Static sound on Left Channel with hda-intel STAC 9221 A1

[simonjames]

Binary package hint: kernel-image-2.6.27-2-generic-di

I get static from only the left channel even on a clean install of 8.04.1. Now I have upgraded to 8.10 and I have the same issue.

I have a dell dimension 9150 with codec stac 9221 A1 that loads hda-intel.

I found a workaround to my problem which consists of simply rebooting the machine, then the static is gone. But when I shut down and restart, the static is back. It is a slight pain booting twice every time to get acceptable sound.

I've tried different programs, different devices (pulseaudio/oss/alsa), lowering the sliders in the volume control but with no luck.

Should I include any other files/info?

Thanks

Description: Ubuntu intrepid (development branch)
Release: 8.10

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller [8086:27d8] (rev 01)
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:01d1]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
 Region 0: Memory at febfc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
 Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
00:00 PNP0a03 PCI bus
    state = active
 io 0xcf8-0xcff

00:01 PNP0c01 System board
    state = active
 io 0x60-0x60
 io 0x64-0x64
 io 0x62-0x63
 io 0x65-0x6f
 io 0xe0-0xef
 io 0x800-0x85f
 io 0xc00-0xc7f
 io 0x860-0x8ff

00:02 PNP0200 AT DMA controller
    state = active
 io 0x80-0x9f
 io 0x0-0x1f
 io 0xc0-0xdf
 dma 4

00:03 PNP0c04 Math coprocessor
    state = active
 io 0xf0-0xff
 irq 13

00:04 PNP0800 AT speaker
    state = active
 io 0x61-0x61

00:05 PNP0b00 AT real-time clock
    state = active
 io 0x70-0x7f
 irq 8

00:06 PNP0c01 System board
    state = active
 mem 0x0-0x9ffff
 mem 0x100000-0xffffff
 mem 0x1000000-0x7fe8cbff
 mem 0xf0000-0xfffff
 mem 0xc0000-0xd3fff
 mem 0xfec00000-0xfecfffff
 mem 0xfee00000-0xfeefffff
 mem 0xfed20000-0xfed9ffff
 mem 0xffb00000-0xffbfffff
 mem 0xffc00000-0xffffffff

00:07 PNP0c02 Motherboard resources
    state = active
 mem 0xf0000000-0xf3ffffff
 mem 0xfeda0000-0xfedacfff
 io 0x100-0x1fe
 io 0x200-0x277
 io 0x280-0x2e7
 io 0x2e8-0x2ef
 io 0x2f0-0x2f7
 io 0x2f8-0x2ff
 io 0x300-0x377
 io 0x380-0x3bb
 io 0x3c0-0x3e7
 io 0x3f6-0x3f7
 io 0x400-0x4cf
 io 0x4d2-0x57f
 io 0x580-0x677
 io 0x680-0x777
 io 0x780-0x7bb
 io 0x7c0-0x7ff
 io 0x8e0-0x8ff
 io 0x900-0x9fe
 io 0xa00-0xafe
 io 0xb00-0xbfe
 io 0xc80-0xcaf
 io 0xcb0-0xcbf
 io 0xcc0-0xcf7
 io 0xd00-0xdfe
 io 0xe00-0xefe
 io 0xf00-0xffe
 io 0x2000-0x20fe
 io 0x2100-0x21fe
 io 0x2200-0x22fe
 io 0x2300-0x23fe
 io 0x2400-0x24fe
 io 0x2500-0x25fe
 io 0x2600-0x26fe
 io 0x2700-0x27fe
 io 0x2800-0x28fe
 io 0x2900-0x29fe
 io 0x2a00-0x2afe
 io 0x2b00-0x2bfe
 io 0x2c00-0x2cfe
 io 0x2d00-0x2dfe
 io 0x2e00-0x2efe
 io 0x2f00-0x2ffe
 io 0x5000-0x50fe
 io 0x5100-0x51fe
 io 0x5200-0x52fe
 io 0x5300-0x53fe
 io 0x5400-0x54fe
 io 0x5500-0x55fe
 io 0x5600-0x56fe
 io 0x5700-0x57fe
 io 0x5800-0x58fe
 io 0x5900-0x59fe
 io 0x5a00-0x5afe
 io 0x5b00-0x5bfe
 io 0x5c00-0x5cfe
 io 0x5d00-0x5dfe
 io 0x5e00-0x5efe
 io 0x5f00-0x5ffe
 io 0x6000-0x60fe
 io 0x6100-0x61fe
 io 0x6200-0x62fe
 io 0x6300-0x63fe
 io 0x6400-0x64fe
 io 0x6500-0x65fe
 io 0x6600-0x66fe
 io 0x6700-0x67fe
 io 0x6800-0x68fe
 io 0x6900-0x69fe
 io 0x6a00-0x6afe
 io 0x6b00-0x6bfe
 io 0x6c00-0x6cfe
 io 0x6d00-0x6dfe
 io 0x6e00-0x6efe
 io 0x6f00-0x6ffe
 io 0xa000-0xa0fe
 io 0xa100-0xa1fe
 io 0xa200-0xa2fe
 io 0xa300-0xa3fe
 io 0xa400-0xa4fe
 io 0xa500-0xa5fe
 io 0xa600-0xa6fe
 io 0xa700-0xa7fe
 io 0xa800-0xa8fe
 io 0xa900-0xa9fe
 io 0xaa00-0xaafe
 io 0xab00-0xabfe
 io 0xac00-0xacfe
 io 0xad00-0xadfe
 io 0xae00-0xaefe
 io 0xaf00-0xaffe

Mixers:
0: SigmaTel STAC9221 A1

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono: Playback 127 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Front',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 127 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 127 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Surround',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 127 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 127 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Center',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono: Playback 127 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'LFE',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono: Playback 127 [100%] [0.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 14
  Front Left: Capture 14 [100%] [21.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 14 [100%] [21.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',1
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 14
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Digital',0
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 120
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [-30.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [-30.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic' 'Front Mic' 'Line'
  Item0: 'Mic'
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',1
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic' 'Front Mic' 'Line'
  Item0: 'Mic'
Simple mixer control 'Mux',0
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 2
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Mux',1
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 4
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Swap Center/LFE',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]

Names of available sound cards:
Intel

cat: /etc/asound.conf: No such file or directory
# ALSA library configuration file

# Include settings that are under the control of asoundconf(1).
# (To disable these settings, comment out this line.)
</home/simon/.asoundrc.asoundconf>

# ALSA library configuration file managed by asoundconf(1).
#
# MANUAL CHANGES TO THIS FILE WILL BE OVERWRITTEN!
#
# Manual changes to the ALSA library configuration should be implemented
# by editing the ~/.asoundrc file, not by editing this file.
!defaults.pcm.card Intel
defaults.ctl.card Intel
defaults.pcm.device 0
defaults.pcm.subdevice -1
defaults.pcm.nonblock 1
defaults.pcm.ipc_key 5678293
defaults.pcm.ipc_gid audio
defaults.pcm.ipc_perm 0660
defaults.pcm.dmix.max_periods 0
defaults.pcm.dmix.rate 48000
defaults.pcm.dmix.format S16_LE
defaults.pcm.dmix.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.dmix.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.dsnoop.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.dsnoop.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.front.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.front.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.rear.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.rear.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.center_lfe.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.center_lfe.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.side.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.side.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.surround40.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.surround40.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.surround41.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.surround41.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.surround50.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.surround50.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.surround51.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.surround51.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.surround71.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.surround71.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.iec958.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.iec958.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.modem.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.modem.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.rawmidi.card 0
defaults.rawmidi.device 0
defaults.rawmidi.subdevice -1
defaults.hwdep.card 0
defaults.hwdep.device 0
defaults.timer.class 2
defaults.timer.sclass 0
defaults.timer.card 0
defaults.timer.device 0
defaults.timer.subdevice 0
defaults.namehint.showall off
defaults.namehint.basic on
defaults.namehint.extended off

dmesg
[ 15.253549] HDA Intel 0000:00:1b.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16

 CPU0 CPU1
  0: 157 0 IO-APIC-edge timer
  1: 2 0 IO-APIC-edge i8042
  8: 64 0 IO-APIC-edge rtc0
  9: 0 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi acpi
 12: 4 0 IO-APIC-edge i8042
 14: 60998 0 IO-APIC-edge ata_piix
 15: 0 0 IO-APIC-edge ata_piix
 16: 71054 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi ohci1394, HDA Intel
 18: 2 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi uhci_hcd:usb3, cx18-0
 21: 146935 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi uhci_hcd:usb1, ehci_hcd:usb5
 22: 0 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi uhci_hcd:usb2
 23: 0 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi uhci_hcd:usb4
218: 621040 0 PCI-MSI-edge eth0
219: 68443 0 PCI-MSI-edge ahci
NMI: 0 0 Non-maskable interrupts
LOC: 451522 398002 Local timer interrupts
RES: 10755 8309 Rescheduling interrupts
CAL: 22704 11654 function call interrupts
TLB: 1602 3611 TLB shootdowns
SPU: 0 0 Spurious interrupts
ERR: 0
MIS: 0

[ 15.253580] HDA Intel 0000:00:1b.0: setting latency timer to 64

[T. Dalbo (tdalbo)]

i can confirm this bug. rebooting does fix it, but sometimes it takes three or four reboots until the static goes away. it's a temp fix, but something more permanent would be nice.

it seems linked to the HDA Intel chipset, although I do not have this problem in Fedora or PCLinuxOS.

[Andrew King (anders-king-00)]

Hi,
I'm also experiencing this problem on a dell vostro 1400. both alsa and pulseaudio give static sounds, selecting oss gives correct sound output. I have rebooted a number of times, but still haven't been able to get anything except static from alsa/oss.

uname -a:
Linux anders-vostro 2.6.27-4-generic #1 SMP Wed Sep 24 01:30:51 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

lscpi -vvnn:
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:284b] (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0227]
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
        Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 21
        Region 0: Memory at fe9fc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=55mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
        Capabilities: [60] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
                Address: 0000000000000000 Data: 0000
        Capabilities: [70] Express (v1) Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
                DevCap: MaxPayload 128 bytes, PhantFunc 0, Latency L0s unlimited, L1 unlimited
                        ExtTag- RBE- FLReset-
                DevCtl: Report errors: Correctable- Non-Fatal- Fatal- Unsupported-
                        RlxdOrd- ExtTag- PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop+
                        MaxPayload 128 bytes, MaxReadReq 128 bytes
                DevSta: CorrErr- UncorrErr- FatalErr- UnsuppReq- AuxPwr+ TransPend-
                LnkCap: Port #0, Speed unknown, Width x0, ASPM unknown, Latency L0 <64ns, L1 <1us
                        ClockPM- Suprise- LLActRep- BwNot-
                LnkCtl: ASPM Disabled; Disabled- Retrain- CommClk-
                        ExtSynch- ClockPM- AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt-
                LnkSta: Speed unknown, Width x0, TrErr- Train- SlotClk- DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
        Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel <?>
        Capabilities: [130] Root Complex Link <?>
        Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
        Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

[Simon Morgan (sjmorgan)]

I'm seeing this bug on my Mac Mini. Rebooting doesn't help. As above I simply get a crackling sound using Alsa/Pulse and sound + crackling with OSS.

This is with the latest Intrepid Ibex with updates. Sound worked fine under Hardy Heron. I really hope this gets fixed before release. I think the severity should be bumped to high as ausio is an important part of a desktop system and it seems to me it's completely broken in these cases.

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: STAC92xx Digital [STAC92xx Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

$ lspci -vvnn -s "00:1b.0"
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller [8086:27d8] (rev 02)
 Subsystem: SigmaTel Device [8384:7680]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 256 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 22
 Region 0: Memory at 50440000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
 Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

[Simon Morgan (sjmorgan)]

It would be helpful if people could try building and running older kernel versions to try and track down when this bug was introduced, assuming the bug is in the kernel. There are guides on the wiki[1] detailing how to build and install a custom kernel.

[1] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/forum/software/CustomKernel

[Andrew King (anders-king-00)]

Hi Again,

I managed to get my sound back by editing /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base .
I added

options snd-hda-intel model=<model>

to the end and it now works.

a list of available types for <model> is in /usr/share/doc/alsa-base/driver/ALSA-Configuration.txt.gz , in the snd-hda-intel section

I didn't have to do this previously (Hardy), so I guess autodetection may be broken.

Regards,
Andrew

[T. Dalbo (tdalbo)]

i'm a bit confused. did this solve your static problem, or was it just to get sound back in general?

because it did absolutely nothing for me.

[Uwe Helm (1forthedoctor)]

dupe of #75906?

[Andrew King (anders-king-00)]

Prior to editing /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base I could only get static, after forcing the card model I haven't had a problem since.
Unfortunately I don't have my laptop here, so I'm not sure which model I had to select.

It is possible that another update may have fixed something though.

Andrew

[Simon Morgan (sjmorgan)]

I tried Andrew's advice and instead of getting static I got no sound at all. This is with all channels unmuted and volume set to 100%. I have a Mac Mini so I tried all the relative models.

The only conclusion I can draw is that it was using the correct model before and it's simply the case that the driver is somewhat screwed. I mean OSS seems to work fine with the autodetected model and I think that's essentially just a compatibility layer for the ALSA driver. When manually specifying the model not even OSS works.

Can anybody who hasn't already please try using OSS output and report back as to whether that works? I guess the easiest way is with mplayer ("mplayer -ao oss <soundfile>").

[Simon Morgan (sjmorgan)]

I just rebooted having changed nothing except deleting the "options snd-hda-intel model=..." line from /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base and sound seems to be working. So I suppose I am another case of sound eventually working given enough reboots.

[Simon Morgan (sjmorgan)]

You can use the following command to dump all your sound info to a script on the ALSA website:

wget -O alsa-info.sh http://alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh && bash alsa-info.sh

Mine's at http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=0cee7ab9f0fbdc057796fe4f61fb8e3605ec4416

[Simon Morgan (sjmorgan)]

I just built the 1.0.18rc3 drivers (kept the 1.0.17 userspace) and now have no sound and any program that attempts to play sound seems to freeze. The number of HDA bugs on the ALSA bug tracker is quite shocking. I guess this is why this bug is being ignored by the devs.

[T. Dalbo (tdalbo)]

I found a slightly easier, but still temporary, fix. Just put it into Suspend and bring it back. Suspend works fine with my hardware, and it's much faster than rebooting. the sound usually works perfectly afterwards.

again, still a temp fix.

[coenieolivier (coenieolivier)]

I have reinstalled all ALSA components as well as installed other sound drivers and I still have static in my sound. My fix for now is to have my volume level set to low... at least this way I don't have garbled sound. I anyone has gotten a fix I would really appreciate it.

coenie@coenie-laptop:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: CONEXANT Analog [CONEXANT Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: Conexant Digital [Conexant Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

coenie@coenie-laptop:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G72M [GeForce Go 7400] (rev a1)
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8055 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 10)
05:01.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
05:01.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
05:01.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)
05:01.3 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller

[slibuntu (stuohy1)]

Having the same problem, on an XPS M1330, with an Intel "82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller"

No idea how this started, I was watching a film, no problems, then rebooted and now the only sound driver that works right is OSS

The only thing I did since then was run my Virtualbox XP install. Maybe a link?

[slibuntu (stuohy1)]

Just reinstalled to solve this and an Nvidia problem I have been having.

I have / and /home on different partitions so it wasn't a huge job, just needed to reinstall some apps.

It fixed the problem, but unfortunately, I am none the wiser as to what caused it

[Tim (tim-barlotta)]

Not sure if this will help everyone but it helped me.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6361316

[T. Dalbo (tdalbo)]

Sorry, no good for me. Reinstalling didn't help either.

But installing Fedora 10 with the 2.6.27.5 kernel on a separate partition, and using OSS, made this bug go away. (ALSA et al still give me problems)

So I guess I'm at a loss. Are there any files you guys want me to attach?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

[taka k. (scar)]

gosh, after deciding to stop using windows, this linux stuff is impressing me but also disappointing me quite a bit :( especially for a new user like me, it's really time-consuming to deal with things like this that i don't think i should be dealing with .... is it my headphones? no.... is it the front audio connection in my new case? no.. is it my new motherboard? no, it seems to be related to a kernel module, as executing the following commands got rid of the static:

$ pulseaudio -k
$ sudo service alsa-utils stop
$ sudo rmmod snd_hda_intel
$ sudo modprobe snd_hda_intel
$ sudo service alsa-utils start
$ pulseaudio -D

(had to kill mixer_applet2 and any other apps using the audio devices)

i don't have an intel audio device, but am still using that kernel module apparently. maybe the device (details below) is using some intel chip....

ubuntu 8.10 with linux 2.6.27-9-generic

i have been using ubuntu for a few months now and have not noticed this until today.

relevant lspci -vvnn:

00:14.2 Audio device [0403]: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) [1002:4383]
 Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:8288]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=slow >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 64, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin ? routed to IRQ 16
 Region 0: Memory at fe7f4000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
 Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: ATI Technologies Inc HD48x0 audio [1002:aa30]
 Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:aa30]
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 19
 Region 0: Memory at fe8ec000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
 Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

relevant aplay -l:

card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: AD198x Analog [AD198x Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: AD198x Digital [AD198x Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: ATI HDMI [ATI HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

if you want more info or whatever, i'm happy to help. just needa get used to this i guess.....

[Code Monkey (codemonkey49)]

I have Dell 9150 and this same problem, static only from the left channel. This has been happening for a long time and is also somewhat intermittent... some songs have more static that others, sometimes the static isn't there at all even on songs 'prone' to the noise. The noise itself is like a very high pitched crackling as if a few samples had the wrong data. It is not a hiss and not regular intervals.

It sounds like maybe the code that copies the data into the sound card ring buffer has some kind of an off-by-one. If it was always copying 1 fewer sample, and the bytes were in right-left channel pairs then every so often the left channel would have a leftover value in it, which would play like static. This could explain why certain songs are more 'staticy' than others.

It could also be something like 16-bit samples being written one at a time as int32 instead of int16 for instance... each sample would overwrite the next one, but the next sample would correct this until the ring buffer was full -- the last write would overwrite the first sample to be played. This could explain why some songs are more staticy. Depending on if that first sample was fetched before it was overwritten could explain why it has static sometimes and not other times (a race condition).

If any developers are reading this bug, those are what it sounds like... a single sample being changed randomly, that can happen at least several times per second. It could be a sound library problem, but since it happens on only some hardware and both alsa and pulse and only and others it sounds like a driver problem to me.

[paulten (paul-tenfjord)]

I have the same problem. Rebooting once did it fix it. However after upgrading to Jaunty, rebooting does not solve the problem anymore. This is a very annoying problem.. :-(

My alsa information:
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=200f2a668238baa58f8e9d4b976e176905718d76

[Andres Mujica (andres.mujica)]

Hi, i've marked some dupes from this bug.

We would need that someone tests this with Karmic and provides the output from

apport-collect -p alsa-driver 266927

Also i'd opened an upstream report at https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view.php?id=4610

[Zack Cornelius (zcornelius)]

Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: alsa-driver (not installed)
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-2.16-generic
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-2-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

[Zack Cornelius (zcornelius)]

Seems the alsa-driver package is no longer used in Karmic, or for some reason was uninstalled somewhere in the upgrade process for me (Which may be the issue). System beep works, other audio comes out with static for 10 seconds with power_save=10 (10 second timeout from idle to turn off the audio chip).

[Kieran Hogg (xerosis)]

I've not yet updated to 0.9.14-0ubuntu20.2, (am on 0.9.14-0ubuntu20.1) but the static seems to be there all the time now, rather than intermittent as it was before.

[Keith Allcock (keith-allcock)]

I am using an Intel Mac Mini, which, for over a year, never had these problems running Fedora, and I have been having this problem for the past two months now (using Mythbuntu) so I guess there is something in Ubuntu which has caused it.

I have tried all the solutions I have found from purging the alsa install, rebooting many times, changing the PCM volumes and changing the modprobe conf.

None of these are a permanent fix and the issue will come back after a suspend.
Specifically the modprobe conf changes are interesting, as entering model=macmini causes all sound to stop on restart of the system (same results as using all other mac model options).

[Keith Allcock (keith-allcock)]

After posting here I decided it was about time I put some effort into sorting this.
First step was to read the alsa config docs, which showed there is another mac hardware option > model=intel-mac-auto

Updated this into my modprobe.d file (which now reads: options snd-hda-intel position_fix=2 probe_mask=1 model=intel-mac-auto), and rebooted.
Sound now seems to be fixed !?

Have done 3 reboots and system has suspended another 3 or so times and the static hasn't returned.

Seems the root cause is some alsa config.

[Keith Allcock (keith-allcock)]

Bad news .. 2 weeks later and the issue has returned .. crackle from the audio .. I'm back to square one

[ccompagnon (ccompagnon)]

Same problem on a Dell XPS M1210 since Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 8.04), I've utilised others version of Linux and I get the same problem (No problems in old Debian machines and Ubuntu 7.10). This bug was introduced in Kernel version 2.6.24.

The info of my hardware using Karmic Koala beta
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=a06928bc897b88c16620d4ff86f3a03e20e8c707

[Harry Stojan (softis)]

I'm a Linux novice. I had such a problem on my Dell Mini 9 under Ubuntu 9.10. I tried to solve the problem by removing the PulseAudio but other problems arose and I had to reinstall the system. On the newly installed system the problem wasn't solved so I had to read many posts to find a solution.
My audio device is:
harry@harry-mini9:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC268 Analog [ALC268 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
harry@harry-mini9:~$ lspci -vvnn -s "00:1b.0"
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller [8086:27d8] (rev 02)
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:02b0]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 22
 Region 0: Memory at f0540000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
 Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

I looked for the model in /usr/share/doc/alsa-base/driver/HD-Audio-Models.txt.gz and found that for my audio device, ALC268, the model name for a Dell computer should be 'dell'. Unfortunately, the last line in the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf file was: options snd-hda-intel model=dell. So, I decided to change the model with 'auto' but after rebooting the computer there was no sound at all. Then I replaces the model name with 'acer-aspire' and rebooted the computer.
The problem was solved.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

linux-backports-modules-alsa-$(uname -r) in Karmic resolves many of the above symptoms.

[Alessio Bolognino (themolok)]

Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: alsa-driver (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-16.53-generic
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-16-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

[Alessio Bolognino (themolok)]

installing linux-backports-modules-alsa-$(uname -r) did not fixed this bug, the left channel is still scratchy. Sorry for the useless apport attachments, it usually attaches useful stuff.

I'm on a MacBook 2,1

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
        Subsystem: SigmaTel Device 7680
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
        Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 256 bytes
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 27
        Region 0: Memory at d0440000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
        Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

[Alessio Bolognino (themolok)]

More info on my system setup here:

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=919fa09c13a58162e6a0f50e14415692b2d0e3fa

[Alessio Bolognino (themolok)]

I finally fixed my sound: I installed linux-backports-modules-alsa-### and added the option "model=intel-mac-auto" at the end of

options snd-hda-intel power_save=10 power_save_controller=N

line.

[Keith Allcock (keith-allcock)]

I ran the alsa data collection script and noticed pulseaudio had somehow got back onto my system.
Removed it (using apt-get purge pulseaudio, not just remove), then did a suspend and resume, and I no longer seem to have the static.
Will see if this stays that way, but right now it seems to be pulseaudio mucking about again.

[Kieran Hogg (xerosis)]

Having not had this bug in a while, it seems to have resurfaced on Lucid for me with alsa 1.0.22.1+dfsg-0ubuntu3 and linux 2.6.32.19.20.

[Oleg Shparber (trollixx)]

Fixed this problem in Lucid 64bit on my DELL XPS 1210 adding
options snd-hda-intel model=dell-m82 position_fix=2 probe_mask=1
to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf.
Got solution here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=3764871&postcount=9

[Keith Allcock (keith-allcock)]

My main issue has been after suspend, I have a workaround for this at the moment which is to create a file in /etc/pm/sleep.d to reinsert the snd_hda_intel module.
Its been working well so far...

[Alessio Bolognino (themolok)]

For the record I have this issue on Maverick too.

[Keith Allcock (keith-allcock)]

Likewise, this persists in maverick...

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Are you using the daily driver builds? See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/InstallingLinuxAlsaDriverModules

[Keith Allcock (keith-allcock)]

Hi Daniel,

I wasn't but have just switched it on. Will feedback what happens

[Keith Allcock (keith-allcock)]

Ok, looks like this has solved the issue for me!
As I have thought it was fixed a couple of times, I have left it longer to make sure, and it is fine.

As it is a MythTV box then its left to suspend as it sees fit, and so has suspended/resumed many times with no recurrence of the static.

Only side effect has been the audio controls shown in alsamixer are now different, so I assume it has detected the hardware differently ...

[Uwe Helm (1forthedoctor)]

this is still an issue for me as of kernel 2.6.37-rc1. i have been trying every fix suggested here in the last few months but i keep getting distortion on every 5th reboot or so. reloading the module _always_ helps.

daniel t chen:
was there a specific patch included in the ppa that fixes this?

[Reuben Thomas (rrt)]

It seems unreasonable to mark this bug "fix committed" when there are users reporting that using the daily builds of the ALSA modules does not help. (It's not helping me either, on a second-gen Mac Mini with Maverick.)

[Reuben Thomas (rrt)]

I have not managed to fix the problem either by updating to the daily ALSA driver modules, or by the fix pointed to from this issue (of setting options in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf, though I did not try all possible combinations).

What *did* work for me was the fix suggested here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=3764871&postcount=9

which is simply to reload the driver at the end of /etc/rc.local, i.e.

rmmod snd-intel-hda
modprobe snd-intel-hda

This is obviously deeply unsatisfactory as a fix, but it does make a good workaround.

If I can do more tests or provide any more information to help get a fix for this bug, please ask.

[Reuben Thomas (rrt)]

It seems that on further testing, the "workaround" that seemed to work above doesn't. Sigh.

[Reuben Thomas (rrt)]

What does seem to work for me (at least, my sound has now been working for the last few days) is the fix mentioned in comment #45, adapted to my computer (a Mac Mini).

Therefore, the real fix seems to be to add a quirk to the module for each machine that needs one. In my case:

options snd-hda-intel model=intel-mac-auto position_fix=2 probe_mask=1

in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

I shall report the need for a quirk upstream.

[kostasz (kostasz)]

I also had the problem with left channel static noise (especially during web page scrolling). This might be a very noob solution, but it worked for me perfectly. I just installed gnome-alsamixer (using Synapitc Package Manager) and in it's settings I muted "CD section" and just to be sure, I also scrolled the slide panel to use only right speaker. Probably I shut down something by doing this, but so far it works for me - static noise it's gone and everything works fine - music, Internet.... Hope it'll help.