OS: 13.2/KDE desktop
System: Asus MB with Realtek ALC889/Intel ICH10
nVidia dual dvi video card
Sound was working previously, but after swapping in new NEC monitors configured in dual display, the graphics settings had to be reset (lost the original setup; re-established the correct video configuration in the nVidia-settings dialog).
But the sound also stopped! A test of the hardware in another OS confirms that this is not a hardware issue.
I am running through the various SuSE guides for sound and the forums, but while I do that, has anyone ever encountered this before and, if so, how did you resolve it?
Can you confirm you are not using HDMI for audio ?
Are you confident you installed the right graphic driver ?
Years ago, there was a bug with the proprietary nvidia driver that affected a small subset of nvidia hardware, than when installed it would break a user’s PC’s sound, unless one added one’s user to group ‘audio’ (followed by a restart). However that was long since fixed, and unless there was a regression, this is most likely another issue. Possibly a bad graphic driver installation.
Can you please provide more information by running the following diagnostic script on your PC in a konsole/xterm as a regular user, and when the script is complete it will leave an address in the konsole/xterm for you to share. Ensure you PC is connected to the internet. Please post that address here . Note to select the SHARE/UPLOAD option when prompted. Possibly the extra information provided from this script will point to the problem:
Thank you for your reply - I solved the issue this morning. As noted previously, both the display configuration and the sound functioned properly just prior to the monitor swap.
When I swapped in the new monitors, I lost the pre-existing dual-display configuration. As a result, at one point my mouse was in one display while items including Yast, KDE desktop configuration, etc. were in the other display and not reachable. After a few moments of panic, I called NEC tech support and learned that the connection of the new monitors may have cancelled the settings. Fortunately, I have a second workstation with essentially the same Linux installation (SuSE 13.1 vs. 13.2 on the main workstation). I went into the nVidia-settings dialog on the 13.1 machine and adjusted the settings on the 13.2 machine accordingly – that brought back the proper dual-display configuration.
Perhaps because Yast also shows a sound component from the graphics card as a second sound card (GF106 High Definition Audio Controller), I am guessing that connection of the new monitors similarly disabled the existing sound configuration. Yast initially showed both the Intel and graphics controllers as not configured. I then selected the automatic option to configure the two controllers.
As I did to fix the display settings, I went into a few of the sound configuration panels and files on the 13.1 machine, made copies of those, and then compared them with the same items on the 13.2 machine. The configuration in modprobe.d (50-sound.conf) and the Yast/hardware/sound (including Sound Card Advanced Options) panels appeared to be correct. But the KDE mutimedia/audio and video settings (Phonon) were not. In the “device configuration” section, the sound device had defaulted to the graphics card. In a pull-down, I was able to set it to the on-board sound device ("Playback (Built-In Audio Analog Stereo). Following a reboot, the sound was restored.