# alsaconf appears to work but doesn't [solved]

## wilsonsamm

I wasn't quite sure whether to post this in "Kernel & Hardware" or in "Multimedia", but I went ahead and posted it here. Feel free to move it if you feel it's in the wrong place.

Having installed a fresh system, I decided to get sound working after (almost) everything else was up, so I compiled alsa into my kernel as a module, merged alsa-utils, and ran alsaconf which found my card and appeared to set it up. "Fine," I thought, "I'll just run alsamixer to set my volumes and unmute my channels, then I should be able to listen to some music".

Well, alsamixer gives me this message: 

```
This sound device does not have any controls.
```

bizarre, non?   :Question: 

aplay shows that I have no cards installed: 

```
orangeblanket linux # aplay -l            

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

```

http://pastebin.com/YRuLB5X0 here is my kernel config

If I want to play an mp3 back, mplayer behaves in the following way:

```
$ mplayer 01\ -\ Beck\ -\ Sexx\ Laws.mp3 

MPlayer SVN-r29796-4.4.3 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team

Spiller 01 - Beck - Sexx Laws.mp3

Detekterte Audio only filformat!

Clip info:

 Title: Sexx Laws

 Artist: Beck

 Album: Midnite Vultures

 Year: 1999

 Comment: 

 Track: 1

 Genre: Rock

==========================================================================

Opening audio decoder: [mp3lib] MPEG layer-2, layer-3

AUDIO: 44100 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 128.0 kbit/9.07% (ratio: 16000->176400)

Selected audio codec: [mp3] afm: mp3lib (mp3lib MPEG layer-2, layer-3)

==========================================================================

[AO_ALSA] alsa-lib: pcm_dmix.c:1010:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave

[AO_ALSA] Playback open error: No such file or directory

[AO SDL] Samplerate: 44100Hz Channels: Stereo Format s16le

[AO_ALSA] alsa-lib: pcm_dmix.c:1010:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave

[AO SDL] Unable to open audio: No available audio device

DVB card number must be between 1 and 4

AO: [null] 44100Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)

Video: no video

Starter avspilling...

A:   5.7 (05.6) of 436.0 (07:16.0)  0.6% 

Avslutter... (Avslutt)

```

my kernel is linux-2.6.33-gentoo-r2

I have media-sound/alsa-utils-1.0.21-r1  USE="nls -doc -minimal"

Is anyone able to tell me what I'm doing wrong?Last edited by wilsonsamm on Fri Jul 02, 2010 10:33 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## VoidMage

Lets start with /proc/asound/cards to see what card is it exactly.

Perhaps you simply didn't load correct module.

----------

## wilsonsamm

```
sam@orangeblanket ~ $ cat /proc/asound/cards 

 0 [VT82xx         ]: HDA-Intel - HDA VIA VT82xx

                      HDA VIA VT82xx at 0xbfffc000 irq 17

```

that matches with this information from lspci:

```
80:01.0 Audio device: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT1708/A [Azalia HDAC] (VIA High Definition Audio Controller) (rev 10)

```

----------

## VoidMage

Does speaker-test produce noise ?

Anything interesting in /proc/asound/ ?

----------

## wilsonsamm

oh, speaker-test. I didn't know about that one. Well, I gave it a go but it didn't make a noise. It just gave an error:

```
orangeblanket sam # speaker-test 

speaker-test 1.0.21

Playback device is default

Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels

Using 16 octaves of pink noise

ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1010:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave

Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory

```

as for /proc/asound:

```

orangeblanket sam # ls -al /proc/asound/

total 0

dr-xr-xr-x  5 root root 0 Jul  2 21:28 .

dr-xr-xr-x 94 root root 0 Jul  2 18:21 ..

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root 5 Jul  2 21:28 VT82xx -> card0

dr-xr-xr-x  2 root root 0 Jul  2 21:28 card0

-r--r--r--  1 root root 0 Jul  2 21:28 cards

-r--r--r--  1 root root 0 Jul  2 21:28 devices

-r--r--r--  1 root root 0 Jul  2 21:28 hwdep

-r--r--r--  1 root root 0 Jul  2 21:28 modules

dr-xr-xr-x  2 root root 0 Jul  2 21:28 oss

-r--r--r--  1 root root 0 Jul  2 21:28 pcm

dr-xr-xr-x  2 root root 0 Jul  2 21:28 seq

-r--r--r--  1 root root 0 Jul  2 21:28 timers

-r--r--r--  1 root root 0 Jul  2 21:28 version

```

didn't really know what to look for in there... I'll have a scout and see if I can find anything out.

----------

## krinn

eheh, you might find that tweaky, but don't just assume VIA HDA= VIA codec  :Smile: 

look at me for example :

```
 cat /proc/asound/cards

 0 [Intel          ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel

                      HDA Intel at 0xf7cf8000 irq 55

```

so as you see i have an HDA-Intel, and the codec is ... HDA Intel

and it's fine for this card

```

lspci | grep Audio

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller

```

but, well, no :

```
lsmod | grep snd

snd_seq_dummy           1178  0 

snd_seq_oss            21292  0 

snd_seq_midi_event      4766  1 snd_seq_oss

snd_seq                38076  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event

snd_seq_device          4827  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq

snd_pcm_oss            29257  0 

snd_mixer_oss          10968  1 snd_pcm_oss

snd_hda_codec_realtek   189521  1 

snd_hda_intel          18595  1 

snd_hda_codec          56670  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel

snd_hwdep               4548  1 snd_hda_codec

snd_pcm                53767  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec

snd_timer              14471  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm

snd                    43324  15 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer

soundcore               4918  1 snd

snd_page_alloc          5901  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

```

got it ? look, the realtek codec is load.

and looking at my kernel source...

```

cat /usr/src/linux/.config | grep SND_HDA

CONFIG_SND_HDA_INTEL=m

CONFIG_SND_HDA_HWDEP=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_RECONFIG=y

# CONFIG_SND_HDA_INPUT_BEEP is not set

CONFIG_SND_HDA_INPUT_JACK=y

# CONFIG_SND_HDA_PATCH_LOADER is not set

CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ANALOG=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_SIGMATEL=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_VIA=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ATIHDMI=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_NVHDMI=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_INTELHDMI=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_ELD=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_CIRRUS=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_CONEXANT=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_CA0110=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_CMEDIA=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_SI3054=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_GENERIC=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_POWER_SAVE=y

CONFIG_SND_HDA_POWER_SAVE_DEFAULT=0
```

It was pickup even i agree alsa to use any. So it's certain the realtek codek is needed for me

to sum up: rebuild the kernel and enable every HDA codec to let alsa have a chance to find the good one for you (even alsa told you it's VIA)

edit: found a real proof it's Realtek one.

```
cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#0 | head

Codec: Realtek ALC1200

Address: 0

Function Id: 0x1

Vendor Id: 0x10ec0888

Subsystem Id: 0x104383c0

Revision Id: 0x100101

No Modem Function Group found

Default PCM:

    rates [0x560]: 44100 48000 96000 192000

    bits [0xe]: 16 20 24

```

----------

## wilsonsamm

This is fantastic!

It works. Thank you both for your invaluable help and for solving this problem.

You've made someone very happy today.

----------

## joehni

Thanks, that helped me also a lot. I had sound, but only the front channel was reacting - no master channel or something else. Activating the Realtek stuff for intel_hda solved this.

----------

