Almost perfect update to 9.10 except the sound

[HaNgoc]

Hello Dcat.

I tried what you suggested about the changing the acpl, but I cannot find the screen.

If I press shift at boot I get a screen titled:

GNU GRUB version: 1.97 beta4

Ubuntu, Linux 2.3.31-14 generic
Ubuntu, Linux 2.3.31-14 generic (recovery mode)
Memory test (memtest86+)
Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)

Its here I am getting confused what to change next.

Also under the sound menu, everything is in Autodetec mode, should I change it to Alsa or Pulse? I am not really sure the difference between the 2. As I mentioned the sound works good except in the games and even though I have 5.1 Sound listed I am only getting sound in 2 speakers.

Thanks for any advice

[D-cat]

Yep, that's the menu. You highlight the first entry, then follow the instructions in post 6 to temporarily add acpi=off (that's ACPI, Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) to the end of the line that starts with linux /boot/kernel-version (what used to be the "kernel" line in legacy GRUB). This will disable power control features from the kernel level (like turning the monitor off).

As far as ALSA vs Pulse, they work together. ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) is the interface that manages the sound card driver(s). Traditionally, you could access the ALSA interface directly if the application supported it. It also creates an emulated OSS (Open Sound System; single card and featureless predecessor to ALSA) interface for compatibility with older programs. ALSA supports multiple cards, plugins, and a simple stream mixer (very limited and not high quality). It also has a plethora of audio and sound card tools.

PulseAudio is what's called a sound server. PulseAudio is primarily associated with the Gnome Desktop (though it is not limited to it) and is meant as a drop in replacement for the previous Gnome sound server, Esound. KDE has a different sound server called aRts. The role of the sound server is to manage or mix sound from various supporting applications in a graphical environment so as to not tie up the sound card driver with one application, which can happen on older single stream cards (alsa will queue sounds, so when the application tying up a card is finally closed, you may get a chain of sounds following... kind of weird sometimes since the event that triggered them had long past). It generally does not happen either with cards that have multiple channel streams like the Creative SB Live series or when the sound server is working correctly. Another key feature of a sound server is the server part... since like with X you can run programs on a terminal across a network, a sound server lets you do the same with the audio.

One of the things I disliked about Pulse was that it adds an ALSA plugin that redirects a sound stream that's configured to go directly through ALSA and forces it through Pulse instead. As long as PulseAudio is working right, the theory behind this is sound; it keeps the audio resources available to all programs. When something falls silent though, it becomes a goose hunt to find out why, and in previous versions because of that plugin, sometimes the only fix was to get rid of PulseAudio so sending audio directly through ALSA worked again.

Many of those problems have since been fixed, so as long as you have sound in most programs, it may just be that you have to try and find why a particular given program is running silent. It may be a setting in the audio setup (To try in order: PulseAudio (if available), ALSA, and OSS). Failing that, leaving the output at OSS, you can try the aoss wrapper to launch the app (will slow it down, but might actually work). First step is usually to google your application followed by "no sound". You're probably not the only person to have the problem and the experience of others can benefit you. Google is usually my consult when I come across a specific issue that I don't have personal experience with. Google is your friend (usually).

I hope I have explained your questions to a satisfactory level. I know I can get a little long winded in these posts. Good luck.

[htismaqe]

Google is usually my consult when I come across a specific issue that I don't have personal experience with. Google is your friend (usually).

QFT.

I use Google for pretty much everything. Ultimately, that's how I settled on Ubuntu - the user community is so large that you can almost always find someone who's had your problem via Google.

[htismaqe]

As far as the OP, I can't comment on 9.10 because Xubuntu doesn't include PulseAudio.

In the 9.04 versions I used that did include it, I had horrible CPU usage problems (happened in Fedora too) and removing PulseAudio was the fix.

[HaNgoc]

Hello D cat, your not long winded..its nice to hear why certain things are they way they are. Once thing I have noticed as a noobie that people are quite helpful but I would like to learn why certain things happen when I am making changes.

I found that plug in you mentioned and I turned the slider down and it removed most of the hiss. Maybe some others having trouble with the sound in 9.10 sound check this out. Thought to be honest I can't find that menu again

I will take a shot at the steps for the black screen soon and let you know. Thank you again.

[HaNgoc]

D cat,

Thanks again but I must admit I am having trouble. I tired what you suggested but i am still gettting the black out screen. I am sure I am not doing the process right as i am getting confused at the kernal selection screen : GHU GRUB

Could you give me a real simple walk through please? I would like to get it settled up.


Thanks again

[D-cat]

I'm still learning this. This morning I installed Karmic in a VM so I could see what I was confusing, and I see I made an error.

When you first boot holding [SHIFT], you get this menu

With the default highlighted, press e to get the following editor screen:

Move down to the link kernel line and edit the end as follows (do not change the UUID= on yours, it will be different from mine):


When you're done with the edit, you press [Ctrl + x] to boot the changes, right from here.

Now we see if it works. If it doesn't, then I'll investigate further, and no changes here were permanent.

[HaNgoc]

Hey Dcat, thanks for the detailed instructions. I tired what you suggested but no success. Maybe I am not saving the the acpl=off correctly?

Will take another shot at it once I get home and let you know what happens.

Cheers

[D-cat]

The only other thing I can suggest is to double-check the screensave settings. Make sure "Activate Screensaver" is unchecked, then click on Power Management" and make sure both "Put computer to sleep" and "Put display to sleep" are set to never.

If all this is set as described, I'm at a total loss at the moment. It works correctly in my VM, so it's difficult to correct an issue I can't reproduce.

[HaNgoc]

Sorry D cat, I have tried a few ways but no luck. The computer still goes into "hibernated' mode of some sorts. Is there a way to disable this through the terminal? or maybe my computer thinks its a laptop? its weird,

I hope this bugs gets fixed soon,

thanks for your help