Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

[Snowhog]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

And to assist us, please tell us about your laptop - manufacturer and model, and because you have a sound issue, the audio chip/driver this laptop has. To do that, open a console - K Menu > Applications > System > Konsole - and type:

lspci | grep Audio

Copy and paste the above line into the console. Then, copy and paste the output into your reply.

[baldsue]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

I didn't know of that guidance...I'll reload 8.10 again and follow it.

In the last 24 hours I've had 4 OSs on this new laptop. Vista sucked and had to be deleted. I love Kubuntu and want to keep it, but neither 8.04 or 8.10 have sound. Neither did Xfce 8.04.

I'm done for the day/night as I've spent most of the last 24 hours banging my head against the sound cards in this laptop.

Thanks for the guidance thread.

[baldsue]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

OK...I've gone through the sound problem solution guide and I'm back to the same place as when I started. I've found that I have sound. The sound I hear is the same, sounds like someone is banging a tin strip against a tin roof. Lucky me, my laptop has the dreaded hda-intel sound card.

Here's what I get:

~$ lspci | grep Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks.

[baldsue]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

I forgot to add...the laptop is HP Pavilion dv7.

[Snowhog]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

~$ lspci | grep Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)

The Intel is the "dreaded" audio driver you may think it is. I have the same driver, just one revision earlier, on my laptop, and sound is fine:
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)

Have you opened a console and typed alsamixer to check if either the Master or PCM channels are muted?

[baldsue]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

Yes, I've been to alsamixer and neither PCM nor Master are muted.

[Snowhog]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

HdaIntelSoundHowto
Read through this completely at least once. Print it out so you can refer to it. The instructions, and the script it refers you to, if you choose to go that route, works. I used it in the past to get my sound working.

[baldsue]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

more sound info...

If I play a video in Firefox, I get a sound like a tin strip is being lashed against a tin roof. Or a violin is being played without a proper bow.

If I play the Amarok Welcome in Amarok, I get a sound that is like an alarm, d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d, really fast.

So I do have sound, just not the sound I want.

Thanks for the link to hdaIntelsoundhowto...I'll check it out.

[baldsue]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

Um, that howto assumes I know a heck of a lot more about linux than I do. I'm completely overwhelmed and don't know where to start...if there were step1, step2...might tackle it...

Any other suggestions?

[baldsue]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

I've got sound, robotic, stuttering sound, but sounds other than d-d-d-d-d-d or tin lashings.

I followed the instructions on http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789578 to get this.

Any clues as to how to get rid of the slow, robotic, stuttering?

[Snowhog]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

I followed the instructions on http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789578 to get this.

Why!? You don't have a Pulse Audio controller - you have an Intel HD Audio Controller. If you take the time to understand and follow the instructions that I linked for you, you will almost certainly fix your sound problem.

[baldsue]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

The thread in the Ubuntu forum had steps to follow. The instructions you gave me assumed I knew something about linux, which I don't. I could spend the whole week looking at the Alsa page in wikipedia and at the end of the week it would be Greek. Until there are steps there to follow, I'm going to go with the a step route.

[Snowhog]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

You're missing the point! If you don't have a Pulse Audio card in your PC, you can't use instructions for getting a Pulse Audio card (or any other for that matter), to get your Intel HD Audio Controller to work. Think of it this way: If you have a car that runs on Diesel fuel, you aren't going to get it to run if you put unleaded gasoline in the tank instead.

[baldsue]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

But there are others who have the same card as me who are running PulseAudio with no problems. I guess I'm not getting the point.

I'm not getting the whole use linux instead of windows when it's this hard to get sound, either. At the very least the instructions should be at a level for a noob to understand them and not in greek and pointed at all over the internet.

[baldsue]

Re: Amarok error: "xine was unable to initialize any audio drivers."

You referred to some script...there are many scripts in that Howto you pointed me to. Could you tell me which one on that page you are referring to? I've spent my whole weekend on wild linux goose chases and I'm nearly ready to endure Windows Vista after all this fun.