Scratch sound in Opensuse 11.1

English Hardware
#1

Hello.
When I watch movies in Smplayer there is a scratchy sound sometimes. All volume is on the 100% and I follow the guide on Scratching sounds in opensuse 11.1 - openSUSE Forums but nothing works.
If the volume is not on the 100 % I can’t hear anything or just very little.

I also makes the scratch sounds when I see movies on youtube or playing games,

What is wrong and how do I fix this???

Thanks.

#2

Volume at 100% will cause distortion/scratching. You need to lower the volume control setting

#3

How much??? I can barely hear anything at 100 %.

#4

Only the person who hears the actual audio can say “how much”. :expressionless:

Did you also go to YAST > HARDWARE > SOUND > OTHER > VOLUME and move both the PCM and Master (and speaker/surround if applicable) volume controls there up to a reasonable (but distortion avoiding) levels. Then close YaST. And then go to your mixer (kmix in kde and alsamixer/amixer in Gnome) and move the PCM, Master (and speaker/surrournd if applicable) to levels where the volume is ok and the distortion not present?

#5

Yep, but the same. And then I can’t hear anything.

#6

Is there any chance your hardware is too new to have a good implementation for it in alsa?

#7

My computer is about a year og a half year old. Is that to new???

#8

I just installed VLC player and the sound is loud enough. Maybe its only SMplayer.

#9

The problem I find with vlc player is when one moves up the sound higher than about 25% volume, one will get severe distortion. … At least its that way on my PCs.

#10

Too new ? I don’t know. How can I ? I do not know what hardware your 1.5 year old computer has. Nor do I know your PC’s software configuration.

You could run a diagnostic script that checks your PC’s hardware and software audio configuration, and then the script uploads a summary of the configuration to the internet and provides you a URL where the information is located. Thus you can then pass the URL to others who can check your configuration.

To run that script in openSUSE-11.1, with your PC connected to the Internet, type “su” to get root permissions (enter root password when promted) and type:
/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh
That will ask you if you wish to update the script. Select YES. The script will update.

Then run the script a second time:
/usr/sbin/alsa-info.shand this time let the script complete properly. When it finishes it will give you a URL (where your PC’s configuration for audio is stored). You can then pass the URL to people who are trying to help you.

#11

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=03b95239ca36639b5a920b7ad73569d1b09ef9c6. hope this helps.

#12

I note 2.6.27.25-0.1-pae kernel with a ‘Realtek ALC660-VD’ hardware audio codec.

You could try forcing alsa (upon booting) to a fixed configuration, instead of relying on the autoprobe of alsa to properly configure your hardware. You can do that by applying edits to your PC’s /etc/modprobe.d/sound file, selecting ONE AT A TIME items from this list from the HD-Audio-Models.txt files 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
	  asus-v1s	ASUS V1Sn
	  auto		auto-config reading BIOS (default)

So lets say you start by trying “3stack” from that list. Then open your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file (with root permissions) and add this as the first line in that file:

options snd=hda-intel model=3stack

Note you can edit that file in gnome by typing

  • in gnome: gnomesu 'gedit /etc/modprobe.d/sound’

  • in kde: kdesu 'kwrite /etc/modprobe.d/sound’
    entering root password when prompted for a password.

and then restart your alsa sound driver by typing **su -c ‘rcalsasound restart’ **and enter root password when prompted. Then start your mixer (kmix in kde and alsamixer/amixer in gnome) and test your sound. Be certain to apply all the techniques noted in this thread (such as YaST/mixer).

That may actually break your sound. No worries if it does, or if it does not help. In which case change “3stack” in the /etc/modprobe.d/sound file with “3stack-dig” and try again (restart alsa, restart mixer … ) … If “3stack-dig” fails, keep trying, one by one, going thru each item in the list.

Do any of those help improve your volume ? Note your mixer controls may change with different options, and that may make a difference.

#13

I tried every combination and it was the same. Scratch sounds everytime.

#14

IMHO then your only alternative if you stay with openSUSE is to either

  • tune it out with your mixer (ie optimize better the settings); or
  • update to the latest version of alsa and see if that helps

When I search on the alsa site for the ALC660VD I see some updates, but none of them reference improvements for ‘scratchy sound’
Search results - AlsaProject

There is guidance here for updating alsa:
Alsa-update - openSUSE

… but since I can not hear your sound, and since I run into an incredible number of Linux users who over exaggerate minor problems, my advise is to live with the “scratching” and try to tune it out.

#15

Well… Thanks for trying anyway :slight_smile: