Microphone Partly Working

**seshu6392** · May 29th, 2010

I have a lenovo thinkpad and my internal microphone works only when i connect another mic through the jack.

Even the mic mute button present on my laptop is not working.

(There is no such problem on windows se7en)

Earlier, even an external mic never used to work. After some searching i added "options snd-hda-intel model = thinkpad" to my alsa-base.conf file. And then the internal mic started working only when an external mic was connected.

when i type "cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#* | grep Codec" i get:
Codec: Realtek ALC269
Codec: Intel G45 DEVCTG

I looked into the HD-Audio-Models.txt but couldn't locate the exact model for ALC269 so i searched online and decided to put model = thinkpad as i'd mentioned earlier.

But The alsa-mixer shows card to be HDA Intel and chp as intel g45 devctg.
Moreover, even this partial working of mic(s) is when i choose the input source in the alsamixer to be front mic and not int mic.

So I don't know what to do and am confused.
Please Help!

**lidex** · May 30th, 2010

First, for mic problem, check this.
Gnome-alsamixer
Using Alt+F2 run dialog

Code:

 gnome-alsamixer

Use 'Edit -> Sound Card Properties' menu to enable elements.
Soundcard tab to select / adjust levels.
To install:

Code:

sudo apt-get install gnome-alsamixer

Then use pulseaudio volume control (pavucontrol) to select your mic in 'Input Devices' tab.

From alsa documentation:

Capture Problems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The capture problems are often because of missing setups of mixers.
Thus, before submitting a bug report, make sure that you set up the
mixer correctly. For example, both "Capture Volume" and "Capture
Switch" have to be set properly in addition to the right "Capture
Source" or "Input Source" selection. Some devices have "Mic Boost"
volume or switch.

When the PCM device is opened via "default" PCM (without pulse-audio
plugin), you'll likely have "Digital Capture Volume" control as well.
This is provided for the extra gain/attenuation of the signal in
software, especially for the inputs without the hardware volume
control such as digital microphones. Unless really needed, this
should be set to exactly 50%, corresponding to 0dB -- neither extra
gain nor attenuation. When you use "hw" PCM, i.e., a raw access PCM,
this control will have no influence, though.

**seshu6392** · May 30th, 2010

Thank you for replying but it still isn't working...

I've attached a screenshot of pavu and the gnomemixer. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
The blue bar doesn't rise when i tap the mic or speak into it. I tried sound recorder, even that doesn't get it.

In the output devices port, i get to choose a port (speaker/headphone) but there's no such option in input devices..

One difference that i notice is that i now get a "chussshhhh" disturbance from my speaker..

Again, it works perfectly when i plug in an extnl mic.

Please continue to help

**lidex** · May 30th, 2010

Can you post the output of these terminal commands for me please:

Code:

uname -a
aplay -l
cat /proc/asound/version
head -n 1 /proc/asound/card*/codec#*

Terminal="Applications->Accessories->Terminal"
Please also include the make/model of your PC/Laptop.
Please post text output using code tags (the # in toolbar)

**seshu6392** · May 30th, 2010

Code:

seshan@ubuntu:~$ uname -a
Linux ubuntu 2.6.31-17-generic #54-Ubuntu SMP Thu Dec 10 16:20:31 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux
seshan@ubuntu:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC269 Analog [ALC269 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 3: INTEL HDMI [INTEL HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
seshan@ubuntu:~$ cat /proc/asound/version
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.20.
seshan@ubuntu:~$ head -n 1 /proc/asound/card*/codec#*
==> /proc/asound/card0/codec#0 <==
Codec: Realtek ALC269

==> /proc/asound/card0/codec#3 <==
Codec: Intel G45 DEVCTG

My laptop is Lenovo ThinkPad SL510.

**seshu6392** · May 30th, 2010

hey, meanwhile i just stumbled upon this thing:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...pad+microphone

What's your say about this? Do you think the links listed on that thread'll do it for me? (The status of that bug says incomplete)

**lidex** · May 30th, 2010

Go for the alsa upgrade. Follow the alsa-upgrade link in my sig.

**seshu6392** · May 30th, 2010

I'll try the alsa upgrade script link and get back to you when i'm done. It'll be some time...

Thanks a lot in advance!

**lidex** · May 30th, 2010

Before you do that remove the custom entry from alsa-base.conf

**seshu6392** · May 30th, 2010

Thanks a lot for that well-written link.

<bump>

The installation didn't complete.

Code:

***************************************************************************
*  alsa-utils-1.0.23 configure failed
***************************************************************************

I've attached the log files. The download and compilation didn't report any error at the end.

So, what do I do now?