Sound gone on Kubuntu

[dayers]

Sound has disappeared from all the Kubuntu selections on my grub menu.

When I select Ubuntu 2.6.20-16 on my grub menu (factory installed), sound functions normally.

I am running Jaunty on a Dell Inspiron desktop. I have had no prior problems with sound on any of the kernel versions on my grub menu from 2.6.24-19 through 2.6.24-24, my present kernel. One day the sound was there; the next day it was gone. I have no idea of what I was doing when it disappeared.

I don't expect a solution with the information given, just some ideas on trouble-shooting. I really don't understand how sound works.

System Settings -> Sound uses the default settings. The Test Sound button does nothing. The obvious things like speaker level and mixer settings have not been changed and look normal to me.

A first pass through /var/log/dmesg doesn't suggest anything to me, which isn't saying much.

Where do I start trouble-shooting this?

[Guest]

Re: Sound gone on Kubuntu

Here are some places to start: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=205449 and https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems

I struggle with this same topic with every install. My sound disappeared when upgrading from 8.04 to 9.04 so this time I'm trying to a better job of understanding and recording my fixes.

[dibl]

Re: Sound gone on Kubuntu

Trinifar has given you the two best links for troubleshooting.

Also, FYI, people often find that the "front" or "Master" or "PCM" channel has been inexplicably muted during an upgrade or installation. So open kmix and check the channels and make sure none of those are muted. Do this before you start tinkering with the driver and config files.

[sithlord48]

Re: Sound gone on Kubuntu

@dayers
i have also found that sometime you have to select a diffrent "master" channel. you can do this by right clicking on the kmix icon in your system tray. on my computer i did not have to change this, but on one laptop i set up i had to select "pcm" for the master channel. some other users that i have helped with sound issues also had this had to do this.

@trinifar,
for backup settings. i have a thumb drive. that i keep some of my configs on to save some re-install time, the files i keep are diffrent on each machine, i have a few of 'em each with diffrent tasks. but on my desktop i keep

/etc/fstab
/etc/xorg.conf
/etc/network/interfaces

you might want to keep diffrent conf files. depending on the files that you always need to edit.

[dayers]

Re: Sound gone on Kubuntu

Trinifar has given you the two best links for troubleshooting.

Also, FYI, people often find that the "front" or "Master" or "PCM" channel has been inexplicably muted during an upgrade or installation. So open kmix and check the channels and make sure none of those are muted. Do this before you start tinkering with the driver and config files.

Thanks to all who replied. I rebooted again into my old Ubuntu to make sure the sound is still there. It is.

I re-checked the mixer settings. Nothing is muted.

I checked out the links in trinifar's reply and didn't see anything I hadn't already tried.

Please check out the following to see if it suggests anything:

dave@surprise:~$ lsmod | grep snd
snd_hda_intel 435636 3
snd_pcm_oss 46336 0
snd_mixer_oss 22656 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 82948 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy 10756 0
snd_seq_oss 37760 0
snd_seq_midi 14336 0
snd_rawmidi 29696 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 15104 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 56880 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_mid i_event
snd_timer 29704 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 14988 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi ,snd_seq
snd 62628 15 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,sn d_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_de vice
soundcore 15200 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 16904 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
dave@surprise:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [Intel ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
HDA Intel at 0xfdff4000 irq 22
dave@surprise:~$

Which configuration files should I be looking for?

Thanks for your help on this.

[dayers]

Re: Sound gone on Kubuntu

Still plugging away on this. I ran the ALSA Information Script on alsa-project.org, which may help with trouble shooting. You can view it at:

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=f2...b141713faf3bc4

In all that information I noticed:

!!Sound Servers on this system
!!----------------------------

No sound servers found.


I'm not sure I understand "Sound Server." Is this a clue?

[dibl]

Re: Sound gone on Kubuntu

Your sound hardware and loaded modules look remarkably like mine:

dibl@jaunty:~$ lsmod | grep snd
snd_hda_intel 557364 4
snd_pcm_oss 52352 0
snd_mixer_oss 24960 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 99336 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy 11524 0
snd_seq_oss 41984 0
snd_seq_midi 15744 0
snd_rawmidi 33920 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 16512 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 66272 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_mid i_event
snd_timer 34064 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 16276 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi ,snd_seq
snd 78792 17 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,sn d_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_de vice
soundcore 16800 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 18704 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

dibl@jaunty:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [Intel ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
HDA Intel at 0xe3200000 irq 22

My motherboard is an Intel, so I've never needed one of the special "intel" sound options. You might review this and see if there is an option for the Dell Inspiron:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...87#post6922587

[dayers]

Re: Sound gone on Kubuntu

I still have no sound, but I think I know how to get it back with a little help.

I'm running K 9.04 with 2.6.28-11-generic kernel.

Earlier, I rebooted into 9.04, 2.6.22-14 kernel, and a message flashed by that said (I think) it was deleting a couple of HDA Intel digital devices, then it booted up with glorious sound using HTA Intel (ALC883 Analog).

At system settings -> multimedia -> device preference, I saw the Intel analog device selectable, and two Intel digital devices were greyed out.

Back to 9.04 2.6.28-11.

It appears that there are a couple of Intel digital devices I need to disable. How do I do this? I'm pretty sure that if I can get back to just HDA Intel analog, I'll have my sound back.

dave@surprise:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC888 Digital [ALC888 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

How do I get rid of that second entry?

Dave

[dayers]

Re: Sound gone on Kubuntu

Looks like this thread has run dry, and I still have a silent Kubuntu. One more try.

I have two distributions I can boot from my grub menu.

1. Kubuntu 9.04 kernel 2.6.28-11. This is the one with no sound.
dave@surprise:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC888 Digital [ALC888 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

System settings multimedia shows two digital devices enabled, in addition to the analog one. I would like to disable the digital devices to see if I get my sound back. How do I disable them?

2. Ubuntu 8.04 kernel 2.6.20-16. This one has sound that works.
dave@surprise:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I've spent hours comparing the two distributions and have concluded that I don't need or want to have any digital playback devices enabled.

Am I on the right track? Please help me.