No microphone in skype

[ullix]

after today's update the mcirophone in skype is not working. I can place a test call and hear the ringing and voice, but my own voice is not recorded. it still worked yesterday.

I notice that today I have only "PulseAudio server (local)" as choice for microphone, speakers and ringing under the skype options->sound devices. Last time I checked there were a few other choices but not this one, and at least one combination did work.

[Neil Perry (nperry)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this issue and helping to make Ubuntu better. Examining the information you have given us, this does not appear to be a bug report so we are closing it and converting it to a question in the support tracker. We appreciate the difficulties you are facing, but it would make more sense to raise problems you are having in the support tracker at https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu if you are uncertain if they are bugs. For help on reporting bugs, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

Many Thanks,
Neil Perry

[ullix (ullix)]

I am truly not seeing this a bug. Skype had worked well on this computer up to (and including) alpha5, and it no longer does. Bug, regression, regression bug - your choice, but clearly not a question. Skype is broken.

Tell me what you need, and I'll try to provide it. Maybe it is not skype but the sound system in general is messed up. But the only thing that my abilities allow me to say is that Skype is not working. Which, I may add, is quite an important application for a netbook!

[ullix (ullix)]

maybe I am mistaken, but I think that alsa-driver is different from pulseaudio? I believe pulseaudio is the problem, and here is what I did:

- all updates done for today (should have given a karmic beta install)
- in synaptic select pulseaudio for uninstall, and click ok to uninstall all dependencies
- restart
- start rhythmbox, and play radio music
- start skype. Any skype sound creating activity is overlayed on the background music. A test-call confirms that the microphone is working

on another front, with pulseaudio uninstalled the mythtv-frontend is no longer killing the sound, as reported in Bug #436792

I don't think it was such a good idea to have pulseaudio introduced as default system in the last alpha. Now we have a beta with major sound issues!

[Eric Schwartz (emschwar)]

I'm having the same problem with my HP Mini 110, but in my case, uninstalling pulseaudio didn't get the built-in microphone working in skype. Attaching my lspci output.

[andbelo (andbelo)]

I'm having the same problem in a Dell Studio 1537. Neither the buit-in nor the headset microphone work for skype or other applications like sound recorder. It worked well one or two days ago.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Make sure you apply all of today's updates, reboot, and reproduce the symptom.

[Eric Schwartz (emschwar)]

I just updated and rebooted, and still no sound from the microphone in skype, or any other application that records sound.

[Eric Schwartz (emschwar)]

Nope, I lie, all is well. I restarted Skype a few times, and somewhere in there, it started working, so yeah, nevermind.

[ullix (ullix)]

microphone in skype is NOT working on computer (netbook acer aspire one 110L). Other sound output from skype, rhythmbox, totem, mythtv-frontend is working. sound output appears to be via pulseaudio, at least skype is saying so.

[andbelo (andbelo)]

I was able to fix it by installing the gnome-alxamixer package and checking a "rec" checkbox under "Capture". This must have been unchecked somehow by some application. The strange thing was the no option in the gnome-volume-control or any other standard location allowed me to fix it or even track that.

[ullix (ullix)]

Following andbelo's advice I installed gnome-alsamixer. The rec box under capture was already checked, but the microphone still does not work.
Under Sound-Preferences ->tab input I increased input volume from 'unamplfied' all the way to max, but still no sound. All mute boxes are of course unchecked.

[andbelo (andbelo)]

more on the microphone issue: although I can enable the microphone by using the gnome-alxamixer (or alsamixer in the terminal) the microphone options keep getting unchecked. This is very annoying and every time I try to use skype I have my microphone muted. I cannot tell whether the reason for that is related to skype or pulseaudio/alsa.

[Eric Schwartz (emschwar)]

Yeah, it worked for me on 10/13, but after updating on 10/15, I can't enable the mic any longer.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Is this behaviour reproducible if you do not use Skype?

On Oct 16, 2009 11:25 AM, "andbelo" <email address hidden> wrote:

more on the microphone issue: although I can enable the microphone by
using the gnome-alxamixer (or alsamixer in the terminal) the microphone
options keep getting unchecked. This is very annoying and every time I
try to use skype I have my microphone muted. I cannot tell whether the
reason for that is related to skype or pulseaudio/alsa.

-- [ubuntu karmic] no microphone in skype
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/437192 You received this...

[andbelo (andbelo)]

Yes, it is. What I did was to updated the packages and upgrade the linux kernel (2.6.31.14.48 I guess, but see below). Then, reboot. After the boot, the first thing I did was to open a terminal and alsamixer. The result: microphone was not working and the capture items were unchecked in alsamixer.

sudo dpkg --list linux*
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Cfg-files/Unpacked/Failed-cfg/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-===============-===============-==============================================
un linux-doc-2.6.3 <none> (no description available)
ii linux-firmware 1.23 Firmware for Linux kernel drivers
ii linux-generic 2.6.31.14.27 Complete Generic Linux kernel
un linux-headers <none> (no description available)
un linux-headers-2 <none> (no description available)
un linux-headers-2 <none> (no description available)
un linux-headers-2 <none> (no description available)
un linux-headers-2 <none> (no description available)
un linux-headers-2 <none> (no description available)
un linux-headers-2 <none> (no description available)
un linux-headers-2 <none> (no description available)
ii linux-headers-2 2.6.31-14.48 Header files related to Linux kernel version 2
ii linux-headers-2 2.6.31-14.48 Linux kernel headers for version 2.6.31 on x86
ii linux-headers-g 2.6.31.14.27 Generic Linux kernel headers
un linux-image <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-2.6 <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-2.6 <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-2.6 <none> (no description available)
ii linux-image-2.6 2.6.31-14.48 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.31 on x86/x
ii linux-image-gen 2.6.31.14.27 Generic Linux kernel image
un linux-initramfs <none> (no description available)
un linux-kernel-he <none> (no description available)
un linux-kernel-lo <none> (no description available)
ii linux-libc-dev 2.6.31-14.48 Linux Kernel Headers for development
un linux-restricte <none> (no description available)
ii linux-sound-bas 1.0.20+dfsg-1ub base package for ALSA and OSS sound systems
un linux-source-2. <none> (no description available)
un linux32 <none> (no description available)
un linuxprinting.o <none> (no description available)

[Michael Favia (michaelfavia)]

I had similiar symptms on a dell laptop and was able to resolve them with the steps in comment #26 on issue #409819. Please try modifying my steps and see if you can find a working solution. Obviously this doesnt fix te bug but at least it gets you a mic while it is being fixed.

[ullix (ullix)]

Michael,
your suggestion is no fix in my situation, as there is nothing of the nature that you describe in my Acer Aspire One 110L. Any permutation of settings result in the same: Still no microphone in Skype.

[Eric Schwartz (emschwar)]

I've noticed that when I un-mute the microphone in the Sound Preferences dialog, it mutes the Capture input when seen from alsamixer, and vice-versa.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Eric, would you please use:
apport-collect -p alsa-base 437192

On Oct 20, 2009 10:25 PM, "Eric Schwartz" <email address hidden> wrote:

I've noticed that when I un-mute the microphone in the Sound Preferences
dialog, it mutes the Capture input when seen from alsamixer, and vice-
versa.

-- [ubuntu karmic] no microphone in skype
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/437192 You received this...

[Eric Schwartz (emschwar)]

AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
   Subdevices: 2/2
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: sylvia 1627 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfe938000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'IDT 92HD81B1X5'
   Components : 'HDA:111d7605,103c308f,00100402'
   Controls : 27
   Simple ctrls : 17
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
Package: alsa-base 1.0.20+dfsg-1ubuntu5
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
Tags: ubuntu-unr
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686
UserGroups: admin

[HardDisk (sambuntu-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC268 Analog [ALC268 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC268 Analog [ALC268 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: harddisk 1454 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0x58540000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC268'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0268,1025015b,00100101'
   Controls : 9
   Simple ctrls : 6
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Netbook-Remix 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Alpha i386 (20091016)
Package: alsa-base 1.0.20+dfsg-1ubuntu5
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
Tags: ubuntu-unr
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1504): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1504): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:1575): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (nautilus:1546): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed

[Fred (ian-bews)]

Just been bitten by this one as well, my mic works just fine normally, I can test it with the sound recorder app and the Sound preferences dialog.

As soon as I try a Skype test call however, the meter in the Sound Preferences stops picking up anything. Once the Skype call is over I can record again as normal.

I've tried playing with options in gnome-alsamixer but no joy.

[alleluia20 (david-maillists)]

Hum, this has been very tricky to sort out.

* First, I had to install the backport modules.

* Second, in order to make my microphone work (record with audacity), I had to raise the "digital" channel in the mixer, that was at the bottom level. Do not raise it up to the top, though. After raising the "digital" channel, I was able to record in audacity (but only in one side - right one if I remember correctly -, although I have all the channels in the mixer completely symmetric).

* Finally, to make skype record, I had to go to Options -> Sound Devices and set the microphone to the channel (hw:0.0) (if this does not work, you can try the other "hw", depending on which microphone you are using).

PS: I am running an amd64 system.

[ullix (ullix)]

I did a complete reinstall of karmic with the official final version, and was disappointed that the microphone with skype still did not work. And I swear to the ubuntu logo that it didn't! However, today I tried skype - updates NOT done since last use - and the microphone works.

If it fails tomorrow, I'll speak up again, but sofar my problem is solved.

Under skype->options->sound devices it shows PulseAudio server in use for microphone/speakers/ringing. Actually, no other option is available.

[Rodrigo Virote Kassick (kassick)]

Ullix, did you use the echo123 service or did you call someone?

When testing with the echo service, *sometimes* -- and just sometimes -- it
*almost* works. There is *some* sound, but it's *too low* -- I can recognize
what I say, but certainly wouldn't do to talk to some living person.

On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 5:42 PM, ullix <email address hidden> wrote:

> I did a complete reinstall of karmic with the official final version,
> and was disappointed that the microphone with skype still did not work.
> And I swear to the ubuntu logo that it didn't! However, today I tried
> skype - updates NOT done since last use - and the microphone works.
>
> If it fails tomorrow, I'll speak up again, but sofar my problem is
> solved.
>
> Under skype->options->sound devices it shows PulseAudio server in use
> for microphone/speakers/ringing. Actually, no other option is available.
>
> --
> [ubuntu karmic] no microphone in skype
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/437192
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

--
Rodrigo Virote Kassick
(kàzic)
------------------------------------------------------------

[ullix (ullix)]

Hmmm, I used the echo service, and yes, I had the impression the sound was too low, although at this point I thought it was only bad memory after an elongated period of no microphone ;-/

[Par (paraskoff)]

Hi guys,

I'm experiencing the very same thing as ullix. I installed karmic and applied all updates and boom - my mic doesn't work for skype. Currently I'm with fresh karmic install, no updates installed (my update manager recommends me to install, but I just ignored it) and I'm having no problems with skype.

Alsamixer recognize my sound card as IDT 92HD73C1X5

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

@Par You need to install linux-backports-modules-alsa-karmic-generic and reboot.

[ullix (ullix)]

Daniel
is that a recommendation for everyone or is it sound card dependent and specific for Par's problem?

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

@ullix specifically for Par

On the other hand, I did blog about installing l-b-m-a-k-g if you have
a new Realtek, VIA, or IDT codec...

[Eric Schwartz (emschwar)]

installing l-b-m-a-k-g worked for my HP MIni 110. Now the VIDEO is delayed for a few seconds, but that seems to be a different bug, if it's not just crappy bandwidth :-)

[ullix (ullix)]

More oddities:
after my microphone suddenly worked (see #38), and I then realized that the sound volume had been lower before, I looked at the sound preferences, and found the microphone input set to the mark at 'unamplified'. So I moved the slider all the way to the max. This resulted in absolutely no microphone input in skype! I then lowered it, and the rebooted, but still absolutely no microphone input in skype.

I noticed after reboot that the mic input was muted, so I unmuted (no benefit to skype). The sound recorder picked up some extremely faint sound via the mic. After increasing slider to max, mic input did work better, but very, very scratchy, absolute lousy quality. Even then, no mic in skype!

[ullix (ullix)]

installing l-b-m-a-k-g is of no help.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

@ullix I presume you're using the PulseAudio-aware Skype beta (2.1.x)?
Please try to use another test app besides Skype, preferably arecord.

[ullix (ullix)]

Daniel, I mentioned that I used Sound recorder (gnome-sound-recorder 2.28.1). My real problem though was and is Skype!

In case it is unclear what my sound prefs look like, attached is a screenshot.

With input volume set to the 'unamplified' mark, using Sound Recorder I can record and on replay hear an extremely faint recording , barely audible, despite speaking as close to the mic as possible.

With the input volume slider all the way to max, the sound is basically scratchy, crackly white noise with overamplified talk embedded.

With Skype there is absolutely no sound, no matter what the slider setting.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Please attach the corresponding amixer output (I can't view
attachments currently).

[ullix (ullix)]

What is amixer? How do I get its output?

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Open a Terminal, and type "amixer" (without the quotes and press enter).

[ullix (ullix)]

Ahh. So here is the amixer output, i think you wanted it not attached:
(upon reboot both sound output and mic input was muted, which I unmuted before calling amixer. sound output is now at full, and mic at approx 70% amplified)

~$ amixer
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 64
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 61 [95%] [-3.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 61 [95%] [-3.00dB] [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 'Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 2
  Front Left: Capture 2 [100%] [40.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 2 [100%] [40.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Front Left: Capture 31 [100%] [31.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 31 [100%] [31.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Beep',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 12
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-24.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-24.00dB] [on]

[ullix (ullix)]

as recommended by Rodrigo Kassic, here comes the output of:

apport-cli -f -p alsa-base

[Bruce Crowther (bwucie)]

I added all the latest updates to 32 bit NBR on my Aspire One this morning, and again tried Skype 2.1, no mic.

Bloody Pulse Audio.

Sure-fire cure is to get rid of Skype 2.1 and Skype Common via Synaptic, then download the Jaunty packages from Medibuntu for Skype Static OSS 2.0 and skype common 2.0, and install via the package manager.

To stop Synaptic trying to update to the non-working Karmic version, go to Synaptic, highlight Skype common, then go to Package>lock version. Once skype common is locked, Skype Static OSS magically becomes visible on your list of installed packages, and you can lock that too.

Pulse Audio has been a hoodoo on my desktop and netbook since Ubuntu started playing with it. I wish they would shoot it through the back of the head and put it out of my misery.

[ullix (ullix)]

I tried a different approach to get the microphone in skype working: simply deinstalling pulseaudio under synaptic and rebooting. Sure enough, mic worked in skype, and rythmbox, yootube video, and mythtv-frontend all give sound simultaneously (quite a cacophony, but it works).

However, totem plays video but only without sound. When starting the sound recorder it complains that "Your audio capture settings are invalid. Please correct them with the "Sound Preferences" under the System-Preferences menu.", but when calling the sound preferences, an info box pops up saying "Waiting for sound system to respond" and that's it; it never responds. So I also have no loudspeaker icon in the panel, and loudness also cannot be changed via the keyboard.

I share Bruce's view on pulse audio, which looks a lot like beta software

[ullix (ullix)]

this bug report was marked as an alsa-driver problem, though it seems that alsa does work. It is pulseaudio making the problems

[JRC (jrcatai)]

What works for me was uninstalling skype 2.1 beta and installing skype 2.0. Now I can choose what device to use in skype.

Ubuntu 9.10 with VT1708 - VIA Tecnhologies (VT82xx)

[ullix (ullix)]

JRC,
where did you find the 2.0 version? All I can get is the 2.1.0.81-1_i386.deb version from skype.com, and this one insists on using pulseaudio, which does work for sound output but not for the microphone.

I also tried unistalling pulseaudio. Then skype gives me multiple sound options to choose, but none of them work.

The gnome-sound-recorder also does not record anything when pulseaudio is installed, and does not even start when pulseaudio is removed.

The shame really goes on pulseaudio

[Michael Devenish (mdevenish)]

Ullix,
I had the exact same problems on my acer aspire one 110L netbook with skype 2.1.0.81 beta running on Ubuntu 9.10 netbook remix. I tried installing the latest pulseaudio (0.9.22) from the ppa but that didn't work.

However, following steps 1 to 6 described in the first part of message number 18 on this page:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1313137&page=2

the microphone is working when I make a test call. I haven't tried the second solution mentioned in the same message 18 since installing PulseAudio Volume Control, selecting input devices then minimise the front left slider and maximise the front right slider is working.

[ullix (ullix)]

mikedev,

your advice does work, and I now believe that this is more likely a pulseaudio and/or Sound Preferences issue than a Skype issue. I described it at this bug: Bug #525990

[Michael Devenish (mdevenish)]

I also find that if I boot my Acer Aspire One netbook from a USB flash drive running an Ubuntu 10.04 alpha 3 live version then immediately select Sound Preferences -> input, the level bars show activity from the microphone. However, if I move the slider for input volume (it starts at the unamplified level) the input level bars stop showing activity. When no activity is shown, the microphone wont work with skype. Sound recorder still works though.

[Trevor Robinson (eztenia)]

That's funny. I just found an option under Sound Devices that was "Let Skype change my mixer levels automatically." Once I unchecked this, it worked.

[Philippe Nicolai-Dashwood (philippe-nicolai)]

AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC268 Analog [ALC268 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC268 Analog [ALC268 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: philippe 1979 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0x78540000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC268'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0268,1025015b,00100101'
   Controls : 9
   Simple ctrls : 6
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: pulseaudio 1:0.9.22~0.9.21+stable-queue-32-g8478-0ubuntu11~~karmic~ubuntuaudiodev1
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-20.58-generic
Tags: ubuntu-unr
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-20-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

[B Bobo (yout-bobo123)]

Here is a very useful, drastic, and 100% effective solution to getting Skype 2.1 working on any Ubuntu distribution, thanks to Patrick on another thread:

Every time you want to start Skype, type the following command in a Terminal (opened from Applications/ Accessories/ Terminal):

 sh -c "PULSE_SERVER=127.0.0.1; skype"

A more permanent solution is to cut-and-paste the following commands into a Terminal:

su
cat <<EOM >/usr/bin/skype.sh
#!/bin/bash
# bypass horribly buggy pulseaudio
export PULSE_SERVER="127.0.0.1"
exec `dirname $0`/skype.bin
EOM
cat <<EOM >>/etc/rc.local
SKYPE=/usr/bin/skype
grep -q 'horribly buggy' $SKYPE || sh -c "mv -f $SKYPE $SKYPE.bin; cp -f $SKYPE.sh $SKYPE"
EOM

Feel free to adapt this to other applications which need to escape from pulseaudio

[B Bobo (yout-bobo123)]

Small correction included at the end:

su
cat <<EOM >/usr/bin/skype.sh
#!/bin/bash
# bypass horribly buggy pulseaudio
export PULSE_SERVER="127.0.0.1"
exec `dirname $0`/skype.bin
EOM
cat <<EOM >>/etc/rc.local
SKYPE=/usr/bin/skype
grep -q 'horribly buggy' $SKYPE || sh -c "mv -f $SKYPE $SKYPE.bin; cp -f $SKYPE.sh $SKYPE"
EOM
chmod +rx /usr/bin/skype.sh
eval grep -i skype /etc/rc.local

[hamish darby (hjdarby-deactivatedaccount)]

try post 18 from
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10006409#post10006409
worked forme

[Bjoern Guenzel (h-launchpad-blinker-net)]

Couldn't get Skype to work on Acer Aspire 4820T, Ubuntu 10.10.

Sound Recorder works, so Mic seems to be working in general. One weird thing, though: in the Sound & Video Sound Input Menu, there is no way to test the Microphone. There is something that looks like it could be an sound level indicator, so I just assumed it is always in test mode. But I never saw anything happening, so it is a rather confusing dialog (did nothing happen because the Mic doesn't work? Or what?). Might be better to have an explicit "Test" button.

It is also confusing if the Microphone works in Sound Recorder, but not in the Mixer ("Audio Input" Menu), if that is the case - is the Sound Recorder App using something else? How else to REALLY test the Microphone setup?

Unfortunately this was on my mother's notebook, so I don't have access to it right now. Providing more specific information is therefore difficult.

[Bjoern Guenzel (h-launchpad-blinker-net)]

One more thing: I tried the "Post 18" fix, but I am not sure if I actually tried it with Skype. I tried it with Google Talk, and there seemed to be some audio coming through to the other side. It was very low volume and noisy, though, so barely usable. There were also feedback loops, not sure if that is a problem of the Acer hardeware or a software problem.

This bug is actually a deal breaker for me, as I specifically bought the notebook for mum so that she could do video chat with her grandchildren. I blame Skype rather than Ubuntu, but still, it is a shame. I also look stupid in front of my friends, who kept telling me I should just leave Windows 7 on the system.

[João Miguel Lopes Moreira (jmlm-1970)]

The only solution to make microphone work is to install linux-backports-modules-alsa-generic...

Just go to:

Menu / System / Administration / Synaptic Package Manager

And search and mark for installation:

linux-backports-modules-alsa-generic

tip: if you have multiple versions click on the first and read the description which should inform what name to install...

If after the reboot and mic mute is off, still does not work, just go to terminal and type:

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

and add or change the following:

options snd-hda-intel model=auto enable=yes

Then Ctrl+X, type Y to write and exit, reboot and mic will work.

Bye and have lots of fun with Ubuntu (the best).

[Rudy Mario Moretti (rudymariomoretti)]

Hello,
i just solved removing the line microphone from computer back in and reconnect it on computer on front microphone in ... now it work fine.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 9.10 (karmic) reached end-of-life on April 30, 2011.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Please upgrade to the latest version and re-test.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for pulseaudio (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]