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"Mark Haney" <mhaney@××××××××××××.org> posted |
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47FDFD4E.1050301@××××××××××××.org, excerpted below, on Thu, 10 Apr 2008 |
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07:43:10 -0400: |
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> I've beat my head on this for a week now and I can't come up with any |
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> answers. For some reason sound has stopped working completely on my |
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> laptop. I've checked dmesg and syslog for any errors and nothing shows |
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> up concerning the kernel having problems loading the driver (ATI IXP). |
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> I've not updated the kernel until yesterday (was using 2.6.23-r9 for a |
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> month prior to this morning when I booted up into the new .24 kernel |
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> (-r4) and still no sound. It seems rather obvious that it's a |
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> library/software problem, but I have no idea how to start looking for |
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> that. I've run revdep-rebuild a couple of times and it's rebuilt |
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> non-sound related packages. alsamixer has the sound ard right and the |
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> volume level right. |
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OK, simple stuff first. |
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If you hadn't changed the kernel or alsa about the time it happened... |
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you mentioned the sound card was still right and the volume was up, but |
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didn't mention whether you checked the mute. |
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|
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Also, check any switches. On some cards, switching the digital sound on |
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switches analog sound off and the reverse. There may also be a toggle |
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switch for the on-card amplifier. |
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|
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You don't mention your setup. Here for instance the computer output is |
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to a regular home audio system channel input. If your system is similar, |
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check that the system in question still plays the radio or other input, |
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IOW, that it's the computer that's out not the home audio system, and |
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check the cabling between the two. If you run directly off the card to |
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speakers, make sure they're plugged in, and if powered, that they have |
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power and are on. |
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|
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Try using alsamixer from a terminal window or the console command line as |
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your mixer. I've noted that sometimes the regular GUI mixers get mixed |
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up and don't show the critical controls. In particular, I had a card at |
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one point that had a mute or toggle of some sort that about half of the |
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GUI mixers couldn't see or control, but alsamixer could. It had to be in |
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the right position to play, so for awhile, at every boot, I had to load |
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alsamixer and toggle that switch, before I got sound. After that, I |
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could use whatever GUI mixer I wanted to control volumes and the like, |
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but I had to use alsamixer to turn it on properly at every boot. While |
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that issue is long since resolved, since then, every time I have a |
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problem, I use alsamixer to see what's really going on. |
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Finally, while testing, use a player that has a visual output as well. |
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That way, you can /see/ if it's actually playing, too. I've had a couple |
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times with sound servers and/or Internet audio streams where it was |
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supposed to be playing according to the input graph (the incoming |
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Internet stream or player into the sound server), but the output graphic |
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was flatlined, indicating there was no actual sound being played (due to |
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a buffering error, either with the Internet stream or with the sound |
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server). In both cases, I thought it was alsa or the amplifier until I |
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noticed the flatlined activity monitor indicating nothing actually |
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playing. |
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-- |
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Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. |
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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- |
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and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman |
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-- |
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