# [ALSA] Low volume level with ICH7 Intel HD

## profox

Hi, I am having problems with setting up my sound card. I have got managed that I actually can hear sound throughout my speakers (or earphone's) but the volume level is very low (but without noise), and I can find a way of putting up the volume. Here is what I have done so far:

I enabled the following options in my kernel (2.6.24-gentoo-r8 amd64):

```

Device drivers -->

    Sound -->

        [M] Sound card support

        Advanced Linux Sound Architecture -->

            <M> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture

            <M> Sequencer support

            <M> Sequencer dummy client

            <M> OSS Mixer API

            <M> OSS PCM (digital audio) API

            [*] OSS PCM (digital audio) API - Include plugin system   

            PCI Devices -->

                <M> Intel HD Audio

                    <*> Enable Generic HD-audio codec parser

        Open Sound System -->

            < > Open Sound System

```

After that I emerge alsa-utils (current version: 1.0.16). I did not installed alsa-tools, alsa-driver or alsa-firmware. Then I configured my sound card using alsaconf:

```

The folowing sound cards are found on your system:

hda-intel Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio

```

Then ALSA loads all the drivers without any problems. After this I used alsamixer to change all my mixers to 100% (I only have Master and PCM as mixers), and I made sure GNOME also has all its sound levels at maximum. But when I am playing a mp3 or video file I am still hearing almost no sound.

Here is some aditional info:

```

#: cat /etc/modules.d/alsa

# Alsa kernel modules' configuration file.

# ALSA portion

# OSS/Free portion

##

## IMPORTANT:

## You need to customise this section for your specific sound card(s)

## and then run `update-modules' command.

## Read alsa-driver's INSTALL file in /usr/share/doc for more info.

##

##  ALSA portion

## alias snd-card-0 snd-interwave

## alias snd-card-1 snd-ens1371

##  OSS/Free portion

## alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

## alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1

##

# OSS/Free portion - card #1

##  OSS/Free portion - card #2

## alias sound-service-1-0 snd-mixer-oss

## alias sound-service-1-3 snd-pcm-oss

## alias sound-service-1-12 snd-pcm-oss

alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss

alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss

alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss

# Set this to the correct number of cards.

# --- BEGIN: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---

# --- ALSACONF version 1.0.16 ---

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel

# --- END: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---

```

and

```

#: lspci | grep Audio

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)

```

It is a Thinkpad T60 notebook.

Does anyone has any idea of why I am hearing almost no sound?

----------

## Abraxas

Make sure the volume button on your T60 is turned all the way up too.  The up volume key should be right above F3/F4.Last edited by Abraxas on Wed May 28, 2008 1:37 am; edited 1 time in total

----------

## Monkeh

Don't use the generic codec parser, use the specific one for your chip. It should be a Sigmatel on a T60.

----------

## profox

 *Abraxas wrote:*   

> Make sure the volume button on your T60 is turned all the way up too.  The up volume key should be right above F3/F4.

 

I already did that

 *Monkeh wrote:*   

> Don't use the generic codec parser, use the specific one for your chip. It should be a Sigmatel on a T60.

 

I will give it a try as soon as I get home

----------

## profox

 *Monkeh wrote:*   

> Don't use the generic codec parser, use the specific one for your chip. It should be a Sigmatel on a T60.

 

I removed the generic driver and tried it with the sigmatel driver but with no luck. ALSA cannot load the proper drivers for my card now (when i reconfigure ALSA).

```

Running update-modules...

Loading driver...

 * Loading ALSA modules ...

 *   Loading: snd-card-0 ...                                              [ ok ]

 *   Loading: snd-pcm-oss ...                                             [ ok ]

 *   Loading: snd-seq ...                                                 [ ok ]

 *   ERROR: Failed to load necessary drivers                              [ ok ]

 * Restoring Mixer Levels ...

alsactl: unrecognized option `---'

...

```

----------

## profox

I found the solutions, I had to use the analog device HD-audio codec driver. So my kernel configuration now looks like this:

```

Device drivers -->

    Sound -->

        [M] Sound card support

        Advanced Linux Sound Architecture -->

            <M> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture

            <M> Sequencer support

            <M> Sequencer dummy client

            <M> OSS Mixer API

            <M> OSS PCM (digital audio) API

            [*] OSS PCM (digital audio) API - Include plugin system   

            PCI Devices -->

                <M> Intel HD Audio

                    <*> Build Analog Device HD-audio codec support

        Open Sound System -->

            < > Open Sound System

```

Hope this will help somebody else someday

----------

## Dutchy

Forgive me for digging up an old thread, but this helped me a lot. Thanks!

----------

