restoring alsa defaults

restoring alsa defaults

[Rob Hudson]

I removed my soundblaster PCI card for use in another system. Now I don't get any sound from my onboard chip. I tried the commands 
/etc/init.d/alsa-utils reset
alsactl restore
Nothing. Help?

Re: restoring alsa defaults

[Jason White]

Rob Hudson <captinlogic@gmail.com> wrote:
> I removed my soundblaster PCI card for use in another system. Now I don't get any sound from my onboard chip. 

Use amixer to examine the volume settings of the card and make adjustments as
required. For instance, the master volume needs to be set to a reasonable
level.

Re: restoring alsa defaults

[Tony Baechler]

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Look at your alsa.conf.  You might have to comment out the old card and
make sure the new card is the first one selected.  Also, you didn't say
what chipset you have, but you might need non-free firmware.  On Debian,
that requires adding the package with your firmware module and making sure
it's loaded by the kernel.  With USB sound, for example, the default is to
always have it listed as the second card and never use it as the primary
sound device.  I had a similar problem on the server with no sound until I
set USB to be first.

Also, alsactl is for saving and restoring the current state of your ALSA
settings, not for changing those settings.  As Jason said, you have to use
amixer or some other tool to set the volume where you want, then use
"alsactl save" to save the settings in /var/lib/alsa/asound.state on Debian.
On 6/10/2013 5:16 PM, Rob Hudson wrote:
> I removed my soundblaster PCI card for use in another system. Now I
> don't get any sound from my onboard chip. I tried the commands 
> /etc/init.d/alsa-utils reset alsactl restore Nothing. Help?
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Re: restoring alsa defaults

[Jason White]

Tony Baechler <tony@baechler.net> wrote:
> Look at your alsa.conf.  You might have to comment out the old card and
> make sure the new card is the first one selected.  

In my configuration, at least, there are options in
/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf that prevent USB sound cards from being
recognized as card 0. Given that you're dealing with the on-board sound
device, this shouldn't be an issue though in the present case.

> Also, you didn't say
> what chipset you have, but you might need non-free firmware.  On Debian,
> that requires adding the package with your firmware module and making sure
> it's loaded by the kernel.  With USB sound, for example, the default is to
> always have it listed as the second card and never use it as the primary
> sound device.  

Starting from the basics would help, too: see if aplay -l lists the card (it
should be listed as card 0 if it's the only one). After that, move on to
amixer settings.

Re: restoring alsa defaults

[Rob Hudson]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1874 bytes --]

This is my aplay -l output:
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: IXP [ATI IXP], device 0: ATI IXP AC97 [ATI IXP AC97]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: IXP [ATI IXP], device 1: ATI IXP IEC958 [ATI IXP IEC958 (AC97)]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Device [Generic USB Audio Device], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
I attached my amixer output. It is pretty long. I used the following 
command:
amixer -c 0 > mix.txt
Not sure if the attachment made it through.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jason White" <jason@jasonjgw.net>
To: <speakup@linux-speakup.org>
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2013 10:58 PM
Subject: Re: restoring alsa defaults


> Tony Baechler <tony@baechler.net> wrote:
>> Look at your alsa.conf.  You might have to comment out the old card and
>> make sure the new card is the first one selected.
>
> In my configuration, at least, there are options in
> /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf that prevent USB sound cards from being
> recognized as card 0. Given that you're dealing with the on-board sound
> device, this shouldn't be an issue though in the present case.
>
>> Also, you didn't say
>> what chipset you have, but you might need non-free firmware.  On Debian,
>> that requires adding the package with your firmware module and making 
>> sure
>> it's loaded by the kernel.  With USB sound, for example, the default is 
>> to
>> always have it listed as the second card and never use it as the primary
>> sound device.
>
> Starting from the basics would help, too: see if aplay -l lists the card 
> (it
> should be listed as card 0 if it's the only one). After that, move on to
> amixer settings.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@linux-speakup.org
> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup 

[-- Attachment #2: mix.txt --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 5432 bytes --]

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 63
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 51 [81%] [-18.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 51 [81%] [-18.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Surround',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 63
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 63 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 63 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Surround Jack Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Shared' 'Independent'
  Item0: 'Shared'
Simple mixer control 'Center',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 63
  Mono: Playback 63 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'LFE',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 63
  Mono: Playback 51 [81%] [-18.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'CD',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [on]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Select',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Mic1' 'Mic2'
  Item0: 'Mic1'
Simple mixer control 'Video',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Phone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Playback AC97-SPSA',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Playback Source',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'PCM' 'Analog1 In' 'Analog2 In' 'IEC958 In'
  Item0: 'PCM'
Simple mixer control 'Beep',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 15
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-45.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Aux',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined penum
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 15
  Front Left: Capture 8 [53%] [12.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 8 [53%] [12.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mix',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mix Mono',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive penum
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Channel Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '2ch' '4ch' '6ch'
  Item0: '2ch'
Simple mixer control 'Duplicate Front',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'External Amplifier',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]