Microphone not working

[ashrack]

I've Hercules Fortissimo II record sound from my MIC. Microphone works as when I choose microphone as the recording source from alsamixer I can hear sound thru the loudspeakers. Problem is that I can't record this sound. Gnome-sound-recorder just hangs on recording or produces a file of 4 bytes. Arecord also hangs and produces the same kind of 4b file even when going to INIT 1. Needless to say nor SKYPE or WENGO works.

So then I installed the SOX package and tried to record with 'REC' which comes with the package and with it it works. It clearly records everything I say into the MIC.

So afterwards I compiled latest ALSA-utils-libs-drivers 1.0.12, thinking there must be a problem with ALSA since it works with SOX but it still doesnt work.

In alsamixer I've set the following 3 channels to "capture": MIC, CAPTURE, and ADC and of course I had to unmute and set levels. As per this guide:
http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=cs46xx

lspci -v:

0000:01:0a.0 Multimedia audio controller: Cirrus Logic CS 4614/22/24 [CrystalClear SoundFusion Audio Accelerator] (rev 01)
       Subsystem: Hercules: Unknown device a010
       Flags: bus master, slow devsel, latency 32, IRQ 201
       Memory at e6100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
       Memory at e6000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
       Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2

ps. I've tried this GUIDE:
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Dapper#H...perly_in_GNOME
but after it just gives me this error when lunching arecord:

ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:762:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) The dmix plugin supports only playback stream
arecord: main:544: audio open error: Invalid argument

Opened up a bug report here:
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu...ils/+bug/58364
and here:
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/f...&forum_id=1751

[ashrack]

continuoing disscussion from http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=195219

Originally Posted by gratefulfrog have you checked the asla mixer settings to be sure that the mic is the "capture" device... try $ alsamixer and play with the settings, test with the sound recorder, with no sound using devices started (rebooot first to be sure that you're clean). You'll probably have to enable "mic boost" to get the vu to a reasonable level. When you get it working, be sure to set up dsp hijacker script to prevent skype from hogging the dsp device. You can find that at: http://195.38.3.142:6502/skype/ good luck, let us know if it works! GF. http://gratefulfrog.net

When trying to record something using the GNOME's 'second recorder' it freezes. this is how I have alsa mixer set up:

[AiBo]

Just downloaded the new skype.

Echo test sounds great, but I cannot seem to get it to pick up my voice. I am using a IBM Thinkpad T22 with a built in original sound card setup. The mic picks up, I can hear it through the speakers when I speak into it, but I do not think it is capturing the sound.

I have enabled everything in Volume Control. I have tried both ALSA and OSS. Same problem with both.

It would be great if I could solve this problem. We are a small company with a number of people using IBM Thinkpad T22. I have been trying to move our company over to Ubuntu. I have managed to convince one person, but his willingness is fading quickly as skype is needed for some of our international business.

I have encounter the same problem when I run skype thru wine. Although if I boot into window$ everything works like a charm.

Thanks in advance for any help any of you may be able to give!

[AiBo]

Oh...and I used the same audio set up you posted in the graphic....very interesting when I do the echo test the capture volume automatically drops itself all the way to the bottom...by itself! Why? Could it be part of the problem?

[gratefulfrog]

Ok, Here's a test procedure:
1. disable skype,
2. reboot and ensure that you've not started any programs using sound,
3. open a shell,
4. try the alsa recorder "arecord" and record from the mic a test file: Type the following, then speak into the mic for 2-3 seconds at most, and hit Ctrl-C

$ arecord test.wav

5. check that the file exists: this should tell you that you created a big file

$ ls -al test.wav
... file size and permission info ...
$ file toto.wav
...file type info...

6. play it back with alsaplayer in the shell window:

$ aplay test.wav

If this all works then you're almost there! If it doesn't,
are you plugging the mic directly into the sound card on the back of the PC, or on the "convenient" front plug? If you have both, try both before panicking

Now, if you're still not there, read the man page for alsamixer and use it to set the capture device to the mic and the mic boost on, this is not a graphic tool like you showed in one of the previous messages. It runs from the shell and requires keystroke entry.

$ alsamixer -Va

This should tell you the name of your sound card and you can scroll using the arrow keys untill you come to the mic which should be have MM at the base, and Captur in Red, the volume should be around 75, then to the right of that you should see Mic Boost which should be green OO and mic select set to Mic1, if you have a front panel mic and want to use it, you should see it there too and set it to OO by use of the M key (read "$ man alsamixer" for full instructions).

This should make it work. Remember DO NOT START SKYPE during the tests and config, once you get arecord and aplay to work properly, then skype should work too (set it to use /dev/dsp as BOTH sound devices).

Let me know if you make progress!
Cheers,
GF

[ashrack]

No progress here.
The test file is always the same no matter what I set in ALSAMIXER:

-rw-r--r-- 1 tom users 1489 2006-07-03 17:46 test.wav

And I supply U the screnies of ALSA mixer:




ps. When speaking to the MIC I can hear myself in the loud speakers. So the MIC apperantly is working.

[gratefulfrog]

ok, we're making progress!

Did you manage to "arecord" the test.wav file? it looks to me from your "ls -al" output that the file is too small to contain genuine audio.

Did you manage to play the test.wav file with "aplay"?

If so, did it sound ok? loud enough of just barely audible?

When you say the mic is working, you mean what exactly? Can you get sound from the mic into a file on disk? or only hear it on the speakers?

If you can only hear it through the speakers, then its your "capture" settings which are incorrect.

To help debug, please send screen shots of the "alsamixer -Va" output, all the controls, please.

Don't give up! We'll get it working, I'm sure of it!
GF.

[ashrack]

[QUOTE=gratefulfrog]ok, we're making progress!

Did you manage to "arecord" the test.wav file? it looks to me from your "ls -al" output that the file is too small to contain genuine audio.

that is the file that 'arecord' created. And yes, I left it running for more than 15sec.

Did you manage to play the test.wav file with "aplay"?

the test.wav file produces no sound

When you say the mic is working, you mean what exactly? Can you get sound from the mic into a file on disk? or only hear it on the speakers?

I can only hear it from the speakers.

To help debug, please send screen shots of the "alsamixer -Va" output, all the controls, please.

I dont see the need for them since I already posted the CAPTURE and PLAYBACK screenies. And with that switch all I will get is CAPTURE+PLAYBACK. But anyway here they are:

Don't give up! We'll get it working, I'm sure of it! GF.

thank U for your confidence. I sure hope so

[raditzman]

Hi guys, you know, life is strange in a kind of way, and you know what? Just when a guys I'm working for bought some pc's to build a cybercafe using ubuntu (with cheap international call using skype), guess what happens? They all use the Cirrus Logic CS that doesn't record the microphone.... My guess (from searching the net) is that it is something related to duplex. If anyone has this working, please tell me, the inauguration is close and I'm really frustrated!!!!

P.S. - I've been changing the sound values thru the gnome builtin mixer (showing all the channels, via the Edit->Preferences it has).

Dan

[gratefulfrog]

Ashrack:

I'm about to run out, but here's a few of things to try

Follow the instructions here:
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Dapper#H...perly_in_GNOME

then try the arecord/aplay sequence again, but only for 2 seconds of talking into the mic at most! try "file test.wav" to be sure that you really get a wav audio file

If that still doesn't work try with the alsamixer

- increase the VU on the Capture control: then test again
- unmute the mic control (use the "m" key), then test again.

Another angle is to be sure that all the alsa packages are installed (check on synaptic) but this is not likely to be your pb.

Yet another way of testing is to use the device files.

To Record:

$ cp /dev/dsp  test.wav

Check it:

$ ls -al xxx.wav
-rw-r----- 1 xxx xxx 20480 2006-07-04 19:50 test.wav

to playback

$ cat test.wav > /dev/dsp

If that still fails, and I hope it doesn't, then my remote debugging capabilities are at their limit. The next choice is to go the #ubuntu IRC channel on freenode and ask for help there...

I'll be away from Internet for the next 2 months and am sorry to abandon you without a solution. Please continue to post, whatever happens.

You're not far from a working setup, belive me.
Ciao,
GF.