troubleshooting sound problems

Mon Feb 18 18:07:35 UTC 2008

On Sun, 2008-02-17 at 12:35 +0900, Tomoki Taniguchi wrote: 
> sound isn't working at all
> 
> results from hwinfo --sound
> <snip>
> 20: PCI 1f.5: 0401 Multimedia audio controller
>   [Created at pci.281]
>   UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_8086_24c5
>   Unique ID: W60f.3l4z2BlRD+7
>   SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.5
>   SysFS BusID: 0000:00:1f.5
>   Hardware Class: sound
>   Model: "Matsushita Electric Industrial 82801DB/DBL/DBM
> (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller"
>   Vendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
>   Device: pci 0x24c5 "82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio
> Controller"
>   SubVendor: pci 0x10f7 "Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd."
>   SubDevice: pci 0x8346
>   Revision: 0x03
>   Driver: "Intel ICH"
>   Driver Modules: "snd_intel8x0"
>   I/O Ports: 0x1c00-0x1cff (rw)
>   I/O Ports: 0x1880-0x18bf (rw)
>   Memory Range: 0xe0100c00-0xe0100dff (rw,non-prefetchable)
>   Memory Range: 0xe0100800-0xe01008ff (rw,non-prefetchable)
>   IRQ: 9 (16664 events)
>   Module Alias: "pci:v00008086d000024C5sv000010F7sd00008346bc04sc01i00"
>   Driver Info #0:
>     Driver Status: i810_audio is not active
>     Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe i810_audio"
>   Driver Info #1:
>     Driver Status: snd_intel8x0 is active
>     Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe snd_intel8x0"
>   Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
> <snip>
> 
> i noticed that i810_audio is not active.
> so i ran "modprobe i810_audio" but still didn't get any sound
> 
> results from "lsmod | grep snd" prior to loading i810_audio
> <snip>
> snd_intel8x0           30332  1
> snd_pcm_oss            38368  0
> snd_mixer_oss          15200  1 snd_pcm_oss
> snd_intel8x0m          15980  0
> snd_ac97_codec         83104  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_intel8x0m
> snd_ac97_bus            2400  1 snd_ac97_codec
> snd_pcm                68676  4
> snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0m,snd_ac97_codec
> snd_timer              20996  1 snd_pcm
> snd                    47012  9
> snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0m,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
> soundcore               9248  1 snd
> snd_page_alloc         10184  3 snd_intel8x0,snd_intel8x0m,snd_pcm
> <snip>
> 
> post loading i810_audio
> <snip>
> snd_intel8x0           30332  1
> snd_pcm_oss            38368  0
> snd_mixer_oss          15200  1 snd_pcm_oss
> snd_intel8x0m          15980  0
> snd_ac97_codec         83104  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_intel8x0m
> snd_ac97_bus            2400  1 snd_ac97_codec
> snd_pcm                68676  4
> snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0m,snd_ac97_codec
> snd_timer              20996  1 snd_pcm
> snd                    47012  9
> snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0m,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
> soundcore               9248  2 i810_audio,snd
> snd_page_alloc         10184  3 snd_intel8x0,snd_intel8x0m,snd_pcm
> <snip>
> 

Hmm. the OSS legacy i810_audio module was discontinued (it's not
compiled at all in the regular gutsy kernels) as OSS is deprecated and
will eventually be dropped from future kernel versions (leaving in place
OSS emulation drivers for a while). I guess I should have asked which
version of Ubuntu you were running before anything else. Sorry about
that. If you are running an older version of Ubuntu, I'd recommend
backing up your data and upgrading to gutsy. If your running a xen
kernel or a custom kernel, I probably won't be able to help with that
since there could be way too many variables to account for when trying
to isolate what the problem is.

In the meantime, you might look at the instructions located here:
http://weichen.wordpress.com/2007/04/23/upgrade-to-ubuntu-feisty-solve-some-problems/ 
The mixer reconfig seems to be a common solution for machines with that
particular sound controller.

Other possible solutions to try:

Boot with different kernel options. 
pci=noacpi
pci=routeirq
noapic (as opposed to noacpi which if you have a laptop you should not
use because a lot of things won't work well (if at all), and could cause
your laptop to overheat.

Try these one per boot by editing the grub boot menu on a temporary
basis when you power up the machine. For an explanation on how to do
that, consult the following webpage:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto#head-7d876114f64c154224630a01c0bd9c4d335e931d
If one of these kernel boot parameters enables sound, then you can add
the option to your grub menu by editing /boot/grub/menu.lst and putting
the option on the end of the line that reads "# defoptions=quiet splash"
Save the file and then issue the command "sudo update-grub"

Blacklist snd-intel8x0m module

In gutsy, the snd_intel8x0m module is blacklisted to prevent it's
loading because of reported conflicts with the snd-intel8x0 driver.
However, according to the lsmod output you provided your machine is
loading it. Check /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist to see if it's listed. If it
isn't, then add an entry for it. For immediate results, try unloading
all of the sound modules with modprobe or rmmod and then reload them
without snd-intel8x0m. Usually just doing a "modprobe -v snd" will load
all the necessary drivers.

You also might peruse the Ubuntu Community's Sound Troubleshooting page
here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshooting. I wouldn't
worry about compiling any new alsa drivers yet until other avenues have
been explored. 

Unfortunately, without knowing your Ubuntu version and kernel version,
it's difficult to suggest other courses of action, since what works for
one version may not be applicable to another. Try the suggestions above
and definitely don't load snd-intel8x0m for the time being. Oh, and as a
cover-all-bases move, verify that your username is part of the audio
group with the "id" command. 

[snip]

-- 
sktsee