Notebook Realtek HD Audio

English Hardware
1

I have an ASUS M51 SN notebook with Realtek HD Audio.
All audio works fine in Vista.
I installed openSUSE 11.0 KDE 4.0, and then upgraded to KDE 4.1 using the oneclick method.
I have no sound at all in openSUSE.
Looking at Yast_Hardware_Sound, I find the sound card identified as:
Index:0
Card Model:82801H (ICH8 family HD Audio Controller)
Under Advanced Options I find:
Use the given board model
Use single command to communicate with codecs
Fix DMA pointer (0=auto, 1= none, 2=POSBUF, 3=FIFO size)

I looked at some of the forum posting for Realtek audio, but they seem way beyond a novice like me.
Can anyone give me some easy things to try to get the sound working? Thanks.

2

If you are really new, I recommend you first read the openSUSE concepts page and get some basics under your belt:
Concepts - openSUSE

ok … now having done that, you can try to follow the openSUSE audio troubleshooting guide:
SDB:AudioTroubleshooting - openSUSE

However that assumes a certain level of familiarity with computers, and with Linux, that might be a bit difficult now. If you can not succeed with that guide, then can you provide us some more information?

With your computer connected to the internet, please copy and paste the following into a konsole:

wget http://home.cfl.rr.com/infofiles/tsalsa && su -c 'bash ./tsalsa'

when prompted for a password please enter your root password. Please try to accurately answer the question on the number of plugs/jacks on your PC (for example my PC has 3 i/o plugs/jacks). When the script completes it will pass you a URL. Please post that URL here.

Also, please copy and paste the following into a konsole and post the output here.
rpm -qa | grep alsa
rpm -qa | grep pulse
rpm -q libasound2
uname -a
cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound

3

Thanks for your willingness to help.
Here is the URL:
tsalsa.txt - nopaste.com (beta)
And here is the result of the other routine:
david@linux-pvw6:~> rpm -qa | grep alsa
alsa-oss-1.0.15-48.1
alsa-utils-1.0.16-35.1
alsa-1.0.16-39.1
alsa-firmware-1.0.16-24.1
alsa-plugins-1.0.16-57.1
david@linux-pvw6:~> rpm -qa | grep pulse
david@linux-pvw6:~> rpm -q libasound2
libasound2-1.0.16-39.1
david@linux-pvw6:~> uname -a
Linux linux-pvw6 2.6.25.11-0.1-pae #1 SMP 2008-07-13 20:48:28 +0200 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
david@linux-pvw6:~> cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound

options snd slots=snd-hda-intel

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

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
david@linux-pvw6:~>

By the way, when openSUSE completes booting, I get a ‘phonon’ message: audio playback device is not working - falling back to Intel HDA.

4

tsalsa.txt - nopaste.com (beta)

Very low sound volume

5

alsa-utils-1.0.16-35.1
alsa-firmware-1.0.16-24.1
alsa-tools-1.0.16-47.1
alsa-1.0.16-39.1
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.16-57.1
java-1_6_0-sun-alsa-1.6.0.u7-1.1
alsa-plugins-1.0.16-57.1
alsamixergui-0.9.0rc1-705.1
alsa-devel-1.0.16-39.1
FA_clalsadrv-1.1.0-136.1
alsa-tools-gui-1.0.16-47.1
alsa-plugins-jack-1.0.16-57.1
alsa-plugins-samplerate-1.0.16-57.1
kalsatools-1.5.0-544.1
alsa-oss-1.0.15-48.1
alsa-tools-devel-1.0.16-47.1

alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.16-57.1
libpulse0-0.9.10-26.3

libasound2-1.0.16-39.1

Linux linux-9klj 2.6.25.11-0.1-default #1 SMP 2008-07-13 20:48:28 +0200 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

options snd slots=snd-hda-intel

5Dex.kKlNW7EtbU7:IXP SB4x0 High Definition Audio Controller

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

Very low sound volume. PCM is set to maximum volume. Master and Headphones controls are inactive. I am not being able to increase those volumes using alsamixer. Master channel choose options shows only PCM, Mic but not Master or Headphones.

6

ddmccarthy062577, thanks for the information. Since someone else has jumped in this thread with their sound problem, let me try to summarize your problem, … you have sound in Vista (proving hardware is good), but no sound at all in openSUSE-11.0.

Ok, from that I can see your ASUS M1Sn has an AMI BIOS303 with an ALC-660-VD hardware audio codec, and it uses the 1.0.16-RC2 alsa snd_hda_intel sound kernel sound module (driver), but for some reason you are not getting sound.

I’ve read of others getting this message … I’ve never seen it myself. Did you try changing your phone backend? If you have gstreamer selected, try xine? … Possibly here:
Menu -> Configure Desktop -> Sound -> Backend

Its possible the xine backend is not present, and if you are using KDE4, you could try installing phone-backend-xine from here:
ftp://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/opensuse/repositories/KDE:/KDE4:/Factory:/Desktop/openSUSE_Factory/
… but be very careful, and do not install any other factory packages without very careful consideration (maybe forum consultation) as that could break your system.

ok, so you have the default alsa that comes with openSUSE-11.0 (1.0.16)

This is useful, as I am going to recommend you try a change to this /etc/modprobe.d/sound file.

I note the ALSA-Configuration.txt file that comes with the openSUSE tarball has the following list of possible model options for alsa:

	ALC861VD/660VD
	  3stack	3-jack
	  3stack-dig	3-jack with SPDIF OUT
	  6stack-dig	6-jack with SPDIF OUT
	  3stack-660	3-jack (for ALC660VD)
	  3stack-660-digout 3-jack with SPDIF OUT (for ALC660VD)
	  lenovo	Lenovo 3000 C200
	  dallas	Dallas laptops
	  hp		HP TX1000
	  auto		auto-config reading BIOS (default)

I also note that there is a bug in openSUSE-11.0 affecting the default value be applied correctly for some kernel sound modules (I do not know which). Hence I recommend you modify your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file to be the following (you will need to use root permissions to make this change (I added a 4th line, highlighted in red below)):

**options snd slots=snd-hda-intel

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

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel**
options snd-hda-intel model=auto

Then save that, and restart your alsa with su -c ‘rcalsasound restart’
and test your sound.

If “auto” does not work, you can try other models (one at a time) in your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file, such as 3stack, 3stack-dig, 6stack-dig, 3stack-660, 3stack-660-digout, lenovo, dallas, and hp. Of course you need to only try one at a time, and you must restart alsa after each file change, as noted above.

Good luck.

7

arindam_phani, welcome to our forum.

In future, it helps if you start a new thread, as low volume is a significantly different problem from no-volume.

I assume you know we are all volunteers on this forum, … and I am guessing you made your post because you are looking for help. …

From this post I note your Toshiba L30 has V1.20 of BIOS with and HDA ATI SB (ALC861 hardware audio codec). You have this on an openSUSE-11.0 with the 2.6.25.11-default kernal on a 32-bit openSUSE.

OK you have the alsa that comes with openSUSE-11.0 installed (1.0.16). I’m guessing from your libpulse retrieval that you have KDE-3.5.9 ?

OK, this will come in useful for a possible change to this file.

Right … I’m not sure how much of this we can change, but we can try.

I note a bug report on an older 1.0.14 of alsa wrt this laptop
https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view.php?id=2821
That is an interesting read as it illustrates one user found a BIOS update necessary, another found going to “alsamixer, find “surround” and umute it, and increase volume” worked for them. [but your mixer does not appear to have that option :slight_smile: ]. Others hacked at the 1.0.14 alsa code.

Now alsa 1.0.14 is old. And that bug report was written on alsa 1.0.14 and I note various updates between then ( 1.0.14 ) and now with your alsa 1.0.16 RC2:
Search results - AlsaProject

I recommend you try the following:

There is a bug on openSUSE-11.0 that for some kernel sound modules the default setting is not applied. I do not know if that is the case for your setup, but we can apply a work around for that in case this is true.

With root permissions, edit your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file, adding a 4th line as below:
**options snd slots=snd-hda-intel

5Dex.kKlNW7EtbU7:IXP SB4x0 High Definition Audio Controller

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
options snd-hda-intel model=auto**

save that change. Then restart your alsa with su -c ‘rcalsasound restart’ and check your mixer (for more options) and test your audio. It may be quickest to restart your PC (to properly remove and re-install the sound module). If “auto” does not work in that file, try “6stack-dig” instead of “auto”, save the change, and restart your alsa as above and test. If that does not work, then try “toshiba” in place of “6stack-dig” and restart your alsa as above and test. Don’t forget about the surround sound recommendation when testing.

If the above does not work, we can try updating your alsa to 1.0.18 RC2 (there are rpms that you can install from, and I can help you out there). But lets try the above first.

Good luck.

8

Okay, I guess I’ll try to change the ‘sound’ file first, since that seems to be the easiest thing to do.
However, my ignorance is showing…How do I get root permissions to allow me to edit that file? I tried opening a terminal, typing SU and entering the password, and it seemed to accept me as SU. But then when I try to edit the ‘sound’ file, it still won’t let me. Is there a way to edit this in Kate or Kwrite? I tried the command ‘edit sound’ and the file opened in what appeared to be a text editor, but I couldn’t do anything with it.

9

type ‘su’ and enter password - now you have permissions to open apps as root. type ‘kwrite’ (or another prefferable text editor) and use it to edit /etc/modprobe.d/sound

10

One way is to open a konsole and type: kdesu kwrite
enter root password when prompted. That will open kwrite with root permissions.

Then navigate to /etc/modprobe.d/sound and edit the file.

Another way is to open konqueror as a regular user, navigate to /etc/modprobe.d/sound, then right (or is it left ? ) click on the file, and select open with “other” (or something like that) and type: kdesu kwrite
and that will open the file with kwrite with root permissions.

My apologies for my vagueness … I am not on a Linux PC right now, and my memory is pathetic for these sorts of details.

11

Thank U very much boss… 6stack-dig worked with surround field umnuted…
I really feel astonished that my sound card supports full 5.1 channel wheras they have provided only one headphone out…
All said and done…it works fine now…Thank u…

12

Well…I have had a degree of success!

The kdesu kwrite command allowed me to edit the ‘sound’ file.

I tried ‘auto’ first, but that didn’t work.
Then I tried ‘hp’, but that didn’t work either.

However, leaving it set to ‘hp’ I clicked on the little speaker thing in the system tray (is that kmix?) and played around a little. By showing the mixer and then selecting Settings/Show Channels, I was able to display a few sliders that were invisible before. I could see one for ‘PCM’, one for ‘IEC958’ and another for ‘IEC958 Default PCM’. I think it was unmuting the last one that got the sound working.

I kept playing around and eventually, with everything muted except ‘Front’ and ‘PCM’ was able to get the sound working fine, even with the ‘958’ entries muted.

Feeling brave, I then plugged in my USB 5.1Channel Audio Adapter and went into Yast/Hardware/Sound and set that up as the Generic USB adapter. At first I got great sound from the USB 5.1 adapter, but lost it all when I tried to switch back to the internal HDA Intel Audio.

If I go to Yast/Hardware/Sound, I see both cards and can test and get sound from each card. But when I run an app like Amarok, I can only get it to play through the internal HDA Intel audio, no matter what I do with kmix.

I see that I can right-click on the speaker icon in the system tray and then right-click again on ‘Select Master Channel’ and I get a window with a drop-down that lets me select the ‘current mixer’ as either ‘USB Audio’ or ‘HDA Intel’ but this seems to have no effect. No matter which is selected, it still plays sound only through the HDA Intel Audio—but I can still go back to Yast/Hardware/Sound and get 5.1 sound when testing the usb audio there.

Also, I went back into Kwrite to look at the ‘sound’ file again and it looks like the ‘hp’ entry has once again been deleted and the ‘sound’ file now looks like this:
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel,snd-usb-audio

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

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

uniq.unknown_key:USB Audio

alias snd-card-1 snd-usb-audio

So…I have HDA Intel Audio coming from the notebook speakers, but would like to be able to switch between that and my usb 5.1 sound.

By the way, thanks for all of the help so far.

13

Everytime you run YaST > Hardware > Sound or run “alsaconf” the /etc/modprobe.d/sound file will be overwritten.

I have only one sound device, and I do not have a USB sound device, nor do I have 5.1 audio.

I can not help you from here. You can try going to IRC freenode #alsa and see if you can get help there.

Congratulations on getting this far.

14

Well my sound problem is not out yet… After i restart my computer time and again there is no sound… if I change the sound settings in etc/modprobe.d sometimes sound becomes allright but not always… lately constant beating sound comes relenlessly whose volume increases with each keystroke…
I had added the line
options snd-hda-intel model=6stack-dig

please give some suggestion…

15

Did that new “6stack-dig” help?

I confess I simply do not understand your description. When you restart your PC, if there is no sound, did you first try to restart alsa with:
su -c ‘rcalsasound restart’

… and what is your criteria for testing your sound? You should use the speaker-test: speaker-test -Dplug:front -c2 -l5 -twav

Please do not use a player like xine nor vlc nor mplayer (etc … ) as your test for sound. Those players are codec dependant and if you base your judgment on that, given those players could be simply missing a codec, you could come to the wrong decision, and take inappropriate action after that, messing up your sound configuration inappropriately (when in fact your sound works, but your player is missing a codec).

If you are getting a “beating” sound, there will be a reason. That can be caused by an interrupt problem, or a badly configured sound device. I do not know where you are now wrt your configuration, and for me to add any useful suggestion, you will need to run the script and the rpm commands I provided previous.

16

well 6stack-dig works. The thing is I have to restart my computer after restarting alsa. Now when computer restarts sound volume plays perfect(i.e the linux start music). What happens is after some time a constant beating sound starts without stopping:O.

Am I now clear on my problem?

I had simply added the last line
options snd-hda-intel model=6stack-dig

Looking forward for any suggestion.

17

When your sound stops, did you try to restart alsa sound driver with:
**su -c ‘rcalsasound restart’**enter root password when prompted and also restart your mixer.

… and what is your criteria for testing your sound? You should use the speaker-test: speaker-test -c2 -l5 -twav

When your sound is working, I recommend you copy and paste this line into a gnome terminal or kde konsole and note what it gives;
lsof /dev/dsp* /dev/audio* /dev/mixer* /dev/snd/*
then when your sound is not working, type the same and note the difference. That may tell you if some device has seized your audio driver, and once you know that it may be possible to come up with a fix.

18

Well I have tried restarting alsasound by your given command. It restarts right.

I have used your lsof command as suggested. This is the output I get. But still I hear a constant beating sound which appears to be generated from some interrupt.

COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
kmix 11322 Buro 10u CHR 116,8 0t0 67021 /dev/snd/controlC0

I have tried speaker test with your given command. Then also a constant beating sound starts and continues. restarting the alsasound again resets the system normal. But time and again the beating sound continues and also when i give speaker test.

Looking forward for any suggestion…

19

In order to understand this, you need to run the “lsof” command twice.

Once when your sound is working properly. And once when the beating sound has started. Post both so we can compare them.

Also, what is the output of:
cat /proc/interrupts

20

Well I am sending the outputs as requested… This is only one instance of beating sound when I connect to pidgin chat utility. Different beatings start at different times. This is just one instance.

before beating output:
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
kmix 3150 Buro 10u CHR 116,8 0t0 11290 /dev/snd/controlC0

after beating starts output:
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
kmix 3150 Buro 10u CHR 116,8 0t0 11290 /dev/snd/controlC0
pidgin 3163 Buro mem CHR 116,4 11262 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p
pidgin 3163 Buro 15r CHR 116,2 0t0 11202 /dev/snd/timer
pidgin 3163 Buro 17u CHR 116,4 0t0 11262 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p
pidgin 3163 Buro 18u CHR 116,8 0t0 11290 /dev/snd/controlC0
pidgin 3163 Buro 20r CHR 116,2 0t0 11202 /dev/snd/timer
pidgin 3163 Buro 21u CHR 116,4 0t0 11262 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p
pidgin 3163 Buro 22u CHR 116,8 0t0 11290 /dev/snd/controlC0
pidgin 3163 Buro 24r CHR 116,2 0t0 11202 /dev/snd/timer
pidgin 3163 Buro 25u CHR 116,4 0t0 11262 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p
pidgin 3163 Buro 26u CHR 116,8 0t0 11290 /dev/snd/controlC0

before beating cat command output:

CPU0
0: 12113 local-APIC-edge-fasteoi timer
1: 81 IO-APIC-edge i8042
8: 0 IO-APIC-edge rtc0
9: 609 IO-APIC-fasteoi acpi
12: 123 IO-APIC-edge i8042
14: 0 IO-APIC-edge pata_atiixp
15: 1547 IO-APIC-edge pata_atiixp
16: 523 IO-APIC-fasteoi HDA Intel
17: 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi fglrx[0]@PCI:1:5:0
19: 6300 IO-APIC-fasteoi ehci_hcd:usb1, ohci_hcd:usb2, ohci_hcd:usb3
20: 1 IO-APIC-fasteoi yenta
21: 368 IO-APIC-fasteoi eth0
22: 11838 IO-APIC-fasteoi sata_sil, ath
NMI: 0 Non-maskable interrupts
LOC: 14523 Local timer interrupts
RES: 0 Rescheduling interrupts
CAL: 0 function call interrupts
TLB: 0 TLB shootdowns
TRM: 0 Thermal event interrupts
SPU: 0 Spurious interrupts
ERR: 0
MIS: 0

after beating cat command output:

CPU0
0: 73036 local-APIC-edge-fasteoi timer
1: 101 IO-APIC-edge i8042
8: 0 IO-APIC-edge rtc0
9: 1963 IO-APIC-fasteoi acpi
12: 123 IO-APIC-edge i8042
14: 0 IO-APIC-edge pata_atiixp
15: 10178 IO-APIC-edge pata_atiixp
16: 523 IO-APIC-fasteoi HDA Intel
17: 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi fglrx[0]@PCI:1:5:0
19: 7777 IO-APIC-fasteoi ehci_hcd:usb1, ohci_hcd:usb2, ohci_hcd:usb3
20: 1 IO-APIC-fasteoi yenta
21: 1103 IO-APIC-fasteoi eth0
22: 20533 IO-APIC-fasteoi sata_sil, ath
NMI: 0 Non-maskable interrupts
LOC: 39967 Local timer interrupts
RES: 0 Rescheduling interrupts
CAL: 0 function call interrupts
TLB: 0 TLB shootdowns
TRM: 0 Thermal event interrupts
SPU: 0 Spurious interrupts
ERR: 0
MIS: 0

Thank U very much for the prompt replies… See whwther u can help me out.