Re: [gentoo-user] No sound. Please, help!

[Michael]

On Thursday, 14 July 2022 07:19:14 BST gevisz wrote:
> пт, 11 мар. 2022 г. в 20:15, gevisz <gevisz@×××××.com>:
> > пн, 19 окт. 2020 г. в 00:15, gevisz <gevisz@×××××.com>:
> > > вс, 18 окт. 2020 г. в 21:15, Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com>:
> > > > gevisz wrote:
> > > > > вс, 18 окт. 2020 г. в 17:20, Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com>:
> > > > >> gevisz wrote:
> > > > >>> No sound at least in Firefox. Tried it on youtube. Skype is
> > > > >>> currently
> > > > >>> uninstalled. So, I cannot check using it.
> > > > >>
> > > > >> Just a thought.  Are you sure that everything is unmuted?  Years
> > > > >> ago,
> > > > >> all the sound control software, Kmix, alsa and others, default to
> > > > >> mute.
> > > > >> If just one of them is muted, no sound.  I seem to recall when I
> > > > >> did my
> > > > >> install on this rig that I had to unmute the sound in three places,
> > > > >> Kmix, alsa and one other that I can't recall the name of.  I think
> > > > >> I had
> > > > >> to turn up the volume on alsa as it was set to a really low level
> > > > >> once
> > > > >> it was unmuted.  Usually, I turn all of them to the max except the
> > > > >> one I
> > > > >> mainly use.  In my case, Kmix is the one I use to really control
> > > > >> things
> > > > >> since it sits on the panel thingy.  The others are set at the max.
> > > > >>
> > > > >> It's a silly thing but thought it worth a mention just in case
> > > > >> there is
> > > > >> a muted setting somewhere.
> > > > >
> > > > > Thank you for your input. Yes, it seems that something is muted but
> > > > > what?
> > > > > I have no KDE and no kmix installed. No pulseaudio.
> > > >
> > > > Type in alsamixer in a console or whatever you use and hit tab twice.
> > > > I
> > > > suspect you have that installed.  You should have a text version, like
> > > > a
> > > > console uses, and a gui version, that should work in any DM.  Pick
> > > > your
> > > > poison and see if anything there is muted or the volume is set really
> > > > low, like 1 out of 100 or something.  I think hitting the "m" key
> > > > toggles the mute.
> > >
> > > I am sorry to confess that I forgot that I should use M to unmute
> > > a channel in alsamixer (as I did about 14 years ago) and thought
> > > that arrows up and down do all the work. :(
> > >
> > > So, now the problem has been solved.
> >
> > Last time I have ended the discussion on my
> > "no sound" problem acknowledging that I was
> > so stupid that "forgot that I should use M to
> > unmute a channel in alsamixer."
> >
> > However, it turned out that it was not the case:
> > currently I have all channels in alsamixer unmuted
> > and have sound only in about 1 from 10 bootings of
> > my Gentoo system, while I do always have sound
> > on the same computer while I boot it with Ubuntu 20.04.
> >
> > I have also compared the output of lsmod command
> > on both systems and found out that my Gentoo system
> > had all sound kernel modules that my Ubuntu system has
> > and even more. (In Gentoo, I still have quite an old 5.4.97
> > kernel, but I do not think that it is the cause of my
> > "no sound" problem.)
> >
> > Of course, it is completely my responsibility that
> > I have built my Gentoo system in such a way that
> > I never know if I will have sound after its next boot.
> > However I am lost guessing what I did wrong.
> > (Comparing with Ubuntu 20.04, my Gentoo system
> > has no systemd and no pulseaudio, no consolekit,
> > and no policykit.)
> >
> > I leave this just for history, as I am currently
> > in a war zone and so investigating this problem
> > further is not in my priority list. :(
>
> I have accidentally found that the problem with
> absence of sound on my Gentoo box appears
> only when my USB Logitech webcam is connected
> to the computer during the boot time.
>
> Moreover, if it happens and the sound is absent,
> the alsamixer shows that my USB Logitech webcam
> is considered by the system as a default sound device.
>
> So, it tries to send sound there even though it does
> not have any speaker.

I'll blame some relatively recent change in the kernel or some interaction 
with udev.  I have previously posted a problem regarding a USB NIC, rather 
than a USB sound card as in your case.   Now I also noticed a problem with the 
initialisation of an onboard WiFi card on another laptop, which is driven by 
the internal MoBo USB controller along with bluetooth.

I don't know what causes the problem but I wager the order in which a device 
is plugged in/switched on by the user affects whether the kernel will detect it 
and initialise it, or not.

On this laptop the onboard WiFi has to be switched on already at boot time, or 
I need to reboot after switching it on.  Restarting the wlan0 service without 
a reboot fails to connect to the AP.

On the previous post of mine about another laptop with an external USB NIC 
adaptor (wired), the ethernet cable has to remain disconnected until SDDM 
starts, or SDDM will not launch.  Restarting the wired interface service 
allows SDDM to start.

My superficial conclusion is ... something changed and the result is a 
regressive behavior.  I don't know if this is related to kernel code or udev, 
or some interaction between the two, but I suggest this is where the cause of 
this problem lies rather than USB sound or NIC devices.