Only s/pdif sound after reinstall of 10.10 [SOLVED!]

[gjartin]

The first time I installed 10.10 (on top of mandriva 2010.1), everything worked liked a dream, even digital 5.1 sound, which has been a bit of a bother earlier.
I then installed Kde 4.6 b2, which worked fine until a recent update caused the desktop to crash completely.

OK - no problem. Just go back to 10.10 "regular"? That's when the problem started!
Now, I can't get any sound BUT 5.1 through s/pdif! (Via VLC, with sound set to Alsa and s/pdif).
I've done several reinstalls, including one from scratch - same result.

i think it has to do with pulseaudio, since the "output control unit" in pavucontrol indicates they're muted, but I can't find any place to change this.

(I've also tried to skip pulseaudio, but there's no difference.)

Ideas, anyone?

[dibl]

Re: Only s/pdif sound after reinstall of 10.10

In pavucontrol, the little speaker icon on the "Output Devices" tab is the mute control. Click it to unmute the device.

[gjartin]

Re: Only s/pdif sound after reinstall of 10.10

In pavucontrol, the little speaker icon on the "Output Devices" tab is the mute control. Click it to unmute the device.

Sorry, I was being unclear
What I meant was, that I have tried to uncheck the "mute" box, and that it just won't work. The mute symbol (a small "x") doesn't change.

[dibl]

Re: Only s/pdif sound after reinstall of 10.10

Looking at your original post, there's been a lot going on with that system -- it's a little hard to tell what the present sound configuration might be. I personally have had great luck with phonon/pulseaudio -- others will tell you it won't work and has to be nuked. Here's what I would try:

First right-click the volume "speaker" on your panel, choose "show mixer", and then take a look at what the mixer offers. What does it offer you?

Next,

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install alsa-base alsamixergui alsaplayer

Now do Alt-F2 "alsamixergui" and take a look at the "master", "PCM", and "Front" channels. The little locks should be unlocked, and the sliders should be up toward the top of the range. If that's good, then

Alt-F2 "pavucontrol"

Start with the "Configuration" tab -- what does it show? Mine has both a digital High-Def audio controller and an "Internal Audio" profiles. If you don't see something like that, click the drop-down menus and see what is available. Once you find an audio profile, then you should be able to move over to the "Output Devices" tab and see corresponding devices, unmuted, with volume sliders. There needs to be at least one device available.

Also, open System-Settings > Multimedia, which should open to the "Music" menu item. What devices show in the right panel? If there are more than one, try using the arrows at the bottom of that window to move the (highlighted) PulseAudio device up to the top of the list.

If none of that works, then you probably need to get back to more fundamental sound hardware troubleshooting which you can find on #6 on the FAQs in my signature.

[gjartin]

Re: Only s/pdif sound after reinstall of 10.10

Looking at your original post, there's been a lot going on with that system

Thank you for your help and patience, dibl! Just for the record - the system is very clean; the last time, before I put the question, I formatted both the / and /home partitions (I always use those two for the system and user. Everything else are regularly mounted partitions).

Since I have some experience with pulseaudio, I have tried all the basic stuff, but no luck. After that, I have gone through your faq, and also followed the links therein. Learned a lot of stuff, actually

But since i still haven't got my sound working, I have to go back to Mandriva on this computer. I use it as an htpc, so sound is rather important.

Anyway, I have decided to migrate to Kubuntu - I feel there are lots of advantages - so I will have to find a way to dual boot for a while. I've tried this before, but with the result that Mandriva won't boot...

[dibl]

Re: Only s/pdif sound after reinstall of 10.10

A couple of notions that may or may not help shed light on whatever is the problem:

1. Boot a Kubuntu 10.10 Live CD, or even a 11.04 daily build Live CD. Do you have sound with the Live CD? If so, take a look at the relevant settings, if you can -- does "aplay -l" show your device? If you have sound, take a look at the output of

sudo lsmod

so you can see which module is working.


2. If that doesn't work, another Live CD that seems to do an excellent job of detecting and configuring for hardware is the aptosid Live CD, from here: http://www.aptosid.com/index.php

Try that Live CD (KDE "lite" will be fine), doing the same things, if it gives you sound (there's no default "chime" on booting to the desktop on aptosid).

Good luck with it.

[gjartin]

Re: Only s/pdif sound after reinstall of 10.10

2. If that doesn't work, another Live CD that seems to do an excellent job of detecting and configuring for hardware is the aptosid Live CD, from here: http://www.aptosid.com/index.php

This did it - Aptosid is a great utility disk!

This is the solution. N.B. - this is for cards with the C-Media CMI8738 chip. But since this is a very common chip, esp. on cheap 5.1 cards, the solution might be of some worth to others.
***********************
With Aptosid:

1) System Settings > multimedia > Music > Output Device C-Media CMI8738 > test = no sound

2) open Kmix > Settings > Configure Channels > Add IEC958 Output to visible channels > IEC958 is muted by default > uncheck mute

3) Repeat 1 = SOUND!!!


With kubuntu 10.10:

Remaining problem: step 2 can't be repeated on Kubuntu, since no IEC958 Output channel will show upp under Kmix settings, thus no way to uncheck mute!

SOLUTION: Install and run alsamixer. Select proper soundcard, press F3 for Playback, and "un-mute" IEC958 Output, by pressing "M".

Repeat 1), and you ought to have SOUND!

Again, this is for C-Media CMI8738 equipped sound cards!

Lots of thanks to dibl!