[Jaunty] Sound card outputs start muted after recent updates to use pulseaudio

[Alexia Death]

After recent updates I was not getting any sound output from my laptop. After some searching I found that computer started with alsa outputs (headphones, front) muted.

To fix it I had to do alsamixer -Dhw:0 and unmute anything needing unmute. After restart the reset to muted tho.

From #ubuntu+1 channel, im not the only one with this issue.

My audio hardware is

aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC268 Analog [ALC268 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 6: Si3054 Modem [Si3054 Modem]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Very problematic issue for a user, IMHO.

[Alexia Death (alexiade)]

The problem is somewhere in alsactl. store/restore behaves funny. Only after several attempts was previously stored state restored. First try restored the muted state, then after some stores the values were stored and finally the mute switch values stayed in place too.

[syscon-hh (syscon-kono)]

Can confirm muted starting of sounds and the workaround above to solve the problems. The muted status I can revise by klicking on the panel-button and the status changes, but pulseaudio output will not be influenced by changing the level-controller. Either volume-controller 2.25.2 nor pavucontrol_0.9.7-1ubuntu1

This happens to all computers updated: (i386 as well as amd64)

pulseaudio (0.9.13-2ubuntu4) to 0.9.13-2ubuntu5
pulseaudio-esound-compat (0.9.13-2ubuntu4) to 0.9.13-2ubuntu5
pulseaudio-module-gconf (0.9.13-2ubuntu4) to 0.9.13-2ubuntu5
pulseaudio-module-hal (0.9.13-2ubuntu4) to 0.9.13-2ubuntu5
pulseaudio-module-x11 (0.9.13-2ubuntu4) to 0.9.13-2ubuntu5
pulseaudio-module-zeroconf (0.9.13-2ubuntu4) to 0.9.13-2ubuntu5
pulseaudio-utils (0.9.13-2ubuntu4) to 0.9.13-2ubuntu5

[Mike Coleman (tutufan)]

I also had this problem, which I worked around using 'alsamixer -c0' and unmuting things.

This is particularly pernicious because the default sound control that Jaunty provides doesn't have these mute buttons, at least for my hardware, nor are they apparent when I run just 'alsamixer'.

(My hardward is a Dell Inspiron 1420N laptop, which apparently has HDA Intel STAC 92xx Analog hardware (?)).

Also, I wonder if pavumeter and pavucontrol shouldn't be installed by default--they seem handy.

[jerrylamos (jerrylamos)]

After yesterday's updates, PulseAudio Volume Meter shows bars going back and forth, but there's no sound out of the speakers. The hardware is HDA ATI SB = ALC888 Analog on a Compaq Presario

Linux version 2.6.28-4-generic (buildd@palmer) (gcc version 4.3.3 20081217 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.3.2-2ubuntu9) ) #9-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jan 6 19:34:01 UTC 2009
Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

Dual boot, switch back to the 2.6.28-4 before yesterday's updates, plays fine on same hardware.

I do see the date 2009-01-09 on some pulsaudio files so I presume there was/were changes?:

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2045 2009-01-09 01:14 /etc/init.d/pulseaudio
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4427 2009-01-09 01:21 default.pa

The workarounds in preceding posts didn't help.

Any clue how to hear the PulseAudio Volume Meter activity?

Thanks, Jerry

[Alexia Death (alexiade)]

jerry, the alamixer is a bit tricky, your outputs can show full volume but if theres MM under them they are muted. make them active, then hit m key. Been confused myself by that.

[syscon-hh (syscon-kono)]

By downgrading my systems (two) from a backup dated jan, 5th and upgrading step by step it seems to be the update of package

>alsa-utils (1.0.18-1ubuntu4 to 1.0.18-1ubuntu5

which is responsible for the malfunction described above (not the pulseaudio packages)

[syscon-hh (syscon-kono)]

Responsible for >muted< startup seems to be a wrong LABEL inside the script

/usr/share/alsa/init/00main

-> GOTO="00_mainend"
-> LABEL="00main_end"

see attachment (out of last updated package)

[Tomasz Sterna (smoku)]

This problem is an usability issue too.
There is no way (or I can't find any) that a casual user could fix the hardware muted channel issue using graphical gnome-volume-control application and applet.
Going through terminal and alsamixer may be a showstopper.

[jerrylamos (jerrylamos)]

O.K., I see the error inside the script, and corrected it -
Now, how do I get the script installed? Reboot didn't do it, or at least still no sound.

Thanks, Jerry

[syscon-hh (syscon-kono)]

So I solved it for me by establishing a symbolic link inside /etc/rc2.d as described in the file

>/etc/init.d/alsa-utils<

>ln -s /etc/init.d/alsa-utils S26alsa-utils<

try and have fun

[Alexia Death (alexiade)]

This solution worked for me aswell.

[bdoe (bdoe-att)]

Confirmed on my HP Pavilion dv9830 laptop. Symbolic link in /etc/rcS.d/ is missing. Be sure to check inside /etc/init.d/alsa-utils for the correct filename to use for the link (the comments near the top of the file will give you instructions on how to remove the autosave/autoload features, so just kinda follow it in reverse). When I created a symlink in /etc/rcS.d/ , everything worked again.

The fact that audio seems to be muted in the first place appears to be a regression of the bug that afflicted Hardy Heron.

[Igor Gomes (igorgomes)]

Confirmed. So, as workaround:

sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/alsa-utils /etc/rc2.d/S26alsa-utils

[Joe (lubuntu-joe)]

I tried the workaround but my sound is still muted on reboot.

[Joe (lubuntu-joe)]

Not sure if this helps but this only happens on a reboot. If I shutdown then restart the sound is OK.

[Ka-Hing Cheung (kahing)]

ah, so the problem is master is being muted. note that the user can configure this in gnome-volume-control if he added the master control in preference

[Freddie (freddie-signup)]

I'm on Debian testing. on my set up the symlink has already been created at /etc/rcS.d/S50alsa-utils (which fits with the notes atop /etc/init.d/alsa-utils) so this fix, predictably, doesn't work.

[Agustín Kanashiro (akanashiro)]

Freddie, why don't you try deleting the /etc/rc6.d/K50alsa-utils ? That script resets the volume settings, so if you remove it you preserve your mixer settings. The /etc/rcS.d/S50alsa-utils is not necessary.
It worked for me.
Distro: Xubuntu Jaunty x64

[Andrew Smart (andrew.j.smart)]

A related discussion:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/68564

My Distro:
Xubuntu Jaunty x64

For details about the startup scripts:
http://linux.com/news/enterprise/systems-management/8116-an-introduction-to-services-runlevels-and-rcd-scripts

This is a tool you can use to change the startup scripts, easier than manually changing links:
man update-rc.d

I solved the problem by removing the links to the /etc/init.d/alsa-utils script from the rc*.d directories. Then adding links to the alsa-utils script to rc2.d and rcS.d
Here are the commands I used to get this to work:
sudo update-rc.d -f alsa-utils remove
sudo update-rc.d alsa-utils start 50 2 S .

Before:
   /etc/rc0.d/K50alsa-utils
   /etc/rc2.d/S50alsa-utils
   /etc/rc6.d/K50alsa-utils
After:
   /etc/rc2.d/S50alsa-utils
   /etc/rcS.d/S50alsa-utils

See attachment for comments/details, and a output from a sample run on my system.

[Andrew Smart (andrew.j.smart)]

Now, it looks to me like that script started like that should be stopped before the system halts/reboots:
sudo update-rc.d -f alsa-utils remove
sudo update-rc.d alsa-utils start 50 2 S . stop 50 0 6 .

But this results in the mute on system boot. By removing the "stop" links to the script, the system is not always muted on boot (I think it restores the volume levels before the reboot). Though, I assume removing the "stop" links leaves alsa-utils in an unstable state when the system halt occurs.

Consider stopping and starting alsa-utils (I don't know if you need to do it as root or not, though I get an error if I am not root when stopping):
/etc/init.d/alsa-utils stop
/etc/init.d/alsa-utils start

I seem to get weird behavior when stopping then starting alsa-utils again. No sound comes from my system when the main channel is unmuted. Fixable by a reboot...

[Joe (lubuntu-joe)]

OK, I've had this problem for some time and nothing seemed to work but various links above took me to this solution which did work.

##### WORK-AROUND FOR AUDIO PROBLEM #####

1.) Manually adjust the mixer settings to something that is a good default for your audio needs. These settings will be loaded every time you restart your computer.

2.) Change the file permissions for /var/lib/alsa/asound.state to enable read/write access for the group/others (open the folder in Thunar, then right-click the file, select properties, and go to the Permissions tab). If you don't do this, then the next step will give you a permission denied error.

3.) Open up a terminal and enter the command "alsactl store" (without the quotes). This stores your mixer settings in /var/lib/alsa/asound.state for later use.

4.) From The Xubuntu/Xfce menu, go to Settings and open Sessions and Startup. Go to the Application Autostart tab and click the Add button.

5.) Enter the command "alsactl restore" (without the quotes) and the name and description of your choice. This causes the "alsactl restore" command to automatically run when you start your computer. The command restores you mixer settings from /var/lib/alsa/asound.state where you saved them earlier.

[PrebenR (randhol)]

I had the same problem with 5 different computers (netbooks to stationary) in Jaunty. With pulseaudio the sound was either muted or PCM was set to 0. The only solution that worked was to uninstall pulseaudio completely. That worked, and I didn't see any programs having problems without the pulseaudio. I don't know the point of pulseaudio, but as it keeps coming back like a bad nightmare in Ubuntu Karmic (which I'm testing on one of the computers currently), it would be nice if one could manage to fix the pulseaudio so that it works out of the box.

[Jamie Kitson (jamie-kitson)]

Mark Rijckenberg's solution from Question 68564 is to comment out line 372 (approx) in the /etc/init.d/alsa-utils file:

# mute_and_zero_levels "$TARGET_CARD" || EXITSTATUS=1

[testonerosso (testonerosso-safemail)]

I think I've found a simpler way to fix the problem of setting the audio at a desidered level at start up.
I used the "aslactl" function with a custom file (http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/gutsy/man1/alsactl.1.html).
 I set the options as I liked , then I typed from a terminal : aslactl store -f /filename...
this will create a file with the otions setted as I wanted .
then I added at start up the command : aslactl restore -f /filename...

and it works all the times.