no sound in KDE

Message

Darkshine · Post by **Darkshine** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 2:08 pm

I am unable to play any sounds via KDE itself and in KDE applications like amarok and juk. There are no error messages, just my speakers remain silent. Thus, all other software like mplayer, flash (in chromium), xine and vmware play sounds fine when I am in KDE.

There are 3 devices in audio settings, but no one is able to play sounds. See the screenshot:
http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/110/ ... edited.png
Note that I need to play via Intel ALC883. Sometimes when I start KDE, it shows error that HD-Audio Generic device cannot play sounds and proposes to delete it (I answer "no").

What can be wrong here? It seems that issue appeared when I replaced my old video card by two new ones and re-generated xorg.conf using aticonfig utility. But I am still not sure if there is a connection between this and the KDE sounds.

Below is something from my configuration:
kde-base/kde-meta-4.4.1
kde-base/kdelibs-4.4.5

$ lspci | egrep -i "audio"

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00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)                                     
01:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Cypress HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5800 Series]                                         
04:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Device aa80

Is it possible that KDE tries to play via 01:00.1 or 04:00.1 instead of 00:1b.0? Is there a way to re-configure that?

$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | egrep -v "^[[:blank:]]*#|^$"

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Section "ServerLayout"                                                                                                        
        Identifier     "Simple Layout"                                                                                        
        Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0                                                                            
        Screen         "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" RightOf "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"                                                
        Screen         "aticonfig-Screen[1]-0" RightOf "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"                                                
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Files"                                                                                                               
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"                                                                                 
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"                                                                                
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"                                                                               
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"                                                                                
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Module"                                                                                                              
        Load  "dbe"     # Double buffer extension                                                                             
        SubSection "extmod"                                                                                                   
                Option      "omit xfree86-dga"   # don't initialise the DGA extension                                         
        EndSubSection                                                                                                         
        Load  "freetype"                                                                                                      
        Load  "glx"                                                                                                           
        Load  "dri"                                                                                                           
        Load  "bitmap"                                                                                                        
        Load  "ddc"                                                                                                           
        Load  "extmod"                                                                                                        
        Load  "freetype"                                                                                                      
        Load  "record"                                                                                                        
        Load  "vbe"                                                                                                           
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "InputClass"                                                                                                          
        Identifier      "Keyboard1"                                                                                           
        Driver          "evdev"                                                                                               
        MatchIsKeyboard "yes"                                                                                                 
        Option      "AutoRepeat" "500 30"                                                                                     
        Option      "XkbRules" "xorg"                                                                                         
        Option      "XkbModel" "pc101"                                                                                        
        Option      "XkbLayout" "us,ru(winkeys)"                                                                              
        Option      "XkbVariant" ","                                                                                          
        Option      "XkbOptions" "grp:ctrl_shift_toggle,grp_led:scroll,terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"                               
        MatchIsKeyboard "on" #!!!ati                                                                                          
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "InputClass"                                                                                                          
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event3"                                                                                   
        Identifier      "Mouse1"                                                                                              
        Driver          "evdev"                                                                                               
        MatchIsPointer  "yes"                                                                                                 
        Option      "ButtonNumber" "9"                                                                                        
        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"                                                                                  
        Option      "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"                                                                                 
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Monitor"                                                                                                             
        Identifier   "samsung syncmaster 940t"                                                                                
        HorizSync    30.0 - 81.0                                                                                              
        VertRefresh  56.0 - 75.0                                                                                              
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Monitor"                                                                                                             
        Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"                                                                                 
        Option      "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"                                                                     
        Option      "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"                                                               
        Option      "DPMS" "true"                                                                                             
        HorizSync    30.0 - 81.0                                                                                              
        VertRefresh  56.0 - 75.0                                                                                              
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Monitor"                                                                                                             
        Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"                                                                                 
        Option      "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"                                                                     
        Option      "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"                                                               
        Option      "DPMS" "true"                                                                                             
        HorizSync    30.0 - 81.0                                                                                              
        VertRefresh  56.0 - 75.0                                                                                              
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Monitor"                                                                                                             
        Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[1]-0"                                                                                 
        Option      "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"                                                                     
        Option      "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"                                                               
        Option      "DPMS" "true"                                                                                             
        HorizSync    30.0 - 81.0                                                                                              
        VertRefresh  56.0 - 75.0                                                                                              
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Device"                                                                                                              
        Identifier  "Standard VGA"                                                                                            
        Driver      "vga"                                                                                                     
        VendorName  "Unknown"                                                                                                 
        BoardName   "Unknown"                                                                                                 
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Device"                                                                                                              
        Identifier  "PowerColor Radeon HD5830"                                                                                
        Driver      "radeon"                                                                                                  
        Option      "AccelMethod" "EXA"                                                                                       
        Option      "AccelDFS" "True"                                                                                         
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Device"                                                                                                              
        Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"                                                                                   
        Driver      "fglrx"                                                                                                   
        Option      "UseFastTLS" "1"                                                                                          
        BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"                                                                                               
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Device"                                                                                                              
        Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"                                                                                   
        Driver      "fglrx"                                                                                                   
        BusID       "PCI:3:0:0"                                                                                               
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Device"                                                                                                              
        Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[1]-0"                                                                                   
        Driver      "fglrx"                                                                                                   
        BusID       "PCI:4:0:0"                                                                                               
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Screen"                                                                                                              
        Identifier "Screen 1"                                                                                                 
        Device     "PowerColor Radeon HD5830"                                                                                 
        Monitor    "samsung syncmaster 940t"                                                                                  
        DefaultDepth     24                                                                                                   
        SubSection "Display"                                                                                                  
                Viewport   0 0                                                                                                
                Depth     8                                                                                                   
                Modes    "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"                                                           
        EndSubSection                                                                                                         
        SubSection "Display"                                                                                                  
                Viewport   0 0                                                                                                
                Depth     16                                                                                                  
                Modes    "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"                                                           
        EndSubSection                                                                                                         
        SubSection "Display"                                                                                                  
                Viewport   0 0                                                                                                
                Depth     24                                                                                                  
                Modes    "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"                                                           
        EndSubSection                                                                                                         
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Screen"                                                                                                              
        Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"                                                                                    
        Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"                                                                                    
        Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"                                                                                   
        DefaultDepth     24                                                                                                   
        SubSection "Display"                                                                                                  
                Viewport   0 0                                                                                                
                Depth     24                                                                                                  
                Modes    "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"                                                           
        EndSubSection                                                                                                         
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Screen"                                                                                                              
        Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"                                                                                    
        Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"                                                                                    
        Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"                                                                                   
        DefaultDepth     24                                                                                                   
        SubSection "Display"                                                                                                  
                Viewport   0 0                                                                                                
                Depth     24                                                                                                  
                Modes    "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"                                                           
        EndSubSection                                                                                                         
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Screen"                                                                                                              
        Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[1]-0"                                                                                    
        Device     "aticonfig-Device[1]-0"                                                                                    
        Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[1]-0"                                                                                   
        DefaultDepth     24                                                                                                   
        SubSection "Display"                                                                                                  
                Viewport   0 0                                                                                                
                Depth     24                                                                                                  
                Modes    "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"                                                           
        EndSubSection                                                                                                         
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "DRI"                                                                                                                 
        Mode         0666                                                                                                     
EndSection                                                                                                                    
Section "Extensions"                                                                                                          
        Option      "Render" "Enable"                                                                                         
        Option      "DRI" "Enable"                                                                                            
EndSection

aCOSwt · Post by **aCOSwt** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 2:26 pm

Under the kde system settings / multimedia / Backend tab, which backend did you select ?
which were your choices ?

Darkshine · Post by **Darkshine** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 10:59 pm

Under the kde system settings / multimedia / Backend tab, which backend did you select ?
which were your choices ?

There was xine set. I changed it to gstreamer and now it works fine. Anyways, it is strange, because xine itself plays sound without any problems and re-building it didn't help to make it play KDE sounds.

Any ideas what can be wrong with xine? Thanks.

cach0rr0 · Post by **cach0rr0** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 11:37 pm

there's nothing wrong with xine; there may, however, be problems with using xine as your phonon backend

could even be the case you dont have the required bits installed (though, it shouldnt even show up in systemsettings if it's not installed):

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* media-libs/phonon-xine
     Available versions:  4.4.4 **9999 {debug +xcb}
     Homepage:            https://projects.kde.org/projects/kdesupport/phonon/phonon-xine
     Description:         Phonon XINE backend

i use the VLC backend personally. dunno why, just made sense at the time

Darkshine · Post by **Darkshine** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 1:10 am

could even be the case you dont have the required bits installed (though, it shouldnt even show up in systemsettings if it's not installed)

I see that media-libs/phonon-xine is not installed in my system, however, I see xine as backend in audio settings. Will install phonon-xine later and try to use xine as backend again.Thanks.

olger901 · Post by **olger901** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 10:45 am

gstreamer never worked for me either. It never produced any sound output on my Lenovo ThinkPad T61p laptop. Switching to xine-lib has always fixed that issue for me.

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:51 pm

I'm running a xineless setup, only gstreamer.
I know, this phonon thing was really confusing, together with pulseaudio and ALSA, it made me sad for a while.
I've migrated to PulseAudio, and now everything seems to work fine. If you are using PulseAudio too, do you have a /etc/asound.conf defining pulse to be the default output devce?