[Solved] Sound not working

[Nima0908]

Hello,
i cant get my pipewire to work at all. Iam using a usb audio device (kernel module is loaded and build), but not even if i directly connect something with a audio cable to my pc, its not recognised. My gpu dp audio is also not recognised (it was for some time, but it didnt work and now i dont see it anymore). I start pipewire through spawn "gentoo-pipewire-launcher" in my niri config.kdl how it is suggested in the pipewire wiki (i tried the services too but they dont work at all ).

emerge --info pipewire:

Code: Select all

!!! No gcc found. You probably need to 'source /etc/profile'
!!! to update the environment of this terminal and possibly
!!! other terminals also.
Portage 3.0.77 (python 3.13.11-final-0, default/linux/amd64/23.0/musl/llvm, [unavailable], musl-1.2.5-r8, 6.18.18-gentoo x86_64)
=================================================================
                         System Settings
=================================================================
System uname: Linux-6.18.18-gentoo-x86_64-Intel-R-_Core-TM-_i7-7700_CPU_@_3.60GHz-with-libc
KiB Mem:    16282848 total,   1290144 free
KiB Swap:    4194300 total,   4194300 free
Timestamp of repository gentoo: Mon, 30 Mar 2026 20:45:00 +0000
Head commit of repository gentoo: 09b806840e2d581585ae987addc9dd7edac226e2
Timestamp of repository guru: Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:31:48 +0000
Head commit of repository guru: 092b30a0d5d956572fbb10c1c581459cd2dc8e50

Head commit of repository librewolf: 2387fc6f0b5cac40fd1ed2682152ce4fe2902f9b

sh bash 5.3_p9
ld LLD 21.1.8 (compatible with GNU linkers)
app-misc/pax-utils:        1.3.10::gentoo
app-shells/bash:           5.3_p9::gentoo
dev-build/autoconf:        2.72-r6::gentoo
dev-build/automake:        1.18.1::gentoo
dev-build/cmake:           4.1.4::gentoo
dev-build/libtool:         2.5.4::gentoo
dev-build/make:            4.4.1-r102::gentoo
dev-build/meson:           1.9.2::gentoo
dev-lang/perl:             5.42.0-r1::gentoo
dev-lang/python:           3.13.11::gentoo, 3.14.2::gentoo
dev-lang/rust:             1.92.0_p1-r1::gentoo
llvm-core/clang:           18.1.8-r7::gentoo, 21.1.8::gentoo
llvm-core/lld:             18.1.8::gentoo, 21.1.8::gentoo
llvm-core/llvm:            18.1.8-r6::gentoo, 21.1.8::gentoo
sys-apps/baselayout:       2.18::gentoo
sys-apps/openrc:           0.63-r1::gentoo
sys-apps/sandbox:          2.46::gentoo
sys-devel/binutils-config: 5.6::gentoo
sys-kernel/linux-headers:  6.18::gentoo (virtual/os-headers)
sys-libs/musl:             1.2.5-r8::gentoo
Repositories:

gentoo
    location: /var/db/repos/gentoo
    sync-type: rsync
    sync-uri: rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage
    priority: -1000
    volatile: False
    sync-rsync-extra-opts:
    sync-rsync-verify-jobs: 1
    sync-rsync-verify-max-age: 3
    sync-rsync-verify-metamanifest: yes

dev_repository
    location: /var/db/repos/dev_repository
    masters: gentoo
    volatile: False

guru
    location: /var/db/repos/guru
    sync-type: git
    sync-uri: https://github.com/gentoo-mirror/guru.git
    masters: gentoo
    volatile: False

librewolf
    location: /var/db/repos/librewolf
    sync-type: git
    sync-uri: https://codeberg.org/librewolf/gentoo.git
    masters: gentoo
    volatile: False

Binary Repositories:

gentoo
    location: /var/cache/binhost/gentoo
    priority: 1
    sync-uri: https://distfiles.gentoo.org/releases/amd64/binpackages/23.0/x86-64_musl_llvm
    verify-signature: True

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"
ACCEPT_LICENSE="@FREE @FREE @BINARY-REDISTRIBUTABLE"
ADDR2LINE="llvm-addr2line"
AR="llvm-ar"
AS="clang -c"
CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-musl"
CC="clang"
CFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -march=native -mtune=native"
CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-musl"
CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc"
CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/dconf /etc/env.d /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/gentoo-release /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/sandbox.d"
CPP="clang-cpp"
CXX="clang++"
CXXFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -march=native -mtune=native"
DISTDIR="/var/cache/distfiles"
EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS="--jobs=4 --load-average=8"
ENV_UNSET="CARGO_HOME DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS DISPLAY GDK_PIXBUF_MODULE_FILE GOBIN GOPATH PERL5LIB PERL5OPT PERLPREFIX PERL_CORE PERL_MB_OPT PERL_MM_OPT XAUTHORITY XDG_CACHE_HOME XDG_CONFIG_HOME XDG_DATA_HOME XDG_RUNTIME_DIR XDG_STATE_HOME"
FCFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -march=native -mtune=native"
FEATURES="assume-digests binpkg-docompress binpkg-dostrip binpkg-logs binpkg-multi-instance buildpkg-live compress-index config-protect-if-modified distlocks ebuild-locks fixlafiles ipc-sandbox merge-sync merge-wait network-sandbox news parallel-fetch pid-sandbox pkgdir-index-trusted preserve-libs protect-owned qa-unresolved-soname-deps sandbox strict unknown-features-warn unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans userfetch userpriv usersandbox usersync xattr"
FFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -march=native -mtune=native"
GENTOO_MIRRORS="https://mirror.eu.oneandone.net/linux/distributions/gentoo/gentoo/     http://mirror.eu.oneandone.net/linux/distributions/gentoo/gentoo/     rsync://mirror.eu.oneandone.net/gentoo/     https://de.mirrors.cicku.me/gentoo/     http://de.mirrors.cicku.me/gentoo/     https://mirror.dogado.de/gentoo     http://ftp.agdsn.de/gentoo     https://ftp.agdsn.de/gentoo     rsync://ftp.agdsn.de/gentoo     https://ftp.spline.inf.fu-berlin.de/mirrors/gentoo/     http://ftp.spline.inf.fu-berlin.de/mirrors/gentoo/     rsync://ftp.spline.inf.fu-berlin.de/gentoo-distfiles/     https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/gentoo/     http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/gentoo/     ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/gentoo/     rsync://ftp.gwdg.de/gentoo/     https://gentoo.kurdy.org/     rsync://kurdy.org/gentoo     https://ftp.uni-hannover.de/gentoo/     http://ftp.uni-hannover.de/gentoo/     ftp://ftp.uni-hannover.de/gentoo/     ftp://mirror.netcologne.de/gentoo/     https://mirror.netcologne.de/gentoo/     http://mirror.netcologne.de/gentoo/     rsync://mirror.netcologne.de/gentoo/     https://mirror.netzwerge.de/gentoo/     http://mirror.netzwerge.de/gentoo/     rsync://mirror.netzwerge.de/gentoo     https://oberon.de.ext.planetunix.net/pub/gentoo/     http://oberon.de.ext.planetunix.net/pub/gentoo/     ftp://oberon.de.ext.planetunix.net/pub/gentoo/     rsync://oberon.de.ext.planetunix.net/gentoo/     https://linux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/download/gentoo-mirror/     http://linux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/download/gentoo-mirror/     ftp://linux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/gentoo-mirror/     rsync://linux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/gentoo     https://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/gentoo/     http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/gentoo/     ftp://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/gentoo/     rsync://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/gentoo/     https://ftp.tu-ilmenau.de/mirror/gentoo/     http://ftp.tu-ilmenau.de/mirror/gentoo/     rsync://ftp.tu-ilmenau.de/gentoo/     https://ftp.fau.de/gentoo     http://ftp.fau.de/gentoo     ftp://ftp.fau.de/gentoo     rsync://ftp.fau.de/gentoo     https://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/gentoo/     http://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/gentoo/     ftp://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/gentoo/     rsync://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/gentoo/     https://ftp.uni-stuttgart.de/gentoo-distfiles/     http://ftp.uni-stuttgart.de/gentoo-distfiles/"
INSTALL_MASK="charset.alias /usr/share/locale/locale.alias"
LANG="C.UTF-8"
LD="ld.lld"
LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--as-needed -Wl,-z,pack-relative-relocs -Wl,--as-needed"
LEX="flex"
MAKEOPTS="-j8 -l8"
NM="llvm-nm"
OBJCOPY="llvm-objcopy"
OBJDUMP="llvm-objdump"
PKGDIR="/var/cache/binpkgs"
PORTAGE_COMPRESS="bzip2"
PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT="/"
PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --omit-dir-times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --human-readable --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages --exclude=/.git"
PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"
RANLIB="llvm-ranlib"
READELF="llvm-readelf"
RUSTFLAGS=" -C target-cpu=native -C target-feature=-crt-static -C relocation-model=pic"
SHELL="/bin/bash"
STRINGS="llvm-strings"
STRIP="llvm-strip"
USE="acl amd64 bzip2 cet clang crypt dbus elogind iconv ipv6 libtirpc llvm-libunwind lto ncurses nls openmp pam pcre pic pipewire readline seccomp sound-server ssl test-rust unicode vulkan wayland xattr zlib" ABI_X86="64" ADA_TARGET="gcc_15" APACHE2_MODULES="authn_core authz_core socache_shmcb unixd actions alias auth_basic authn_anon authn_dbm authn_file authz_dbm authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cgi cgid dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" CALLIGRA_FEATURES="karbon sheets words" COLLECTD_PLUGINS="df interface irq load memory rrdtool swap syslog" CPU_FLAGS_X86="mmx mmxext sse sse2 aes avx avx2 bmi1 bmi2 f16c fma3 pclmul popcnt rdrand sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3" ELIBC="musl" GPSD_PROTOCOLS="ashtech aivdm earthmate evermore fv18 garmin garmintxt gpsclock greis isync itrax navcom oncore skytraq superstar2 tsip tripmate tnt" GUILE_SINGLE_TARGET="3-0" GUILE_TARGETS="3-0" INPUT_DEVICES="libinput" KERNEL="linux" L10N="de" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb text" LLVM_TARGETS="X86" LUA_SINGLE_TARGET="lua5-1" LUA_TARGETS="lua5-1" OFFICE_IMPLEMENTATION="libreoffice" PHP_TARGETS="php8-3" POSTGRES_TARGETS="postgres17" PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET="python3_13" PYTHON_TARGETS="python3_13" QEMU_SOFTMMU_TARGETS="x86_64" RUBY_TARGETS="ruby32 ruby33" VIDEO_CARDS="nouveau nvk zink" XTABLES_ADDONS="quota2 psd pknock lscan length2 ipv4options ipp2p iface geoip fuzzy condition tarpit sysrq proto logmark ipmark dhcpmac delude chaos account"
Unset:  ARFLAGS, ASFLAGS, CCLD, CONFIG_SHELL, CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, CXXFILT, ELFEDIT, EXTRA_ECONF, F77FLAGS, FC, GCOV, GPROF, LC_ALL, LFLAGS, LIBTOOL, LINGUAS, MAKE, MAKEFLAGS, PORTAGE_BINHOST, PORTAGE_BUNZIP2_COMMAND, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PYTHONPATH, SIZE, YACC, YFLAGS

=================================================================
                        Package Settings
=================================================================

media-video/pipewire-1.4.10::gentoo was built with the following:
USE="dbus elogind flatpak pulseaudio readline sound-server ssl -X -bluetooth -doc -echo-cancel -extra -ffmpeg -fftw -gsettings -gstreamer -ieee1394 -jack-client -jack-sdk -libcamera -liblc3 -loudness -lv2 -man -modemmanager -pipewire-alsa -roc (-selinux) (-system-service) -systemd -test -v4l -zeroconf"

Iam on a gentoo musl/llvm setup. Does anyone know what is wrong? Thank you for your time and help

[Hu]

Does sound through plain ALSA work? Pipewire depends on ALSA, so if ALSA doesn't work, pipewire cannot work.

What do you mean "not working"? Does the program claim to play sound, but you hear nothing? You made passing reference to "its not recognised", which suggests you may not have adequate kernel support for your device.

[pietinger]

I am confused. Is this a new machine?

(I ask because on 2026-03-07 you wrote "Now my audio works" <- https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-1173165.html ).

[Nima0908]

Yes, alsa works. When running alsa -l it lists me all the devices it should:

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marius@gentoo ~ $ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Ga [CORSAIR VIRTUOSO SE Wireless Ga], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [CU34G4]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

testing it with a sound also reveals it working:

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marius@gentoo ~ $ speaker-test -c 0

speaker-test 1.2.14

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 2048 to 16384
Period size range from 1024 to 1024
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 1024
was set buffer_size = 4096
 0 - Front Left
^CWrite error: -4,Interrupted system call
xrun_recovery failed: -4,Interrupted system call
Transfer failed: Interrupted system call
marius@gentoo ~ $

Sorry for me not providing accurate information. It previously recognised my AD107 audio device (my gpu) and it was selectable and pipewire showed it playing sound, but i couldnt hear anything (allthough i can probaply blame this on my display, but iam not sure). All my devices seem to be recognised by alsa, so its probaply just me having configured pipewire wrong or something else simple, as they dont show up in pipewire. I only have the virtual outputs and inputs from pipewire which do nothing.

I am confused. Is this a new machine?

I wish, but because of the ram crisi i cant get the last part (ram) required to finish it righ now (56 cores would be so sweet with gentoo ). But no. I just got bored because i havent ran into any problems anymore, so i decided its time to try a llvm/musl setup. Now iam running into way to many problems. Iam able to fix most of them but for some iam just too incompetent still (iam doing my best to change it).

[pietinger]

[...] i decided its time to try a llvm/musl setup. Now iam running into way to many problems. Iam able to fix most of them but for some iam just too incompetent still (iam doing my best to change it).

Thanks for your reply. I assume you’re still using your previous kernel configuration, and I’d like to rule out any kernel-related issues. Unfortunately, I can’t help you with Pipewire (I only use pure ALSA myself), but I’m sure others will be able to assist you.

[Nima0908]

Thank you for your answer. Iam not reusing my old kernel config, as back then it was my first time configuring the linux kernel, so a lot of bad stuff snuck into it over time. When configuring the kernel i mostly followed your newest guide (like i did the first time too), as its very well made and the best one out there. The only real difference is that i try to make my kernel as modular as possible, as i believe monolithic kernels are bad. This time when i was configuring it, i was more cautious to not make any silly mistakes like i did last time and enabled usb audio right away (allthough when i checked later to be sure, it was disabled again and i had to enable and rebuild my kernel again, which was weird). Luckely, judging from the ALSA output, this was the only real missconfiguration (i dont think there is any special thing to enable for pipewire).
Thank you for your time and help anyways, i appreciate it

[Nima0908]

I figured out what the issue was. Its some weird niri shenanigans. The gentoo wiki recommends to start pipewire via the gentoo-pipewire-launcher with the wm (for example hyprland exec-once gentoo-pipewire-launcher). With nire doing spawn gentoo-pipewire-launcher, it started it but it didnt have access to alsa. I moved it over to my .profile and now it works fine

[pietinger]

I figured out what the issue was [...] I moved it over to my .profile and now it works fine

Happy to hear that ... und thanks a lot for your report back (It can also help other users).