Oct 30 18:04:56 UTC 2013 (e6d4a27) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux”), after upgrading from 12.3 to 13.1, neither the internal nor the external microphones work. My primary sound application is Mumble. I can hear sounds coming from the Murmer server, but no one else in the session can hear me. Mumble is using ALSA to communicate with the primary sound card (“5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio”, configured as sound card number 0, with driver “snd-hda-intel”).
There doesn’t seem to be any tools in either YaST or KDE to verify input through the sound card? So I’m not sure where (in what layer of the audio software) the problem lies. I have looked at the settings in the YaST sound module and kMix, and everything looks like it should be working.
Any help would be appreciated.

#2

jlturriff wrote:
>
> On my Asus G73Jh2 laptop (uname -a = “Linux pinto 3.11.6-4-desktop #1
> SMP PREEMPT Wed Oct 30 18:04:56 UTC 2013 (e6d4a27) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64
> GNU/Linux”), after upgrading from 12.3 to 13.1, neither the internal nor
> the external microphones work.
>
>

Did you apply all the patches and updates ?

Version 3.10.2
openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86_64) 64-bit
Kernel Linux 3.11.6-4-desktop
Where are my penguins :- https://features.opensuse.org/316767

#3

Yes; that did not fix the issue.

#4

For a tool to assist in handling multiple sound cards, I prefer to install ‘pulse audio volume control’ application (pavucontrol). There are a couple blogs about this, giving guidance:

#5

Thanks; I’ll take a look at them.

I also added group audio to my account, but that doesn’t seem to have helped either.

I see also that kControl has Sound System options, which has the Audio Device set to Autodetect; other possibilities are ALSA, Jack, None, Open Sound system and Threaded Open Sound system. Seems like Autodetect should be the right way to go here; or am I wrong?

The YaST sound module has a testing tool for sound output, but none for sound input. :frowning: I’m thinking of putting that on their wish-list.

#6

Sorry - wrt the quote of what you typed, I don’t know what that means. Typically the alsa driver is the fundamental driver, on top of which pulse audio runs. I never touch those settings so I assume it should be automatic, but since I never touch those settings I don’t know what it means for kde.

My mic ‘just works’ with the correct configuration in the mixer and in pulse audio.

For example, on my desktop PC, I have a internal jack connector for a mic, and I also have a mic in my USB webcam.

If I type in a terminal:


arecord -l

I obtain:


oldcpu@corei7-920:~> 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: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

From which one can see that my motherboard microphone is ‘hw:0,0’ and my USB webcam microphone is ‘hw:1,0’.

If I then type in a terminal:


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

where my recording is stored in the wav file ‘newrecording.wav’ as recorded by my ‘webcam’ mic (as I specified hw:1,0).

I can then play that file with the command :


aplay newrecording.wav

The above bypasses pulse audio and it is a good general test to see if alsa is properly configured, before wasting one’s time trying to configure pulse audio.

wrt arecord, I have specified ‘S16_LE’ as the ’ -f ’ option, and also specified 2 as the channel (-c ) option. Every PC is different and those may yield errors on your PC. The ’ -vv ’ gives a verbose mode so that one can see a level indicating the volume of audio being recorded.

#7

Mine did also (both internal and external) in OS 12.3, but after upgrading to 13.1 I get nothing.

#arecord -l shows me:

**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 0: ALC269 Analog [ALC269 Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Strangely, YaST shows two devices:

│Index│Card Model
│0 │5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio
│1 │ATI Technologies Inc

I will try the arecord and aplay commands and see what happens.

#8

That indicates hw:0,0 is your recording device. Hence try in a terminal or konsole:


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

and press <CTRL><C> to stop the recording.

The " -vv " should should a recording volume bar in a text format.

#9

I see no response at all, even when I shout. Here’s the result:


$arecord -vv -f S16_LE -c 2 -D hw:0,0 newrecording.wav
Recording WAVE 'newrecording.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 MID' 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
  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
#+                                                 | 00%^C
Aborted by signal Interrupt...
#+                                                 | 00%
 13:56:04,leslie@pinto

I know the hardware is working, because 1) if I close the laptop’s screen I get excruciating feedback; and 2) it works fine when I boot into (yuk) Windows (/yuk).

#10

This is a puzzle.

I believe I need more information to understand this.

Please can you run the diagnostic script (with PC connected to the internet) that provides more information on audio configuration (and it will upload it to the internet). Select the UPLOAD/SHARE option, and when the script is complete,it will give you a URL/web address where the info is located. Please post that URL/web address here.

The command to run in a terminal/konsole is:


/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

I’ll take a look at the web address after you post it, to see if I can obtain some insight into this.

#11

Certainly.

My ALSA information is located at http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=b935ae31e53d85dfd2677a92784c76ecc411ba45

#12

Thanks. I believe that may clarify where the problem exists. Please note your PC’s mixer settings:


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

!!-------Mixer controls for card 0 [MID]
Card hw:0 'MID'/'HDA Intel MID at 0xd3e00000 irq 53'
  Mixer name    : 'Realtek ALC269'
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost',0
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] -17.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] -17.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Digital',0
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] -30.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] -30.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Internal Mic',0
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Internal Mic Boost',0
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]

While the Mic and Internal Mic are both ‘ON’, the mixture capture levels are ‘OFF’ and at 0% capture. The Mic Boosts are at 0%. The ‘Digital’ levels (also at 0% capture) likely go with the Internal Mic. I suspect a couple or more of those need to be better tuned for the mic to work.

I recommend you move the boost levels up to ~66% and the capture levels up to ~70%. Likey the easiest way to do this is to run ‘alsamixer’ program. This can also be done with the ‘amixer’ program, but I am rusty wrt syntax. Possibly something like (pick and choose salient amixer line):


amixer -c 1 -- set 'Mic Boost' 70%
amixer -c 1 -- set 'Capture' on
amixer -c 1 -- set 'Capture' 70%
amixer -c 1 -- set 'Digital' 70%
amixer -c 1 -- set 'Internal Mic Boost' 70%

but I may have the syntax wrong. It may be " -c 2 " instead of " -c 1" … Hence it may simply be easiest to use ‘alsamixer’ instead of ‘amixer’.

After that is done, try again the ‘arecord’ test :


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

using < ctrl > < c > to stop the recording

#13

Um, I’m not familiar with either of those, so I’ve used KMix. :slight_smile:
My biggest problem, I think, is that I don’t understand what I’m seeing there.:dont-know:

KMix has a selector for either HDA Intel MID or HD-audio Generic; however, HD-audio Generic has no controls except for On/Off, so I’m ignoring that. HDA Intel MID appears to correspond with Realtek ALC269.

In** KMix, HDA Intel MID** has three tabs: Output, Input, and Switches.

As you said, Capture was turned off; I’ve turned it on. I have left the Boost settings at about 1/3; higher settings cause massive feedback.

My microphones appear to be working again, but I’m not clear on what fixed the issue.

:question:What is Capture? What is Digital? What are IEC958 and IEC958 Default PCM? What is PCM?

For that matter, I often see references to Alsa, Pulse Audio, Jack, and a bunch of other audio layers, but I don’t understand what each does or what their relationships are to each other. This whole audio thing is very confusing to me.

Where can I find some up-to-date information about how it all works?

#14

Where can I find some up-to-date information about how it all works?

For an overview, this might help

http://tuxradar.com/content/how-it-works-linux-audio-explained

#15

Likely ‘capture’ being turned OFF was the main issue. Whether boost is needed is dependant on the hardware and the audio driver and varies from PC to PC.

I recommend you lower the capture levels to a level that provides the best recording.

Thanks for sharing your solution.

#16

Yes, this helps quite a lot. Can anyone tell me what the Digital and PCM controls do? PCM sounds to me like something at the hardware level; Digital? I have no clue at all.

#17

You’re [all] welcome.

BTW, is there a way for me to mark a thread as closed?