HDA Intel partially working

[arelfrost]

Hey, guys...

So as the title suggests I finally got my soundcard working here but not completely. I looked through tons of threads and documentations and was only able to make it work by adding options snd-hda-intel model=auto to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base. Later I also tried with model=3stack but it didn't work (no sound again) so I changed it back to auto.

Anyway, as I said it seems to be working but I noticed a certain lack of control in the mixer. I can only change the overall sound level. For example I wanted to use headphones and as I plugged them in I had the sound coming both from the notebook speakers and the headphones. Normally, I shouldn't have the sound in speakers anymore...

And also, I got this output in terminal for aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC883 Analog [ALC883 Analog]
 Subdevices: 0/1
 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC883 Digital [ALC883 Digital]
 Subdevices: 1/1
 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Before I added that line to the alsa-base I only had the first entry (device 0, the first card 0) but no sound at all.

So does anyone know solution to this if there is any? Because I would really like my speakers to turn off when I use headphones for listening...

Thanks in advance,
Stan

[dibl]

Re: HDA Intel partially working

Stan, I have an Intel HDA system on my motherboard, and it works really well. I'm away from my Kubuntu system for a few more hours, but I'll post the outputs of aplay and alsa for you when I get home after work.

Is your chip a STAC-92xx?

[arelfrost]

Re: HDA Intel partially working

Hey, dibl!

Thanks for your reply.

I don't really know what chip it is... Where can look it up? I don't know if it helps but this is what I get from lscpi -v

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 010d
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
    Memory at d8400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    Capabilities: <access denied>

I also tried to follow the guide to install alsa here:

http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc...dule=hda-intel

but I had some errors on the way there and I don't really know how to trace them, I'm new to linux.

Thank you for your time,
Stan

[dibl]

Re: HDA Intel partially working

OK, here we go. On my system,

aplay -l

gives the following output:

dibl@feisty:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
 Subdevices: 1/1
 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: STAC92xx Digital [STAC92xx Digital]
 Subdevices: 1/1
 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

So, apparently "Intel HDA" can mean different things. But, when I look at their web site here:

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/hdaudio.htm

I can't find a chip described as "ALC883". Hmmmmmmm.

OK, regardless of that tidbit, in your system you need to have a file named as follows:

/proc/asound/modules

and that file needs to contain the following line (and mine has nothing else):

0 snd_hda_intel

So if you don't have that, use nano or kate or vi and make the file and save it there.



Here is the output of lspci on my rig:

dibl@feisty:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82975X Memory Controller Hub
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82975X PCI Express Root Port
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GR/GH/GHM (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 01)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GR/GH/GHM (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GH (ICH7DH) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller IDE (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 7900 GS (rev a1)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller
05:04.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB23 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
05:05.0 RAID bus controller: Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3114 [SATALink/SATARaid] Serial ATA Controller (rev 02)

Note the audio controller near the top of the list -- it looks a lot like yours.

So, with a question lingering about what kind of "HDA" you actually have, you should open the Adept Package Manager (under your Kmenu>System menu), and scroll down to "alsa". You should have already installed the following packages -- if not, mark them for installation and then click "Apply" at the top of Adept:

alsa-base
{skip a bunch here }
alsa-utils
alsamixergui
alsaplayer-alsa
alsaplayer-common
alsaplayer-daemon
alsaplayer-gtk (not sure why I have this gnome package .... but there it is installed!)
alsaplayer-jack
alsaplayer-oss


So, that is my list of installed ALSA-related packages. Some of them are probably leftovers from previous experiments, and superfluous, but they aren't hurting anything and my system works great, so, there you go.

I hope something in here helps. 8)

OK, here's more. Go to Kmenu>System>Kinfocenter, and down toward the bottom of the list in the left panel is "Sound". Click on that -- drat, you can't copy it, and this forum won't let me upload a screenshot. OK, the top line of mine reads as follows:

Sound Driver: 3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.14rc1 emulation code)

There are more interesting tidbits, including the fact that "Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG" and "Midi devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG" and at the very bottom, last line:

Mixers:
0: SigmaTel STAC9221D A2 8)

[Snowhog]

Re: HDA Intel partially working

Hey dibl -

Okay, always interested when 'sound' and 'HDA' show up in a question. So, I've checked and loaded the alsa* packages you cited (the ones I did not have installed) then removed the "acpi=off" from my kernel line in /boot/grub/menu.list, then rebooted. I didn't have sound (again). So readded the "acpi=off" back to the kernel line, rebooted, and sound is back (as I expected).

As to:

OK, regardless of that tidbit, in your system you need to have a file named as follows:

/proc/asound/modules

and that file needs to contain the following line (and mine has nothing else):

0 snd_hda_intel

So if you don't have that, use nano or kate or vi and make the file and save it there.

I have that file, but it is empty. Kate doesn't have the option in Actions, to edit as root on an empty file. I tried to make a copy (in a root Konsole), but again, you (apparently) can't copy a zero byte file. So, if I want to continue with testing my sound with your indicated system/file settings, how do I add

0 snd_hda_intel

to this file?

[arelfrost]

Re: HDA Intel partially working

Hi, dibl...

Ok, so I added those files you listed too and I had no sound again. Anyway, I had to reinstall my alsa drivers and incidentally I was able to do this. I was trying to install them following the guide on http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/ but everytime I tried to do this I was getting a bunch of some errors. So this time I tried to install it from the root terminal and voila... I don't know what difference it makes, I was using sudo the first time, but anyway.

And Snowhog,

I also opened /proc/asound/modules with kate and had the same results as you, it was empty, but then I tried with nano in terminal and I had that line there... I don't understand this bit either, I mean, why does it matter where you open the file?

Ok, so I have the sound again, but as I mentioned in my first post I can't really control it. I have a bunch of sliders in the mixer but only two of them work - PCM and Front. I also have the Headphones slider there and I could really use sometimes but it does absolutely nothing when I move it... I guess the driver is not fully compatible...

[SheeEttin]

Re: HDA Intel partially working

Snowhog: either "kdesu kate /proc/asound/modules" if you want to use Kate, or "sudo vi /proc/asound/modules" of you want vi (or nano, or...)

[dibl]

Re: HDA Intel partially working

Right. I kinda hate to inflict vi on a person who hasn't previously used it -- I personally need my "Beginning Linux" book opened to the vi editor page when I use that, even though I used it 15 years ago in SCO Unix -- I just don't remember that kind of "keyboard-kubuki".

kdesu kate

is probably the most user-friendly way in Kubuntu to do this sort of thing.

sudo nano

seems to be a fine method -- I had never run across nano until I picked up Kubuntu.

[Snowhog]

Re: HDA Intel partially working

Okay. I quess I should have realized that. IF root action is required, but it isn't available from within the KDE application, launch the application as kdesu from a Konsole session. Got it.

[SheeEttin]

Re: HDA Intel partially working

It doesn't have to be from within Konsole. You can also hit Alt+F2 to bring up this little dialog which is like a one-time command line. Very much like the "run" dialog in Windows.

[Snowhog]

Re: HDA Intel partially working

Thanks SheeEttin. That's a handy tip to remember (made a note to myself).

dibl -

I've ensured that I have all the packages you listed installed. my aplay -l looks exactly like yours except for the identified driver. My output:

root@paul-toshiba-laptop:~# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: CONEXANT Analog [CONEXANT Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: Conexant Digital [Conexant Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I'v removed the "acpi=off" from the kernel line in /boot/grub/menu.list the rebooted. No sound. Got my Advanced Power Management functions back, which I already knew would happen with the removal of this from the kernel line. Putting it back results in working sound.

Past posts that identified the "acpi=off" fix to the kernel line to get sound working, stated that doing so would be at the expense of Advanced Power Management functions. Okay.

That leaves me with the observation that the IRQs being accessed by both are in conflict. Is there a way to confirm this?

[dibl]

Re: HDA Intel partially working

I'm scratching my head here!

Here's a thought. On my desktop PC, since I don't care about preserving battery life or things like that, I went into Kmenu>System Settings>Advanced>System Services and turned off (i.e. set NOT to start at boot) some of the power management and CPU speed-stepping processes. I'm going to list the ones that are in the "no" category for "start at boot" -- maybe one of them is relevant to your sound situation. Some of these are probably residual from installation experiments -- may not be in existence on your machine.

avahi-daemon
bluetooth
bootclean
bootlogd
britty
console-setup
laptop-mode
loopback
pcmciautils
wpa-ifupdown
x11-common
xserver-xorg-input-wacom

You might want to take a peek at your system services, and see if anything is running that doesn't contribute to your operations. Doesn't sound like a killer solution, but that's the best I can think of at this moment.



EDIT: If you haven't already, I would Google "CONEXANT Analog ALSA issues" or "CONEXANT Analog Linux Sound issues" and see I could turn up anything.

EDIT#2: Snowhog, does this problem happen when you run on battery, as well as when you are plugged into the AC?

[Snowhog]

Re: HDA Intel partially working

EDIT#2: Snowhog, does this problem happen when you run on battery, as well as when you are plugged into the AC?

I have not yet tried running my laptop on battery power; it's always been plugged in. I know where you are going with that line of thought: laptop power management has two configurations - one for when running on battery only - another for when plugged in. I'll see what happens when I boot while on battery power only.