[arch-general] Why does my sound work sometimes & not others?
Listmates, I have the most atavistic sound known to mankind on my laptop running arch. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The card specs are: 0:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device ff08 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx- Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=slow >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx- Latency: 64, Cache Line Size: 32 bytes Interrupt: pin ? routed to IRQ 16 Region 0: Memory at f8700000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel The Intel modules loaded are: snd 65928 13 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer snd_hda_codec 68112 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel snd_hda_intel 29256 1 snd_page_alloc 9760 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm snd_pcm 80920 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec When I first start arch and start kde, everything is fine. However, if I log out and then back it, most times the sound is gone -- dead. The sound will not start again until I reboot. Anybody got any ideas on what to check or what to keep a watch out for? Also, any ideas on how to bring the sound back once it dies without having to reboot? Thanks for any help you can provide. I always hated chasing sound problems. -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com
On Wednesday 13 May 2009 03:37:26 David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. wrote:
Listmates,
I have the most atavistic sound known to mankind on my laptop running arch. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The card specs are:
<snip>
When I first start arch and start kde, everything is fine. However, if I log out and then back it, most times the sound is gone -- dead. The sound will not start again until I reboot. Anybody got any ideas on what to check or what to keep a watch out for? Also, any ideas on how to bring the sound back once it dies without having to reboot?
Thanks for any help you can provide. I always hated chasing sound problems.
I just logged out and logged back in to test and ... sound is gone again. However, on the up side, kdm didn't crash on logout:-) Any hints would be appreciated. Thanks. -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com
When I first start arch and start kde, everything is fine. However, if I log out and then back it, most times the sound is gone -- dead. The sound will not start again until I reboot. Anybody got any ideas on what to check or what to keep a watch out for? Also, any ideas on how to bring the sound back once it dies without having to reboot?
Do a "lsof /dev/snd/* /dev/dsp*" as root to see if something holds your sound-card open. I must say, pulseaudio works very good for me these days (BTW I run it as a system service) so I don't have any problems with sound any more. -- damjan
On Wednesday 13 May 2009 07:38:07 Damjan Georgievski wrote:
When I first start arch and start kde, everything is fine. However, if I log out and then back it, most times the sound is gone -- dead. The sound will not start again until I reboot. Anybody got any ideas on what to check or what to keep a watch out for? Also, any ideas on how to bring the sound back once it dies without having to reboot?
Do a "lsof /dev/snd/* /dev/dsp*" as root to see if something holds your sound-card open.
I must say, pulseaudio works very good for me these days (BTW I run it as a system service) so I don't have any problems with sound any more.
Damjan, Thanks. I have heard a lot about pulseaudio, but I just haven't gotten around to looking at it. In the past, I have never listened to music or cared much about whether sound was working or not. However, I now have a 10, 7 and 4 year old and the older two are getting into music, ipods, etc. Life was simple when all we had was the ipod nano, gtkpod worked great. Now I have to find something to interface with the 'ipod touch'. Looks like amarok is the only thing I can find that looks promising. Long and short of it is I now need sound. I'll check into pulseaudio. -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. wrote:
Listmates,
I have the most atavistic sound known to mankind on my laptop running arch. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The card specs are:
0:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device ff08 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx- Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=slow >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx- Latency: 64, Cache Line Size: 32 bytes Interrupt: pin ? routed to IRQ 16 Region 0: Memory at f8700000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
The Intel modules loaded are:
snd 65928 13 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer snd_hda_codec 68112 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel snd_hda_intel 29256 1 snd_page_alloc 9760 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm snd_pcm 80920 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
When I first start arch and start kde, everything is fine. However, if I log out and then back it, most times the sound is gone -- dead. The sound will not start again until I reboot. Anybody got any ideas on what to check or what to keep a watch out for? Also, any ideas on how to bring the sound back once it dies without having to reboot?
Thanks for any help you can provide. I always hated chasing sound problems.
snd-hda-intel encompasses many different chipsets/codecs. Which one does your card use? You can find out like so: [darose@daroselin ~]$ grep Codec /proc/asound/card0/codec#0 Codec: IDT 92HD71B7X As far as general things to check/try: * Try restarting the KDE sound system. * Try checking to see if anything got muted in the mixer (i.e., check in Kmix or alsamixer). * Try seeing if this is a KDE issue or not by hitting ctrl-alt-F1, logging into a non-X console, and testing the sound using alsaplayer. * I had a problem with my sound card whereby "analog loopback" was getting set and muting the sound. (See: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=535521#p535521) Tore my hair out over that one for a LONG time. Maybe this is your issue too? HTH, DR
On Wednesday 13 May 2009 09:40:34 David Rosenstrauch wrote:
snd-hda-intel encompasses many different chipsets/codecs. Which one does your card use? You can find out like so:
[darose@daroselin ~]$ grep Codec /proc/asound/card0/codec#0 Codec: IDT 92HD71B7X
As far as general things to check/try:
* Try restarting the KDE sound system.
* Try checking to see if anything got muted in the mixer (i.e., check in Kmix or alsamixer).
* Try seeing if this is a KDE issue or not by hitting ctrl-alt-F1, logging into a non-X console, and testing the sound using alsaplayer.
* I had a problem with my sound card whereby "analog loopback" was getting set and muting the sound. (See: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=535521#p535521) Tore my hair out over that one for a LONG time. Maybe this is your issue too?
HTH,
DR
Hmm, Another DR message that gets flagged as "Important" in the email list. Thanks DR. Here is where I am at. So far, sound has been good for the past 3 hours. (I haven't had to login/logout yet though). From Damjan's suggestion, here is my working open file list: Working Setup: [13:46 alchemy:/home/david] # lsof /dev/snd/* COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME kmix 3263 david 10u CHR 116,10 0t0 4088 /dev/snd/controlC0 [13:48 alchemy:/home/david] # lsof /dev/dsp* +--------- Now, I preface this with the fact that I have virtually no experience picking through the sound system in /proc, but it looks like I have "2"? codecs required (HDA Codecc 0 & 3). Here is what looked relevant to the discussion: [13:48 alchemy:/home/david] # grep Codec /proc/asound/card0/codec#0 Codec: LSI ID 1040 [14:00 alchemy:/home/david] # grep Codec /proc/asound/card0/codec#3 Codec: Realtek ALC268 [14:01 alchemy:/home/david] # cat /proc/asound/card0/id SB [14:04 alchemy:/home/david] # cat /proc/asound/cards 0 [SB ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI SB HDA ATI SB at 0xf8700000 irq 16 [14:05 alchemy:/home/david] # cat /proc/asound/hwdep 00-03: HDA Codec 3 00-00: HDA Codec 0 [14:07 alchemy:/home/david] # cat /proc/asound/pcm 00-00: ALC268 Analog : ALC268 Analog : playback 1 : capture 1 00-01: ALC268 Digital : ALC268 Digital : playback 1 00-02: ALC268 Analog : ALC268 Analog : capture 1 [14:07 alchemy:/home/david] # cat /proc/asound/version Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.18a. Now since this mostly Greek concerning the LSI ID and where the Realtek codec resides, I'll just have to put it to the list: "Does this look normal?" Anything I seem to be missing? Like I said, right now the sound is working, so I'll just compare the values/parameters to what I get when it quits again. Thanks again for your help. -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. wrote:
Now, I preface this with the fact that I have virtually no experience picking through the sound system in /proc, but it looks like I have "2"? codecs required (HDA Codecc 0 & 3).
Actually, that makes 2 of us! :-) All I know is what I've learned from fixing specific probs. I've run into.
Now since this mostly Greek concerning the LSI ID and where the Realtek codec resides, I'll just have to put it to the list: "Does this look normal?" Anything I seem to be missing?
Um .... not really sure. ALSA is kinda a black art, IMO. I'd basically just recommend that if this happens again, try following down my earlier list of suggestions. Plus a couple of other things you can look at: 1) is there any relevant output showing up in dmesg re: hda? 2) the snd-hda-intel apparently has a parm for model of machine, which some people have reported has fixed problems when they've used it. So you could try specifying the model when you load the module and see if that fixes it. Your machine is a Toshiba, right? So in your rc.conf, you could try changing this: MODULES=(... snd_hda_intel ...) to this: MODULES=(... "snd_hda_intel model=toshiba" ...) 3) The thing with the 2 codecs seems odd to me. Not sure what that's all about, but maybe that's having some impact? i.e., it's erroneously choosing to use the other codec for sound? One other thing about this problem is puzzling: the fact that your sound works, but then stops working when you log out and in again. Your sound module gets loaded at boot time, not at login time. So if your sound is working initially, that means the kernel loaded & initialized the modules fine. And if it subsequently stops working after logging out, that would say to me that this is a KDE issue rather than a kernel/alsa issue. Do you have any funky settings tweaked in KDE whereby it's muting one of the sound controls, or bringing the volume down to zero? Is the KDE sound system (arts) somehow not initializing properly (or dying) when you log in the 2nd time? Have you tried restarting the KDE sound system when the sound fails? HTH, DR
Working Setup:
[13:46 alchemy:/home/david] # lsof /dev/snd/* COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME kmix 3263 david 10u CHR 116,10 0t0 4088 /dev/snd/controlC0
[13:48 alchemy:/home/david] # lsof /dev/dsp* ... Now since this mostly Greek concerning the LSI ID and where the Realtek codec resides, I'll just have to put it to the list: "Does this look normal?" Anything I seem to be missing? Like I said, right now the sound is working, so I'll just compare the values/parameters to what I get when it quits again. Thanks again for your help.
Everything looks ok. The important part there is that nothing holds open your sound card (the output of lsof). The thing to check, when it's not working, is the same lsof output: firefox 5424 damjan 18u CHR 116,4 0t0 4857 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p that means firefox (flash actually) has your (p)lay device 0 open on your card 0 that's the most common reason for a non-working sound in Linux, flash hijacking the sound-card and not playing well with others. As I said, I now use pulseaudio and don't have that problem. -- damjan
participants (3)
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Damjan Georgievski
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David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
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David Rosenstrauch