Debugging sound on ubuntu
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Sound was working fine on my Ubuntu Dapper desktop until the update-manager suggested I update the kernel to linux-image-2.6.15-29-amd64-generic 2.6.15-29.60. Now I get this error when trying to start an application that tries to play sounds:
There was an error initializing the audio i/o layer. You will not be able to play or record audio. Error: Host error.
I found a very promising web page here to help me figure it out: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DebuggingSoundProblems
Gathering info from there, I found this:
root@weasel:~# aplay --list-devices
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 0: Intel ICH [NVidia CK804]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: CK804 [NVidia CK804], device 2: Intel ICH - IEC958 [NVidia CK804 - IEC958]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
root@weasel:~# lspci -v
<snip>
0000:00:04.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev a2)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 7585
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 225
I/O ports at f000 [size=256]
I/O ports at ec00 [size=256]
Memory at fe02d000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
<snip>
root@weasel:~# tail -2 /proc/asound/oss/sndstat
Mixers:
0: Realtek ALC850 rev 0
root@weasel:~# amixer
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 8 [26%] [on]
Front Right: Playback 8 [26%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Master Mono',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [off]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 29 [94%] [on]
Front Right: Playback 29 [94%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Surround',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [off]
Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Surround Jack Mode',0
Capabilities: enum
Items: 'Shared' 'Independent'
Item0: 'Shared'
Simple mixer control 'Center',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 22 [71%] [off]
Simple mixer control 'LFE',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'CD',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 25 [81%] [on] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 25 [81%] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 12 [39%] [on]
Front Left: Capture [on]
Front Right: Capture [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Front Input',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Select',0
Capabilities: enum
Items: 'Mic1' 'Mic2'
Item0: 'Mic1'
Simple mixer control 'Video',0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Phone',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [off]
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined enum
Items: 'PCM' 'Analog In' 'IEC958 In'
Item0: 'PCM'
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Playback AC97-SPSA',0
Capabilities: volume volume-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Mono
Limits: 0 - 3
Mono: 2 [67%]
Simple mixer control 'PC Speaker',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 15
Mono: Playback 9 [60%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Aux',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mono Output Select',0
Capabilities: enum
Items: 'Mix' 'Mic'
Item0: 'Mix'
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 15
Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [off]
Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mix',0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mix Mono',0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Channel Mode',0
Capabilities: enum
Items: '2ch' '4ch' '6ch'
Item0: '2ch'
Simple mixer control 'Duplicate Front',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'External Amplifier',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
root@weasel:~# asoundconf list
Names of available sound cards:
CK804
root@weasel:~# cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [CK804 ]: NFORCE - NVidia CK804
NVidia CK804 with ALC850 at 0xfe02d000, irq 225
root@weasel:~# cat /proc/interrupts
CPU0 CPU1
0: 7854348 166799 XT-PIC timer
1: 38 0 IO-APIC-edge i8042
7: 166811 7854164 IO-APIC-edge parport0
8: 0 0 IO-APIC-edge rtc
9: 0 0 IO-APIC-level acpi
14: 287405 0 IO-APIC-edge ide0
50: 3933 0 IO-APIC-level ehci_hcd:usb2
58: 2061813 0 IO-APIC-level eth1
66: 2449317 0 IO-APIC-level nvidia
217: 8743036 0 IO-APIC-level libata, eth0
225: 1504797 0 IO-APIC-level libata, NVidia CK804
233: 181 0 IO-APIC-level ohci_hcd:usb1
NMI: 1 0
LOC: 8021326 8021315
ERR: 0
MIS: 0
Furthermore, I can see a few other things that might be relevant:
root@weasel:~# lsmod Module Size Used by <snip> lp 14464 0 snd_intel8x0 37928 3 snd_ac97_codec 109820 1 snd_intel8x0 snd_ac97_bus 3456 1 snd_ac97_codec snd_pcm_oss 58784 0 snd_mixer_oss 19968 1 snd_pcm_oss snd_pcm 104008 4 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss snd_timer 28424 2 snd_pcm parport_pc 40176 1 parport 43532 3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc nvidia 5433176 12 snd 68000 10 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer usblp 15488 0 soundcore 12640 1 snd floppy 73544 0 snd_page_alloc 13328 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm pcspkr 3016 0 <snip>
And it should probably be noted that this results in no audible sound:
root@weasel:~# speaker-test speaker-test 0.0.8 Playback device is plughw:0,0 Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels Using 16 octaves of pink noise