No sound on Karmic. Any ideas?

[mcallenSchmee]

Something went wrong during my upgrade on my Gazelle ultra and I had the same problem, among others. I did a fresh install and the problem is gone now. This command worked for me to fix it before I did a fresh install:

sudo alsa force-reload

It has to be run every time you reboot though, so it is only a temporary fix.

[michaelzap]

I what may be the same problem on my Lenovo Y530 (no sound device reported in the Sound Control Panel, no sound input or output, and random crashes). I removed the proprietary driver for my internal modem (which it turns out is a sub-element of my Intel sound card) and suddenly I had sound and the device is visible in the Sound Control Panel (and so far I've had no more crashes). It's too early for me to be sure that the issue is resolved, but I'm happy not to use my modem if my system will be stable and have sound.

[_rex]

there's another thread on this subject with a lot of help.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1304710

i had the same problems with no sound cards being recognized.
mine worked after upgrading grub, then alsa. see thread for an explanation, i'm in no way confident i could get you through what i did.

[riseringseeker]

I had read these posts and heard from Tom that there were quite a few reports of sound problems. I did a clean install of 9.10 last night on my DU1, and both from the live CD and after the install the sound worked fine, system sounds from the live CD (only thing I tested), and everything, including Skype after the install. (Sound doesn't work from the live CD on the Wild Dog I have, but it's update will not be done for a day or so.)

Rebooting this morning after having installed all the additional programs I usually put on, the sound was gone, and like others in this thread I had the "Dummy Output Stereo" list in hardware.

Searching around, I saw a few people removed the hardware driver for the software modem. I had nothing to lose, and though I was looking forward to finally being able to fax from this little box, since I hadn't had it before, I wouldn't miss it. (I *have* gotten so I can send faxes from the Wild Dog, but that's fodder for another thread.

I went to System->Administration->Hardware Drivers and removed the driver. Problem solved (at least for me on this machine.)

I would suggest that if you enabled the proprietary software modem driver, that be the first attempt to get your sound back. (and, yes, it works even after a reboot.)

[tomasterisk]

I've tried all the pertinent suggestions here and still no sound.

I'll look into this more,but now I am wondering if I shouldn't just go back to Jaunty and wait till Karmic proves more reliable.

[marshmallow1304]

Edit: Nevermind; I removed the software modem driver and all is good. I never should have doubted the mastery of S76 and their driver.


----------------------

Is it possible that the S76 driver borked it? I had sound before I installed the driver and rebooted.

[Jeroboam7]

I dumped the modem driver and now I have sound as well. Oh well I did not need all those wasted hours anyway.

[tomasterisk]

I had read these posts and heard from Tom that there were quite a few reports of sound problems.

If this is the case this makes me think that Ubu wasn't quite ready to release their upgrade.

If I wanted to spend the time - which I do not have - on twiddling & tweaking on this new version I would have volunteered to be a beta tester. As it is I don't see any difference than with what Bill Gates does, converting all buyers, de facto, into beta-testers. We are not buying here, yes, but we - at least many of us, I have noticed - are spending time we don't really have.

This is the absolute last time I brag on Ubuntu to people. There just isn't that much difference in my experience.

[HotShotDJ]

If I wanted to spend the time - which I do not have - on twiddling & tweaking on this new version I would have volunteered to be a beta tester...

...This is the absolute last time I brag on Ubuntu to people. There just isn't that much difference in my experience.

I assure you that I understand your frustration. At the same time, I don't think your conclusions are entirely fair. ANY major software upgrades can cause issues, since it is impossible for any software vendor (proprietary or open source) to test for every problem on every possible (and infinity variable) hardware configuration. For me, Jaunty was a complete disaster on my Dell E1505, but it worked perfectly on my Pangolin Performance (PanP5).

(EDIT) Actually, perfectly is a strong word. There was a minor issue regarding the detection of battery discharge and charge rates that persist in Karmic. But the problem is mostly cosmetic, with the functional problems corrected by switching from time based thresholds to percentage based thresholds in gconf-editor. (end EDIT)

Unlike Microsoft, almost every Linux distribution, including Ubuntu, has the option to test the software via a LiveCD. By testing your personal hardware this way before doing your upgrades, you can avoid any number of problems. Also, Ubuntu doesn't force upgrades on its users. Hardy (8.04 LTS) is still fully supported, as is Intrepid (8.10) and Jaunty (9.04). If, after testing the LiveCD, a user finds that the new version is problematic, he or she is free to opt out of the new version.

One of the foundational dogmas of software upgrade cycles (and one that is routinely ignored by end-users) is "test, test, test!" before performing any upgrades. No matter how wonderful a software vendor's testing program and quality assurance, it is impossible for them to guarantee compatibility with all possible hardware configurations. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the end-user to make sure any software will work on their hardware before committing the changes to their hard drive. And, unlike Windows, Linux in general, and Ubuntu specifically, make this testing very easy.

One thing I'd love to see added to the Upgrade Manager in Ubuntu is a simple check box: "Have you tested this upgrade from a LiveCD?" whenever it offers an upgrade to a new version of Ubuntu. If the user answers "No" then it should present a very scary warning in big red letters that it is unwise to perform the upgrade until the user has tested the new version first. Of course, because Ubuntu is not a dictatorship, there should be two options in the warning.. "Continue Anyway At Your Own Risk" and "Cancel."

Just my 2 cents.

[kevin11951]

too all having sound problems, please run:

sudo alsa force-reload

and let me know if it worked...