sound not working

I need to check in for a sound diagnostics;

we are still running 11.0; we get excellent sound from the USB headphones; I notice we are not getting sound from the external speakers connected to the soundcard; I cannot say when this happened;

diagnostics

rpm -qa | grep alsa

alsa-plugins-1.0.16-57.1
alsa-firmware-1.0.16-24.1
alsa-oss-1.0.15-48.1
alsa-utils-1.0.16-35.1
alsa-1.0.16-39.1
alsa-plugins-jack-1.0.16-57.1
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.16-57.1

rpm -qa | grep pulse

pulseaudio-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-module-zeroconf-0.9.10-26.5
libpulse0-0.9.10-26.5
libpulsecore4-0.9.10-26.5
libpulse-browse0-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-module-lirc-0.9.10-26.5
gstreamer-0_10-pulse-0.9.5-54.1
pulseaudio-module-gconf-0.9.10-26.5
libpulse-mainloop-glib0-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-module-x11-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth-0.9.10-26.5
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.16-57.1
pulseaudio-utils-0.9.10-26.5
pulseaudio-esound-compat-0.9.10-26.5

rpm -q libasound2

libasound2-1.0.16-39.1

uname -a

Linux linux-37a8 2.6.25.20-0.1-default #1 SMP 2008-12-12 20:30:38 +0100 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux

cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound

options snd slots=snd-ens1371

qnJ_.ouepqRQGtOE:Creative SoundBlaster AudioPCI 128

alias snd-card-0 snd-ens1371

I have not supplied

/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

as we get the response

bash: /usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh: No such file or directory

Thats because that script was only included starting with 1.0.17 of alsa, and you have 1.0.16 of alsa.

But you can run the script, if you have wget installed, by copying and pasting the following line into a terminal or konsole with your PC connected to the internet:

wget -O alsa-info.sh http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh && bash alsa-info.sh

Post just the URL that is provided here.

so I ran the command, and the results are in the terminal;

just remind me how I do this for you please:

Post just the URL that is provided here

and perhaps if I note that the command

speaker-test -Dplug:front -c2 -l5 -twav

produces good sound from the speakers

an “ah-ha” moment: from somewhere out of the terminal popped a url that I post

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=8ecd321733019065b447b7bba7d1204b1245b42d

OK, then your speaker sound works. Thats good news.

I note from the diagnostic script:
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=8ecd321733019065b447b7bba7d1204b1245b42d
that your PC has a Ensoniq AudioPCI ENS1371 with a stac9271. I do not have that hardware, but from helping others, I have noted it is very “sensitive” to one’s mixer settings.

I also do not have a USB sound device. I’ve also read of users struggling when using both USB sound devices and motherboard sound.

We really need someone who has a USB sound device, to write a good “how to” on the methods (and tips and tricks) to get BOTH USB sound device functioning, and motherboard sound functioning.

we had a live CD version of the liteweight version of Mepis, which is called antiX MEPIS 7.5 and I loaded that;

I loaded up its browser: iceweasel; and loaded various Youtube videos;

the sound was fine through the external speakers; the USB we have is just a set of basic headphones;so hard to believe a big conflict;

so MEPIS can cope fine and load ALSA; (I could see it load ALSA in its run-up);

the sound was excellent from MEPIS …

What would help is if you boot to MEPIS again !! And when in MEPIS (after confirming that your external speakers and USB work properly) run that diagnostic script again, and post the URL here.

Then we can compare what MEPIS are doing to what openSUSE are doing. That may not help, but I think it is worth a shot !

wget -O alsa-info.sh http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh && bash alsa-info.sh

Please post the URL from running the script in MEPIS. Just the URL.

Thanks!

many thanks for your prompt reply

hopefully this is the url

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=c1da26f5cf5f3053d09d49b282682c1eaaa5faf0

I recommend you compare the mixer settings between the two, as many times the problem is in one’s mixer setup, …

Some differences I note, …

  • Master mono - Mepis OFF @ 0% ; openSUSE ON @ 68%. Why ?
  • 3-D Control Signamtel - Depth - Mepis 0%; openSUSE 67%. Why?
  • PCM - Mepis 81%; openSUSE 55%. Thats low for openSUSE
  • PC Speaker - Mepis OFF @ 0%; openSUSE ON @ 27%. Why?
  • USB Headset - Mepis OFF (@ 75%); openSUSE ON (@53%).
  • USB Speaker - Mepis ON @ 48%; openSUSE ON @ 66%.

I recommend you in particular look at the USB Headset switch difference. Also consider the others.

thanks; we use Gnome;

I need to access the mixer panel;

I have accessed that via YaST?

You asked “why?” after a couple of the settings differences;

I wasn’t clear if they were directed at me, or grander things?

I have changed what settings I could in YaST to reflect the numbers, but no change: ie external speakers do not work;

with the MEPIS all the sound is directed out the external, and none through the USB: I tried a couple of live distros; and all functioned thus; I do not remember changing a default to direct output to USB at any time …

You say

I recommend you in particular look at the USB Headset switch difference. Also consider the others.

which panel contains that option please

I don’t use Gnome. In kde with kmix its easy. I can’t help you with the gnome mixer.

There is the command line “amixer” (which I also do not use - there is no need as kde kmix works well) and you could try learn the syntax for that. Hopefully a gnome user will provide some advice. If not, I’m surprised gnome has not a better mixer.

thanks;

amixer says:

amixer
Simple mixer control ‘Master’,0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 65536
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 65536 [100%] [on]
Front Right: Playback 65536 [100%] [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Capture’,0
Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
Capture channels: Mono
Limits: Capture 0 - 65536
Mono: Capture 0 [0%] [on]

which I think reflects what I get on GUI through YaST: Sound: Volume;

what I seem to have is sound output going exclusively to the USB Headphones; and nil to the external speakers;

in the old MEPIS 3.3 that I ran, the Kmix that MEPIS uses has the simple (potential) switching option of sound board or USB; selecting USB on MEPIS did not direct sound to those headphones; sound remained diverted to the external speakers

I have “done something” and now have good sound from the external speakers; (and none from the USB headphones);

but the USB headphones still work for Skype;

it would be nice to feel that every button we click has been carefully recorded on paper; before; and after; each click;

sadly, I do not alwys practice in such a way;

I noticed we had pulseaudio installed too; I looked in the options, and I wish I could define exactly what I did change that made the difference; I just noticed later that YouTube videos were coming out the external speaker;

so thanks for the help on this; it does serve as a prompt for me to read more about sound issues;

all best wishes

What you can do, after you have sound working the way you want, is to RECORD your mixer settings. You can do that with:[INDENT]amixer > sound-works.txt[/INDENT]and use a text editor to open up the file “sound-works.txt”. That will list your mixer settings. If you lose your sound, you can always check to see what has changed from when your sound worked.

Its possible to share that output via the internet using the “curl” command:
amixer > amixer.txt && curl -F file=@amixer.txt nopaste.com/ahowever given I am not familiar with your hardware, its not likely I would be able to add much. Others might thou.

this is very helpful; thanks very much; will do