Dummy output - No Sound Card Detected / snd-hda-intel - (Karmic)

[TacheDeChoco]

After so many many attempts to solve my audio problems when upgrading to Karmic, I finally found a working solution !

First, let me decribe what the problem was:
1) no audio card was detected at all
=> cat /proc/asound/cards returned an empty content
=> cat /proc/asound/devices did not include any audio devices
=> 'Hardware' tab in sound preferences was empty
2) the audio tray indicated a "dummy output"


SOLUTION
========

For those who do not have a fresh Karmic install (in other words those who have upgraded their Jaunty install), you should update your Grub BEFORE applying the 2 steps described hereunder:

sudo update-grub



Step1: make the sound card being recognized

=> Purge alsa-base and pulseaudio, eg:

sudo apt-get remove --purge alsa-base
sudo apt-get remove --purge pulseaudio
sudo apt-get install alsa-base
sudo apt-get install pulseaudio
sudo alsa force-reload


Now, reboot, you shoud now SEE (but maybe not yet hear) your soundcard.
Give a try to:
cat /proc/asound/cards
and see if any card is listed...


Step2 : If the sound is crapy, you MAY have to edit the alsa config file:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

a) comment (#) the following line:
# options snd-hda-intel power_save=10 power_save_controller=N

b) Add a new line
options snd-hda-intel probe_mask=1 model=hp

Replace "hp" with appropriate computer model. See here

Good luck !

Bernard.

[StudioCascade]

Thank you for your clear explaination.
I followed the above instructions step by step,
but it didn't solve my "dummy output" problem directly.

But then I figured out that my kernel was incorrect.
So if anyone still keeps having this problem, look if you've got the right kernel.
(there's another topic where this is clearly explained)

[sgleo87]

I followed all your steps and my card shows up when running cat /proc/asound/cards, but I still had a dummy output in the gnome sound preferences. But after editing /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and adding options snd-hda-intel probe_mask=1 model=asus-v1s it finally worked!!! Thanks so much!

[linnovice]

Can any of you guys help me? Im new to linux and I still have no sound on Jaunty. I love the OS but if I cant get no sound im off back to Windows. Ive left loads of messages for help on here but so far not one reply.

Could someone spare some time to talk me through what to check etc?

Many thanks

[Xpire]

I tried following this guide but it didn't work for me.

I found this guide, upgrade-alsa and noticed that it failed when I tried to do

sudo apt-get -y install linux-headers-`uname -r` libncursesw5-dev

while it was trying to look for the drivers for version 16 of the kernel.

Rebooted back to version 14, and the sound worked!

Is there any way I can get that linux-header installed for version 16?

[chayon]

Hey Bernard!

You are a life saver! I followed your instructions and it worked!

I am using a HP pavillion DV6500, by the way.

- Chayon

[joelswanson]

I have an Intel sound card and was having trouble getting the sound to work. My card had been detected, but I was still having problems. Removing and reinstalling alsa and pulseaudio worked for me. So if your having trouble, even if your card is detected, the above instructions could still help.

[Surrendermonkey]

I followed all your steps and my card shows up when running cat /proc/asound/cards, but I still had a dummy output in the gnome sound preferences. But after editing /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and adding options snd-hda-intel probe_mask=1 model=asus-v1s it finally worked!!! Thanks so much!

The exact same happened here, the card showed up but was still dummy output, editing /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf did the trick for me.

[M03BIUS]

I've tried everything on this thread and still no luck getting this to make sound... someone please help.

[mammoth23]

Thanks for the perfect hint. I followed all your steps even though my sound card was identified from the very first. Nevertheless, I didn't hear anything and only a dummy output showed up in pulseaudio.

My configuration: Acer Travelmate 8100, Soundcard: HDA Intel, Chip: Realtek ALC880.
using options snd-hda-intel probe_mask=1 model=auto did the job.

Many thanks!