[Hardy][amd64] No sound, other than from Sample Cache, and login sound

[javroch]

Binary package hint: pulseaudio

To start off I have an Audigy 2 sound card. I get the normal login and logoff sounds and from the Manager within the PulseAudio Device Chooser the sounds in the sample cache work as well; however, if I try to use any application whatsoever no sound is generated. I have opened up the Volume Meter (Playback), also from the PulseAudio Device Chooser, and it confirms that no sound is being registered, as the volume meters remain motionless. If I return all my configuration to ALSA:

asoundconf unset-pulseaudio
System > Administration > Sound.. set everything to ALSA

then the sound works again, but then the login sound doesn't work. The reason why I care is that Flash 9 in Firefox doesn't produce any sound for me in ALSA and I hear that it works for PulseAudio. So, I have been trying to get Pulse Audio to work. I noticed that the PulseAudio Output device says "(ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback)" which led me to believe that this might be the problem. In my alsa-mixer or just the Volume Control in gnome, when using ALSA, the PCM Front, PCM, Side, PCM Center, PCM Surround, etc channels don't control anything. I use just Front, Side, Center, Surround, etc. If you would like the output of any specific commands, let me know.

[javroch (javroch)]

If I choose the secondary, onboard sound, which I thought I had disabled in the BIOS, then the volume meter from the PulseAudio Device Chooser shows that it is receiving the sound. Only when I choose my correct sound card, do the bars remain motionless. But, the system login sound and the sounds from the sample cache do work on my correct (Audigy2) soundcard, just not other sounds.

[javroch (javroch)]

If I change all of the playback devices in gnome-sound-preferences to Multichannel Playback, then I can get all my application sounds and the login system sounds, but the application sounds are not going through PulseAudio as the Volume Meter for my Default Output device remains motionless. It seems like this is just circumventing PulseAudio.

[drifter (universaldrifter)]

Without going into tech stuff(newbie)I have struggled for weeks on my vista laptop and my xp pc. I am running wubi exe on both. The machines have entirely different sound cards but the problems are identical. I think I have read and tried every suggestion on Ubutntu forum and here. I just cannot record anything on any recording prog including Sound Recorder. I have installed and uninstalled pulseaudio and alsa,religiously switched back and forth with every combination in sound settings in every conceivable way and still zero recording. The strange thing is I can do what the hell I want on the playback side and get perfect sound on all applications. I do a lot of editing and recording for local radio and i am forced to go back to programmes for editing and recording in Msoft where things are a lot slower and for me sound quality is poorer . Has anyone got a straight forward fix because I have not found one yet?! . One thing the experience has taught me so far is that I can now use with some confidence many of ,what appears to be for a windows user,the idiosyncrasies to be found in Ubuntu. I hope I do not offend by my remark because I like loinux so much I really want to stick with it but time is not on my side unfortunately. I just get the feeling that there are a lot more people out there who are suffering the same problem and more than the forums indicate. Help! Audacious I would love to use but I frustratingly can't.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

This configuration issue is resolved in 8.10.