Linux and Audio Problems

July 8, 2014

Hi, All-

One of my new (to me) P4 mobos has no sound. It's the integrated audio on that board, as is often the case. BTW it also has integrated video and Linux Mint 17 (also PCLOS 2014) managed to get video working fine. I do have LM17 installed. For anyone who's interested, this is an MSI MS-7037 Ver. 1. Cutting to the chase, I'm thinking that just throwing in a modest PCI audio card might fix my problems. What do you all think? BTW the mobo is fairly 'late' in the sense that it supports the fastest Prescott P4's up through 3.4GHz or so with those relatively big 1M L2 caches.

I think I have eliminated all obvious 'cockpit' problems. My little PC speakers are turned on and known to be working. The amplifier knob is set ~35-40 percent full volume. I have the plug in the green socket. I've checked through the audio setup thoroughly. Nothing is muted, nothing is turned all the way down. I can't get a peep of audio out of this mobo. Suggestions?

Thanks, Clutter

Edited July 8, 2014 by Cluttermagnet

July 8, 2014

Well if you are sure that you have investigated all the software options it looks like your on board sound is furbar. In that case a add on sound card should solve the problem.

This is a cheap option,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PCI--5-1channels-32-bit-Audio-Sound/dp/B00FXMR83M/ref=sr_1_24/275-0280756-5599044?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1404812926&sr=1-24

If you are going to use headphones or output to a hi-fi then this is a good option,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Xonar-PCI-Audio-Card/dp/B003ZXDOL6/ref=pd_sim_sbs_computers_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0R185J9SNCMQSQGKZNGF

However I use one of these with headphones as you can very easily and cheaply change the OpAmp for a better one which gives my old ears a nice sound.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-Xonar-Internal-Sound-Card/dp/B002BZL42K/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1404813074&sr=1-1&keywords=ASUS+Xonar+DS

The Asus cards work well in Arch and they should work with no problems in all linux os's.

It is worth looking through the wiki pages to see if you have missed some small step before spending loot.

Have you tried these,

Discover available modules and their order:

$ cat /proc/asound/modules

You can quickly test sound by running speaker-test. If there is no sound, the error message might look something like

ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1022:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave Playback open error: -16 Device or resource busy

You can see the name of your card's digital output with:

$ amixer scontrols

You can assume that udev will autodetect your sound properly. You can check this with the command

$ lsmod | grep '^snd' | column -t

snd_hda_codec_hdmi 22378 4

snd_hda_codec_realtek 294191 1

snd_hda_intel 21738 1

snd_hda_codec 73739 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel

snd_hwdep 6134 1 snd_hda_codec

snd_pcm 71032 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec

snd_timer 18992 1 snd_pcm

snd 55132 9 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer

snd_page_alloc 7017 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

You might also want to check the directory /dev/snd/ for the right device files:

$ ls -l /dev/snd

To get card names use one of those commands:

$ aplay -l | awk -F \: '/,/{print $2}' | awk '{print $1}' | uniq $ cat /proc/asound/card*/id Intel JamLab Audio

First you will have to find out the card and device id that you want to set as the default by running aplay -l:

$ aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****

card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: CONEXANT Analog [CONEXANT Analog] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: Conexant Digital [Conexant Digital] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

card 1: JamLab [JamLab], device 0: USB Audio [uSB Audio] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

card 2: Audio [Altec Lansing XT1 - USB Audio], device 0: USB Audio [uSB Audio] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

:fish:

July 8, 2014

Your comments are much appreciated. A lot of interesting things to absorb from your post. First, as regards the op amp swap on that hi-fi card you linked to, I immediately recognized the 5532 as I have used them in some other projects in the past (not computer related). That's a nice, low noise amp.

I did almost all the Terminal queries you showed. Interestingly, 'speaker-test' runs endlessly, trying the left front speaker.

clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $ cat /proc/asound/modules
0 snd_intel8x0
clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $

clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: ICH5 [intel ICH5], device 0: Intel ICH [intel ICH5]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: ICH5 [intel ICH5], device 4: Intel ICH - IEC958 [intel ICH5 - IEC958]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $

clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $ ls -l /dev/snd
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root	 60 Jul 8 05:53 by-path
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 8 Jul 8 05:53 controlC0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 7 Jul 8 05:54 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 6 Jul 8 05:54 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 5 Jul 8 05:53 pcmC0D1c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 4 Jul 8 05:53 pcmC0D2c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 3 Jul 8 05:53 pcmC0D3c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 2 Jul 8 05:54 pcmC0D4p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 1 Jul 8 05:53 seq
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 33 Jul 8 05:53 timer
clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $

clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $ lsmod | grep '^snd' | column -t
snd_intel8x0	 33110 2
snd_ac97_codec	 105709 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm			 85501 2 snd_ac97_codec,snd_intel8x0
snd_page_alloc	 14230 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
snd_seq_midi	 13132 0
snd_seq_midi_event 14475 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_rawmidi		 25135 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq			 55383 2 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_device	 14137 3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi
snd_timer		 28584 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd				 60871 12 snd_ac97_codec,snd_intel8x0,snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device,snd_seq_midi
clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $

I'm not a whiz using Terminal, but neither am I frightened of it. Your queries make sense to me and I can understand to some degree what's going on- but not a lot, I'm afraid. My results look quite different from yours. I can see the Intel ICH5 interface in play as the 'integrated sound and video'.

Not sure of my next move, but I think a cheap PCI audio card ought to do nicely. My requirements are modest. I don't particularly expect hi-fi level performance. Just not too much nasty distortion would be 'OK'.

I did check Administrator/Users and made sure I had permission to use sound devices. I did have that.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Cluttermagnet

July 8, 2014

Here's my idea of how to attack this- something 'cheap and dirty':

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Channel-5-1-Surround-3D-PCI-Sound-Audio-Card-for-PC-Windows-XP-Vista-7-8-8-1-/350855686928?pt=US_Sound_Cards_Internal_&hash=item51b0a0eb10

July 8, 2014

So you are running MINT, yes ?

Do you get sound from "speaker-test" ? Post the output from "speaker-test".

Are you using Gnome ?

If your os/software is not set up properly then a new sound card will not magically solve the problem. :whistling:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture

from the wiki,

No sound with onboard Intel sound card

There may be a problem with two conflicting modules loaded, namely snd-intel8x0 and snd-intel8x0m. In this case, blacklist snd-intel8x0m:

/etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf

blacklist snd-intel8x0m

Muting the "External Amplifier" in alsamixer or amixer may also help. See the ALSA wiki.

Unmuting the "Mix" setting in the mixer might help, also.

Edited July 8, 2014 by abarbarian

July 8, 2014

I was thinking the same thing as Abarbarian as soon as seen the snd_intel8x0 module listed. I would do as he advised and blacklist snd-intel8x0m.

Let us know if that helps any.

July 8, 2014

I was thinking the same thing as Abarbarian as soon as seen the snd_intel8x0 module listed. I would do as he advised and blacklist snd-intel8x0m.

Let us know if that helps any.

Oi don't be getting me the blame if it do not work. I only directed him to the wiki :harhar:

July 8, 2014

Oi don't be getting me the blame if it do not work. I only directed him to the wiki

Right...

July 8, 2014

Wow! Great info, guys. I'll try that. Sounds sort of likely to me...

July 8, 2014

I'm running Linux Mint 17 Mate 32 bit. Does that count as gnome? My understanding was that Mate is a fork of gnome? Maybe? I'm not sure on that point.

No, no sound whatever at any time, including while running speaker-test, which repeats endlessly, BTW, testing left front channel.

I'll spend a little time digesting the writeup in the wiki. But I seem to have only one Intel module, not two. I looked at my terminal outputs above and I saw only Intel 8x0 but not the 8x0m.

So you are running MINT, yes ?

Do you get sound from "speaker-test" ? Post the output from "speaker-test".

Are you using Gnome ?

If your os/software is not set up properly then a new sound card will not magically solve the problem.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture

from the wiki,

July 8, 2014

Yup looks like you have the right module loaded. Yup I think mate is a gnomy type.

After a read of the wiki/internet and a check of all your configs it may turn out to be a faulty sound hardware on the pc. Sorry I can help no further as Arch is slightly different.

Does Mint use systemd ? Have you asked at the Mint forums as they would know more perhaps.

July 8, 2014

Others here already have your issue in hand, David, but on a side note I wanted to mention to you that I just wrote a "note to self" which says:

Check CPU inventory in shop for Clutter.

I have to admit that I was out there the other night and totally forgot to check on those P4s for you at that time. It's raining right now, but later on I might head on out there to get the info for you.

Later...

~Eric

July 9, 2014

Thanks, guys-

Here is a Terminal session running speaker-test. Note that this repeats endlessly, just what you see is what it always does. Only closing the Terminal window ends this process.

clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $ speaker-test
speaker-test 1.0.27.2
Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 192 to 2097152
Period size range from 64 to 699051
Using max buffer size 2097152
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 524288
was set buffer_size = 2097152
0 - Front Left
Time per period = 10.951653
0 - Front Left
Time per period = 10.950200
0 - Front Left
Time per period = 10.953538
0 - Front Left
Time per period = 30.062206
0 - Front Left
Time per period = 30.030598
0 - Front Left

July 9, 2014

I'm still thinking that installing a PCI audio card and then perhaps a little Terminal 'magic' might fix this. I have zero emotional investment in getting the integrated audio to ever work. A PCI card would be just fine by me. I'm happy enough that the integrated video functions.

I might insert just a few side comments here in this thread, although I'll probably start a 'Clutter P4 478' saga elsewhere. Consider- I have always computed on a budget. Furthermore, I enjoy a lot putting these boxes together and getting them running. And finally, although I have read one internet poster calling the 478 a "dead socket" (absolutely true), this combination still represents a price/performance 'sweet spot'- for now. In a few more years, the new generations of multi processor CPU machines will start appearing off lease and otherwise, and the 478 will then actually be heading for obsolescence. So what I have here already is about a dozen towers, mostly running P4's. Don't I love Linux, which is a free OS! Most are pretty good (remember, I am NOT a gamer!). A few are sluggish hogs- or their mobos have gradually developed problems or failed outright. The reliability 'bathtub curve', you know. My hardware is probably starting up the rising end of the curve at 'end of life', and failures become much more common. Anyway, my philosophy for now is to repair and upgrade on the cheap with the limit being the upper performance levels one might expect from this architecture. (Remember, all DDR1 architecture here).

I do love my Dell XPS 600, which is a much better platform, although already years old and 'obsolete'. I would never have invested the loot to get one myself. A dear friend passed away and I inherited that box.

Think of Clutter as being a 'trailing edge' afficionado, I'm definitely not 'leading edge'. I can buy a perfectly adequate (for me) sound card on Ebay for five dollars. Or I may have one at home I pulled out of an older Dell, maybe an 8200 or so. I'll check tonight when I'm back at home base.

0 - Front Left
Time per period = 30.033551
0 - Front Left
Time per period = 30.030295
0 - Front Left
Time per period = 30.032816
0 - Front Left
Time per period = 30.033802
0 - Front Left

After about 20 minutes I shut down this instance of Terminal. Code above from the bottom of that window.

Edited July 9, 2014 by Cluttermagnet

July 9, 2014

I'll have to find out about systemd. Don't know right now., If I get really stuck I might wander over to the Mint forums. I always ask here first. The last time I remember posting in there was in 2006, just about a year before I took the plunge and installed my first Linux OS- with considerable help from my homies here at Scot's. Particularly fond rememberance and gratitude for the time Urmas invested in me. He's awesome. You're all awesome! Linux changed my life in a meaningful way, it's made my online life infinitely better. Oh, BTW one of the responders in my 2006 Mint forum thread was Clem himself.

Yup looks like you have the right module loaded. Yup I think mate is a gnomy type.

After a read of the wiki/internet and a check of all your configs it may turn out to be a faulty sound hardware on the pc. Sorry I can help no further as Arch is slightly different.

Does Mint use systemd ? Have you asked at the Mint forums as they would know more perhaps.

July 9, 2014

This may be a graphical problem and not one under the hood. I had a similar issue in my brother's Mint installation. You need to click on the little speaker on the panel and check to see which devices the graphical audio controller is using. If there are more than one choice in the dropdown device menu, I'd choose a different one and see if your sound comes up. That was all I had to do to fix my brother's audio.

Click on the "Device" dropdown and you may see something like this:

volumeControl_02_devicesDropDownList_screenshot_563x449.png

Look for something like this in the menu:

Intel ICH Intel ICH5

or

Intel ICH - IEC958 Intel ICH5 - IEC958

These are your hardware devices according to your post above.

July 9, 2014

Eric- my output looks a lot different from what you posted, but hardware was set for "Analog Stereo Duplex". Other options include Digital Stereo (IEC598) Output, Digital Stereo (IEC598) Output + Analog Stereo Input, various Analog Surround n.n Output, and various Analog Surround n.n Output + Analog Stereo Input. None of these, which allowed a speaker test, produced any sounds. So I left it on the original stereo duplex option for now.

Edited July 9, 2014 by Cluttermagnet

July 9, 2014

Particularly fond rememberance and gratitude for the time Urmas invested in me. He's awesome. You're all awesome! Linux changed my life in a meaningful way, it's made my online life infinitely better.

Indeed, same here :thumbup:

July 9, 2014

Well, it was worth a try, David.

July 9, 2014

This is a workaround but it may be worth doing it to test hardware. https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/112183/no-on-board-sound-on-dell-optiplex-sx-280-post-linux-mint-petra-install

I will continue to look

July 9, 2014

You could also edit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and add this to the end of the file:

options snd-hda-intel index=0 model=auto

Then reboot

July 9, 2014

I have this in mine and I also have an intel hd audio:

options snd slots=snd_hda_intel
options snd_hda_intel index=0

July 9, 2014

This is a workaround but it may be worth doing it to test hardware. https://unix.stackex...t-petra-install

I will continue to look

clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $ sudo modprobe pcspkr
[sudo] password for clutter:
clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $ lsmod | grep pcspkr
pcspkr				 12630  0
clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $ lsmod | grep snd
snd_intel8x0		   33110  2
snd_ac97_codec	    105709  1 snd_intel8x0
ac97_bus			   12642  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm			    85501  2 snd_ac97_codec,snd_intel8x0
snd_page_alloc		 14230  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
snd_seq_midi		   13132  0
snd_seq_midi_event	 14475  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_rawmidi		    25135  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq			    55383  2 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_device		 14137  3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi
snd_timer			  28584  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd				    60871  12 snd_ac97_codec,snd_intel8x0,snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device,snd_seq_midi
soundcore			  12600  1 snd
clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $

July 9, 2014

0 down vote

I installed gnome-alsamixer and when I opened it and it had some set to be mute. Unmute the Master M and sound works!

One hitch though, when I restart it goes back to mute format, I'll update this answer if I find a fix for that. But I guess it's not as bad as no sound at all.

Do I have gnome-alsamixer in a stock distro of LM17 Mate? Do I want to install this?

I have never seen a Master M to unmute. But the stock "Sound" window I get under

Preferences shows nothing muted anywhere.

I'll try the suggestions of editing /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf in gedit later...

Break for a late dinner...

Edited July 9, 2014 by Cluttermagnet

July 9, 2014

clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $ inxi -A
Audio:	 Card: Intel 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller driver: snd_intel8x0
	   Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-24-generic
clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $

clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $ inxi -Fx
System:    Host: clutter-MS-7037 Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic i686 (32 bit, gcc: 4.8.2)
	   Desktop: N/A Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana
Machine:   Mobo: MICRO-STAR INTL model: MS-7037 version: Ver 0A Bios: Phoenix version: 6.00 PG date: 12/23/2004
CPU:	   Single core Intel Pentium 4 CPU (-HT-) cache: 1024 KB flags: (sse sse2 sse3) bmips: 5600.82
	   Clock Speeds: 1: 2800.411 MHz 2: 2800.411 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
	   X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1280x1024@60.0hz
	   GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 865G x86/MMX/SSE2 GLX Version: 1.3 Mesa 10.1.0 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:	 Card: Intel 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller driver: snd_intel8x0 ports: dc00 e000 bus-ID: 00:1f.5
	   Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-24-generic
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter driver: 8139too ver: 0.9.28 port: a000 bus-ID: 01:0d.0
	   IF: eth0 state: unknown speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:11:09:d3:82:75
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 220.0GB (2.3% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: ST3160212ACE size: 160.0GB
	   2: id: /dev/sdb model: IC35L060AVV207 size: 60.0GB
Partition: ID: / size: 24G used: 4.7G (21%) fs: ext3 ID: /home size: 47G used: 176M (1%) fs: ext3
	   ID: swap-1 size: 1.15GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
RAID:	  No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   None detected - is lm-sensors installed and configured?
Info:	  Processes: 140 Uptime: 6 min Memory: 375.8/986.1MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.2 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4
clutter@clutter-MS-7037 ~ $

July 9, 2014

So did it do you any good?

The modprobe part after the reboot/

July 9, 2014

I installed alsa-mixer. Found various things muted or turned down. Fixed that. No joy. Rebooted, no help. Some of the changed settings are not persistent. They revert to defaults a lot.

So did it do you any good?

The modprobe part after the reboot/

Let me do that right now before I leave for home base- brb...

No joy after reboot. Bear in mind all I've been using to test is the test dialog you get when you select Preferences/Sound/Hardware.

BTW my devices is listed as Built in Audio 1 Input 1 Output Analog Stereo Duplex. Also the option in that window agrees, the default was set for Analog Stereo Duplex.

Got to run but be back on in a half hour or so from home base...

Edited July 9, 2014 by Cluttermagnet

July 9, 2014

I've read a bit about this issue on the Mint forums. Lots of folks running into this, depending on their hardware. I did indeed find one thread where a guy sidestepped his problem with integrated audio by throwing in an audio card. He was up and running again pretty quick.

This is a relatively low priority issue for me, actually. I'll overcome this eventually. Lots of other pans in the fire here. I will order a PCI audio card. They're cheap and it may be an easy fix.

July 9, 2014

Yeah, it may just be easier to buy a cheapo pci card.

July 9, 2014

There are many decent low-priced audio cards (some very good cards for low prices on eBay, actually) out there. It doesn't fix the issue you're having, but it does provide a solution for the main problem... no sound.

You don't, by any chance, have an MS Windows installed on that system? If so, I'd check to see that your onboard hardware actually works by finding out if you have audio in that OS. Or... if you have a Live Linux CD around somewhere (SLAX, Porteus, Puppy, Ubuntu, etc.), you can test the audio hardware that way, too.

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