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Thread: 9.10 external microphone doesn't work anymore

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  1. #1
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    Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

    9.10 external microphone doesn't work anymore

    Update 6th March 2010: Update to Kernel 2.6.31-20 SOLVED the problem. Recording works again (still wouldn't in kernels 2.6.31-17 to 2.6.31-19). If a kernel update doesn't solve your problem, please read post 14 on page 2 by Mocha which seems to have solved the problem for other users without updating the kernel

    Update 8th February 2010 to Kernel 2.6.31-19 did not solve the problem, please also read post number 7 for more details.

    Quick Conclusion for other users who might experience the same problem:

    After an update to kernel version 2.6.31-17 in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, my external microphone did not work anymore. Playback was possible, just recording would not work anymore, although there was quite some background noise in the headphones. This made it impossible for me to use Skype and/or Sound Recorder.

    All the possible solutions offered below did not help in my case (although you might give them a try).

    I switched back to kernel version 2.6.31-16 where the problem does not occur.

    Start of original post:

    Output: cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#* | grep Codec

    Realtek ALC662 rev1

    I know there are lots of threads about this topic, but I have spent hours on this problem already and none of the solutions offered so far worked for me so I decided to start this thread.

    I have been using Ubuntu 9.10 and so far, my external microphone worked flawlessly in Skype as well as in Sound Recorder. A few days ago, I received a call on Skype and all the guy on the other side could hear was loud noise. I can only play sound, but not record anymore (i.e. the microphone doesn't work anymore). I tried two different microphones just to be sure whether one was defective and also checked it in Windows (where they both work).

    I am not sure what might have caused this problem, I just remember a kernel upgrade about that time (not sure whether this is the reason though). I use 2.6.31-17-generic now.

    Here is what I have tried so far:

    1) Right-click on the Sound Icon in the top right corner and checked the following: in the hardware tab, it is set to analog stereo duplex, input is set to internal audio analog stereo (no other choice here) and the mic is NOT muted (playing with the volume doesn't help either) and output is set to internal audio analog stereo (again, no other choice) and connector is set to analog output (here I can switch to analog headphones or analog speaker, but makes no difference).

    I remember that I could choose between Microphone 1 and Microphone 2 in the input tab; this is somehow magically gone.

    2) Installed padevchooser, tried several settings to no avail

    3) When I use "alsamixer" (version 1.0.20) in a terminal, Playback>Master is set to 100<>100, Capture is set to 150<>150, lowering and/or playing with these figures doesn't help either.

    When I use "alsamixer -Dhw:0" in a terminal, I get the same results as in step four.

    4) In Gnome Alsa Mixer, only "Beep" is muted, everything else is set to max. I have Master, Headphon, PCM, Front, Front Mi (x2), Lin, Mic, Mic Boost, Capture (x2, set to record), Beep, Speaker

    I have tried to mute/unmute different setting to no avail. Now I wonder why I have two Front Mi and two Capture entries. This is different than it used to be, might this be causing the problem?

    5) Fiddling with Pulse Audio Volume Control didn't help either.

    6) Had a look at "paman" (pulse audio manager), not sure whether I should change anything here.

    7) Installed "linux-backports-modules-alsa-karmic-generic" and rebooted as recommended in several threads, did not help either.

    8) Added the parameters "model=auto" and "probe_mask=1" to '/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf', did not work, so I deleted the entries again (hint from https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ia/+bug/467636, see post 5)


    Now I am at my wits end. I need my microphone to work, especially for Skype, otherwise I have to switch to Windows every time I receive or want to make a call which is definitely not a long-term solution?

    Does anybody have an idea what might be causing this problem? As I said, it used to work flawlessly just a few days ago and now I don't even know what I should do next to make it work again...

    Output of "amixer"

    Simple mixer control 'Master',0
    Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
    Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
    Limits: Playback 0 - 65536
    Mono:
    Front Left: Playback 30419 [46%] [on]
    Front Right: Playback 30419 [46%] [on]
    Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
    Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
    Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
    Limits: Capture 0 - 65536
    Front Left: Capture 29275 [45%] [on]
    Front Right: Capture 29275 [45%] [on]

    When I run "alsactl init" I get the following result which might be at least a part of the problem, but I wouldn't know how to solve this problem:

    Unknown hardware: "HDA-Intel" "Realtek ALC662 rev1" "HDA:10ec0662,103c303a,00100101" "0x103c" "0x303a"
    Hardware is initialized using a guess method
    Last edited by roman.lange; March 6th, 2010 at 11:19 AM. Reason: problem disappeared in kernel 2.6.31-20

  2. #2
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    Re: 9.10 external microphone doesn't work anymore

    I believe it relates to your kernel upgrade. Downgrade the kernel and report back. Look for the older kernel in Synaptic Package Manager.
    Debian 8.0 "Jessie"
    HP laptop (15-ab064no-Nordic)
    Linux user since 1999.

  3. #3
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    Re: 9.10 external microphone doesn't work anymore

    Thank you for your fast answer! You were absolutely right, it was a kernel problem. Fortunately I still had the old kernels on my system. The one that works best is 2.6.31-16-generic

    When I start "gnome-volume-control" in this kernel, I can set the hardware tab to "analog stereo duplex", the input to Microphone 1 (which I couldn't choose anymore in 2.6.31-17) and the output to "internal audio analog stereo, analog output". Works like a charm again. I still wonder what causes this problem in 2.6.31-17 (bug or major change?)

    One minor hiccup: volume was muted on every startup. This could be solved by reading post #4 by n.hinton in this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8342636

    a) Open a terminal
    b) sudo gedit /etc/init.d/alsa-utils
    c) comment out the line that contains 'mute_and_zero_levels "$TARGET_CARD" || EXITSTATUS=1' in the file /etc/init.d/alsa-utils (it was line 378 on my system, just add # to make that line a comment, that's it)
    d) save and reboot

    My final question: when I boot up my computer, the 2.6.31-17 kernel is set to default of course. I would like to get rid of it as I can't use it anyway but I am reluctant to do so; I have never deleted a kernel before and don't want to destroy my system (especially because it is running again now).

    I have already deleted linux-headers-2.6.31-17-generic in Synaptic, but when I mark linux-image-2.6.31-17-generic to be removed, it wants to delete the following files too:

    linux-backports-modules-alsa-2.6.31.17-generic
    linux-backports-modules-alsa-karmic-generic
    linux-generic
    linux-image-generic

    I guess the first two shouldn't cause a problem, but what about linux-generic and linux-image-generic? Am I doing this the wrong way? If so, how do I safely get rid of that kernel? Do I also have to manually update GRUB afterwards? Sorry for the questions, as I mentioned this is my first time to remove a kernel and I'd rather like to be on the safe side.

    Thank you for your time and help!

  4. #4
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    Re: 9.10 external microphone doesn't work anymore

    Have a look at this page and scroll down to the instructions regarding the Debian/Ubuntu solution.

    I tried and remove an older kernel a few minutes ago from my own system using dselect. For you it would be using the Synaptic Package Manager. It was automatically removed from the GRUB boot menu.
    Last edited by khelben1979; January 15th, 2010 at 09:00 AM.
    Debian 8.0 "Jessie"
    HP laptop (15-ab064no-Nordic)
    Linux user since 1999.

  5. #5
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    {Solved} Re: 9.10 external microphone doesn't work anymore, kernel version 2.6.31-17

    Thanks again for your answer!

    Funny enough, "dpkg --list | grep kernel-image" doesn't give me any output in the terminal. I suppose this is because I had already deleted "linux-headers-2.6.31-17-generic" as mentioned in my last post.

    Well, I guess it is not worth fiddling around with this issue for hours which might even lead to destroying an otherwise running system. Maybe the next kernel version will not cause the microphone problem either; I will give it a try (and report back, see post number 7), otherwise I will stick to 2.6.31-16 for now.

    I marked this thread as "unsolved" again as the microphone problem still exists in kernel 2.6.31-17 and 2.6.31-19.

    Thanks for your time and help, khelben1979!
    Last edited by roman.lange; February 8th, 2010 at 12:25 AM. Reason: problem still exists with kernel 2.6.31-19

  6. #6
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    Re: {Solved} Re: 9.10 external microphone doesn't work anymore, kernel version 2.6.31

    Quote Originally Posted by roman.lange View Post
    Thanks for your time and help, khelben1979!
    Thanks!
    Debian 8.0 "Jessie"
    HP laptop (15-ab064no-Nordic)
    Linux user since 1999.

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