New system - no sound! No media playback. [SOLVED]

[dufeu]

I built a new system to replace an aging (8 years old), ailing system.

I love the new hardware and everything mostly works better than expected but I get no sound. It's been better than 10 years since I've had sound issues and my skillset in this area is dated and very rusty.

I've followed the ALSA giude but haven't gotten past the 'speakertest'.

The correct drivers appear to be installed and I'm part of the 'audio' group. (I get the same results uner 'root')

I have a 4.0 speaker setup with patch cords to the green and black (front and rear) audio outlets in the back. I also have a dual monitor setup using the DVI and HDMI connectors. I'd prefer to use my external speakers but I'd be happy to get any sound at all including from the built-in speakers in my Samsung SyncMaster 2333HD TV/monitor. I've confirmed that the monitor speakers are 'on'. My external speakers are also on.

The 'speakertest':

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speaker-test -t wav -c 2

speaker-test 1.0.29                                                                                                                                        

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
WAV file(s)
ALSA lib /var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory

The 'aplay' pcm listing:

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aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0
    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
default:CARD=Generic
    HD-Audio Generic, ALC892 Analog
    Default Audio Device
sysdefault:CARD=Generic
    HD-Audio Generic, ALC892 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=Generic,DEV=0
    HD-Audio Generic, ALC892 Analog
    Front speakers
surround21:CARD=Generic,DEV=0
    HD-Audio Generic, ALC892 Analog
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=Generic,DEV=0
    HD-Audio Generic, ALC892 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=Generic,DEV=0
    HD-Audio Generic, ALC892 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=Generic,DEV=0
    HD-Audio Generic, ALC892 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=Generic,DEV=0
    HD-Audio Generic, ALC892 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=Generic,DEV=0
    HD-Audio Generic, ALC892 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=Generic,DEV=0
    HD-Audio Generic, ALC892 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output

The 'lspci -k' listing:

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00:01.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kaveri HDMI/DP Audio Controller
        Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kaveri HDMI/DP Audio Controller
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
..
00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd FCH Azalia Controller
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel

The 'mpv' error report (this appears to be the same error as the 'speakertest':

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Playing: Chu Feng BEE -  Ep 01 sub [MovingLines][Anon] V3.mkv
 (+) Video --vid=1 (*) (h264)
 (+) Audio --aid=1 (*) (mp3)
 (+) Subs  --sid=1 --slang=eng (*) (f) 'Over' (ass)
     Subs  --sid=2 --slang=eng 'Under' (ass)
     Subs  --sid=3 --slang=eng 'Top' (ass)
[vo/xv] No Xvideo support found.
[vo/opengl] Suspected software renderer or indirect context.
[vo/vdpau] Error when calling vdp_device_create_x11: 23
[vo/xv] No Xvideo support found.
libva info: VA-API version 0.38.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns -1
libva error: va_getDriverName() failed with unknown libva error,driver_name=(null)
[vaapi] vaInitialize(): unknown libva error
Error opening/initializing the selected video_out (-vo) device.
Video: no video
ALSA lib /var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
[ao/alsa] Playback open error: No such file or directory
Could not open/initialize audio device -> no sound.
Audio: no audio
: 00:00:00 / 00:15:57 (0%) Cache:  0s+64MB


Exiting... (Errors when loading file)

I'm sure there must be something simple I missed but it's been so long since I've had problems with sound that I currently haven't a clue!

Edit to include some additional info:
I have 'alsasound' configured to start (using openrc) at boot. However, no 'alsasound' daemon seems to be present:

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ps -ef | grep alsasound
root     14608 13284  0 08:38 pts/21   00:00:00 grep --colour=auto alsasound

When I restart 'alsasound':

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/etc/init.d/alsasound restart
 * WARNING: you are stopping a boot service
 * Storing ALSA Mixer Levels ...                                                                                                                     [ ok ]
 * Restoring Mixer Levels ...

the messages appear normal.

The only message wich appears in /var/log/messages is:

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Sep  4 08:38:16 pyrogyro /etc/init.d/alsasound[14542]: WARNING: you are stopping a boot service

I don't know if this means anything.

Edit to include some additional info 2:
The contents of /dev/snd are:

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# ls -l /dev/snd
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root       80 Sep  3 17:25 by-path
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  2 Sep  3 16:14 controlC0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  4 Sep  3 17:25 controlC1
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  3 Sep  4 08:25 pcmC0D3p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  6 Sep  4 08:25 pcmC1D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  5 Sep  4 08:25 pcmC1D0p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  7 Sep  4 08:25 pcmC1D1p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  8 Sep  3 17:25 pcmC1D2c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  1 Sep  3 16:14 seq
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 33 Sep  3 17:25 timer

In looking through /var/log/messages, I came across the following (though I don't know how relevant these messages are):

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Sep  2 15:59:24 pyrogyro pulseaudio[5612]: [pulseaudio] module-console-kit.c: GetSessionsForUnixUser() call failed: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ExecFailed: Failed to execute program org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit: Success
Sep  2 15:59:24 pyrogyro pulseaudio[5612]: [pulseaudio] module.c: Failed to load module "module-console-kit" (argument: ""): initialization failed.
Sep  2 15:59:24 pyrogyro pulseaudio[5612]: [pulseaudio] main.c: Module load failed.
Sep  2 15:59:24 pyrogyro pulseaudio[5612]: [pulseaudio] main.c: Failed to initialize daemon.
Sep  2 15:59:25 pyrogyro pulseaudio[5607]: [pulseaudio] main.c: Daemon startup failed.
Sep  2 15:59:25 pyrogyro dbus[3630]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit' (using servicehelper)
Sep  2 15:59:25 pyrogyro dbus[3630]: [system] Activated service 'org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit' failed: Failed to execute program org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit: Success

There are a number of sets of these messages scattered throughout the log. I don't know what triggers the service request, but it isn't from any commands I execute. It is my understanding that pulseaudio is {among other things} a wrapper for alsasound.

I'm open to any and all suggestions for whatever further information I can provide.

Edit to include some additional info 3:

This isn't additional info as much as it is clarification of the video out errors also reported by mpv {above}. I've had a chance to look into this and have resolved my 'vo' problem. Basically, support for the video out "xv" is deprecated and was finally removed from 'mpv'. You can read more about that in mpv no longer playing video only audio #2270

With 'kaveri', there currently isn't support for vaapi and many other of the usually available 'vo' and/or I haven't included them in my systems {like 'sdl' or 'wayland'}. I updated my mpv.conf file with:

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vo=opengl:sw

So now all my video playback works using OpenGL. Kaveri is powerful enough to handle all the 1080p HD movies I've thrown at it so far. Haven't tested HEVC yet but I don't expect any problems with that either.

Still no sound yet ..

[SOLVED]

The key here was that the default analog and HDMI cards are now controlled by 'snd-hda-intel'. The installation default for 'alsa' assumes that your default is always card 0 device 0. Put another way, your default sound is assumed to be:

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/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p

If you recall from above, my listing of /dev/snd was:

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$ ls -l /dev/snd
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root       80 Sep  4 21:40 by-path
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  2 Sep  4 21:40 controlC0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  5 Sep  4 21:40 controlC1
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  4 Sep  4 21:40 hwC0D0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 10 Sep  4 21:40 hwC1D0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  3 Sep  4 21:22 pcmC0D3p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  7 Sep  4 21:22 pcmC1D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  6 Sep  4 21:22 pcmC1D0p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  8 Sep  4 21:22 pcmC1D1p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  9 Sep  4 21:40 pcmC1D2c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  1 Sep  4 21:40 seq
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 33 Sep  4 21:40 timer

This, combined with my previous listing for 'aplay -l' tells me that my analog default should actually be /dev/snd/pcmC1D0p.

This can be apparently solved in two different ways. You can either set driver options when they are loaded into the kernel or you can update ~/.asoundrc and tell alsa where the desired default is located.

A good starting point for the driver options route is No sound with ALC269VB on .. Updating the driver options requires use of 'update-modules' which I don't seem to have installed.

Instead of worrying about adding the package which contains 'update-modules', I chose to create ~/.asoundrc instead with:

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defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.pcm.device 0

There's more to be done here including setting up for upmixing and downmixing and getting my rear speakers working, but at least I have the front speakers working properly.

[BonezTheGoon]

. . .

. . . I chose to create ~/.asoundrc instead with:

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defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.pcm.device 0

. . .

Thanks! That just fixed my issue!!! Cheers!