cannot get sound in suse 10.1

[derhoi]

hi
i successfully installed opensuse 10.1 off the dvd and everything works great except for sound (well the wlan doesn't either but i haven't looked into that!). there is no sound from the speakers and the headphone jack outputs almost inaudible amounts of sound.

I have tried several things i found on the forums, i've run alsaconf countless times, and tried all of the sis cards in the yast hardware manager, i had hoped i could find someone else who had the same problem and had solved it, but i can't, at least not anyone who's solution worked for me.
any help is appriciated, and i am willing to try things twice.

benjamin

[TamiL]

I am running Suse 10 not 10.1 so this may not be useful. I had a problem with my sound at first also. I went into Yast2,Hardware then Sound and clicked on other in the drop down for Sound configuaration and low and behold the system volume was set to a 0 default. Maybe that is the problem>?

[derhoi]

haha i got really excited when i checked that out, cause sure enough everything except "master" was set to zero, but it didn't solve the problem. my volume screen in yast was alittle different than the one you described though, (no doubt due to the different release of suse) but thank you very much anyways, since there is some volume from the headphones i'm inlcined to believe the drivers are working just fine, but there is a setting somewhere that is muted or set wrong.

benjamin

[oldcpu]

Please go to YAST > HARDWARE > SOUND > OTHER > VOLUME and test your sound. Move the slider bars there reasonably far to the right.

[derhoi]

ya sorry i guess i didn't clarify
i did try changing my volumes in yast that way but it didn't change anything
thanks though

[oldcpu]

i did try changing my volumes in yast that way but it didn't change anything

Apologies, I re-read the thread, but could not figure out if you are using Gnome or KDE, or something else. Under KDE, it could be that kmixer is blocking your sound. Go to Yast > Multimedia and locate it, run it, and ensure it doesn't have your sound muted. The "pcm" setting should not be muted, and that stumps some newbies.

I'm not a gnome user, but I think in gnome the software to examine for similar type problem is alsamixer. If running gnome look for that, and ensure it is not blocking your sound.

Also, please check more than one application for sound, and more than one type of audio file type for sound. ie. do not do all your checks on an mp3 file with one application. Try many different audio file types (such as .wav) and also try different applications.

Good luck.

[derhoi]

sorry, i am running kde
i couldn't find multimedia in yast...
but i did open up kmix from the Kmenu and from the konsole and tried unmuting and muting and hitting switches and changing volumes. i've done the same from alsamixer from the konsole too. I have been trying different formats in different programs as well as the "test" options in yast, kcontrol and alsaconf; even the start up sound! it's always the same, where it's extremely quiet through the headphone jack (so i can hear sound, and i know the sounds are being played) with no sound at all from the speakers.
haha it's very confusing and frustating.

[oldcpu]

it's extremely quiet through the headphone jack (so i can hear sound, and i know the sounds are being played) with no sound at all from the speakers.
haha it's very confusing and frustating.

OK, some common sense things, and my apologies if I am suggesting things you have tried.
a. Take notes. You say you have tried all sorts of combinations, ... well when playing with kmixer, try one different setting change at a time, makeing note of what you tried.
b. Please, you multimedia apps did you try? Can you be more specific.
c. Some speakers will give no sound when the headset is plugged in. Please, do not do something silly here.
d. I've also read of users who didn't have the speakers plugged in correctly (and blaimed suse for breaking their speakers),
e. I've also read of users who forgot to turn the speaker's volume on, or forgot to plug the speakers in.

My apologies for the real obvious suggestions above, but it reads to me that you have audio, but something real silly (that is being mistakenly overlooked) is stopping you.

[derhoi]

haha no problem
i appriciate the help
i agree that it is most likely some silly little thing that i missed somewhere, so obvious suggestions are more than welcome.

in kmix and alsamixer i have tried every possible combination (one at a time, some at a time, all of the muted/unmuted etc.) of muting and unmuting and switches and settings (i went to a linux user group meeting in my city and three of their members tried the same thing too). so i won't document exactly what i've tried because i have tried everything there is, if you want me to list them though i can.

the different programs i've tried are amarok (on both the xine and gstreamer engines), cd player, kaffeine and mplayer. I have tried sounds files (.ogg, .mp3, .cda, .wav) and dvd movies (which i get the video for no problem) as well as video files online (.avi, .wmv) I have also tried listening for the startup sound and the "test sounds" in alsa mixer and in kcontrol.

it's a laptop with built in speakers so it's not an issue of connecting speakers. i tried with and without headphones plugged in. i have tried using the volume keys (which are on f7 and f8 and used with the FN key, though i think those are for the volume in windows and not the physical speaker volume )as well as the mute key.

[naked dave]

just a quick swipe in the dark

try disabling KDE sound system from the KDE Control Panel

(Settings > Sound & Mulitmedia > Sound System)

Its a long shot as I said but I'm told sometimes it can intefere with other things?