Hi list, I decided to also ask for help at pulseaudio-discuss. My message to the other list is here: https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/pulseaudio-discuss/2020-March/031632.html Cheers, E. On Sun, 1 Mar 2020 at 13:33, Kaj Persson <xtra-kaj@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > On 2020-03-01 at 06:46, Eduardo Ochs wrote: > > Hi list, > > > > I have two Debian 10 partitions on my laptop - a venerable ThinkPad > > T400 with libreboot - and in one of these partitions (in /dev/sda5, > > a.k.a. the "bad partition") sound doesn't work, and in the other one > > (/dev/sda4, a.k.a. the "good partition" from here on) it does... > > > > The "bad partition" had Debian 9, and after I upgraded it to 10 with > > "apt-get dist-upgrade" sound stopped working on it (details soon). I > > then installed Debian 10 from a installation pen drive on an empty > > partition to be able to test things on both; sound works on it > > perfectly, so let's call it the "good partition". > > > > I've tried several sound debugging recipes that I found on the > > internets and they didn't work, so I've decided to use this as an > > excuse to learn more about sound on Linux. > > > > "Sound doesn't work" here means that all applications that play > > sound - including speaker-test, that seems to be very low-level - > > behave normally, but I can't hear anything - even when I use alsamixer > > to set "Master", "Headphon", "Speaker", "PCM", "Beep" and "Internal" > > all to the maximum level. > > > > I tried to follow the instructions here, > > > > https://wiki.debian.org/Sound > > > > and I sort of converted them - except for the step with pavucontrol; > > more on it at the end of the e-mail - into a script... this one: > > > > > > logthis () { echo $*:; eval $* 2>&1; echo; echo; } > > { > > # Debian version > > logthis cat /etc/issue > > logthis cat /etc/debian_version > > logthis cat /etc/os-release > > logthis lsb_release -da > > logthis hostnamectl > > > > # List devices and PCMs > > logthis aplay -l > > logthis aplay -L > > > > # Drivers and modules > > logthis "lspci -vvv | grep -A8 Audio" > > logthis "lspci -knn | grep -A2 Audio" > > > > # Permissions > > logthis groups > > logthis ls -lAF /proc/asound/ > > > > # This partition > > logthis "mount | grep 'on / '" > > > > # ALSA state > > logthis "rm -f /tmp/o; /usr/sbin/alsactl -f /tmp/o store; cat /tmp/o" > > > > } | tee ~/oalsa > > > > > > I ran it in both partitions and compared the outputs with tkdiff. > > Here are the relevant differences: > > > > 1) In the bad partition the output of "aplay -l" is: > > > > **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices **** > > card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: CX20561 Analog [CX20561 Analog] > > Subdevices: 0/1 > > Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 > > card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: CX20561 Digital [CX20561 Digital] > > Subdevices: 1/1 > > Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 > > > > and in the good partition it is: > > > > **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices **** > > card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: CX20561 Analog [CX20561 Analog] > > Subdevices: 1/1 > > Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 > > card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: CX20561 Digital [CX20561 Digital] > > Subdevices: 1/1 > > Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 > > > > Note the "Subdevices: 0/1" in the bad partition. > > > > 2) In the output of "/usr/sbin/alsactl -f /tmp/o store" some of > > fields "value.0", "value.1", "dbvalue.0", "dbvalue.1", are > > different between the two partitions, but they are all in the > > allowed ranges and they look reasonable to me (i.e., to my > > untrained eye). > > > > 3) In the output of "/usr/sbin/alsactl -f /tmp/o store" the > > subsections of "state.Intel { ... }" appear in a different order. > > In the good partition the subsections 10-25 are numbered like > > this, > > > > control.10 : name 'Beep Playback Volume' > > control.11 : name 'Beep Playback Switch' > > control.12 : name 'IEC958 Playback Con Mask' > > control.13 : name 'IEC958 Playback Pro Mask' > > control.14 : name 'IEC958 Playback Default' > > control.15 : name 'IEC958 Playback Switch' > > control.16 : name 'IEC958 Default PCM Playback Switch' > > control.17 : name 'Master Playback Volume' > > control.18 : name 'Master Playback Switch' > > control.19 : name 'Mic Jack' > > control.20 : name 'Internal Mic Phantom Jack' > > control.21 : name 'Dock Mic Jack' > > control.22 : name 'Speaker Phantom Jack' > > control.23 : name 'Dock Headphone Jack' > > control.24 : name 'Headphone Jack' > > control.25 : name 'SPDIF Phantom Jack' > > > > and in the bad partition like this: > > > > control.10 : name 'IEC958 Playback Con Mask' > > control.11 : name 'IEC958 Playback Pro Mask' > > control.12 : name 'IEC958 Playback Default' > > control.13 : name 'IEC958 Playback Switch' > > control.14 : name 'IEC958 Default PCM Playback Switch' > > control.15 : name 'Master Playback Volume' > > control.16 : name 'Master Playback Switch' > > control.17 : name 'Mic Jack' > > control.18 : name 'Internal Mic Phantom Jack' > > control.19 : name 'Dock Mic Jack' > > control.20 : name 'Speaker Phantom Jack' > > control.21 : name 'Dock Headphone Jack' > > control.22 : name 'Headphone Jack' > > control.23 : name 'SPDIF Phantom Jack' > > control.24 : name 'Beep Playback Volume' > > control.25 : name 'Beep Playback Switch' > > > > About pavucontrol: in the bad partition the only output device that > > appears in the "Output Devices" tab is called "Dummy Output". This > > looks like a red flag, but I got the impression - please confirm - > > that PulseAudio runs on a level above ALSA, and problems with > > PulseAudio should not affect the behavior of speaker-test. > > > > So: any hints? What should I add to my script to compare the behavior > > of ALSA in the two partitions? Am I wrong in thinking that > > speaker-test ignores PulseAudio? How do I examine the status of > > PulseAudio without using the GUI? Are there ways to mute and unmute > > the sound using the functions in /usr/share/alsa/utils.sh? What > > else?... > > > > Thanks in advance! > > Eduardo Ochs > > http://angg.twu.net/ > > http://angg.twu.net/emacsconf2019.html > > (^ on "executable notes") > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Alsa-user mailing list > > Alsa-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user > So I am not alone in this! I have the same experience with no sound > after upgrade. I have not tried to log anything like you, Eduardo. > Instead I tried to find if there was some lacking routines, and > installed quite many, most of them probably not necessary, but I took > chances. Finally I gave up and skipped the system and made a clean > install on the same partitions. And now I got sound so I was satisfied. > > But! With the upgrade version, from time to time a kind of icon with a > loudspeaker in a square popped up on the screen, so I assumed it tried > to notify me on something lacking or maybe the wrong version. It popped > up suddenly, even if I did not demand a sound, rested there for a second > or two, then disappeared. And this happened with an increasing > frequency. When it was there the keyboard was locked, and I could do > nothing. The sole solution I could find on this was a cold restart, > after which I most often could finish what I wanted until closing the > session and shutdown. I tried to take a screenshot but I never > succeeded. Below the loudspeaker image, inside the square, there was a > "thermometer" scale with an increasing value for each appearance. I was > a wee afraid for what should happen when it reached one hundred percent, > but before that I made the clean install. > > After this the loudspeaker icon has not appeared - until a couple of > days ago, when it popped up again. I immediately made a cold restart, > and so far it has not come back. As a Linux user we are used to not > having to worry about viruses, even if this is no law of nature, but the > thought is yet there. Could this be one. > > Kaj > > _______________________________________________ Alsa-user mailing list Alsa-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user
