Re: [arch-general] Why does my sound work sometimes & not others?

2009-05-14 Thread Damjan Georgievski
> Working Setup:
>
> [13:46 alchemy:/home/david] # lsof /dev/snd/*
> COMMAND  PID  USER   FD   TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
> kmix    3263 david   10u   CHR 116,10      0t0 4088 /dev/snd/controlC0
>
> [13:48 alchemy:/home/david] # lsof /dev/dsp*
...
>        Now since this mostly Greek concerning the LSI ID and where the 
> Realtek codec
> resides, I'll just have to put it to the list: "Does this look normal?"
> Anything I seem to be missing? Like I said, right now the sound is working,
> so I'll just compare the values/parameters to what I get when it quits again.
> Thanks again for your help.

Everything looks ok.
The important part there is that nothing holds open your sound card
(the output of lsof). The thing to check, when it's not working, is
the same lsof output:

firefox 5424 damjan   18u   CHR  116,4  0t0 4857 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p

that means firefox (flash actually) has your (p)lay device 0 open on your card 0
that's the most common reason for a non-working sound in Linux, flash
hijacking the sound-card and not playing well with others. As I said,
I now use pulseaudio and don't have that problem.

-- 
damjan


Re: [arch-general] Why does my sound work sometimes & not others?

2009-05-13 Thread David Rosenstrauch

David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. wrote:
	Now, I preface this with the fact that I have virtually no experience picking 
through the sound system in /proc, but it looks like I have "2"? codecs 
required (HDA Codecc 0 & 3).



Actually, that makes 2 of us!  :-)  All I know is what I've learned from 
fixing specific probs. I've run into.



	Now since this mostly Greek concerning the LSI ID and where the Realtek codec 
resides, I'll just have to put it to the list: "Does this look normal?" 
Anything I seem to be missing?


Um  not really sure.  ALSA is kinda a black art, IMO.

I'd basically just recommend that if this happens again, try following 
down my earlier list of suggestions.  Plus a couple of other things you 
can look at:


1) is there any relevant output showing up in dmesg re: hda?

2) the snd-hda-intel apparently has a parm for model of machine, which 
some people have reported has fixed problems when they've used it.  So 
you could try specifying the model when you load the module and see if 
that fixes it.  Your machine is a Toshiba, right?  So in your rc.conf, 
you could try changing this:


MODULES=(... snd_hda_intel ...)

to this:

MODULES=(... "snd_hda_intel model=toshiba" ...)

3) The thing with the 2 codecs seems odd to me.  Not sure what that's 
all about, but maybe that's having some impact?  i.e., it's erroneously 
choosing to use the other codec for sound?



One other thing about this problem is puzzling:  the fact that your 
sound works, but then stops working when you log out and in again.  Your 
sound module gets loaded at boot time, not at login time.  So if your 
sound is working initially, that means the kernel loaded & initialized 
the modules fine.


And if it subsequently stops working after logging out, that would say 
to me that this is a KDE issue rather than a kernel/alsa issue.  Do you 
have any funky settings tweaked in KDE whereby it's muting one of the 
sound controls, or bringing the volume down to zero?  Is the KDE sound 
system (arts) somehow not initializing properly (or dying) when you log 
in the 2nd time?  Have you tried restarting the KDE sound system when 
the sound fails?


HTH,

DR


Re: [arch-general] Why does my sound work sometimes & not others?

2009-05-13 Thread David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
On Wednesday 13 May 2009 09:40:34 David Rosenstrauch wrote:
>
> snd-hda-intel encompasses many different chipsets/codecs.  Which one
> does your card use?  You can find out like so:
>
> [dar...@daroselin ~]$ grep Codec /proc/asound/card0/codec#0
> Codec: IDT 92HD71B7X
>
>
> As far as general things to check/try:
>
> * Try restarting the KDE sound system.
>
> * Try checking to see if anything got muted in the mixer (i.e., check in
> Kmix or alsamixer).
>
> * Try seeing if this is a KDE issue or not by hitting ctrl-alt-F1,
> logging into a non-X console, and testing the sound using alsaplayer.
>
> * I had a problem with my sound card whereby "analog loopback" was
> getting set and muting the sound.  (See:
> http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=535521#p535521)  Tore my hair
> out over that one for a LONG time.  Maybe this is your issue too?
>
> HTH,
>
> DR

Hmm,

Another DR message that gets flagged as "Important" in the email list. 
Thanks 
DR. Here is where I am at. So far, sound has been good for the past 3 hours. 
(I haven't had to login/logout yet though). From Damjan's suggestion, here is 
my working open file list:


Working Setup:

[13:46 alchemy:/home/david] # lsof /dev/snd/*
COMMAND  PID  USER   FD   TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
kmix3263 david   10u   CHR 116,10  0t0 4088 /dev/snd/controlC0

[13:48 alchemy:/home/david] # lsof /dev/dsp*

+-

Now, I preface this with the fact that I have virtually no experience 
picking 
through the sound system in /proc, but it looks like I have "2"? codecs 
required (HDA Codecc 0 & 3). Here is what looked relevant to the discussion:

[13:48 alchemy:/home/david] # grep Codec /proc/asound/card0/codec#0
Codec: LSI ID 1040

[14:00 alchemy:/home/david] # grep Codec /proc/asound/card0/codec#3
Codec: Realtek ALC268

[14:01 alchemy:/home/david] # cat /proc/asound/card0/id
SB

[14:04 alchemy:/home/david] # cat /proc/asound/cards 
 0 [SB ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI SB
  HDA ATI SB at 0xf870 irq 16

[14:05 alchemy:/home/david] # cat /proc/asound/hwdep 
00-03: HDA Codec 3
00-00: HDA Codec 0

[14:07 alchemy:/home/david] # cat /proc/asound/pcm 
00-00: ALC268 Analog : ALC268 Analog : playback 1 : capture 1
00-01: ALC268 Digital : ALC268 Digital : playback 1
00-02: ALC268 Analog : ALC268 Analog : capture 1

[14:07 alchemy:/home/david] # cat /proc/asound/version 
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.18a.

Now since this mostly Greek concerning the LSI ID and where the Realtek 
codec 
resides, I'll just have to put it to the list: "Does this look normal?" 
Anything I seem to be missing? Like I said, right now the sound is working, 
so I'll just compare the values/parameters to what I get when it quits again. 
Thanks again for your help.

-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
Rankin Law Firm, PLLC
510 Ochiltree Street
Nacogdoches, Texas 75961
Telephone: (936) 715-9333
Facsimile: (936) 715-9339
www.rankinlawfirm.com


Re: [arch-general] Why does my sound work sometimes & not others?

2009-05-13 Thread David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
On Wednesday 13 May 2009 07:38:07 Damjan Georgievski wrote:
> >        When I first start arch and start kde, everything is fine.
> > However, if I log out and then back it, most times the sound is gone --
> > dead. The sound will not start again until I reboot. Anybody got any
> > ideas on what to check or what to keep a watch out for? Also, any ideas
> > on how to bring the sound back once it dies without having to reboot?
>
> Do a "lsof /dev/snd/* /dev/dsp*" as root to see if something holds
> your sound-card open.
>
> I must say, pulseaudio works very good for me these days (BTW I run it
> as a system service) so I don't have any problems with sound any more.

Damjan,

Thanks. I have heard a lot about pulseaudio, but I just haven't gotten 
around 
to looking at it. In the past, I have never listened to music or cared much 
about whether sound was working or not. However, I now have a 10, 7 and 4 
year old and the older two are getting into music, ipods, etc. Life was 
simple when all we had was the ipod nano, gtkpod worked great. Now I have to 
find something to interface with the 'ipod touch'. Looks like amarok is the 
only thing I can find that looks promising.

Long and short of it is I now need sound. I'll check into pulseaudio.


-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
Rankin Law Firm, PLLC
510 Ochiltree Street
Nacogdoches, Texas 75961
Telephone: (936) 715-9333
Facsimile: (936) 715-9339
www.rankinlawfirm.com


Re: [arch-general] Why does my sound work sometimes & not others?

2009-05-13 Thread David Rosenstrauch

David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. wrote:

Listmates,

	I have the most atavistic sound known to mankind on my laptop running arch. 
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The card specs are:


0:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device ff08
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- 
Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=slow >TAbort- 
SERR- 
Latency: 64, Cache Line Size: 32 bytes
Interrupt: pin ? routed to IRQ 16
Region 0: Memory at f870 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: 
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

The Intel modules loaded are:

snd65928  13 
snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer

snd_hda_codec  68112  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_intel  29256  1
snd_page_alloc  9760  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_pcm80920  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec


	When I first start arch and start kde, everything is fine. However, if I log 
out and then back it, most times the sound is gone -- dead. The sound will 
not start again until I reboot. Anybody got any ideas on what to check or 
what to keep a watch out for? Also, any ideas on how to bring the sound back 
once it dies without having to reboot?


	Thanks for any help you can provide. I always hated chasing sound problems. 


snd-hda-intel encompasses many different chipsets/codecs.  Which one 
does your card use?  You can find out like so:


[dar...@daroselin ~]$ grep Codec /proc/asound/card0/codec#0
Codec: IDT 92HD71B7X


As far as general things to check/try:

* Try restarting the KDE sound system.

* Try checking to see if anything got muted in the mixer (i.e., check in 
Kmix or alsamixer).


* Try seeing if this is a KDE issue or not by hitting ctrl-alt-F1, 
logging into a non-X console, and testing the sound using alsaplayer.


* I had a problem with my sound card whereby "analog loopback" was 
getting set and muting the sound.  (See: 
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=535521#p535521)  Tore my hair 
out over that one for a LONG time.  Maybe this is your issue too?


HTH,

DR


Re: [arch-general] Why does my sound work sometimes & not others?

2009-05-13 Thread Damjan Georgievski
>        When I first start arch and start kde, everything is fine. However, if 
> I log
> out and then back it, most times the sound is gone -- dead. The sound will
> not start again until I reboot. Anybody got any ideas on what to check or
> what to keep a watch out for? Also, any ideas on how to bring the sound back
> once it dies without having to reboot?

Do a "lsof /dev/snd/* /dev/dsp*" as root to see if something holds
your sound-card open.

I must say, pulseaudio works very good for me these days (BTW I run it
as a system service) so I don't have any problems with sound any more.


-- 
damjan


Re: [arch-general] Why does my sound work sometimes & not others?

2009-05-13 Thread David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
On Wednesday 13 May 2009 03:37:26 David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. wrote:
> Listmates,
>
>   I have the most atavistic sound known to mankind on my laptop running
> arch. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The card specs are:
>

>
>   When I first start arch and start kde, everything is fine. However, if I
> log out and then back it, most times the sound is gone -- dead. The sound
> will not start again until I reboot. Anybody got any ideas on what to check
> or what to keep a watch out for? Also, any ideas on how to bring the sound
> back once it dies without having to reboot?
>
>   Thanks for any help you can provide. I always hated chasing sound
> problems.

I just logged out and logged back in to test and ... sound is gone 
again. 
However, on the up side, kdm didn't crash on logout:-) Any hints would be 
appreciated. Thanks.


-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
Rankin Law Firm, PLLC
510 Ochiltree Street
Nacogdoches, Texas 75961
Telephone: (936) 715-9333
Facsimile: (936) 715-9339
www.rankinlawfirm.com


[arch-general] Why does my sound work sometimes & not others?

2009-05-13 Thread David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
Listmates,

I have the most atavistic sound known to mankind on my laptop running 
arch. 
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The card specs are:

0:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device ff08
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- 
Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=slow >TAbort- 
SERR- 
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

The Intel modules loaded are:

snd65928  13 
snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
snd_hda_codec  68112  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_intel  29256  1
snd_page_alloc  9760  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_pcm80920  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec


When I first start arch and start kde, everything is fine. However, if 
I log 
out and then back it, most times the sound is gone -- dead. The sound will 
not start again until I reboot. Anybody got any ideas on what to check or 
what to keep a watch out for? Also, any ideas on how to bring the sound back 
once it dies without having to reboot?

Thanks for any help you can provide. I always hated chasing sound 
problems. 

-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
Rankin Law Firm, PLLC
510 Ochiltree Street
Nacogdoches, Texas 75961
Telephone: (936) 715-9333
Facsimile: (936) 715-9339
www.rankinlawfirm.com