[SOLVED] Discouraging sound issue (9.04)

[MuccaPazza]

Hello all,

I posted a couple days ago on ubuntuforums, but not even one response unfortunately. I am trying my luck here, perhaps someone can help me this time?

Need I say it... I am not in the trade, just want to enjoy ubuntu, with sound

The original thread is here, but I will paste the text to make it easy.
Thanks for you help.
MP

...ubuntuforums[/url] DOT org/showthread.php?t=1277971

I know from reading many other threads that this is a very common topic... please forgive me for bringing this up, again, but I could not find the answer anywhere.
Yes, me too, am brand new to Ubuntu (9.04). Maybe someone with similar hardware as me will face the same problems, hopefully there is a cure.
Toshiba Tecra A10

I have no sound, zero, nothing, not a bip. I read many threads, tried several solutions, none worked so far.
First, I should mention that I previously had XP installed on this laptop, so I know my hardware functions.
Second, I am completely new to Linux, Ubuntu, and just tried it for kicks (programmer buddy..). So far I love it, other than this issue.
Then, I tried several fixes, on several threads, nothing worked so far. Part of the reason is because I'm a complete newbie, and a lot of the abbreviations and terminology used threw me off. Now I at least know (a little bit) how to use the Terminal... don't laugh and remember your first hours!
Last, after those unsuccessful fixes, I re-installed Ubuntu, so this is now a fresh copy.


Anyway, here's what I have tried so far:
1-
...ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...=no+sound+9.04[/url]
this led me to:

2-
...help.ubuntu.com/community/So...gSoundProblems[/url]
this is where I am stuck.

Following this guide, I was able to confirm that:
1) Nothing is muted, all the levels are above zero.
2) The system is recognizing my card.
3) I do have the sound modules installed.
4) The sound card is installed and physically recognized by my hardware.
5) This is where I got stuck: "Is my sound card supported?"

I clicked the ALSA link, searched for my card, and couldn't find it under Intel or anywhere.

Here's what Terminal spit out:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC268 Analog [ALC268 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0


00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller
(rev 03)
Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device 0001
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
Memory at ce000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel



So this is where I'm at. I've spent a couple days trying to fix this issue and the biggest part is probably due to my ignorance of Ubuntu.
Help would be much appreciated. Let me know if you need more info.

Thank YOU!
MuccaPazza

[reed9]

Howdy. Sound problems can be a bit complicated to figure out.

There are a number of bug reports file against this problem.

In the linked report above, some folks seem to have gotten it working trying various options in the file /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

An example would be to add

options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
options snd-hda-intel model=auto

to the file. (Suggested here.)

The Ubuntu HdaIntelSound page has some good info for
troubleshooting as well.

Look at (and post) the output of

cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#* | grep Codec

You can look up the codec in this list, which will give you model options available to try. Again, by adding a line to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

For example, my sound card is a Sigmatel STAC9205, so I might add

options snd-hda-intel model=ref

You can keep trying different model options and see if any help. Mind you, you will have to restart the computer (well, really just the alsa and pulseaudio daemons, but we'll leave it at restarting the computer for ease) each time you change the options.

There is a script here for information gathering, that you can try as well. Copy the contents into a text file called, say, alsa.sh. Then do

sudo chmod +x alsa.sh
./alsa.sh

to run.

You can also compile the latest ALSA release and see if that fixes things. There was mention in one of those bug reports that the problem is resolved in the upcoming Ubuntu 9.10, so an upgraded driver might help.
Upgrade Alsa (1.0.21) on Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 | To a free world

Or you can install the latest development release of Ubuntu 9.10, though that may well have other stability issues, being alpha software and all.

[MuccaPazza]

Dear reed9,

Thank you very much for your help. Based on the number of posts all over the place, I am certain this will be useful to more than just me.
The issue is fixed; I used one of the last advice you wrote:

"Upgrade Alsa (1.0.21) on Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 | To a free world"
I carefully followed the tutorial and it worked (pretty daunting for me though; told you I was a beginner..).


When starting reading your instructions, and trying to efit "/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf "
, I had an error "could not save the file (...)" "you do not have the permissions necessary to save the file. Please check that you have typed the location correctly and try again".
I am the "administrator" on this PC, but could not get past that. Maybe it is very basic but I could not figure it out.


Again, many thanks!