I’m having sound trouble with my dell latitude e6500 laptop. I tried to solve thee problem by altering the sound file in /etc/modprobe.d, but time and time again my sound falters.
I use my laptop in a docking configuration. Every time I get the sound working and I reboot the pc in its docking station the sound doesn’t work. It seems like the sound file in /etc/modprobe.d is overwritten each time. Is there any workaround to this? I can get it working again by redoing al the steps mentioned higher, but this is quite annoying. All suggestions are welcome!
So you are saying the sound works sand alone? But not in the docking station?
If thats the case, then I doubt I can help. I do not have a docking station.
Reference your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file being over written, every time you run YAST > HARDWARE > SOUND > EDIT it will be over written. Every time you run “alsaconf” it may be over written.
As opposed to running YAST to restart your sound driver, did you try:
su -c ‘rcalsasound restart’
and enter root password when prompted. But note this is wild speculation on my part.
To automate this, you could then try editing your /etc/init.d/boot.local file (I think I have that location correct - I’m going by memory as I am not at a Linux PC right now), … and then add the line at the end:
rcalsasound restart
That will restart alsa every time your PC is turned on, and it may solve the docking station problem via an automatic restart of alsa.
I’m afraid I was a bit too enthusiastic. My sound broke down again- even when not plugged into docking station. To be honest, I’m running out of ideas to solve the issue. And I cannot really find my way through earlier suggested solutions. I’ve tried most without success.
Could anyone please try to guide me through the fixing of this issue? Thanks in advance!
Note, when testing if you have sound, please copy and paste the following speaker-test into a Gnome terminal or a kde konsole:
speaker-test -Dplug:front -c2 -l5 -twav
Note Linux is case sensitive, and “D” is not the same as “d”. To stop the above test, while the konsole/xterm has the mouse focus, press <CTRL><C> on the keyboard. Note you should check your mixer settings (kmix if using KDE, and alsamixer if using Gnome) to ensure that PCM and Master Volume are set around 95%. Once you have basic sound established you can back off to lower volume levels. Note the test for surround sound is different.
If that test yields errors (and its not uncommon to get errors there), try instead this more simple test: speaker-test -c2 -l5 -twavYou should hear a female voice saying ‘FRONT LEFT’, ‘FRONT RIGHT’ five times. Its quite common that one of those speaker tests will work and one will NOT work, so don’t be distressed if that is the case. IF that test gives sound, stop now, post that the sound test gives sound, and we will look at other possible causes for your applications not giving you the sound you want (such as missing codecs, using the wrong packaged version … etc … ).
Try those speaker-tests as both a regular user, and with root permissions. If you have a headset, try with your headset plugged in, and also with your headset not plugged in (for speakers).
Don’t forget to check your mixer (kmix in kde and alsamixer/amixer in gnome) moving up both PCM and master volume. Also to to YaST > Hardware > Sound … (its all noted in the troubleshooting guide I linked).
Assuming no sound, and assuming the troubleshooting guide confuses you, then can you provide more very detailed information so a good recommendation can be given? If using openSUSE-11.1, you can do that, with your laptop connected to the internet, by opening a gnome-terminal or a kde konsole and typing “su” (no quotes - enter root password) and then and typing and executing twice :
/usr/sbin/alsa-info.shthe first time it will ask to update. Select YES for the update. The second time that will run a diagnostic script and post the output to a web site on the Internet. It will give you the URL of the web site. Please post that URL here. JUST the URL.
Also, please copy and paste the following commands one line at a time into a gnome-terminal or a konsole and post here the output: rpm -qa | grep alsa
rpm -qa | grep pulse
rpm -q libasound2
uname -a
cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound… with that information I may be able to make a recommendation (as opposed to a guess).