DAC 0 and DAC 1 muted by default on M-Audio Audiophile 2496 (ICE1712, Envy24)

[Alex Peters]

After a fresh install of Ubuntu Natty (11.04), my M-Audio Audiophile 2496 sound card appears to be detected but is not emitting sound.

I attempted to follow the instructions on the Sound Troubleshooting page of the Community Ubuntu Documentation site:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshooting

but got stuck at the point where "sound card codecs" are discussed. It seems from the lack of a "codec information" section in the alsa-info.sh output that a codec is not actually being loaded.

Launchpad reports bug #178442 as a possible duplicate, however that bug report states that a fix has been released for 11.04. I suspect that that fix cannot be relevant in my case as all of my packages are up to date and my problem persists. That bug report also seems to focus on PulseAudio, and I don't have the expertise to know whether PulseAudio is actually the problem for me.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.24+dfsg-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: M2496 [M Audio Audiophile 24/96], device 0: ICE1712 multi [ICE1712 multi]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: M2496 [M Audio Audiophile 24/96], device 0: ICE1712 multi [ICE1712 multi]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: lx 1714 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'M2496'/'M Audio Audiophile 24/96 at 0xd000, irq 19'
   Mixer name : 'ICE1712 - multitrack'
   Components : ''
   Controls : 48
   Simple ctrls : 26
Date: Sun May 1 18:13:59 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110427.1)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 07/18/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Award Software International, Inc.
dmi.bios.version: F4
dmi.board.name: EP31-DS3L
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.board.version: x.x
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAwardSoftwareInternational,Inc.:bvrF4:bd07/18/2008:svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnEP31-DS3L:pvr:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnEP31-DS3L:rvrx.x:cvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: EP31-DS3L
dmi.sys.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Did you choose the correct output using Sound Preferences?

[Alex Peters (alex-peters)]

I believe so. Only one option exists under the Output tab: "ICE1712 [Envy24] PCI Multi-Channel I/O Controller Analog Stereo (Stereo)," and it is already selected.

[Alex Peters (alex-peters)]

I have solved the problem by adjusting the sound card's channel volume levels using alsamixer.

For some reason, all of the sound card's channels are either at zero volume or muted after a fresh install. I tried unmuting and raising these levels and then performing another Natty install; the channels were re-muted or re-zeroed as the case may be.

Based on these findings, I suppose the bug is really that the channel volumes are zeroed by default and that a user is required to fire up alsamixer in a terminal and correct the levels--something that very likely would not occur to the average user.

I don't know whether this would therefore remain an alsa-driver-related bug.

[HannesB (hannesb)]

Still broken in 11.10,
Terratec EWX24/96
DAC0 and 1 muted by default

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

I'd argue this belongs as an alsa-utils task.

[Andreas Hünnebeck (acmh)]

Still broken in Kubuntu 12.04
Soundcard: M-Audio Delta Audiophile 2496
DAC0 and 1 muted by default.

[Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson)]

This release of Ubuntu is no longer receiving maintenance updates. If this is still an issue on a maintained version of Ubuntu please let us know.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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