sound stopped working

themillak · Sep 20, 2011

I've been trying to deal with this for about a week now and haven't gotten anywhere. The best I can really do to describe it is one day my sound was working and the next I had done some updates and my debian install stopped playing any sounds. I checked lspci and I was told there should be some sort of multimedia controller there but there isn't. I know its still physically in there somewhere because i switched to windows to watch a movie when this started and the sound was working without any problems.

Code:

efraim@efraim-debian:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
--- no soundcards ---
efraim@efraim-debian:~$ su
Password: 
root@efraim-debian:/home/efraim# alsactl init
alsactl: init:1743: No soundcards found...
root@efraim-debian:/home/efraim# /etc/init.d/alsa-utils start
Setting up ALSA...warning: 'alsactl restore' failed with error message 'alsactl: load_state:1610: No soundcards found...'...done.

its as if it just went and disappeared. any suggestions or am i stuck with the reinstall route?

Nothinman · Sep 20, 2011

Yes, lspci should list a device similar to:

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 05)

If that doesn't exist then the chip isn't being detected at all and there's nothing Linux can do about it. Did you accidentally disable it in the BIOS? What's the full lspci output that you get and what model of motherboard is it?

themillak · Sep 20, 2011

Nothinman said:
Yes, lspci should list a device similar to:

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 05)

If that doesn't exist then the chip isn't being detected at all and there's nothing Linux can do about it. Did you accidentally disable it in the BIOS? What's the full lspci output that you get and what model of motherboard is it?

so i spoke too quickly about the multimedia device, i was expecting a line that said "multimedia" something. I was looking at the audio line but it didn't fully click and i thought i needed something else to control it.

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DMI (rev 11)
00:03.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 11)
00:08.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor System Management Registers (rev 11)
00:08.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor Semaphore and Scratchpad Registers (rev 11)
00:08.2 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor System Control and Status Registers (rev 11)
00:08.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor Miscellaneous Registers (rev 11)
00:10.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link (rev 11)
00:10.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Routing and Protocol Registers (rev 11)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
[b]00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)[/b]
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 06)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Redwood [Radeon HD 5600 Series]
01:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5600 Series]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications AR8151 v1.0 Gigabit Ethernet (rev c0)
09:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43225 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)
ff:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-Core Registers (rev 04)
ff:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 04)
ff:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 04)
ff:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 04)
ff:03.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller (rev 04)
ff:03.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Target Address Decoder (rev 04)
ff:03.4 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Test Registers (rev 04)
ff:04.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 0 Control Registers (rev 04)
ff:04.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 0 Address Registers (rev 04)
ff:04.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 0 Rank Registers (rev 04)
ff:04.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 0 Thermal Control Registers (rev 04)
ff:05.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 1 Control Registers (rev 04)
ff:05.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 1 Address Registers (rev 04)
ff:05.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 1 Rank Registers (rev 04)
ff:05.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 1 Thermal Control Registers (rev 04)

i installed hardinfo a bit ago which is basically a GUI of the different lsXXX options hoping it would help me with troubleshooting. i'm not sure what motherboard I have but hardinfo gave me this:

-BIOS-
Date : 04/25/2011
Vendor : Phoenix (www.phoenix.com)
Version : V1.14
-Board-
Name : JV71-CP
Vendor : Acer (www.acer.com)

i found the command dmidecode but it didn't seem to have that much more information

Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes
Base Board Information
Manufacturer: Acer
Product Name: JV71-CP
Version: Not Applicable
Serial Number: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Asset Tag: Not Specified
Features: None
Location In Chassis: Not Specified
Chassis Handle: 0xFFFF
Type: Unknown
Contained Object Handles: 0

AnonymouseUser · Sep 20, 2011

Recent Debian updates also caused audio issues for me. I was able to narrow it down to Flash, though, and by closing any browsers sound works in other programs. Not sure if you have the same problem or not, but I have been using Win 7 more thanks to this issue.

lxskllr · Sep 20, 2011

If it's due to Flash, maybe Gnash would be an alright workaround.

themillak · Sep 20, 2011

i think mine were related to these updates:

Start-Date: 2011-09-01 19:23:57
Upgrade: apache2.2-bin:amd64 (2.2.16-6+squeeze1, 2.2.16-6+squeeze2), google-chrome-beta:amd64 (14.0.835.109-r97804, 14.0.835.124-r98877), libnss3-1d:amd64 (3.12.8-1+squeeze1, 3.12.8-1+squeeze2), ca-certificates:amd64 (20090814+nmu2, 20090814+nmu3)
End-Date: 2011-09-01 19:24:51

Start-Date: 2011-09-02 08:13:36
Upgrade: google-chrome-beta:amd64 (14.0.835.124-r98877, 14.0.835.126-r99097)
End-Date: 2011-09-02 08:13:54

i did the first batch and then didn't reboot before the second and then my sound stopped working.

lxskllr · Sep 20, 2011

I'm just a dummy, but I don't see how apache would affect sound. I believe Chrome has Flash built in, at least in Windows. That might be where the issue is. Backup your relevant profiles, and completely remove Chrome, and see if that fixes it. If it does, try installing Chromium stable, and see if everything still works.

Nothinman · Sep 20, 2011

If you run 'lsmod | grep snd' do you have any modules loaded? For that hardware, I'm guessing you should at least see snd_hda_intel.

themillak · Sep 20, 2011

Code:

snd_hwdep               5556  0 
snd_pcm_oss            32693  0 
snd_mixer_oss          13255  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                61878  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy           1423  0 
snd_seq_oss            24808  0 
snd_seq_midi            4518  0 
snd_rawmidi            15938  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event      4730  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                42808  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              16241  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device          4779  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd                    48603  11 snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore               4598  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          6153  1 snd_pcm

i'm not exactly sure how to read this for fixing the audio but i'm guessing i should see the snd_hda_intel for snd_pcm and then again elsewhere where i see the snd_pcm_oss. i'm guessing I installed some free audio codecs and that those took over the intel options and removed/replaced them and that i should've left it alone but i don't really know what i'm looking at.

Nothinman · Sep 20, 2011

Codecs don't have anything to do with drivers. What happens if you type 'modprobe snd_hda_intel' as root?

themillak · Sep 21, 2011

root@efraim-debian:/home/efraim# modprobe snd_hda_intel
FATAL: Error inserting snd_hda_intel (/lib/modules/2.6.32-5-amd64/kernel/sound/pci/hda/snd-hda-intel.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)

not sure how much is useful, the full dmesg output exceeded the forums' limit of 50000 characters per post limit by about 70000. so here's the full dmesg output: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7048321/dmesg.txt

and the short part with just the bottom where it mentions snd_hda_codec

Code:

[222772.746682] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_add
[222772.746689] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_add
[222772.746913] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_card_register
[222772.746918] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_card_register
[222772.747051] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_card_proc_new
[222772.747056] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_card_proc_new
[222772.747235] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_add_device_sysfs_file
[222772.747239] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_add_device_sysfs_file
[222772.747515] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_remove
[222772.747520] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_remove
[222772.747654] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_find_id
[222772.747658] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_find_id
[222772.747841] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_new1
[222772.747845] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_new1
[222772.748036] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_component_add
[222772.748041] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_component_add
[222772.748178] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_make_virtual_master
[222772.748182] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_make_virtual_master
[222772.748515] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_boolean_mono_info
[222772.748520] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_boolean_mono_info
[222772.748777] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_hwdep_new
[222772.748781] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_hwdep_new
[222772.749262] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol _snd_ctl_add_slave
[222772.749266] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol _snd_ctl_add_slave
[222772.749954] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_pcm_hw_constraint_step
[222772.749958] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_pcm_hw_constraint_step
[222861.669295] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_add
[222861.669302] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_add
[222861.669506] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_card_register
[222861.669510] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_card_register
[222861.669688] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_card_proc_new
[222861.669694] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_card_proc_new
[222861.669926] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_add_device_sysfs_file
[222861.669932] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_add_device_sysfs_file
[222861.670135] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_remove
[222861.670139] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_remove
[222861.670273] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_find_id
[222861.670277] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_find_id
[222861.670460] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_new1
[222861.670464] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_new1
[222861.670655] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_component_add
[222861.670660] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_component_add
[222861.670797] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_make_virtual_master
[222861.670801] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_make_virtual_master
[222861.671131] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_boolean_mono_info
[222861.671136] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_boolean_mono_info
[222861.671393] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_hwdep_new
[222861.671397] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_hwdep_new
[222861.671878] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol _snd_ctl_add_slave
[222861.671882] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol _snd_ctl_add_slave
[222861.672570] snd_hda_codec: disagrees about version of symbol snd_pcm_hw_constraint_step
[222861.672574] snd_hda_codec: Unknown symbol snd_pcm_hw_constraint_step

Nothinman · Sep 21, 2011

It looks like you have a mismatched kernel/module version. Have you rebooted since doing any kernel updates?

themillak · Sep 21, 2011

i think it was part of this upgrade set but i'm not sure

Start-Date: 2011-09-09 08:54:04
Upgrade: linux-image-2.6.32-5-amd64:amd64 (2.6.32-35, 2.6.32-35squeeze1), firmware-linux-free:amd64 (2.6.32-35, 2.6.32-35squeeze1), linux-headers-2.6.32-5-common:amd64 (2.6.32-35, 2.6.32-35squeeze1), linux-headers-2.6.32-5-amd64:amd64 (2.6.32-35, 2.6.32-35squeeze1), linux-base:amd64 (2.6.32-35, 2.6.32-35squeeze1), google-chrome-beta:amd64 (14.0.835.157-r99685, 14.0.835.159-r100066), linux-libc-dev:amd64 (2.6.32-35, 2.6.32-35squeeze1)
End-Date: 2011-09-09 08:55:40

and 2 days earlier i installed from scratch firmware-linux-free:amd64 (2.6.32-35) and didn't reboot until the above quote on the 9th, guessing from my saved apt-history.

when i type in kernel into synaptic i get:
linux-headers-2.6-amd64 2.6.32+29
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-amd64 2.6.32-5squeeze2
linux-headres-2.6.32-5-common 2.6.32-5squeeze2
linux-image-2.6-amd64 2.6.32+29
linux-image-2.6.32-5-amd64 2.6.32-35squeeze2
linux-kbuild-2.6.32 2.6.32-1

and those are the ones that begin 2.6.*

lxskllr · Sep 21, 2011

Are the old kernels still listed in grub? Try booting to one of those, and see if it works.

themillak · Sep 21, 2011

they got removed when i upgraded. i downgraded them and some other things i thought might've caused it but it didn't help.

Start-Date: 2011-09-10 21:12:53
Commandline: /usr/sbin/synaptic
Downgrade: linux-image-2.6.32-5-amd64:amd64 (2.6.32-35squeeze1, 2.6.32-35), firmware-linux-free:amd64 (2.6.32-35squeeze1, 2.6.32-35)
End-Date: 2011-09-10 21:14:10

Start-Date: 2011-09-10 21:29:04
Commandline: /usr/sbin/synaptic
Downgrade: linux-headers-2.6.32-5-common:amd64 (2.6.32-35squeeze1, 2.6.32-35), linux-headers-2.6.32-5-amd64:amd64 (2.6.32-35squeeze1, 2.6.32-35), linux-base:amd64 (2.6.32-35squeeze1, 2.6.32-35)
End-Date: 2011-09-10 21:29:38

lxskllr · Sep 21, 2011

Try using non free firmware. Maybe that'll work for you.

themillak · Sep 22, 2011

i currently have firmware-linux-nonfree installed but not firmware-linux-free

Nothinman · Sep 22, 2011

Firmware packages won't solve those symbol errors, you need to first boot a working kernel that will load the snd_hda_intel module.

themillak · Sep 22, 2011

is that just a matter of forcing different versions of the kernel until I get one that'll load the snd_hda_intel module?

Nothinman · Sep 22, 2011

themillak said:
is that just a matter of forcing different versions of the kernel until I get one that'll load the snd_hda_intel module?

I wouldn't say forcing, I believe that module is standard and should come with the kernel without any extra packages needed. Have you looked to see if any older linux-image* packages are available to try?

themillak · Sep 23, 2011

force might've been the wrong word, but i was thinking of the option in synaptic to have it not use my preferences for updates but to choose a different one instead. for linux-image-2.6.32-5-amd64 i'm offered 2.6.32-35, 2.6.32-35squeeze2, 2.6.32-36. and then there's the backport options

edit: i'll try switching between those later today when i have some time

sound stopped working

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