Gentoo Forums
Gentoo Forums
Gentoo Forums
Quick Search: in
Sound stopped working with no apparent error messages
View unanswered posts
View posts from last 24 hours

 
Reply to topic    Gentoo Forums Forum Index Multimedia
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Lacraia
n00b
n00b


Joined: 24 May 2008
Posts: 6
Location: Jönköping, Sweden

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2008 9:41 am    Post subject: Sound stopped working with no apparent error messages Reply with quote

I desperatly need help. Not that it's such a big issue. I think I can handle a couple of days without sound, but I have no clue of where to begin.

If I've havn't been clear enough: I don't get any sound. I've had sound setup and working and suddenly it just doesn't work anymore. I've tried to pin down what the problem is, but no applications giving any error message. I've looked in /var/log/everything/current when launching mplayer and vlc and haven't seen anything. Everything indicates sound is working, but I just can't hear anything.

My hardware is a MacBook bought in February 2007. Sound does work in Mac OS.

The only thing I can think of is that I had sound before I configured bluetooth, but that can't have anything to do with it, can it? If anyone can give me some pointers I'd be gratefull. If you need more information to help me I'll be glad to post it.
_________________
Live long and prosper!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
sugar
Guru
Guru


Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 579
Location: Morrinsville, New Zealand

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Have you tried turning up the master volume. It seems obvious, I know, but you wouldn't believe the number of threads I've seen where that's been the problem.
_________________
He who calls for full employment calls for war!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Lacraia
n00b
n00b


Joined: 24 May 2008
Posts: 6
Location: Jönköping, Sweden

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2008 3:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not surprised of your suggestion for a solution to my problem. Believe me when I say that noone would be happier than me if that were the case. Just to convince you I'll try it out while I write.

First I fire up gmplayer and starts a video. No sound. No error message.
Then I launch alsamixer and check that no bars are at zero and no channel is muted. Still no sound.

Now, let's try another thing. First I quit gmplayer.

Then I'll go to youtube.com and watches a video (with no sound).
Next I fire up gmplayer again and yay! A error message. The gui says:
Quote:
Could not open/initialize audio device -> no sound.


The console says:
Quote:
[AO_ALSA] alsa-lib: pcm_dmix.c:996:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
[AO_ALSA] Playback open error: Device or resource busy
Could not open/initialize audio device -> no sound.
Audio: no sound


My guess is that this is because alsa can't handle several streams concurrently. So that won't help me a bit, will it?

To bad this wasn't a volume problem. Any more pointers out there?
_________________
Live long and prosper!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
hind
n00b
n00b


Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Posts: 50
Location: Haifa, Israel

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2008 6:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Does alsaconf work? Does it find your card, configures it and exits correctly?

I had a similar problem and alsaconf just locked up, kernel upgrade broke alsa completely. Had to close the terminal window to kill it.
Sometimes "/etc/init.d/alsasound restart" used to lock up too.
Solved it by recompiling a kernel with no initial .config (just clean "make menuconfig", like on a fresh install, pick all the options manually).

I know it's stupid, but hey, if nothing else works...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Lacraia
n00b
n00b


Joined: 24 May 2008
Posts: 6
Location: Jönköping, Sweden

PostPosted: Sun May 25, 2008 8:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

alsaconf finds, configures and exists beautifully. So does /etc/init.d/alsasound restart. Everything seems to function except there's no sound at all. For example, when I fire up vlc and choose Audio->Visualizations->Scope from the menu the lines are moving and indicates sound. (It might do that even if no sound driver is installed at all, I just wanted to show that everything seems normal.)

Do you really think recompiling the kernel will help?
_________________
Live long and prosper!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
hind
n00b
n00b


Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Posts: 50
Location: Haifa, Israel

PostPosted: Sun May 25, 2008 5:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think recompiling may help. It takes me half an hour to configure it from scratch, and I'm slow :wink:
If you do it, disable OSS emulation and "dummy soundcard" (it's in Device Drivers/Sound/ALSA/Generic devices), and build all alsa drivers as modules.

Anyway, it seems weird. Maybe Gnome is to blame?

You could emerge mpg123 and play some mp3 with it ("mpg123 file_name.mp3"). If it crashes or doesn't make any sound, it's definitely ALSA problem. Try it without Gnome (rc-update del xdm default and reboot) to make sure nothing blocks ALSA.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Lacraia
n00b
n00b


Joined: 24 May 2008
Posts: 6
Location: Jönköping, Sweden

PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

'Cause of the summer I haven't found time to look further into this and now I've sold the computer in favour of a MacBook Pro. Maybe recompiling might've helped.
_________________
Live long and prosper!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Gentoo Forums Forum Index Multimedia All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum