No sound on headphones

English Hardware
#1

Hello,
I have just upgraded my Gateway laptop with OpenSuSE 11.1 (clean reinstallation) and I’m having trouble with sound system:

First, if I try to play some wav file using the play line-command, I get this message:

ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1008:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
play formats: can’t open output file `default’: cannot open audio device

Then, I can restart alsasound and the file can be played. However, if I plug the headset, there is no sound at all.

I ran the script alsa-info.sh and got a bunch of information; so much that I’m not sure about what I can do with it:

!!################################
!!ALSA Information Script v 0.4.56
!!################################

!!Script ran on: Sun Feb 22 16:07:04 UTC 2009

!!Linux Distribution
!!------------------

Welcome to openSUSE 11.1 - Kernel \r (\l). openSUSE 11.1 (i586) LSB_VERSION=“core-2.0-noarch:core-3.2-noarch:core-2.0-ia32:core-3.2-ia32”

!!Kernel Information
!!------------------

Kernel release: 2.6.27.7-9-pae
Operating System: GNU/Linux
Architecture: i686
Processor: i686
SMP Enabled: Yes

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

Driver version: 1.0.17
Library version:
Utilities version: 1.0.18

!!Loaded ALSA modules
!!-------------------

snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_intel

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

Pulseaudio:
Installed - Yes (/usr/bin/pulseaudio)
Running - No

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

!!Soundcards recognised by ALSA
!!-----------------------------

0 [Intel ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
HDA Intel at 0xf3300000 irq 22
1 [HDMI ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
HDA ATI HDMI at 0xf3010000 irq 17

!!PCI Soundcards installed in the system
!!--------------------------------------

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 04)
01:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc RV630/M76 audio device [Radeon HD 2600 Series]
…]

The complete output could be read at:

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=1ed7b308cce47fa1c39a2ca352fca4e542bcb72a

I’ve found lots of reports about sound problems, but I haven’t found an answer to fix my problem

Thanks

#2

The script indicates your PC has a stac9205. I searched the alsa web site and did not notice any new alsa updates for the stac92xx since 1.0.16 of alsa.

There are model options one can apply to the /etc/modprobe.d/sound file in case the auto probe upon boot did not select an optimal configuration for one’s sound driver.

Can you provide some more information on installed audio application/os software? ie provide the output of: rpm -qa | grep alsa
rpm -qa | grep pulse
rpm -q libasound2
uname -a
cat /etc/modprobe.d/soundCopy and paste the above one line at a time into a gnome terminal or kde konsole and paste here the output.

#3

Thank you for your quick response.

The following lines show the output for the commands:

rpm -qa | grep alsa
alsa-tools-gui-1.0.18-1.13
alsa-1.0.18-8.7
alsa-firmware-1.0.17-1.42
alsa-plugins-1.0.18-6.12
alsa-utils-1.0.18-6.4
alsa-oss-1.0.17-1.37
alsa-tools-1.0.18-1.13
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.18-6.12

rpm -qa | grep pulse
pulseaudio-module-zeroconf-0.9.12-9.6
libxine1-pulse-1.1.16.2-0.pm.1
libpulsecore4-0.9.12-9.6
libpulse-browse0-0.9.12-9.6
pulseaudio-utils-0.9.12-9.6
pulseaudio-module-x11-0.9.12-9.6
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth-0.9.12-9.6
pulseaudio-module-lirc-0.9.12-9.6
libpulse0-0.9.12-9.6
pulseaudio-0.9.12-9.6
pulseaudio-esound-compat-0.9.12-9.6
vlc-aout-pulse-0.9.8a-12.3
libpulse-mainloop-glib0-0.9.12-9.6
pulseaudio-module-jack-0.9.12-9.6
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.18-6.12

rpm -q libasound2
libasound2-1.0.18-8.7

uname -a
Linux linux-660t 2.6.27.7-9-pae #1 SMP 2008-12-04 18:10:04 +0100 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel

Again, thanks for your help

#4

OK, that looks good.

Try some edits to your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file. I note from the ALSA-Configuration.txt file for 1.0.16 of alsa, the following list:

	STAC9205/9254
	  ref		Reference board
	  dell-m42	Dell (unknown)
	  dell-m43	Dell Precision
	  dell-m44	Dell Inspiron

So, lets start by trying “dell-m42” (I know it says dell, but often this will work with other laptop makes). … Change your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file to:

options snd-hda-intel model=dell-m42
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel

save the change and restart your alsa sound drive with su -c ‘rcalsasound restart’ and enter root password when prompted, restart your mixer, and test your sound/headphones. If that does not work, then replace “dell-m42” with “dell-m43”, restart alsa, restart your mixer, and test again. Try the same for “dell-m44” and “ref” if the previous do not work.

If that fails, then we could try an alsa update to 1.0.19 of alsa. I can provide a link to some rpms for that, if we come to that.

#5

Well, I tried the four suggestions and none of them seemed to work. So, I went back to the original file (by removing the option line) and restarted alsasound. Then I noticed that sound comes out through the computer speakers even when the headset is pluged in. That didn’t happen before; before, the sound was mute when I pluged in the headset (as it was expected, except that the sound did not come through the headphone)

#6

Was that not there before, or simply that you did not notice it. What is the output of your dmesg after a fresh boot ? ie copy and paste the following into a terminal (with pc connected to internet) and post here the output URL:
dmesg > dmesg.txt && curl -F file=@dmesg.txt nopaste.com/a

If you wish to try an alsa update, you can do so by copy and pasting the following six zypper commands into a terminal (with root permissions) and post one at a time, in sequence:

 zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/multimedia:/audio/openSUSE_11.1/ multimedia 

 zypper install alsa alsa-tools-gui alsa-utils alsa-tools alsa-plugins alsa-plugins-pulse alsa-oss alsa-firmware libasound2  

 zypper rr multimedia  

 zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/multimedia:/audio:/KMP/openSUSE_11.1/ multimedia  

 zypper install alsa-driver-kmp-pae  

  zypper rr multimedia

After the update is done, restart your PC and test your sound and headphones.

My reference is here:
Alsa-update - openSUSE

Note you may need to try those 4 model options, one at a time, all over again.

#7

Hi again,
No, it was there. During my testing (before opening this thread), I tried to play some files several times and sometimes, while a file being played and while the sound was being produced, I plugged in the headset and the sound stopped; then I put the headset on noticing that there was not sound.

Anyway, I ran the command and the output was this:

dmesg > dmesg.txt && curl -F file=@dmesg.txt nopaste.com/a
dmesg.txt - nopaste.com (beta)

#8

I note this:

HDA Intel 0000:00:1b.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 22
HDA Intel 0000:00:1b.0: setting latency timer to 64
ALSA sound/pci/hda/hda_codec.c:3047: autoconfig: line_outs=1 (0xd/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
ALSA sound/pci/hda/hda_codec.c:3051:    speaker_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
ALSA sound/pci/hda/hda_codec.c:3055:    hp_outs=1 (0xa/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
ALSA sound/pci/hda/hda_codec.c:3056:    mono: mono_out=0x0
ALSA sound/pci/hda/hda_codec.c:3064:    inputs: mic=0xb, fmic=0x0, line=0x0, fline=0x0, cd=0x0, aux=0x0
ALSA sound/pci/hda/patch_sigmatel.c:2805: dac_nids=1 (0x10/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
input: HDA Digital PCBeep as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/input/input10
vendor=8086 device=2a01
HDA Intel 0000:01:00.1: PCI INT B -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
HDA Intel 0000:01:00.1: setting latency timer to 64

and I can not see anything wrong with that, although I do not know much about that sort of technical level. Sometimes one gets a real obvious message/error in the dmesg. I see none there.

Any luck with the alsa update?

#9

I had problems after updating alsa:system turned excesive slow and I decided to reinstall the hole thing.

I noticed, however, that mixer included a channel for headphones, which was not there before. It did not help setting it high, any way.

So, the problem is still there: sound through PC speakers, but not through headphones.

I’ll keep working on that…