[SOLVED] Not able to control sound volume after recent software update...

[dhumble]

Ubuntu 9.10 (2.6.31-20-generic)
KDE 4.3.2

Two days ago there was a software update notification from KPackageKit and I allowed it to do its thing. This morning I start up my computer and found that I have only two options for volume control in alsamixer or Kmix, 0% and 100%. I previously was able to slide the volume level lever in KMix to any level I wanted.

Now I recall having the same problem way back, when upgrading the distribution from 7.x to 8.x. I googled it then and found an edit that I had to do to a file to set the volume step rate but, for the life of me, I cannot find which file or what setting to make now.

I am using Philips DSS350 USB speakers. Sound works but I am obviously having to leave the main volume setting to 10% and controlling volume in an application. I blow my ears off though if I visit a web site that has music on as soon as it loads!

cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [SI7012     ]: ICH - SiS SI7012
           SiS SI7012 with ALC650F at irq 18
 1 [UART      ]: MPU-401 UART - MPU-401 UART   
           MPU-401 UART at 0x330, irq 10  
 2 [System     ]: USB-Audio - USB Digital Speaker System
           Philips Electronics USB Digital Speaker System at usb-0000:00:03.1-1.1, full sp

aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SI7012 [SiS SI7012], device 0: Intel ICH [SiS SI7012]
 Subdevices: 1/1
 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: System [USB Digital Speaker System], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
 Subdevices: 1/1
 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

It is a shame that you cannot cut n paste from the KPackageKit history window or I could show you what was updated.

David

[dhumble]

Re: Not able to control sound volume after recent software update (KPackageKit)

Just to give some clarity to my problem. I typed amixer and under PCM you will see that there is a playback limit of 0 to 1, giving me just two volume steps, 0% or 100%. This is what I need to change. I have tried but, you cannot change this in amixer.

As I said earlier, I recall having to add a setting in a file somewhere.

amixer -c 2
Simple mixer control 'Bass',0
 Capabilities: volume volume-joined
 Playback channels: Mono
 Capture channels: Mono
 Limits: 0 - 12
 Mono: 6 [50%]
Simple mixer control 'Bass Boost',0
 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
 Playback channels: Mono
 Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Treble',0
 Capabilities: volume volume-joined
 Playback channels: Mono
 Capture channels: Mono
 Limits: 0 - 3
 Mono: 1 [33%]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
 Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
 [b]Limits: Playback 0 - 1[/b]
 Mono:
 Front Left: Playback 1 [100%] [399.36dB] [off]
 Front Right: Playback 1 [100%] [399.36dB] [off]

[dibl]

Re: Not able to control sound volume after recent software update (KPackageKit)

What driver are you using to run that?

lsmod

will show it.

[dhumble]

Re: Not able to control sound volume after recent software update (KPackageKit)

Hi Dibl,

OK. I'll need you to confirm but I thought in the past it was, snd_usb_audio.

lsmod                                  
Module         Size Used by                         
binfmt_misc       8356 1                            
dm_crypt        12928 0                            
snd_intel8x0      30168 1                            
snd_ac97_codec    101216 1 snd_intel8x0                      
ac97_bus        1532 1 snd_ac97_codec                     
snd_seq_dummy      2656 0                            
iptable_filter     3100 0                            
snd_seq_oss      28576 0                            
ip_tables       11692 1 iptable_filter                     
x_tables        16544 1 ip_tables                       
ppdev          6688 0
snd_usb_audio     84224 3
snd_usb_lib      16284 1 snd_usb_audio
snd_wavefront     37332 0
snd_cs4236       29620 0
snd_wss_lib      26012 2 snd_wavefront,snd_cs4236
snd_opl3_lib      10396 2 snd_wavefront,snd_cs4236
snd_hwdep        7200 3 snd_usb_audio,snd_wavefront,snd_opl3_lib
snd_pcm_oss      37920 0
snd_mixer_oss     16028 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm        75296 6 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_usb_audio,snd_cs4236,snd_wss_lib,snd_pcm_oss
snd_mpu401       7016 0
snd_mpu401_uart     6940 3 snd_wavefront,snd_cs4236,snd_mpu401
snd_seq_midi      6464 0
snd_rawmidi      22176 4 snd_usb_lib,snd_wavefront,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event   6940 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq        50224 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer       22276 4 snd_wss_lib,snd_opl3_lib,snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device     6920 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_opl3_lib,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
ns558          5404 0
psmouse        56500 0
serio_raw        5280 0
nvidia        4704212 34
gameport        11368 2 ns558
parport_pc       31940 1
shpchp         32272 0
i2c_sis96x       3904 0
snd          59204 26 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_seq_oss,snd_usb_audio,snd_wavefront,snd_cs4236,snd_wss_lib,snd_opl3_lib,snd_hwdep,
snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_mpu401,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore        7264 1 snd
snd_page_alloc     9156 3 snd_intel8x0,snd_wss_lib,snd_pcm
lp           8964 0
parport        35340 3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
dm_raid45       84228 0
xor          15620 1 dm_raid45
8139too        22620 0
usbhid         38208 0
8139cp         19260 0
mii           5212 2 8139too,8139cp
aic7xxx        126488 0
scsi_transport_spi   23036 1 aic7xxx
tulip         48320 0
sis_agp         6972 1
agpgart        34988 2 nvidia,sis_agp

Appreciate your help.

David

[Snowhog]

Re: Not able to control sound volume after recent software update (KPackageKit)

...I typed amixer and under PCM you will see that there is a playback limit of 0 to 1, giving me just two volume steps, 0% or 100%. This is what I need to change. I have tried but, you cannot change this in amixer.

In the console, type: alsamixer

You can make settings changes.

[dhumble]

Re: Not able to control sound volume after recent software update (KPackageKit)

Thanks for trying Snowhog but you didn't read my post correctly. Alsamixer used to give me plenty of volume steps (increments) for PCM, prior to the software updates but now only gives me two choices, 0% or 100%.

I think it was 32 volume steps previously. I have a bad memory. But as I say, it is the same in KMix, full volume or nothing just now.

David

[Snowhog]

Re: Not able to control sound volume after recent software update (KPackageKit)

What shows:

amixer info

This will tell you what sound card is being used.

[dhumble]

Re: Not able to control sound volume after recent software update (KPackageKit)

Thanks for taking the time to help guys.

amixer info
Card default 'System'/'Philips Electronics USB Digital Speaker System at usb-0000:00:03.1-1.1, full sp'
 Mixer name  : 'USB Mixer'
 Components  : 'USB0471:0101'
 Controls   : 5
 Simple ctrls : 4

David

[dhumble]

Re: Not able to control sound volume after recent software update (KPackageKit)

Here is a snapshot of what I see in Multimedia - System Settings window. You can see that there are some greyed out Philips USB Speaker devices. I suspect that these were my original, working settings before the software update. The speakers have been inthe same USB hub port for years.

Also, new since Friday is that upon boot up I get a message about theses no longer detectable Philips USB speaker devices and it asks if I want to delete the device. I haven't deleted them thus far, hoping that this will prompt someone to tell me where these are kept in a file. I could then go browse what I need to get my volume increment steps back.

[img width=400 height=246]http://www.taurus2.plus.com/pics/Multimedia%20System%20Settings.png[/img]

David

[dibl]

Re: Not able to control sound volume after recent software update (KPackageKit)

It looks like all the relevant drivers are loaded:

snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_seq_oss,snd_usb_au dio,snd_wavefront,snd_cs4236,snd_wss_lib,snd_opl3_ lib,snd_hwdep,
snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_mpu401,snd_m pu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_d evice

Try installing pavucontrol and paman:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install pavucontrol paman

Afterwards, open pavucontrol and take a close look at the "sinks" -- especially that usb speaker set. You might find a tiny "mute" button that you can click to unmute them.

[Snowhog]

Re: Not able to control sound volume after recent software update (KPackageKit)

Here is a snapshot of what I see in Multimedia - System Settings window. You can see that there are some greyed out Philips USB Speaker devices. I suspect that these were my original, working settings before the software update. The speakers have been inthe same USB hub port for years.

Have you tried moving the Philips Electronics USB Digital Speaker System (USB Audio) to the top of the list yet?

[dhumble]

Re: Not able to control sound volume after recent software update (KPackageKit)

I'll mark this [SOLVED] now but I'll need to work out how to get it all working sweet.

My thanks to you both for your contributions. I followed Dibl's suggestion, rebooted and PulseAudio took over. A bit of a tweak and I had variable volume out of my speakers. A couple of reboots satified me that all was good.

I tried to follow Snowhog's suggestion, rebooted but, the Multimedia - System Settings window had not saved the changes I had made. I'll work on it. Just happy that I have control over my sound again.

[dhumble]

Re: [SOLVED] Not able to control sound volume after recent software update...

Although I marked this solved, I was struggling to get sound from all my applications. I followed the comments of volkerbradley (http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...3841#msg183841).

Specifically, I ran the command,

pactl list

I Found my sound card output and typed,

pacmd
set-default-sink alsa_output.usb-Philips_Electronics_USB_Digital_Speaker_System_Ser__00-00.iec958-stereo

I hope this helps someone.