[Asus P5Q3 deluxe] PCI/internal sound card not detected

[David Anderson]

12.04 was playing sound just fine until recently. Do not know what update
broke sound. The sound device on the motherboard is not being detected
now.

q2 504: lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Release: 12.04
q2 505: uname -av
Linux q2 3.2.0-29-generic-pae #46-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jul 27 17:25:43 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
q2 506:

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-29.46-generic-pae 3.2.24
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-29-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaDevices:
 total 0
 crw-rw---T 1 root audio 116, 1 Aug 10 11:31 seq
 crw-rw---T 1 root audio 116, 33 Aug 10 11:31 timer
AplayDevices: aplay: device_list:252: no soundcards found...
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu12
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices: arecord: device_list:252: no soundcards found...
AudioDevicesInUse: Error: command ['fuser', '-v', '/dev/snd/seq', '/dev/snd/timer'] failed with exit code 1:
Date: Fri Aug 10 13:58:36 2012
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Title: PCI/internal sound card not detected
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-04-28 (104 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 05/26/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 2105
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: P5Q3 DELUXE
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev 1.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr2105:bd05/26/2009:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnP5Q3DELUXE:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnP5Q3DELUXE:rvrRev1.xx:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: P5Q3 DELUXE
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer

[David Anderson (davea42)]

Happy to answer any questions.

[Daniel Letzeisen (dtl131)]

Your dmesg has the error:
init: alsa-restore main process (1267) terminated with status 19

What happens when you run this command:
sudo alsactl -d restore

[David Anderson (davea42)]

q2 506: sudo alsactl -d restore
[sudo] password for davea:
alsactl: load_state:1686: No soundcards found...

[David Anderson (davea42)]

As a sanity check I booted from the first live CD I came across in a stack (Ubuntu 10.10)
and its sound settings panel says "Internal Audio 1 Output 1 Input Analog Stereo Duplex"
and once I turned off 'mute' there the speakers worked fine.

So rebooted into 12.04. No sound.
Same alsa-restore terminated message in dmesg output as dtl131 noted above.

[David Anderson (davea42)]

Maybe same as , duplicate of, 1013183 ?

That is marked fix released but I don't know how fix-released relates to the current update of 12.04.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

The problem seems to be at kernel level. Do you have an older kernel you can boot instead, and if so, does it work?

Also, do you get any error messages (including messages in dmesg) when trying to load the snd-hda-intel module manually with this command?
sudo modprobe snd-hda-intel

[David Anderson (davea42)]

q2 734: sudo modprobe snd-hda-intel
[sudo] password for davea:
q2 735:

Will see what boot says is still present in a moment.

[David Anderson (davea42)]

From dmesg:

[731221.666235] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 22
[731221.666276] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: irq 45 for MSI/MSI-X
[731221.666296] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: setting latency timer to 64

[David Anderson (davea42)]

The grub menu goes back to -24, and booting into -24-pae
results in the same dmesg about alsa.

[David Anderson (davea42)]

Having done that modprobe (with current -29-pae kernel) the system settings now show
sound and sound works. I will now reboot again without the modprobe and see what is what.

[David Anderson (davea42)]

Rebooted, current kernel (-29-pae)
Without modprobe, I have no sound devices in system settings (aside from dummy device).

After modprobe, I have internal sound device listed in system settings
and sound works . Speakers work and skype test-call got my speaking so
microphone works.

This is a fine workaround. I remain willing to run further tests if they will help.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

So under the -24-pae kernel, the snd-hda-intel module loads automatically at boot, but under the -29-pae kernel, you need to manually call modprobe to load it?

That's a new type of bug to me, and I don't know exactly how to fix it. Maybe reinstalling the actual kernel package or running depmod manually? Not sure.

[David Anderson (davea42)]

I was unclear, sorry.

In early 12.04 sound loaded and ran fine.

At some point in routine updates it stopped loading, and in -29-pae it does NOT load automatically, though
the modprobe loads it (thus providing a workaround).

When I went back (using grub) to -24-pae sound did NOT load. In other words going
back to an earlier kernel with grub did not make sound work at boot.

Unfortunately, the above experiments do not really prove when sound stopped working.
The experiments do not prove sound was failing in -24-pae. And in fact I have the vague
impression sound was *working* in -24-pae and even later but have no way
I know of to confirm or deny that impression.
Sorry.

I made a brief effort to find the source code as I wondered what the alsa-restore error code 19 meant,
but that effort failed.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

All right, then please see if this command gives any output:

grep -ri "snd.hda" /etc/modprobe.d/

Also see if you have a /etc/modprobe.conf file.

[David Anderson (davea42)]

I do not understand why the blacklist snd-hda-intel line or *noALSA
exist

q2 533: grep -ri "snd.hda" /etc/modprobe.d/
/etc/modprobe.d/oss4-base_noALSA.conf:blacklist snd-hda-intel
q2 534: ls -l modeprobe.d
ls: cannot access modeprobe.d: No such file or directory
q2 535: ls modprobe.d
alsa-base.conf libpisock9.conf
blacklist-ath_pci.conf nvidia-current_hybrid.conf
blacklist.conf nvidia-current-updates_hybrid.conf
blacklist-firewire.conf nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf
blacklist-framebuffer.conf oss4-base.conf
blacklist-modem.conf oss4-base_noALSA.conf
blacklist-oss.conf oss4-base_noOSS3.conf
blacklist-rare-network.conf oss-compat.conf
blacklist-watchdog.conf vmwgfx-fbdev.conf
dkms.conf

q2 536: ls -l modprobe.d
total 60
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2507 Sep 15 2010 alsa-base.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 325 Mar 18 2009 blacklist-ath_pci.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1870 Apr 26 08:12 blacklist.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 210 Oct 1 2010 blacklist-firewire.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 661 Apr 1 2011 blacklist-framebuffer.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 156 Apr 8 2009 blacklist-modem.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 Aug 10 10:36 blacklist-oss.conf -> /lib/linux-sound-base/noOSS.modprobe.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 583 Apr 1 2011 blacklist-rare-network.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1077 Sep 15 2009 blacklist-watchdog.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 127 Apr 22 00:31 dkms.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 16 Mar 5 2009 libpisock9.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 157 Apr 12 15:33 nvidia-current_hybrid.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 165 Apr 12 15:29 nvidia-current-updates_hybrid.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 47 May 21 09:44 nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf -> /etc/alternatives/i386-linux-gnu_nvidia_modconf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 70 Jan 28 2012 oss4-base.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 42 Feb 5 2012 oss4-base_noALSA.conf -> /lib/linux-sound-base/noALSA.modprobe.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 Feb 5 2012 oss4-base_noOSS3.conf -> /lib/linux-sound-base/noOSS.modprobe.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 356 Apr 27 17:54 oss-compat.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 30 May 18 01:02 vmwgfx-fbdev.conf
q2 537:

q2 537: ls -l /lib/linux-sound-base
total 8
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3916 Feb 15 2012 noALSA.modprobe.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1059 Feb 15 2012 noOSS.modprobe.conf
q2 538:

Sound was working after Feb 15. For sure (youtube videos worked).

Are the *noALSA sensible? Should I just comment out the blacklist snd-hda-intel and reboot
as a test?
How could those noALSA be present? Something I did somehow?

I have not modified these modprobe.d files by hand aside from commenting out
a "blacklist uas" in blacklist.conf for a Hitachi Touro that temporarily
helped with a Hitachi Touro USB drive for a while (but is now supported in 12.04
so the uas blacklist is unneeded).

[David Anderson (davea42)]

There is no /etc/modprobe.conf file.

[David Anderson (davea42)]

q2 505: dpkg-query --search '*noALSA*'
linux-sound-base: /lib/linux-sound-base/noALSA.modprobe.conf
oss4-base: /etc/modprobe.d/oss4-base_noALSA.conf
q2 506: dpkg-query --search '*oss4-base_noALSA.conf*'
oss4-base: /etc/modprobe.d/oss4-base_noALSA.conf
q2 507:

[David Anderson (davea42)]

I edited oss4-base_noALSA.conf

Added the comment, commented out the blacklist as follows (showing in the next two lines).

# this is our sound. DavidA. Do not blacklist.
#blacklist snd-hda-intel

On reboot sound works without any problem I can find.
So... why is that noALSA there, I wonder?
Something I did somehow?

[David Anderson (davea42)]

I have some backups of etc (not every day), and I keep pretty much up to date
with 12.04 updates.

On July 16 2012, the *noALSA files were not there in /etc/modprobe.d.
On July 18, the *noALSA files were present.
So sound disappeared at the next reboot after July 18.

[David Anderson (davea42)]

The attachment is the result of a diff -r of the July 16 (temp dir name etc30) and July 18 ( temp dir name etc09) versions
of /etc. Notice that in the attachment that
    etc/init.d/oss4-base appears on July 18. (in etc09) Not on July16.

I do not know or recall why oss4 appears.

[David Anderson (davea42)]

The "No such file or directory" entries (where present for both etc30 and etc09) mean
the entry is a symlink to a file not part of /etc, and not in the tarfile.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

So you managed to bring in oss4 somehow. I don't really know the best way to purge it from the system, but it should not be there.
Try to uninstall/purge the oss4-base package and see what else it also wants to uninstall, that might give you a hint of what caused the installation of this package.
/var/log/dpkg.log might also give you a hint of when it was installed and why.

[David Anderson (davea42)]

I removed oss4-base and there were no dependencies, indicating it was entirely my fault
from the beginning. The offending oss4 files are gone from modprobe.d and
a reboot shows sound is working.

dpkg.log.1 shows the install on July 17.

Thanks to all who commented, you helped a lot.
Sorry I caused you to spend time repairing my mistake.

I've learned a fair amount in the process, and I appreciate the guidance.

[David Anderson (davea42)]

The bug should be closed, it seems like the only sensible bug status (from the list I see
on clicking the status field) would
be Invalid since it was my mistake.

[David Anderson (davea42)]

I marked it invalid so no one spends more time on it.