Re: No Stereo Sound Playback - only Mono

[semper_ortus]

I've recently installed Kubuntu 9.10 and my audio has had problems after plugging in the restricted codecs. I now only have audio through the left speaker - it is definitely mono, since all tests for right speaker get routed through the left only.

I've tried all the usual troubleshooting links and possible fixes, but so far nothing has worked. I'm still newish to Linux (though I've dabbled off and on with computing concepts and simple programing since the 80s).

Has anyone else had this problem, and is there a fix for it that doesn't involve adding pulse audio? It just seems like I need to tell ALSA to allow 2 channel playback but I'm not sure which config file can/should be modified to allow this. (Yes I've tried un-muting stuff in alsamixer via bash - didn't help.) I attempted to create a .asoundrc file but my knowledge of what to put in it is too limited to go beyond anything generic (which didn't work).


Thanks,

Scott

[semper_ortus]

Re: No Stereo Sound Playback - only Mono

By the way, here is the output for my audio device and alsamixer settings etc.:


scott@Am1:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: ICH6 [Intel ICH6], device 0: Intel ICH [Intel ICH6]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: ICH6 [Intel ICH6], device 4: Intel ICH - IEC958 [Intel ICH6 - IEC958]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0



scott@Am1:~$ cat /proc/asound/modules
0 snd_intel8x0



scott@Am1:~$ amixer
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 26 [84%] [-7.50dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 26 [84%] [-7.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Master Mono',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-46.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Master Surround',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 27 [87%] [-6.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 27 [87%] [-6.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone Jack Sense',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 23 [74%] [0.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 23 [74%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Surround',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Surround Jack Mode',0
Capabilities: enum
Items: 'Shared' 'Independent'
Item0: 'Shared'
Simple mixer control 'Center',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'LFE',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Line Jack Sense',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'CD',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on]
Front Left: Capture [on]
Front Right: Capture [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Select',0
Capabilities: enum
Items: 'Mic1' 'Mic2'
Item0: 'Mic1'
Simple mixer control 'Video',0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Phone',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on]
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Aux',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 15
Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB] [on]
Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mix',0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mix Mono',0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Channel Mode',0
Capabilities: enum
Items: '2ch' '4ch' '6ch'
Item0: '2ch'
Simple mixer control 'Downmix',0
Capabilities: enum
Items: 'Off' '6 -> 4' '6 -> 2'
Item0: 'Off'
Simple mixer control 'Exchange Front/Surround',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'External Amplifier',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'High Pass Filter Enable',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Spread Front to Surround and Center/LFE',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Stereo Mic',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'V_REFOUT Enable',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]

[Snowhog]

Re: No Stereo Sound Playback - only Mono

Install, via console:

sudo apt-get install phonon-backend-gstreamer

Then;

K > Applications > System Settings > Multimedia > Backend and set GStreamer as the preferred driver. Then test your sound again.

Also, what is the device preference order in:

[semper_ortus]

Re: No Stereo Sound Playback - only Mono

Thanks! Seems to be fine now. I'll test it out over the next few days and see if anything is still out of whack.