Sound: Intel ICH8 family does not work, but ICH9 works

English Hardware
1

I have 2 PC with the following information:

PC1: openSUSE 11.0, KDE 3.5.9, Sound is OK

rpm -qa | grep alsa
alsa-oss-1.0.15-48.1
alsa-oss-32bit-1.0.15-48.1
alsa-1.0.16-39.1
alsa-plugins-1.0.16-57.1
alsa-utils-1.0.16-35.1

rpm -qa | grep pulse

rpm -q libasound2
libasound2-1.0.16-39.1

uname -a
Linux Piantino-2 2.6.25.20-0.1-default #1 SMP 2008-12-12 20:30:38 +0100 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel

u1Nb.QRa0Bn3RPe7:82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

PC2: openSUSE 11.1, KDE 4.1.3, Sound does not work

rpm -qa | grep alsa
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.18-6.13
alsa-oss-1.0.17.git20080715-2.24
alsa-firmware-1.0.19.git20090317-1.1
alsa-utils-1.0.19.git20090319-1.2
alsa-tools-1.0.19.git20090320-1.2
alsa-1.0.19.git20090304-3.1
alsa-driver-kmp-default-1.0.19.20090328_2.6.27.19_3.2-1.1
alsa-plugins-1.0.19.git20090303-1.10
alsa-oss-32bit-1.0.17.git20080715-2.24

rpm -qa | grep pulse
libpulse0-0.9.12-9.5
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.18-6.13
libpulse-browse0-0.9.12-9.5
pulseaudio-utils-0.9.12-9.5
pulseaudio-module-x11-0.9.12-9.5
pulseaudio-module-lirc-0.9.12-9.5
pulseaudio-esound-compat-0.9.12-9.5
libxine1-pulse-1.1.16.2-0.pm.2
libpulse-mainloop-glib0-0.9.12-9.5
pulseaudio-0.9.12-9.5
pulseaudio-module-zeroconf-0.9.12-9.5
pulseaudio-module-jack-0.9.12-9.5
libpulsecore4-0.9.12-9.5
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth-0.9.12-9.5

rpm -q libasound2
libasound2-1.0.19.git20090304-3.1

uname -a
Linux Piantino-8 2.6.27.19-3.2-default #1 SMP 2009-02-25 15:40:44 +0100 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel

u1Nb.zg+CO3ggc1E:82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

What is wrong in PC2?
Than you in advance for your help.

2

What is wrong in PC2 ? I don’t know!

I’ve read of some 64-bit openSUSE ALC889 users struggling with the latest kernel and latest alsa, but I have no idea if that applies to you.

Some more information on PC#2 would REALLY help. :slight_smile: … Please, in PC #2, can you open a konsole, and type “su” ( to get root permissions) and then with PC#2 conneceted to the internet, in that konsole type twice:
/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh
the first time it will offer to update the script. Please do so. The second time it will run the script, and it will upload your PC’s software and hardware audio configuration to an internet paste site. It will give you the URL of the upload. Please post the URL here. Just the URL.

With that URL and the previous information you gave, it might be possible to answer your question.

Also, when testing your PC for sound functionality, please use the speaker-tests recommended here: SDB:AudioTroubleshooting - speaker-tests - openSUSE trying these speaker-tests both as a regular user and with root permissions, and testing sound in both your speakers and headphones.

3

Thank you for your help.
For PC#2, the information is located at:

 http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=18f2b10bc0db5bd917020b81deb4199966728921

I had forgotten to mention that I have also followed the instructions in SDB:AudioTroubleshooting - speaker-tests - openSUSE, without success.

4

OK, thanks for that. This could be a tough nut to crack.

I do note your alsa-plugins-pulse could be updated to be consistent with the other alsa apps. Maybe try updating alsa-plugins-pulse to the latest git version, restart and test.

You say you tried the various combinations of the speaker tests, … did you ever get any errors from the speaker-tests when you tried them?

Perhaps you could, immediately after rebooting, run dmesg and look at the dmesg contents to see if there is anything there re: your sound (I typically search the dmesg for occurences of “snd” , “alsa” and “hda” ). The following curl command can be useful for sharing that information:
dmesg > dmesg.txt && curl -F file=@dmesg.txt nopaste.com/a

To workaround a speculative possibility that the alsa autoprobe failed to properly configure your PC’s audio, you could also try some custom hand edits to your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file. I note this list of options that can be applied to that file (from the 1.0.19 of alsa HD-Audio-Models.txt file):

STAC9227/9228/9229/927x
=======================
  ref		Reference board
  ref-no-jd	Reference board without HP/Mic jack detection
  3stack	D965 3stack
  5stack	D965 5stack + SPDIF
  dell-3stack	Dell Dimension E520
  dell-bios	Fixes with Dell BIOS setup

So, lets say one wished to try the option “3stack”, … one could do that by changing the /etc/modprobe.d/sound file to:

options snd-hda-intel model=3stack
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.zg+CO3ggc1E:82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

and then restart alsa with su -c ‘rcalsasound restart’ enter root password when prompted, and then restart one’s mixer and then run the two speaker tests, testing both speaker and headset sound as a regular user and with root permissions.

If “3stack” does not work, replace it with “5stack” and try that. Restart alsa, mixer, test … etc … Do that for each of the model options.

5

Thank you for all your suggestions.
I have done the following tests:

I do note your alsa-plugins-pulse could be updated to be consistent with the other alsa apps. Maybe try updating alsa-plugins-pulse to the latest git version, restart and test.

I have updated the alsa-plugins-pulse, restarted and tested
Result: no sound.

You say you tried the various combinations of the speaker tests, … did you ever get any errors from the speaker-tests when you tried them?

I never got an error message.

Perhaps you could, immediately after rebooting, run dmesg and look at the dmesg contents to see if there is anything there re: your sound (I typically search the dmesg for occurences of “snd” , “alsa” and “hda” ). The following curl command can be useful for sharing that information:

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

Here are the occurences relative to the sound:

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 /usr/src/packages/BUILD/alsa-driver/pci/hda/…/…/alsa-kernel/pci/hda/hda_codec.c:3789: autoconfig: line_outs=3 (0xd/0xf/0x10/0x0/0x0)
ALSA /usr/src/packages/BUILD/alsa-driver/pci/hda/…/…/alsa-kernel/pci/hda/hda_codec.c:3793: speaker_outs=0 (0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
ALSA /usr/src/packages/BUILD/alsa-driver/pci/hda/…/…/alsa-kernel/pci/hda/hda_codec.c:3797: hp_outs=1 (0xa/0x0/0x0/0x0/0x0)
ALSA /usr/src/packages/BUILD/alsa-driver/pci/hda/…/…/alsa-kernel/pci/hda/hda_codec.c:3798: mono: mono_out=0x0
ALSA /usr/src/packages/BUILD/alsa-driver/pci/hda/…/…/alsa-kernel/pci/hda/hda_codec.c:3801: dig-out=0x21/0x0
ALSA /usr/src/packages/BUILD/alsa-driver/pci/hda/…/…/alsa-kernel/pci/hda/hda_codec.c:3809: inputs: mic=0xe, fmic=0xb, line=0xc, fline=0x0, cd=0x0, aux=0x0
ALSA /usr/src/packages/BUILD/alsa-driver/pci/hda/…/…/alsa-kernel/pci/hda/patch_sigmatel.c:2990: stac92xx: dac_nids=3 (0x2/0x5/0x4/0x0/0x0)
input: HDA Digital PCBeep as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/input/input6
input: HDA Intel Line In at Ext Rear Jack as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/input/input7
input: HDA Intel Mic at Ext Front Jack as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/input/input8
input: HDA Intel Mic at Ext Rear Jack as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/input/input9
input: HDA Intel Line Out at Ext Rear Jack as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/input/input10
input: HDA Intel Line Out at Ext Rear Jack as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/input/input11
input: HDA Intel Line Out at Ext Rear Jack as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/input/input12
input: HDA Intel HP Out at Ext Front Jack as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/input/input13

To workaround a speculative possibility that the alsa autoprobe failed to properly configure your PC’s audio, you could also try some custom hand edits to your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file

I have tried the options “3stack” and “5stack” without success.(my PC is not a Dell).
I have also forgotten to mention that the sound works fine with another OS, eliminating the fact that there could be a problem of “galvanic connection”.

6

You really should try them all.

The alsa developers do NOT make a new option for each model laptop, nor do they expand the comment for each option indefinitely to cover every possible laptop. If a DELL option works for another model laptop, they do not change anything. Hence its entirelly possible a “Dell” setting will work on a “Fujitsu”, or “HP”, or work on some other model laptop.

Thats good to know.

You provided a subset of the dmesg, instead of the URL. How confident are you that you did not miss anything in the dmesg? I ask that because I am NEVER confident myself (about understanding everything in the dmesg), and hence would be a bit surprised if others are very confident.

7

If you have no success with the remainder of the model options, then I believe you should write a bug report. Be certain to list the bug under the category SOUND in order to ensure you obtain the attention of the right person at Novell/SuSE-GmbH/alsa developer.

In fact, even if you are successful, IMHO you should write a bug report about the alsa autoprobe not working successfully.

There is guidance for bug reports here: Submitting Bug Reports - openSUSE

8

I should have stated “sound card” instead of “laptop” in this previous post.

9

Thank you for your precisions. I have retried this time all the options and miracle, the sound card has decided to put itself at work! :slight_smile:
The option ref-no-jd did the job.
Thank you again for your kindness and your patience. I do appreciate your degree of competence.
According to your opinion, I will write a bug report about my problem.
Have a nice day

10

Well done!! And thank you for sharing your solution.

Please do write the bug report. They may close the bug report right away (as you have the work around) but the fact it is drawn to their attention that the auto probe of alsa does not work for your sound card, is important, … as is the fact that you now have part of the solution for them.

11

I too have a generic 64-bit machine with an Intel ICH8 family integrated sound card. I experienced the same issues as puzzled penguin and found his solution to be the exact required fix. I used the model=ref-no-jd option in the /etc/modprobe.d/sound file, and all my sound problems disappeared. Funny that this wasn’t a problem in Opensuse 10 or 11, only in 11.1. Thanks for the solution!