digital audio optical out (IEC958) will not unmute/turn on

[Yfrwlf]

I cannot enable my digital output now at all in Karmic Koala. In Jaunty I had to unmute/enable the digital output (IEC958) and that got me sound, but with the new Pulse Audio controls, while it shows the digital output device in the list, and I can switch to it, and everything is unmuted and should be working, and I can see that the device is outputting volume in the pulse controls, the port itself is still muted/disabled. I know this for a fact because the light isn't on, and I've verified that it works in Windows. When loading alsamixer, normally I can unmute the IEC958 channel in there to enable it as well as with the old Gnome sound GUI, but now unmuting it doesn't work. I can mute everything around it, but that channel stays muted no matter how many times I hit 'm'. :P

aplay -l shows the digital device I am trying to unmute:

card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC889A Analog [ALC889A Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC889A Digital [ALC889A Digital]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

It's almost like the new pulse audio system has taken control of my digital sound and won't let me unmute it. Like I said, worked fine in Jaunty...

[Yfrwlf (yfrwlf)]

P.S. I've tried changing the "profile" under the "Hardware" tab of my one audio device to everything available, and none of it gives me sound. Basically anything with "digital output" should be working.

Also to further make things interesting, at first I had done an upgrade from Jackalope, where I had already unmuted the digital output, to Koala, and everything was working. It wasn't until I did a fresh install of Koala that this issue popped up.

[Yfrwlf (yfrwlf)]

OK, I have this figured out, I was misreading the little green blocks as meaning muted instead of unmuted. The whole time IEC958 was unmuted, but still not working. All it took to turn on ICE958 was to unmute the "master" channel in the alsamixer command line utility.

The question now is why isn't this enabled by default? Is the master (and most all of the other channels) being disabled a configuration mistake in the Pulse Audio 'profiles"? These alsamixer configurations still have a lot of importance apparently, and the Pulse Audio GUIs cannot configure them currently. Normally, turning on/off optical is done with the ICE958 switch in the old Gnome controls or in alsamixer, but now this has absolutely no effect. Only muting/unmuting "master" turns it off and on, but only in alsamixer. Is this because it is supposed to be linked to Pulse Audio's master mute/unmute, but currently is broken perhaps? While master is unmuted in alsamixer, muting in Pulse Audio will work, so you will only get sound if both PA and ALSA are unmuted.

So, this bug report problem has changed to: "alsamixer master channel not unmuted by default" I guess. :)

Thanks.

[fvanler (fvanler)]

With a fresh Ubuntu 9.10 install the same problem seems to exist.
I've searched half of the Internet for problems with my ION motherboard and why HDMI audio output wouldn't work (I'm adding these keywords on purpose so one could google into this topic) - it turned out the audio over HDMI was just muted.

I'm using nvidia-glx-185 drivers drivers (actually 185.18.36-0ubuntu9) which come by default with Ubuntu 9.10.

$ aplay -l && aplay -L
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: ALC662 rev1 Digital [ALC662 rev1 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
front:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, NVIDIA HDMI
    HDMI Audio Output
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
pulse
    Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server
$

[Yfrwlf (yfrwlf)]

I am no longer having an issue with IEC958 output in Karmic Koala. I just have to go to the Pulseaudio settings and select digital output, and it starts outputting digital sound via my optical out jack.

@Fuss: I am not seeing any HDMI audio option in Pulseaudio, or in alsamixer, so I'm not sure what's up with that. I have a Nvidia video card and the closed Nvidia driver installed and there is no setting for HDMI audio that I can see.

[Vítor Baptista (vitorbaptista)]

I still can't use HDMI audio output. If I select Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output in Sound Preferences, no sound comes out. I have everything unmuted with alsamixer. My alsa version is 1.0.20+dfsg-1ubuntu5 and pulseaudio 1:0.9.19-0ubuntu4.1.

Any ideas?

$ aplay -l && aplay -L
**** Lista de Dispositivos PLAYBACK Hardware ****
placa 0: Intel [HDA Intel], dispositivo 0: ALC663 Analog [ALC663 Analog]
  Dispositivo secundário: 1/1
  Dispositivo secundário #0: subdevice #0
placa 0: Intel [HDA Intel], dispositivo 1: ALC663 Digital [ALC663 Digital]
  Dispositivo secundário: 0/1
  Dispositivo secundário #0: subdevice #0
front:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC663 Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC663 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC663 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC663 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC663 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC663 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC663 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
pulse
    Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server

$ lspci | grep Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)

[Mawe (mario-werneck)]

I cannot raise the IEC958 volume in he alsa mixer. I can mute ad unmute but only that. I have no sound in the spdif ouput, only in the HDMI output. I am looking for help via google and i cant find any hint that really works. I use the 9.10 Ubuntu ans the aplay -l shows:
Lista de Dispositivos PLAYBACK Hardware ****
placa 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], dispositivo 0: ALC1200 Analog [ALC1200 Analog]
  Dispositivo secundário: 1/1
  Dispositivo secundário #0: subdevice #0
placa 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], dispositivo 1: ALC1200 Digital [ALC1200 Digital]
  Dispositivo secundário: 1/1
  Dispositivo secundário #0: subdevice #0
placa 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], dispositivo 3: ATI HDMI [ATI HDMI]
  Dispositivo secundário: 1/1
  Dispositivo secundário #0: subdevice #0
xbmc@xbmc-desktop:~$ aplay -l
**** Lista de Dispositivos PLAYBACK Hardware ****
placa 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], dispositivo 0: ALC1200 Analog [ALC1200 Analog]
  Dispositivo secundário: 1/1
  Dispositivo secundário #0: subdevice #0
placa 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], dispositivo 1: ALC1200 Digital [ALC1200 Digital]
  Dispositivo secundário: 1/1
  Dispositivo secundário #0: subdevice #0
placa 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], dispositivo 3: ATI HDMI [ATI HDMI]
  Dispositivo secundário: 1/1
  Dispositivo secundário #0: subdevice #0
My lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 Host Bridge
 Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82f1
 Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0
 Capabilities: <access denied>

00:01.0 PCI bridge: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 9602
 Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=64
 I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff
 Memory behind bridge: fbc00000-fbdfffff
 Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d0000000-00000000dfffffff
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel modules: shpchp

00:05.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 1)
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
 Memory behind bridge: fbe00000-fbefffff
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
 Kernel modules: shpchp

00:06.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 2)
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
 I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000efff
 Memory behind bridge: fbf00000-fbffffff
 Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000faf00000-00000000faffffff
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
 Kernel modules: shpchp

00:11.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [IDE mode] (prog-if 01)
 Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82ef
 Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 22
 I/O ports at c000 [size=8]
 I/O ports at b000 [size=4]
 I/O ports at a000 [size=8]
 I/O ports at 9000 [size=4]
 I/O ports at 8000 [size=16]
 Memory at fbbff800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: ahci

00:12.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI...

[Yfrwlf (yfrwlf)]

If it's unrelated to this issue which now seems resolved, you need to file new bug reports and check to see if an existing bug already exists as you do so. This bug however needs to be closed. You may want to post in the forums as well, but if an out-of-the-box install of 9.10 (and also try 10.04 as it may have been resolved in it) isn't working for you, that is of course noteworthy.

Just to mention one thing though, HDMI audio should show up as a separate hardware device under the Hardware tab in sound preferences. This is because it is a separate device, it's using the video card. If you have a video card with HDMI-out and you do not see any HDMI or "HD48x0" as mine is called. Also, the video card drivers may be the issue too, unless that part is separated out. All I know is I am using the ATI close source driver FGLRX and I can see both HDMI audio devices. I think the open source driver also should show them (or maybe they are unrelated like I said).

I am currently running 10.04 Lucid Lynx on a computer with a Nvidia card, a 8600 GTS, and the close source Nvidia driver. On it, HDMI audio does not show up as a device. I am not sure if this would change if I switched back to the open source Nvidia driver.

So please file a new bug if there isn't one already.

As for ALSA, it is supposed to be fully taken control of by Pulse's settings AFAIK, and that is probably why the audio controls don't work for ALSA anymore. It's just really strange that master mute is the one thing that still has an effect, even in 10.04.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

Hi Yfrwlf,

Please be sure to confirm this issue exists with the latest development release of Ubuntu. ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ . If the issue remains, please run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p alsa-base 441746

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

    [This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[juergen852 (jm4)]

Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: jmueller 1933 F.... pulseaudio
                      jmueller 4218 F.... cairo-dock
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf3ff8000 irq 58'
   Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1989B'
   Components : 'HDA:11d4989b,10438372,00100300'
   Controls : 48
   Simple ctrls : 27
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: alsa-base 1.0.20+dfsg-1ubuntu5
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-20.58-generic
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-20-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

juergen852, you need to file a new bug. Also, make sure you're using linux-alsa-driver-modules-$(uname -r) from ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev.