Sever 9.10, Aureal Vortex2, Sound FAIL

[HuckBerry]

Just recently installed server 9.10 to use for various purposes (network auth, file server, etc) and one of the things on the tail end of the Todo list was to set up a network sound server.

To my surprise however it seems I have no sound capability. So I ran though the usual troubleshooting, here's the output:
lspci:

00:0f.0 Multimedia audio controller: Aureal Semiconductor Vortex 2 (rev fe)

lshw:

*-multimedia:1
             description: Multimedia audio controller
             product: Vortex 2
             vendor: Aureal Semiconductor
             physical id: f
             bus info: pci@0000:00:0f.0
             version: fe
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=au8830 latency=64 maxlatency=12 mingnt=4
             resources: irq:3 memory:f4000000-f403ffff ioport:1838(size=8) ioport:1830(size=8)

yet aplay -l reports:

aplay: device_list:223: no soundcards found...

There is a driver associated and it is loaded in the kernel. Alsa even lists it when it reloads, So... I'm new to alsa since sound generally just works on desktop versions, however I am well adjusted with the terminal so feel free to ask for whatever output you need.

[HuckBerry]

Did some further investigations, turns out that both my Ethernet card and my Audio card were sharing and IRQ, so I put the server down and shifted the audio card to IRQ 11, as shown by the output of cat /proc/interrupts

          CPU0       
  0:       7995    XT-PIC-XT        timer
  1:          4    XT-PIC-XT        i8042
  2:          0    XT-PIC-XT        cascade
  3:        144    XT-PIC-XT        eth0
  6:          3    XT-PIC-XT        floppy
  7:          0    XT-PIC-XT        parport0
  8:          0    XT-PIC-XT        rtc0
  9:         48    XT-PIC-XT        acpi, uhci_hcd:usb1
 11:          0    XT-PIC-XT        au8830
 14:       3606    XT-PIC-XT        ata_piix
 15:          0    XT-PIC-XT        ata_piix
NMI:          0   Non-maskable interrupts
LOC:          0   Local timer interrupts
SPU:          0   Spurious interrupts
CNT:          0   Performance counter interrupts
PND:          0   Performance pending work
RES:          0   Rescheduling interrupts
CAL:          0   Function call interrupts
TLB:          0   TLB shootdowns
TRM:          0   Thermal event interrupts
THR:          0   Threshold APIC interrupts
MCE:          0   Machine check exceptions
MCP:          1   Machine check polls
ERR:          0
MIS:          0

I also made sure that EVERYTHING was unmuted and turned up to 75% in alsamixer. (I will of course go back and re-mute everything once I start getting sound out of the speakers)

Here is the output of a test incase anyone spots something useful

mplayer /test.wma
MPlayer SVN-r29237-4.4.1 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing /test.wma.
ASF file format detected.
[asfheader] Audio stream found, -aid 1
Clip info:
 name: XXXX
 author: XXXX
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
AUDIO: 44100 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 128.0 kbit/9.07% (ratio: 16002->176400)
Selected audio codec: [ffwmav2] afm: ffmpeg (DivX audio v2 (FFmpeg))
==========================================================================
[pulse] working around probably broken pause functionality,
        see http://www.pulseaudio.org/ticket/440
AO: [pulse] 44100Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Video: no video
Starting playback...
A:  29.8 (29.8) of 228.0 (03:48.0)  2.4% 
Exiting... (Quit)

Yet still no sound....

[HuckBerry]

OK, so all I needed to do after fixing the IRQ issue was sudo the mplayer...

So obviously the average user doesn't have privileges required to access the soundcard. So this is no longer a multimedia thread, but incase anyone is interested on how to give avg. users access you would do this

sudo cp /etc/groups /etc/groups.old
sudo sed s/audio:x:29:pulse/audio:x:29:pulse,me/ /etc/group

to do it, replacing 'me' with your username


To anyone else who is having issues, visit these threads for good info:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000262
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSou.../KarmicCaveats
(and a few others)

[xpacker]

Huckberry--

Thanks for posting all this, but I'm such a newbie that I'm not sure if it applies to me. I'm resurrecting an ancient desktop for a friend to use. I've loaded wattOS on it, which is working fine except for no sound.

I also have an Aureal Vortex2. I tried installing a backports module for alsa -- no luck.

What exactly does your fix do? How would I know if I should do the same? Are there any risks involved?

Thanks!

[HuckBerry]

Huckberry--

What exactly does your fix do? How would I know if I should do the same? Are there any risks involved?

Thanks!

Risks, no. not that I'm aware of. I have cut myself pretty bad pulling PCI cards out, just be careful, OK?

As far as what my fix does, it depends on which fix you are refering to as there are actually two things I did.

The first was change IRQ of the sound card by moving the PCI to a differrent slot.

The second was give users the proper permissions to use the sound card.

To determine which fix you need, please post the output from the following three commands

sudo cat /proc/interrupts
sudo lshw
sudo aplay -l

**note: I am assuming that WattOS is debian based or at least close enough that standard debian commands will apply. I am willing to do some reseach if not, but it would be a great learning experience for you to attempt to also.

[xpacker]

Thanks for your quick response, Huckberry. Here's the output of the three commands (separated by "======="):

CPU0
0: 125236 XT-PIC-XT timer
1: 280 XT-PIC-XT i8042
2: 0 XT-PIC-XT cascade
3: 1 XT-PIC-XT au8830
4: 3 XT-PIC-XT
8: 0 XT-PIC-XT rtc0
9: 0 XT-PIC-XT ohci_hcd:usb2, uhci_hcd:usb4
10: 0 XT-PIC-XT ehci_hcd:usb1
11: 2534 XT-PIC-XT ohci_hcd:usb3, eth0
12: 13890 XT-PIC-XT i8042
14: 13494 XT-PIC-XT ata_piix
15: 6295 XT-PIC-XT ata_piix
NMI: 0 Non-maskable interrupts
LOC: 0 Local timer interrupts
SPU: 0 Spurious interrupts
CNT: 0 Performance counter interrupts
PND: 0 Performance pending work
RES: 0 Rescheduling interrupts
CAL: 0 Function call interrupts
TLB: 0 TLB shootdowns
TRM: 0 Thermal event interrupts
THR: 0 Threshold APIC interrupts
MCE: 0 Machine check exceptions
MCP: 2 Machine check polls
ERR: 0
MIS: 0

================================================== ====

OUTPUT OF LSHW


peg-desktop
description: Computer
product: XPSR450
vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
version: MT
width: 32 bits
capabilities: smbios-2.1 dmi-2.1
configuration: uuid=6A3BEC6A-900A-11D2-A511-0800093DBCE8
*-core
description: Motherboard
product: SE440BX
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
version: AA696089-408
serial: 00028498124648C900Y1
*-firmware
description: BIOS
vendor: Intel Corp.
physical id: 0
version: 4S4EB0X1.10A.0035.P13 (09/21/99)
size: 1MiB
capabilities: isa pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect edd int13floppytoshiba int13floppy360 int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi
*-cpu
description: CPU
product: Pentium II (Deschutes)
vendor: Intel Corp.
physical id: 4
bus info: cpu@0
version: 6.5.2
slot: J4J1
size: 450MHz
capacity: 450MHz
width: 32 bits
clock: 100MHz
capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 mtrr pge mca cmov pse36 mmx fxsr up
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 9
slot: None
size: 32KiB
capacity: 32KiB
capabilities: non-burst internal write-back
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: a
slot: None
size: 512KiB
capacity: 512KiB
capabilities: external write-back
*-memory
description: System Memory
physical id: 24
slot: System board or motherboard
size: 256MiB
capacity: 768MiB
*-bank:0
description: DIMM DRAM Synchronous
physical id: 0
slot: J6J1
size: 128MiB
width: 32 bits
*-bank:1
description: DIMM DRAM Synchronous [empty]
physical id: 1
slot: J6J2
*-bank:2
description: DIMM DRAM Synchronous
physical id: 2
slot: J7J1
size: 128MiB
width: 32 bits
*-pci
description: Host bridge
product: 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 100
bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
configuration: driver=agpgart-intel latency=64
resources: irq:0 memory:f8000000-fbffffff(prefetchable)
*-pci
description: PCI bridge
product: 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pci bus_master
resources: memory:f5000000-f5ffffff memory:fc000000-fcffffff(prefetchable)
*-display UNCLAIMED
description: VGA compatible controller
product: NV4 [RIVA TNT]
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: 04
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm agp agp-1.0 bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=64 maxlatency=1 mingnt=5
resources: memory:f5000000-f5ffffff memory:fc000000-fcffffff(prefetchable)
*-isa
description: ISA bridge
product: 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 7
bus info: pci@0000:00:07.0
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: isa bus_master
configuration: latency=0
*-ide
description: IDE interface
product: 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 7.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:07.1
logical name: scsi0
logical name: scsi1
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: ide bus_master emulated
configuration: driver=ata_piix latency=64
resources: irq:0 ioport:1f0(size=8) ioport:3f6 ioport:170(size=8) ioport:376 ioport:10a0(size=16)
*-disk
description: ATA Disk
product: IC35L020AVER07-0
vendor: Hitachi
physical id: 0
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sda
version: ER2O
serial: SVPTVMF2342
size: 18GiB (20GB)
capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=743d1854
*-volume:0
description: Linux swap volume
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,1
logical name: /dev/sda1
version: 1
serial: ce9f1233-387e-4057-a837-6bb3a07a2e04
size: 486MiB
capacity: 486MiB
capabilities: primary nofs swap initialized
configuration: filesystem=swap pagesize=4096
*-volume:1
description: EXT3 volume
vendor: Linux
physical id: 2
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,2
logical name: /dev/sda2
logical name: /
version: 1.0
serial: ce0b4f00-9a64-45f8-8a68-d7b34a829350
size: 8103MiB
capacity: 8103MiB
capabilities: primary bootable journaled extended_attributes large_files recover ext3 ext2 initialized
configuration: created=2010-02-24 22:51:20 filesystem=ext3 modified=2010-02-24 23:13:22 mount.fstype=ext3 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,data=writeback mounted=2010-02-28 21:00:38 state=mounted
*-volume:2
description: EXT3 volume
vendor: Linux
physical id: 3
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,3
logical name: /dev/sda3
logical name: /home
version: 1.0
serial: 9c1126ab-9f3a-47d9-b38f-d8ca1b8c8dd3
size: 10GiB
capacity: 10GiB
capabilities: primary journaled extended_attributes large_files recover ext3 ext2 initialized
configuration: created=2010-02-24 22:51:43 filesystem=ext3 modified=2010-02-28 21:00:41 mount.fstype=ext3 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=continue,data=wri teback mounted=2010-02-28 21:00:41 state=mounted
*-cdrom
description: CD-R/CD-RW writer
product: CD-Writer+ 8100
vendor: HP
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/cdrom
logical name: /dev/cdrw
logical name: /dev/scd0
logical name: /dev/sr0
version: 1.0g
capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw
configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc
*-usb:0
description: USB Controller
product: 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 7.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:07.2
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=64
resources: irq:9 ioport:1080(size=32)
*-bridge
description: Bridge
product: 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 7.3
bus info: pci@0000:00:07.3
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bridge
configuration: driver=piix4_smbus latency=0
resources: irq:9
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone]
vendor: 3Com Corporation
physical id: d
bus info: pci@0000:00:0d.0
logical name: eth0
version: 24
serial: 00:50:04:05:52:de
size: 100MB/s
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=3c59x duplex=full ip=71.207.180.6 latency=80 link=yes maxlatency=10 mingnt=10 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
resources: irq:11 ioport:1000(size=128) memory:f4043000-f404307f memory:10000000-1001ffff(prefetchable)
*-multimedia:0 UNCLAIMED
description: Multimedia video controller
product: ZR36120
vendor: Zoran Corporation
physical id: e
bus info: pci@0000:00:0e.0
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master
configuration: latency=64 maxlatency=16 mingnt=2
resources: memory:f4040000-f4040fff
*-multimedia:1
description: Multimedia audio controller
product: Vortex 2
vendor: Aureal Semiconductor
physical id: f
bus info: pci@0000:00:0f.0
version: fe
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=au8830 latency=64 maxlatency=12 mingnt=4
resources: irq:3 memory:f4000000-f403ffff ioport:10b8(size=8) ioport:10b0(size=8)
*-usb:1
description: USB Controller
product: USB
vendor: NEC Corporation
physical id: 10
bus info: pci@0000:00:10.0
version: 43
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ohci_hcd latency=64 maxlatency=42 mingnt=1
resources: irq:9 memory:f4041000-f4041fff
*-usb:2
description: USB Controller
product: USB
vendor: NEC Corporation
physical id: 10.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:10.1
version: 43
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ohci_hcd latency=64 maxlatency=42 mingnt=1
resources: irq:11 memory:f4042000-f4042fff
*-usb:3
description: USB Controller
product: USB 2.0
vendor: NEC Corporation
physical id: 10.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:10.2
version: 04
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=132 maxlatency=34 mingnt=16
resources: irq:10 memory:f4043400-f40434ff

================================================== =======================

OUTPUT OF APLAY


**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: au8830 [Aureal Vortex au8830], device 0: AU88x0 ADB [adb]
Subdevices: 32/32
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
Subdevice #4: subdevice #4
Subdevice #5: subdevice #5
Subdevice #6: subdevice #6
Subdevice #7: subdevice #7
Subdevice #8: subdevice #8
Subdevice #9: subdevice #9
Subdevice #10: subdevice #10
Subdevice #11: subdevice #11
Subdevice #12: subdevice #12
Subdevice #13: subdevice #13
Subdevice #14: subdevice #14
Subdevice #15: subdevice #15
Subdevice #16: subdevice #16
Subdevice #17: subdevice #17
Subdevice #18: subdevice #18
Subdevice #19: subdevice #19
Subdevice #20: subdevice #20
Subdevice #21: subdevice #21
Subdevice #22: subdevice #22
Subdevice #23: subdevice #23
Subdevice #24: subdevice #24
Subdevice #25: subdevice #25
Subdevice #26: subdevice #26
Subdevice #27: subdevice #27
Subdevice #28: subdevice #28
Subdevice #29: subdevice #29
Subdevice #30: subdevice #30
Subdevice #31: subdevice #31
card 0: au8830 [Aureal Vortex au8830], device 1: AU88x0 SPDIF [spdif]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: au8830 [Aureal Vortex au8830], device 2: AU88x0 A3D [a3d]
Subdevices: 16/16
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
Subdevice #4: subdevice #4
Subdevice #5: subdevice #5
Subdevice #6: subdevice #6
Subdevice #7: subdevice #7
Subdevice #8: subdevice #8
Subdevice #9: subdevice #9
Subdevice #10: subdevice #10
Subdevice #11: subdevice #11
Subdevice #12: subdevice #12
Subdevice #13: subdevice #13
Subdevice #14: subdevice #14
Subdevice #15: subdevice #15
card 0: au8830 [Aureal Vortex au8830], device 3: AU88x0 WT [wt]
Subdevices: 64/64
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
Subdevice #4: subdevice #4
Subdevice #5: subdevice #5
Subdevice #6: subdevice #6
Subdevice #7: subdevice #7
Subdevice #8: subdevice #8
Subdevice #9: subdevice #9
Subdevice #10: subdevice #10
Subdevice #11: subdevice #11
Subdevice #12: subdevice #12
Subdevice #13: subdevice #13
Subdevice #14: subdevice #14
Subdevice #15: subdevice #15
Subdevice #16: subdevice #16
Subdevice #17: subdevice #17
Subdevice #18: subdevice #18
Subdevice #19: subdevice #19
Subdevice #20: subdevice #20
Subdevice #21: subdevice #21
Subdevice #22: subdevice #22
Subdevice #23: subdevice #23
Subdevice #24: subdevice #24
Subdevice #25: subdevice #25
Subdevice #26: subdevice #26
Subdevice #27: subdevice #27
Subdevice #28: subdevice #28
Subdevice #29: subdevice #29
Subdevice #30: subdevice #30
Subdevice #31: subdevice #31
Subdevice #32: subdevice #32
Subdevice #33: subdevice #33
Subdevice #34: subdevice #34
Subdevice #35: subdevice #35
Subdevice #36: subdevice #36
Subdevice #37: subdevice #37
Subdevice #38: subdevice #38
Subdevice #39: subdevice #39
Subdevice #40: subdevice #40
Subdevice #41: subdevice #41
Subdevice #42: subdevice #42
Subdevice #43: subdevice #43
Subdevice #44: subdevice #44
Subdevice #45: subdevice #45
Subdevice #46: subdevice #46
Subdevice #47: subdevice #47
Subdevice #48: subdevice #48
Subdevice #49: subdevice #49
Subdevice #50: subdevice #50
Subdevice #51: subdevice #51
Subdevice #52: subdevice #52
Subdevice #53: subdevice #53
Subdevice #54: subdevice #54
Subdevice #55: subdevice #55
Subdevice #56: subdevice #56
Subdevice #57: subdevice #57
Subdevice #58: subdevice #58
Subdevice #59: subdevice #59
Subdevice #60: subdevice #60
Subdevice #61: subdevice #61
Subdevice #62: subdevice #62
Subdevice #63: subdevice #63

[xpacker]

Oh yes, about wattOS: it's an Ubuntu-based OS, using LXDE instead of Gnome. It's working well on this old desktop, very fast and lightweight. The only thing that's not working for me out of the box is the audio.

http://www.planetwatt.com/

[HuckBerry]

Well it looks like everything is in order as far as hardware. The irq is not being shared, the driver is loaded, and aplay recognises it. So next is software.

sudo alsamixer

run that and turn the volume up for master and PCM to about 75%.
Left&right control the device
up&down adjust volume for both channels
q&e / z&c control volume for one channel at a time
esc quits.

Then double check that your media player is set to use that sound card, as there is another one listed in your output (product: ZR36120 / vendor: Zoran Corporation)

Try this code

$ sudo aplay -L
default:CARD=au8830
    Aureal Vortex au8830, adb
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=au8830,DEV=0
    Aureal Vortex au8830, adb
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=au8830,DEV=0
    Aureal Vortex au8830, adb
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
iec958:CARD=au8830,DEV=0
    Aureal Vortex au8830, spdif
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)$
$ aplay -D front
^CAborted by signal Interrupt...

you can replace "front" with any of the devices from the "-L" output. If you dont see any errors when it runs, then it is working. Hit CTRL+C to stop playback. If all that works and you don't get sound, you may have the speakers in the wrong jack or the card may be dead.

Hope that helps.

[xpacker]

Thanks so much, Huckberry. It turns out the old speakers were completely dead. I switched them with a different set, and all is well.

If you hadn't mentioned the word "dead," I'd never have figured it out. I was convinced there was an esoteric software problem. I appreciate your checking it all out -- I really had no idea how to check for it myself.

Sorry it turned out so mundane, but my gratitude is just as complete.

[HuckBerry]

No problem, this thread is now a wonderful step-by-step guide on how to troubleshoot audio issues in linux. But do keep in mind the golden rule of troubleshooting: narrow the domain of failure by replacing as much as possible with proven working components. (eg. swap the speakers first, then the soundcard, then the config) Remember all those jokes from the 90's about plugging the computer in before calling tech support?