Perfect sound in Ubuntu 11.10, No sound in Xubuntu 11.10

[razaz03]

The most significant input I can provide without pasting terminal commands is the above, Sound works perfectly with my Creative X-Fi soundcard in W7 and Ubuntu 11.10 (fresh install) but not Xubuntu 11.10 (fresh install), so I refuse to believe an ALSA driver doesn't exist.

I can see my volume button with Creative X-FI (Alsa mixer) and Playback: SB X-Fi Analogue Stereo (Pulse Audio Mixer) amongst others, with every option unmuted.

Comprehensive Sound Problem Solutions Guide v0.5e

(1) Go to a shell and type: Code:
aplay -l

card 0: XFi [Creative X-Fi], device 1: ctxfi [Surround]
Subdevices: 8/8
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

and

card 0: XFi [Creative X-Fi], device 4: ctxfi [IEC958 Non-audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Amongst onboard.

(2) Type this into the shell: Code:
lspci -v

05:02.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB X-Fi
Subsystem: Creative Labs Device 0023
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 18
I/O ports at ec00 [size=32]
Memory at fea00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2M]
Memory at f8000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: SB-XFi
Kernel modules: snd-ctxfi

(3) Check to see if the ALSA driver for your sound card exists. Go to http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/ and search for your sound card (chipset) manufacturer in the dropdown box. You'll be given a matrix of the sound cards made by the manufacturer. Try to match the chipset you found in step 2 with the driver(green hyperlink text).

I don't see ctxfi in the list but big deal; it works in Ubuntu 11.10.

(4) Now go back to the shell and type Code:
sudo modprobe snd-ctxfi

• Failure -You have two options

• Move on to Getting the ALSA drivers from a *fresh* kernel. This step is easier and is recommended to users who might have been tinkering with their sound settings and want to revert back to the way it was just after installing Ubuntu (without reinstalling Ubuntu of course )

Move on to ALSA driver Compilation, if you have not done so already. If you have, please post a new thread with your problem.

So attempting the former part of the guide now as I've written this and don't want to lose it's format, I'll post the thread and edit it with the result.

Many thanks,

raz





Followed the guide to a tee and it doesn't work: My user was not in audio when I typed into terminal:

raz@raznix:~$ grep 'audio' /etc/group
audio:29ulse

after following the guide, changing it to:

raz@raznix:~$ grep 'audio' /etc/group
audio:29ulse:raz

It. Still. Doesn't. Work

Included is a screen shot I took in desperation, please help!

[razaz03]

Buuuuuump, no solution as yet and I would really appreciate any ideas!

[4Orbs]

The problem with Xubuntu mixer is that you can select your desired sound card, but there is no method provided to turn-off the other sound cards (or sound chip). If you install either the Pulse Audio volume control or gnome-media you will then be able to disable the undesired sound devices by using the dropdown menu found in the Hardware Configuration settings of either volume control you choose to install. Open a terminal and enter either:

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol

OR:

sudo apt-get install gnome-media

then, after the installation finishes, open the sound configuration settings and turn-off all sound devices except the one you wish to use.

NOTE: Installing gnome-media will add another volume icon to your desktop panel. You can easily remove the Xubuntu mixer icon by opening the Xubuntu Settings Manager>>Sessions and Startup>>Autostart Apps and un-check the Volume Control. After reboot you will have only the single gnome-media volume icon on the panel.

[razaz03]

The problem with Xubuntu mixer is that you can select your desired sound card, but there is no method provided to turn-off the other sound cards (or sound chip). If you install either the Pulse Audio volume control or gnome-media you will then be able to disable the undesired sound devices by using the dropdown menu found in the Hardware Configuration settings of either volume control you choose to install. Open a terminal and enter either:

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol

OR:

sudo apt-get install gnome-media

then, after the installation finishes, open the sound configuration settings and turn-off all sound devices except the one you wish to use.

NOTE: Installing gnome-media will add another volume icon to your desktop panel. You can easily remove the Xubuntu mixer icon by opening the Xubuntu Settings Manager>>Sessions and Startup>>Autostart Apps and un-check the Volume Control. After reboot you will have only the single gnome-media volume icon on the panel.

Dear god it's worked. Orb, you're a genius.

I'm only grateful now but I will say one thing (that no one will ever see unless you have reply notifications): I was recommended to do my coding on Linux using the LAMP synergy.

I spent many hours troubleshooting this via the official troubleshooting pages which were neither here nor there, before you responded and I implemented your suggestion. Not many would be as patient, and with the sort of enthusiasm for linux as I. Especially coming from an already comfortable operating environment.

Nobody will ever see this but on the off-chance: Canonical need to get their act together and support Xubuntu as much Ubuntu if they value growth.

[UndiFineD]

the following link is broken
http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/

[luno]

I experienced a similar problem with an Acer Aspire One netbook (model AO-D250) and 11.10. Audio works fine in Ubuntu, doesn't work at all in Xubuntu. I'd have to consider this distro broken, since it looks like the OP and I have completely different audio hardware.

Most importantly, I installed "pavucontrol" via aptitude, configured mixer settings and now everything works. This is an easy fix.

lspci:

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)

lsmod|grep snd:

snd_hda_codec_realtek 254125 1
snd_hda_intel 24262 3
snd_hda_codec 91859 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 13276 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 80435 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_midi 13132 0
snd_rawmidi 25241 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 14475 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 51567 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer 28932 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 14172 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd 55902 15 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec, snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,sn d_seq_device
soundcore 12600 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 14115 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

aplay -l:
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC272X Analog [ALC272X Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

[hitman2k9]

Worked for me too thank you !

[Dlambert]

This didn't work for me....Creative SB -Xtreme (same card)

[ShawnMilo]

Thank you!

I've had so much trouble with this I switched back to Ubuntu from Xubuntu. For weeks I've been unable to solve this problem.

Using pavucontrol solved the problem for me -- finally!