USB headset only sound in left ear until changing volume

[ChristofferS]

When I boot into Gnome, the sound in my USB headset (which is the default sound
device) only has sound in left ear (very loud). When I change the volume, sound
appears in both ears and at a more normal volume level. It happens every time I
log into Gnome.

lsusb says:

#lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 046d:0a01 Logitech, Inc.

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

This happens instantly, as soon as you change the volume?

Please attach the output from the "amixer" command before and after you make
this change, so we can see the difference

[ChristofferS (ubuntu-curo)]

Created an attachment (id=1793)
Amixer before changing volume

Yes, it happens instantly.

[ChristofferS (ubuntu-curo)]

Created an attachment (id=1794)
Amixer after changing volume

[ChristofferS (ubuntu-curo)]

(From update of attachment 1793)
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined cvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch
cswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 15 Capture 0 - 15
  Mono: Playback 15 [100%] [off]
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 15 [48%] [on]

[ChristofferS (ubuntu-curo)]

(From update of attachment 1794)
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined cvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch
cswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 15 Capture 0 - 15
  Mono: Playback 15 [100%] [off]
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 23 [74%] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 23 [74%] [on]

[ChristofferS (ubuntu-curo)]

Created an attachment (id=1795)
Amixer after changing volume.

I uploaded the wrong file. Sorry

[ChristofferS (ubuntu-curo)]

Created an attachment (id=1796)
Amixer before changing volume

I uploaded the wrong file. Sorry

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

Does GNOME itself (or, say, its mixer applet) save and restore mixer settings?

[ChristofferS (ubuntu-curo)]

(In reply to comment #8)
> Does GNOME itself (or, say, its mixer applet) save and restore mixer settings?

Well, it happens every time I log into Gnome, so I guess that Gnome/mixer does
not save and restore mixer settings.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

> Well, it happens every time I log into Gnome, so I guess that Gnome/mixer does
> not save and restore mixer settings.

It sounds as if GNOME is restoring or setting mixer levels to stupid values.
In that case this bug report needs to be assigned to the relevant GNOME package.

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

I don't think that GNOME saves or restores mixer settings, but it's possible
that they are being changed in unexpected ways when the user adjusts the mixer
controls...

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

no, GNOME doesn't change the mixer settings

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

(In reply to comment #9)
> (In reply to comment #8)
> > Does GNOME itself (or, say, its mixer applet) save and restore mixer settings?
>
> Well, it happens every time I log into Gnome, so I guess that Gnome/mixer does
> not save and restore mixer settings.

Do you mean by this "...every time I boot the machine and log in"? If so
then the problem is that the sound levels of the USB headset are not being
initialised to sane values or saved-and-restored on boot.

[ChristofferS (ubuntu-curo)]

(In reply to comment #13)
> Do you mean by this "...every time I boot the machine and log in"? If so
> then the problem is that the sound levels of the USB headset are not being
> initialised to sane values or saved-and-restored on boot.

Yes, that is what I mean. I have examined it more and found that it only happens
when I boot and log into Gnome.

When I log into Gnome, adjust the volume, log out of Gnome and in again, the
volume is set correctly.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

> When I log into Gnome, adjust the volume, log out of Gnome and in again, the
> volume is set correctly.

Are the levels for the headset stored in /var/lib/alsa/asound.state?

[ChristofferS (ubuntu-curo)]

Created an attachment (id=3338)
Contents of /var/lib/alsa/asound.state

It seems that the mixer settings are saved in this file.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

(In reply to comment #16)
> Created an attachment (id=3338) [edit]
> Contents of /var/lib/alsa/asound.state
>
> It seems that the mixer settings are saved in this file.

Yes, the file contains the settings for:

  name 'Mic Playback Switch'
  name 'Mic Playback Volume'
  name 'Speaker Playback Switch'
  name 'Speaker Playback Volume'
   name 'Mic Capture Switch'
  name 'Mic Capture Volume'

Please sent the output of:

    ls /dev/snd
    dpkg -l udev alsa-base alsa-utils
    ls /etc/udev/rules.d

[ChristofferS (ubuntu-curo)]

Created an attachment (id=3375)
Contents of ls /dev/snd

[ChristofferS (ubuntu-curo)]

Created an attachment (id=3376)
Contents of dpkg -l udev alsa-base alsa-utils

[ChristofferS (ubuntu-curo)]

Created an attachment (id=3377)
Output of ls /etc/udev/rules.d

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

Please upgrade to the Breezy versions of udev, alsa-base, alsa-utils
and let us know if the problem persists.

[ChristofferS (ubuntu-curo)]

I have just tried in the Breezy version and the problem does not occur there.

Thanks for the help :-)

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

Thanks.