[SOLVED] Alsa sound not working after update

[Dapper Dan]

After updating all packages, I suddenly have no sound whereas it was working before. In Xmms, you can see that sound is playing, yet nothing comes out of the speakers. I have other distros on this same box and there are no alsa sound problems under any of them so that rules out a hardware issue. It's as though something is muted. The problem is, I cannot run alsamixer because I keep getting this error:

alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such device

I've tried just about everything I've found on the Internet on this error and nothing yet solves my problem. Other useful info:

bash-3.2$ /sbin/lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
vboxdrv                53408  0 
snd_hda_intel         327444  0 
snd_pcm                63368  1 snd_hda_intel
nvidiafb               40960  0 
fb                     43016  1 nvidiafb
backlight               3972  1 nvidiafb
cfbcopyarea             3584  1 nvidiafb
vgastate                8832  1 nvidiafb
cfbimgblt               2688  1 nvidiafb
snd_timer              17924  1 snd_pcm
snd                    43172  3 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               5600  1 snd
cfbfillrect             3712  1 nvidiafb
snd_page_alloc          7688  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
nvidia               7089188  24 
intel_agp              23100  0 
e1000                 113344  0 
agpgart                26544  2 nvidia,intel_agp

bash-3.2# uname -a
Linux roughdogs 2.6.25.3 #2 Sun Jun 1 23:21:52 UTC 2008 i686 Intel(R) Celeron(R)
 CPU 3.06GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

bash-3.2#  lspci | grep Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
 (rev 02)

Any thoughts or ideas appreciated.

[Manchunian]

Hi Dan,

Can you run alsamixer as root?

[Dapper Dan]

Hi Manchunian, thanks for responding.

No, alsamixer will not run as root. I Googled that error and almost literally tried every "fix" suggested with no positive results. The proposed solutions were almost all completely different! When you're down to translating pages from the results of your search you gotta know almost all is lost! lol.

[Manchunian]

Strange...this is the exact error I got with Archlinux when my normal user wasn't part of the audio group.

[Dapper Dan]

Strange...this is the exact error I got with Archlinux when my normal user wasn't part of the audio group.

Hmmm... My regular user is in audio group. I wonder if root needs to be?? As it is now, root isn't.

EDIT: I tried that. No change...

[Manchunian]

Have you tried modprobing your sound card?

[Dapper Dan]

Have you tried modprobing your sound card?

I've done it manually and have /etc/modprobe.conf set up to load the Intel modules at startup. The intel alsa modules are loaded as you can see from lsmod above. The exact same modules are loaded when I boot into CRUX 2.3 on this box. The difference being, in 2.3 alsamixer and sound work fine.

[Manchunian]

Oh well, I'm out of ideas. Hopefully somebody else has a suggestion.

[Jonathan183]

Dan ... will amixer work or does it report similar errors? Can you aplay sound?

[Dapper Dan]

Hi Jonathan183. amixer won't even start:

amixer: Mixer attach default error: No such device

Here's more that may help:

strace -eopen alsamixer
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY)      = 3
open("/lib/libncurses.so.5", O_RDONLY)  = 3
open("/usr/lib/libasound.so.2", O_RDONLY) = 3
open("/lib/libm.so.6", O_RDONLY)        = 3
open("/lib/libdl.so.2", O_RDONLY)       = 3
open("/lib/libpthread.so.0", O_RDONLY)  = 3
open("/lib/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY)        = 3
open("/lib/librt.so.1", O_RDONLY)       = 3
open("/usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf", O_RDONLY) = 3
open("/etc/asound.conf", O_RDONLY)      = 3
open("/dev/snd/controlC0", O_RDONLY)    = 3
open("/dev/snd/controlC0", O_RDWR)      = 3
open("/dev/snd/controlC1", O_RDONLY)    = 3
open("/dev/snd/controlC1", O_RDWR)      = 3
open("/dev/snd/controlC2", O_RDONLY)    = -1 ENODEV (No such device)
open("/dev/aloadC2", O_RDONLY)          = -1 ENODEV (No such device)
open("/dev/snd/controlC3", O_RDONLY)    = -1 ENODEV (No such device)
open("/dev/aloadC3", O_RDONLY)          = -1 ENODEV (No such device)
open("/dev/snd/controlC4", O_RDONLY)    = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC4", O_RDONLY)          = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC5", O_RDONLY)    = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC5", O_RDONLY)          = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC6", O_RDONLY)    = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC6", O_RDONLY)          = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC7", O_RDONLY)    = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC7", O_RDONLY)          = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC8", O_RDONLY)    = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC8", O_RDONLY)          = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC9", O_RDONLY)    = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC9", O_RDONLY)          = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC10", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC10", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC11", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC11", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC12", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC12", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC13", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC13", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC14", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC14", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC15", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC15", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC16", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC16", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC17", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC17", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC18", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC18", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC19", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC19", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC20", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC20", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC21", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC21", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC22", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC22", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC23", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC23", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC24", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC24", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC25", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC25", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC26", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC26", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC27", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC27", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC28", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC28", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC29", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC29", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC30", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC30", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/snd/controlC31", O_RDONLY)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/dev/aloadC31", O_RDONLY)         = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)

alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such device

This must be some sort of new bug with the Intel component of Alsa because my Logitech headset works perfectly in both record and playback in Audacity. I had no problems with my Intel hardware until I updated my system. I could be looking in the wrong place however. It could possibly be a udev issue from some of what I've read. And I've read just about every one of these that are in English! Lol...