# Sound not working.

## F_

Hi all. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here. But I cannot get sound working on this laptop -- a Dell Mini 9 (Inspiron 910).

I have installed alsa-utils, and alsamixer shows that the Master volume is unmutted.

What more can I check? 

I know this is probably not enough information but I don't know what to do or where to look. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks.

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## amdg

What is your sound card?  (It's listed in the output of "lspci".)

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## d2_racing

Also, can you post your emerge --info plz ?

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## d2_racing

Moved from Multimedia to Kernel and Hardware section.

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## F_

Thank you for your replies.

```

# lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 27ac (rev 03)

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 27ae (rev 03)

00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

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

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)

00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)

02:00.0 System peripheral: JMicron Technologies, Inc. Device 2382

02:00.2 SD Host controller: JMicron Technologies, Inc. Device 2381

02:00.3 System peripheral: JMicron Technologies, Inc. Device 2383

03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4310 USB Controller (rev 01)

04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)

```

```

 # emerge --info

Portage 2.1.4.5 (default/linux/x86/2008.0, gcc-4.1.2, glibc-2.6.1-r0, 2.6.27-gentoo-r7 i686)

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

System uname: 2.6.27-gentoo-r7 i686 Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz

Timestamp of tree: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:15:01 +0000

app-shells/bash:     3.2_p33

dev-lang/python:     2.5.2-r7

sys-apps/baselayout: 1.12.11.1

sys-apps/sandbox:    1.2.18.1-r2

sys-devel/autoconf:  2.61-r2

sys-devel/automake:  1.7.9-r1, 1.9.6-r2, 1.10.1-r1

sys-devel/binutils:  2.18-r3

sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.4.0-r4

sys-devel/libtool:   1.5.26

virtual/os-headers:  2.6.23-r3

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86"

CBUILD="i686-pc-linux-gnu"

CFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -pipe"

CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"

CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc"

CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/env.d /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/udev/rules.d"

CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -pipe"

DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"

FEATURES="distlocks metadata-transfer sandbox sfperms strict unmerge-orphans userfetch"

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://distfiles.gentoo.org http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo"

LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1"

MAKEOPTS="-j2"

PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"

PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages"

PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"

PORTDIR="/usr/portage"

SYNC="rsync://rsync.europe.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

USE="acl berkdb bzip2 cli cracklib crypt cups dri fortran gdbm gpm iconv ipv6 isdnlog midi mudflap ncurses nls nptl nptlonly openmp pam pcre perl pppd python readline reflection session spl ssl sysfs tcpd unicode x86 xorg zlib" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1 emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mmap_emul mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" CAMERAS="ptp2 kodak_dc120 kodak_dc210 kodak_dc240 kodak_dc3200 kodak_ez200" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse synaptics evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="fbdev glint i810 intel mach64 mga neomagic nv r128 radeon savage sis tdfx trident vesa vga via vmware voodoo"

Unset:  CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, FFLAGS, INSTALL_MASK, LANG, LC_ALL, LINGUAS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY

```

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## F_

why was this moved to the Kernel and Hardware section?

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## F_

udpate:

I added alsasound to boot using rc-update.

I have the following volume levels unmuted and set to 100:

Master, Headphones, PCM, Front.

The only difference is that PCM does not have a small box underneath the colored bar which either says "MM" or "00". For PCM that small box is just completely missing.

Thanks.

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## amdg

 *F_ wrote:*   

> why was this moved to the Kernel and Hardware section?

 

Because the Multimedia forum is for problems with programs that use sound.  Getting sound to work in the first place is a kernel/driver configuration issue.

 *F_ wrote:*   

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

 

You need the snd_hda_intel module for that sound card.  Make sure the following are set in your kernel configuration:

```
    Device Drivers  --->

    <*> Sound card support  --->

        <*> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture  --->

            [*] PCI sound devices  --->

                <*> Intel HD Audio

```

If not, recompile.  You can also build these as modules if you prefer.

If you emerged media-sound/alsa-driver from portage, unmerge it.  Test if sound is working with a simple tool like aplay (plays .wav files).

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## d2_racing

 *amdg wrote:*   

> If you emerged media-sound/alsa-driver from portage, unmerge it.  Test if sound is working with a simple tool like aplay (plays .wav files).

 

In fact, the best is to use the driver from the kernel.

With that, alsaconf will be able to see your soundcard.

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## F_

Thank you for your replies, but this does not seem to be the problem as I already have Intel HDA installed in the kernel (as a module). Here is my lsmod output grepping for "snd":

```

# lsmod | grep snd

snd_seq_oss            21504  0 

snd_seq_midi_event      7040  1 snd_seq_oss

snd_seq                30448  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event

snd_seq_device          7180  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq

snd_pcm_oss            28064  0 

snd_mixer_oss          12928  1 snd_pcm_oss

snd_hda_intel         273292  0 

snd_pcm                38788  2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel

snd_timer              14600  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm

snd_page_alloc          7816  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

snd_hwdep               7300  1 snd_hda_intel

snd                    29732  9 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_hwdep

```

Also, when I run alsamixer, the top left corner has the following:

```

│ Card: HDA Intel                                                                          │

│ Chip: Realtek ALC268                                                                     │

│ View: [Playback] Capture  All                                                            │

│ Item: Master [dB gain=0.00]    

```

Now, i'm not sure my chip is a Realtek ALC268 or not, and I'm not sure how to check what my soundchip is on this laptop without maybe breaking into it which is something I really don't want to do.  :Neutral: 

edit: when I run alsaconf I get the following:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> for the Soundcard Selection:
> 
> 1. hda-intel: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio   (I chose this one)
> ...

 

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## d2_racing

And when you run alsamixer after that, what do you got ?

If it's working the alsamixer thing, then run this :

```

alsactl store

```

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## F_

 *d2_racing wrote:*   

> And when you run alsamixer after that, what do you got ?
> 
> If it's working the alsamixer thing, then run this :
> 
> ```
> ...

 

No, thats the whole point. Its not working. I get absolutely no sound.   :Embarassed: 

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## amdg

Please download and run tsalsa and post the pastebin URL here.

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## F_

 *amdg wrote:*   

> Please download and run tsalsa and post the pastebin URL here.

 

http://nopaste.com/p/aZmIud2nB

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## DirtyHairy

If you have no luck with ALSA, you might want to try OSS4; it's opensource nowadays and works fine on the machines on which I tried it (and was a definite improvement on my intel HDA machine, sound used to stutter and pop with ALSA). You can find an ebuild here https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=184123...

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## x_minus_one

I have experienced ALSA sound problem recently.

It turned out that `alsactl' saves `asound.state' file in directory `/etc', but init script `alsasound' looks for this file in directory `/var/lib/alsa' when it tries to restore previous sound setting at boot time.

When I copied `asound.state' file to directory `/var/lib/alsa', saved sound setting was properly restored after re-booting.

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