Volume applet doesn't change the actual volume

[Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen]

When I try to adjust the play back volume via the volume applet, nothing
happens. Turning all the way up or all the way down has no effect what so ever.
If I change volume from inside Rhythbox or Totem it works fine. Adjusting PCM
from the volume control (right click applet -> "Open Volume Control") also works
fine.

Sometimes I'm not even allowed to adjust the slider in the applet. It just
returns to it's original position immediately.

My Soundcard is a VIA1612A. "lsmod | grep via" gives me:

via_rhine 19972 0
mii 4736 1 via_rhine
snd_via82xx 25248 2
snd_ac97_codec 64608 1 snd_via82xx
snd_pcm 84872 4 snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_page_alloc 9604 2 snd_via82xx,snd_pcm
snd_mpu401_uart 7168 1 snd_via82xx
snd 50276 10
snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
i2c_viapro 7436 0
i2c_core 21264 1 i2c_viapro
via_ircc 24340 0
via_agp 9216 1
gameport 4608 2 snd_via82xx,analog
irda 168000 3 via_ircc,irtty_sir,sir_dev
agpgart 31784 2 via_agp,nvidia
via82cxxx 12956 1
ide_core 118988 5 usb_storage,ide_cd,ide_generic,via82cxxx,ide_disk

Cheers!

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

do you use hoary? what mixer/channel is configured for the applet (you can set
than from the right click menu/preferences)

[Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen (kamstrup)]

I've tried using both OSS and ALSA in the VolApplet->Prefs. dialog. My
System->Prefs->Multimedia Sys. Sel. is set to ALSA.

I went to VolApplet->Open Vol. Ctrl. and discovered that it was still using OSS.
Changing this to ALSA I got a partial succes. Changing Master still had no
effect, but adjusting the Headphone channel did effect the volume. So now I've
just pointed the applet to adjust the Headphone channel.

This have been working in the past, in I'm quite sure I haven't touched the
wiring... Anyways the jackstick I'm using now is the only one on the card I'm
able to get any sound from.

A point: Maybe System->Prefs->Multimedia Sys. Sel. should govern the behavior of
the various system-section in the vol. applet? Right now there's three places to
set it. In the Media Selector, The Applet->Vol Ctrl. and Applet->Prefs.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

does changing "master" with alsamixer works?

[Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen (kamstrup)]

No. Only the Headphone in alsa, seems to make a difference.

[Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen (kamstrup)]

By the way, my soundcard is an onboard VIA Technologies VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97
Audio Controller

If it matters

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

thanks. reassigning to alsa since it does the same with alsamixer

[James Sumners (james-sumners)]

I don't think this has anything to do with ALSA. I am using a first generation
SoundBlaster Live! and the OSS emu10k1 driver. The ALSA driver produces
"scratchy" sound so I load the emu10k1 driver manually via `/etc/modules.conf`.

Any way, I am having the same problem with the volume applet. I can left click
the applet to bring up the volume slider, scroll the mouse wheel and watch it
sort "try" to change positions. Looking at the preferences for the applet I see
that the correct audio driver is selected but there are not any "tracks" to
control. If I remove the applet and re-add it to the panel I can then view the
preferences and the tracks are there to select. However, as soon as I either
lock the applet's position or try to use the slider it "forgets" how to adjust
the volume and the tracks are gone from the preferences.

I am using Ubuntu 5.04.

[Fredrik Roos (fredrik-roos)]

I suspect the reporter of this bug either has his computer permanently plugged
in to stereo or headphones, or has a computer with some kind of internal speaker
output but no actual speakers.

I was hit by this bug when i upgraded to Hoary. I can no longer use my volume
keys on the laptop unless i'm using the internal speakers on my laptop. It did
work in Warty. No sane person would use the internal speakers, they're really
crappy, so in effect i have no working volume keys.

The problem is that when you plug something in the headphone socket, the
internal speakers are disabled. Since the master only affects the speakers, not
the headphone output, the master volume control is disabled too. Under ALSA i
can change the applet to target the "Headphone" output instead, but under OSS
there is no master volume control at all in this situation. There is no way to
make the shortcut buttons work as they insist on changing the ALSA Master channel.

Making the shortcut keys change the same channel as the volume applet would work
around this bug for me, and seems like the right thing overall. However, it
would still mean that the user would have to change the preferences each time he
plugged in a couple of headphones. So the ideal thing would be to have one
single channel for both headphone and speakers, at least on laptops (i've never
seen a laptop that does not disable the builtin speakers when headphones are
plugged in).

I don't know why Warty worked. Either the Master did affect the output, or the
shortcut keys respected the setting in the volume applet.

I have a Dell Latitude D800 with an audio device my system identifies as Intel
82801DB-ICH4, using the snd_intel8x0 module.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

The submitter (Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen) should try passing "ac97_quirk=hp_only"
to the snd-via82xx module.

The person (Fredrik Roos) whose internal speakers are disabled when something
is plugged into the headphone socket could try the same with snd-intel8x0 and
if this doesn't work then he could try the suggestion at:

    https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view.php?id=1178

This involves patching the driver and setting a new quirk value.

Let us know the results !!!

[Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen (kamstrup)]

How would I most easily pass "ac97_quirk=hp_only" to the snd_via82xx module? I
have a hard time rmmoding it since all my sound modules are highly interdependant.

Is there anything like "modprobe --reload foobar"?

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

> How would I...

As root:
echo 'options snd-via82xx ac97_quirk=hp_only' > /etc/modprobe.d/snd-via82xx
/etc/init.d/alsa force-reload

[Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen (kamstrup)]

Hmmm... Doesn't seem to work. Here's my output:

root@bitsplitter:~# echo 'options snd-via82xx ac97_quirk=hp_only' >
/etc/modprobe.d/snd-via82xx
root@bitsplitter:~# /etc/init.d/alsa force-reload
 * Terminating processes:
 8340 8432.
Unloading ALSA sound driver modules: snd-via82xx snd-ac97-codec snd-pcm-oss
snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm snd-timer snd-page-alloc snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi
snd-seq-device.
Reloading sound driver modules: snd-via82xx snd-ac97-codec snd-pcm-oss
snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm snd-timer snd-page-alloc snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi
snd-seq-deviceFATAL: Error inserting snd_via82xx
(/lib/modules/2.6.10-5-386/kernel/sound/pci/snd-via82xx.ko): Invalid argument
FATAL: Error running install command for snd_via82xx
 (failed).
root@bitsplitter:~#

NOTE: I am still running Hoary here... Are you assuming I'm running Breezy? If I
need to I'll update one of the following days when I find the time.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

I guess your version of the driver does not support that "quirk". You
may have better luck with the Breezy version of the driver. This means
installing a newer kernel package.

If you don't want to upgrade your kernel package then you can upgrade just the
ALSA modules. This involves installing alsa-sound from Breezy and generating
an alsa-modules package from it (using make-kpkg) for your kernel.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

Please let us know the results of your experiments with the latest ALSA drivers.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

No response. Presume fixed.