No sound in Linux Mint (have to change default settings in AlsaMixer)

[Mikko]

A lot of people are having problems with audio not working properly in Linux Mint (not sure if it's a Mint or Ubuntu problem). The problem exists at least for Linux Mint 17 Mate/Cinnamon and Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon versions.

Those affected try to reinstall software, update drivers and do other shamanic things. I personally couldn't fix the problem and had to reinstall the whole Linux (it didn't help). I almost gave up on switching to Linux ("I guess the most user-friendly Linux distribution is still too raw; will examine the state of the things in another five years").

But the problem, which has been there for years and is affecting people, is in fact very simple - the wrong settings in AlsaMixer. And the solution is very easy as well - the default settings for AlsaMixer should be changed.

For some strange reason, by default (both when using Live-CD and after the install), the sound settings are such that the sound is disabled. In my case "Auto-mute mode" was enabled by default (it should be disabled). The problem is that the graphical settings window doen't show any problem - everything is enabled and should work. But it doesn't. And only running "alsamixer" in terminal and changing settings there can solve the problem. And even running it doesn't always help (for hours I was trying to randomly change all kinds of settings, but wasn't lucky enough to change the correct one).

In my case it was the enabled "Auto-mute mode". Other people are reporting that their most common outputs are muted by default (for whatever reason) or sound in on low.

Here is some of other people having the same problem:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/no-sound-in-linux-mint-4175510614/
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2294972

If possible, it would be nice to have those kinds of settings displayed graphically in sound settings. I understand that this may take some time.

But what is absolutely needed is the simple change to default settings.

[Michelle Wardley (michellewardley)]

Yep Please help
Earphones work. No onboard sound
Shell

[SIDDHARTH (dhar-75-ap)]

its actually easy to fix.The only problem being you may have to update the kenel.The problem I guess lies due to improper working of pulse and alsa modules.

To fix this you may try these 3 methods

Method #1:

1. reinstall alsa,alsa-base and pavucontrol (a control form pulse audio) . command 'sudo apt-get install --reinstall alsa alsa-base pavucontrol'. Make sure an user name audio is created. Make sure you keep a log of what programs got removed and got installed.

2. reboot your system, command 'reboot', and check wheter audio exists

By now you must have got audio,check the hardware for ==> analog stereo duplex

, else try method #2.

Method #2:

1. Chances are the first one didnt work,so this is a clean method for method #1.

   a. First remove everything related to alsa,please keep a log of what gets removed here, command 'sudo apt purge -y alsa alsa-base',this should remove alsa,alsa-base and everything related to alsa packages.

   b. Then autoremove anything left behind , command 'sudo apt autoremove'.

   c. Then clean your apt database, command 'sudo apt clean'

   d. now lets remove pulse audio too . command 'sudo apt purge -y pavucontrol',this would remove pulse audio,completely.

   e. then repeat steps b and c once more. Make sure you made a log of what programs got removed. Now reboot your system.

  f. Install alsa and alsa-base first , command 'sudo apt install -y alsa alsa-base' , this should install all alsa dependents.

  g. install pulse audio now , command 'sudo apt install -y pavucontrol' , this should install pavucontrol. Make sure a new audio user is created.

   h. reboot your system . command 'reboot' and check if audio is there.

By now you must have got audio,check the hardware for ==> analog stereo duplex

If it still fails try method #3

Method #3.

 Method #1 and Method #2 failed by now,so we will also update the kernel too.

 Updating kernels is risky so don`t try this if you dont know how to fix grub etc.

  a. check the kernel version you are currently using, command 'uname -a >log.txt', open log.txt to check which kernel you are using, or try command 'uname -a' to check. if its shows just x86 you have a 32 bits one system, if its instead x86_64 , you have a 64 bits.

  b. go to url http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/ and check the latest kernel,dont try rc yet . So for this one try http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.12.4/ .

   Download Build for amd64 if you have 64 bits (x86_64).

     deb files to download are :-

   1. http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.12.4/linux-headers-4.12.4-041204_4.12.4-041204.201707271932_all.deb

    2. http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.12.4/linux-headers-4.12.4-041204-generic_4.12.4-041204.201707271932_amd64.deb

   3. http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.12.4/linux-image-4.12.4-041204-generic_4.12.4-041204.201707271932_amd64.deb

  If you instead got X86, then download 32 bits one ===> Build for i386

   deb files to download are :-

   1. http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.12.4/linux-headers-4.12.4-041204_4.12.4-041204.201707271932_all.deb

   2. http:...

[Greg (cebif)]

I used method 1 with the addition of disabling HDA Nvidia in pavucontrol, configuration. I had been using HDMI output but wanted to switch back to generic analogue stereo duplex. This was not working until I disabled HDMI.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.