Comprehensive Sound Problem Solutions Guide

[Priswell]

I'm having trouble with my sound. It did work when I first installed Ubuntu 10.04, but for some reason, it stopped working. Now, it hasn't worked for months. My sound card CA0106 is seen by the system. Alsamixer is unmuted, but still no sound.

OK, I unstalled/purged the linux sound base, alsa base and utils then reinstalled. I still have no sound. Help? I don't know what to do next.

aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: CA0106 [CA0106], device 0: ca0106 [CA0106]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CA0106 [CA0106], device 1: ca0106 [CA0106]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CA0106 [CA0106], device 2: ca0106 [CA0106]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CA0106 [CA0106], device 3: ca0106 [CA0106]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

lspci -v
00:00.0 Memory controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 Memory Controller (rev a3)
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device 7125
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0
	Capabilities: <access denied>

00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 ISA Bridge (rev a3)
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device 7125
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0

00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation CK804 SMBus (rev a2)
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device 7125
	Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel, IRQ 10
	I/O ports at fc00 [size=32]
	I/O ports at 4c00 [size=64]
	I/O ports at 4c40 [size=64]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: nForce2_smbus
	Kernel modules: i2c-nforce2

00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 USB Controller (rev a2) (prog-if 10)
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device 7125
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 20
	Memory at fe02f000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd

00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 USB Controller (rev a3) (prog-if 20)
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device 7125
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
	Memory at feb00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:06.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation CK804 IDE (rev f2) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device 7125
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0
	[virtual] Memory at 000001f0 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=8]
	[virtual] Memory at 000003f0 (type 3, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=1]
	[virtual] Memory at 00000170 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=8]
	[virtual] Memory at 00000370 (type 3, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=1]
	I/O ports at e000 [size=16]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: pata_amd
	Kernel modules: pata_amd

00:07.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller (rev f3) (prog-if 85 [Master SecO PriO])
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device 7125
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
	I/O ports at 09f0 [size=8]
	I/O ports at 0bf0 [size=4]
	I/O ports at 0970 [size=8]
	I/O ports at 0b70 [size=4]
	I/O ports at cc00 [size=16]
	Memory at fe02b000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: sata_nv
	Kernel modules: sata_nv

00:08.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller (rev f3) (prog-if 85 [Master SecO PriO])
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device 7125
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
	I/O ports at 09e0 [size=8]
	I/O ports at 0be0 [size=4]
	I/O ports at 0960 [size=8]
	I/O ports at 0b60 [size=4]
	I/O ports at b800 [size=16]
	Memory at fe02a000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: sata_nv
	Kernel modules: sata_nv

00:09.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCI Bridge (rev a2) (prog-if 01)
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
	I/O behind bridge: 0000a000-0000afff
	Memory behind bridge: fde00000-fdefffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: fdf00000-fdffffff

00:0a.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 Ethernet Controller (rev a3)
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device 7125
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
	Memory at fe029000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	I/O ports at b400 [size=8]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: forcedeth
	Kernel modules: forcedeth

00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 00009000-00009fff
	Memory behind bridge: fdd00000-fddfffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fdc00000-00000000fdcfffff
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 00008000-00008fff
	Memory behind bridge: fdb00000-fdbfffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fda00000-00000000fdafffff
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:0d.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 00007000-00007fff
	Memory behind bridge: fd900000-fd9fffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fd800000-00000000fd8fffff
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:0e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=05, subordinate=05, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 00006000-00006fff
	Memory behind bridge: fa000000-fcffffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d0000000-00000000dfffffff
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
	Flags: fast devsel
	Capabilities: <access denied>

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
	Flags: fast devsel

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
	Flags: fast devsel
	Kernel modules: amd64_edac_mod

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
	Flags: fast devsel
	Kernel driver in use: k8temp
	Kernel modules: k8temp

01:07.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs CA0106 Soundblaster
	Subsystem: Creative Labs Device 1006
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 17
	I/O ports at ac00 [size=32]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: CA0106
	Kernel modules: snd-ca0106

01:08.0 Modem: Smart Link Ltd. SmartLink SmartPCI562 56K Modem (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Smart Link Ltd. SmartLink SmartPCI562 56K Modem
	Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 18
	Memory at fdeff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	I/O ports at a800 [size=256]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: serial

05:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV41.1 [GeForce 6800] (rev a2)
	Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. Device c383
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
	Memory at fa000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Memory at fb000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at fc000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: nvidia
	Kernel modules: nvidia-current, nvidia-173, nvidiafb, nouveau

[Krzysztow]

Haha... thank You! I got my sound back. That is great!

[Renegadeek]

Hello, all

I am a newbie in UNIX/Ubuntu. I have a Dell Vostro 1510 (see my signature for details) and I am running 10.04 64-bit. I am using an external USB audio card for playback solely, it is the Behringer UCA 222 (here). I am using the SPDIF optical out to connect it to an SR Receiver. After doing a lot of searching, I did manage to have playback (Rhythmbox, Movie Player, Flash Videos in Firefox), but unfortunately there are frequent "glitches" or fadings in the sound.

1. I followed these guidelines regarding the USB device's settings (at this point sound via the card was audible)

2. In the alsa-base.conf file I inserted the line

options snd-hda-intel model=auto

and I think this improved matters a bit regarding audio files (mp3, flac), even though this is related to the Intel HD Audio device. The "Digital Stereo (IEC958 Output" profile became available in the sound settings). The glitches are less frequent to my impression.

3. I followed the steps presented in this thread to configure the alsa-mixer (only PCM out was available).

I don't believe there is a performance issue here, the card performs fine on Windows XP with ASIO drivers. The system monitor's output cannot justify a shortage of CPU power (even at peaks, the 2 CPU cores never exceed values of 60-65% - even though the monitored processes do not sum-up to such a number).

I am posting the output of the script alsa-info.sh here

If anyone could post a hint about what could be the cause of this "problematic playback" situation, I'd be grateful.

lsbusb output

Bus 006 Device 002: ID 08bb:2902 Texas Instruments Japan

alsa-base.conf excerpt

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias snd-card-1 snd-usb-audio
options snd-usb-audio index=1 vid=0x08bb pid=0x2902
options snd-hda-intel index=0
options snd-hda-intel model=auto

and

cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [Intel          ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
                      HDA Intel at 0xf8500000 irq 22
 1 [default        ]: USB-Audio - USB Audio CODEC 
                      Burr-Brown from TI               USB Audio CODEC  at usb-0000:00:1d.1-2, full s

[Renegadeek]

Hello, all

I upgraded the ALSA version to 1.0.23 and everything works perfectly now. No problems during playback.

[snide_tripod]

--2010-12-22 01:17:22-- ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/drive....12rc2.tar.bz2
(try:20) => `drive....12rc2.tar.bz2'
Connecting to ftp.alsa-project.org|77.48.224.243|:21... connected.
Logging in as anonymous ...
Error in server response, closing control connection.
Giving up.

I have tried all three ways of doing this, only to have it fail. I too have the via88xx so any other ways of aquiring the drivers would be appreciated. Thanx for the great guide though.

here are some more error messages : tar: cd: Not found in archive
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors

--2010-12-22 01:17:22-- ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/drive....12rc2.tar.bz2
(try:20) => `drive....12rc2.tar.bz2'
Connecting to ftp.alsa-project.org|77.48.224.243|:21... connected.
Logging in as anonymous ...
Error in server response, closing control connection.
Giving up.

I am a noob when it comes to linux, and xubuntu, so maybe I have screwed something up. I don't know. I will try all three methods again, and this time will post each error message I get, if I get any.

[joetheplumber67]

I have a sound problem as well. I just installed Ubuntu 10.04 on a separate partition on my Sony Vaio VPCEB23FM. However, I have no sound and I'm not sure what to do. I started this thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1656155) and I had a look at this thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1467628).

I'm also new to Ubuntu, so I really don't have any ideas.

[oldgraf]

alsa 1.0.23 will be in Synaptic for 10.04 some day ?

[LLudovic]

Hi,

Thanks for the fantastic help file, unfortunately it still doesn't work for me.

I've got a Toshiba U200 and I'm a Linux newbie.

I've tried those steps:
- checking the sound card --> seems to be snd-hda-intel
- it seems to be installed and it's listed in the sytems device manager
- alsa mixer is also in the device manager
- have added the options to modprobe.d
- when I play something, I see the levels moving within PulseAudio Volume control

If I plug a USB headphone, it works (I can do skype at least)

I've been on for months on this one HEEEEELLLLPPPP !!!!!

[jah1138]

Wow.

When I upgraded from 8.04 to 10.04 I discovered my onboard AC'97 sound didn't work. At some point I found that my hardware wasn't even recognized.

It took me three days and a bunch of false starts and nearly a desperation clean install before I found this guide. It turns out all I needed to do to get my sound working was add 'intel8x0' to etc/modules.

This is what I started with:

alex@Daisy:~$ lspci | grep audio
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)

alex@Daisy:~$ aplay -l
aplay: device_list:235: no soundcards found...

alex@Daisy:~$ cat /proc/asound/version
cat: /proc/asound/version: No such file or directory

After lspci -v identified the kernel module as intel8x0 and I added that to /etc/modules, I now get this output. (And my sound works!)

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

alex@Daisy:~$ cat /proc/asound/version 
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Compiled on Dec  2 2010 for kernel 2.6.32-27-generic (SMP).
alex@Daisy:~$

Thank you so much! Maybe someday I'll learn enough to know why it's hard to make this happen in an install.

- Alex

[kimme]

This is how I get my sound working with an HDMI plug, hope this helps someone who has an HTPC with an HDMI plug an gets no sound on their television set....

"sudo usermod --group audio,video,fuse,cdrom,plugdev !USERNAME"

Replace !USERNAME with your own USERNAME, like...

sudo usermod --group audio,video,fuse,cdrom,plugdev kimme

that I do on my system....

edit: This worked for Lucid, but now on 11.10 it makes you unable to sudo anymore after an reboot, just enable the HDMI with the help of the command "alsamixer" in the terminal and you're set. Do not try this with an later Ubuntu than Lucid...