External USB-Soundcard: No Sound!

[Dysport]

Hi everyone!
I'd be really really happy if someone could help me with my problem.
I'm not getting any sound through the external soundcard (internal speaker works fine).
Here are various ouputs from the terminal:

$ lsusb
…
Bus 004 Device 007: ID 0d8c:0102 C-Media Electronics, Inc. CM106 Like Sound Device
…

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC260 Analog [ALC260 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: default [USB Sound Device ], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

$ cat /proc/asound/modules
0 snd_hda_intel
1 snd_usb_audio


The Pulse Audio Applet shows an output when I play music in rhythmbox, but I don't hear a thing (see attached screenshot).

I'm using the computer as a media center in the living room, that's why the sound is really important for me to work!

[d_liebscher]

Hi,

did you selected the external sound card as standard output device?
I also use an external usb sound device and I had the same problem some time ago.
First I looked for my card name:

asoundconf listthen I selected the external card and after restarting the player everything worked fine:

asoundconf set-default-card nameAlternatively you can use asoundconf-gtk package.

Daniel

[Dysport]

As you may see on the screenshot of asoundconf-gtk in my first post, I did set it as standard output and the computer seems to recognize the hardware. That's why I don't know where the problem is (might it be the chipset/vendor of my soundcard? 0d8c:0102)

But thanks for your help anyway!

[d_liebscher]

Sorry,
i was a bit cursorily.

If the card is listed here: http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main and there is no Note like [Unsupported],
it should be possible to get some sound out of it and the problem is not the chipset/vendor otherwise you'll hardly be able to get it working.

Daniel

[Dysport]

Thanks a lot for the link. Okay, according to this page (http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Vendor-C-Media) the chipset should be supported by ALSA - which is probably why im seeing some output on the screen (but have yet to hear something)

[d_liebscher]

Hm,

there are a lot of possibilities for that...

I noticed right yet, that your are from Switzerland. Probably this page may help you:
http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Soundprobleme
particularly the part about symptoms

[Dysport]

According to the guide on ubuntuusers.de I should check my alsamixer, because it seems to play correctly:
$ aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav
Playing WAVE '/usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Mono

But everything seems to be set correctly there (screenshot attached)
Any more ideas?

(I also attached the .inf from the ******* driver, might contain relevant information?)

[d_liebscher]

Hi,

Alsa Mixer configuration seems to be correct.
No Idea right now, sorry. I have to go for working now, but I will think about it.

[Dysport]

bump…

no one else got an idea?

[d_liebscher]

Hi,

it's me again ;)

i stumble up on an article about the relative new Soundserver Pulse Audio.
Maybe the problem is a conflict between ALSA and PulseeAudio?

I have a lot of work at moment and couldn't read the whole article but maybe you find an advice for a solution.

Link: http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/PulseAudio

Daniel

[snapback77]

I have a HRT Music Streamer. Works fine after applying the following link.http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1130384

[Dysport]

Thank you both for your input. I tried setting it to PulseAudio - no change.
I will post a screenvid of everything I do with detailed descriptions, maybe you'll get a better idea of what could be wrong.

UPDATE: Here is the screen video that I put on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UNCRoHICIE
Did that show you anything?

While screen-capturing and labelling the video I noticed something - however might be useless but to be sure I'm gonna post it: It's a USB 5.1 soundcard but volume control only shows "left channel" and "right channel". Could it be possible that something is misdetected and the wrong driver is loaded?

[Dysport]

another bump…

[jeremyc]

Another bump. I have the same problem, same or similar 5.1 channel USB soundcard.

[jeremyc]

Turns out some registers on the device need to be set, so the card doesn't really adhere to USB sound standards. There's a patch discussed here (http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.alsa.user/32832), which was merged into the kernel 2.6.31-rc1 (http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.31-rc1/CHANGES). I just installed 2.6.31-rc5, and it's working.

Alternatively, you can grab the patch, apply it to the source of whatever kernel you're running, and rebuild. I'll end up doing that myself if .31 gives me any grief.

[Dysport]

I'm not really getting it how/where I'm supposed to apply the patch (http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.alsa.user/32832). Could you give me a few more detailed steps?

[jeremyc]

I made a patch from here (http://www.spinics.net/lists/alsa-devel/msg24602.html), but guaranteeing it will work for you (not knowing what version of the kernel source you're using) would be difficult.

But there's only 1 file involved, so, first follow directions for compiling a kernel from source:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Kernel/Compile

I did the "Alternate Build Method: The Old-Fashioned Debian Way", in which case, just before you do the

make-kpkg clean
edit the sound/usb/usbaudio.c file with the following.

Paste in


static int snd_usb_cm6206_boot_quirk(struct usb_device *dev)
{
/*
* C-Media CM6206 is based on CM106 with two additional
* registers that are not documented in the data sheet.
* Values here are chosen based on sniffing USB traffic
* under Windows.
*/
return snd_usb_cm106_write_int_reg(dev, 0, 0x200c) +
snd_usb_cm106_write_int_reg(dev, 1, 0x3000) +
snd_usb_cm106_write_int_reg(dev, 2, 0xf800) +
snd_usb_cm106_write_int_reg(dev, 3, 0x143f) +
snd_usb_cm106_write_int_reg(dev, 4, 0x0000) +
snd_usb_cm106_write_int_reg(dev, 5, 0x3000);
}

at around line 3300 (just after snd_usb_cm106_boot_quirk method) and paste in



/* C-Media CM6206 / CM106-Like Sound Device */
if (id == USB_ID(0x0d8c, 0x0102)) {
if (snd_usb_cm6206_boot_quirk(dev) < 0)
goto __err_val;
}

at around line 3600, just after the similar conditional for the Turtle Beach Audio...


Then compile and install the new kernel, and you should be good to go.

A lot of work to get a cheap little sound card working, but necessary if you don't want to wait for 9.10.

Good luck, and let us know if that works for you.

[martinbaselier]

there's an easier way.

download the kernel here:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/linux-image-2.6.31-3-generic

and double click the file.

It will open in gdebi, which will allow you to install it. It will add the kernel to your boot menu. So if it doesn't work, you can always choose your old kernel.


Alternatively you could compile a single kernel module:

see my howto here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1012054

This will however probably not work in this case, since there are some changes in api between those 2 kernels.

[Dysport]

I made a patch from here (http://www.spinics.net/lists/alsa-devel/msg24602.html), but guaranteeing it will work for you (not knowing what version of the kernel source you're using) would be difficult.


Thanks for your useful replies! I'm running the latest Kernel: 2.6.28-13-generic
If your patch works with my kernel please post it - I would like to avoid kernel compilation as I never needed to do it until now and I think it has a vast number of possibilities how I could mess up my machine :)

[jeremyc]

there's an easier way.

download the kernel here:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/linux-image-2.6.31-3-generic


Yeah, I initially had just installed .31, but I ran into a couple of problems with an unrelated module (that I need working). Neither is really "supported" and it seemed a small tweak to Jaunty would be more supported than using Karmic before it's released..



Alternatively you could compile a single kernel module:
...

This will however probably not work in this case, since there are some changes in api between those 2 kernels.


That's an interesting idea, shouldn't have any api change problem if I use only .28 kernel. But the Makefiles involved in sound/usb/usbaudio don't follow the pattern in your example. If you have time, it would be great if you could show me how I'd tweak the Makefiles to recompile only sound/usb. With any luck, it could take less time than the full recompile...:)



...
If your patch works with my kernel please post it

I'll try to do that. My kernel is compiling right now, will take a little while. Do you know where/how I should post a bunch of .deb files?

[Dysport]

I'll try to do that. My kernel is compiling right now, will take a little while. Do you know where/how I should post a bunch of .deb files?

You could tar them into one file and upload it on let's say rapidshare.com or filefactory.com - many others available.
But maybe that's a little much to ask, I don't want you to waste too much time with this: You could just post the commands you used (e.g. as a bash script), that would help me to ensure I do every step correctly.

[jeremyc]

Here (http://www.filefactory.com/file/ahf976c/n/c-media-kernel-mod_tar_gz) you go (MD5: 5ad09db70259cbde9b7658c92eec7c1d)



tar xzvf c-media-kernel-mod.tar.gz
sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-2.6.28.9-c-media-quirk_2.6.28.9-c-media-quirk-10.00.Custom_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.28.9-c-media-quirk_2.6.28.9-c-media-quirk-10.00.Custom_i386.deb


Hope it works for you. Let me know.

[Dysport]

Awesome! Works great!! Thank you so much, finally I can enjoy full dolby surround sound on my MythTV Box :D

At first I thought it didn't work - but as it turned out it doesn't like being attached to a usb hub. Anyway, everything works now :D:D:D

[erikthedrink]

Go to Applications, then Accessories, then Terminal.

asoundconf set-default-card 1

Then close and re-open your browser (Mozilla Firefox) or restart your system.
:P
Note, if you unplug your usb speakers, your laptop speakers will take over. In order to re-establish contact with the usb speakers, you will need to (plug them back in) restart the system.

[guiclaw]

Thank you! It's working brilliantly for my USB soundcard (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/106540). Working fine over optical - however I can't seem to get DD passthrough working with XBMC, but that's another story, main thing is the optical out is working!

I did have to install all the linux-image and linux-headers for 2.6.28-9, as I was originally running a newer version.

[superkenny]

Can anyone please upload that C-media file again. Link is broken..

Would be really helpfull. :)

[wildmanne39]

If a post is older than a year or so and hasn't had a new reply in that time, instead of replying to it, create a new thread. In the software world, a lot can change in a very short time, and doing things this way makes it more likely that you will find the best information. You may link to the original discussion in the new thread if you think it may be helpful.