High pitch whine on left audio channel with Asus K8N-VM

[James King]

Binary package hint: linux-image-2.6.22-14-generic

Using 4ch or 6ch mode on Gutsy with the Asus K8N-VM motherboard onboard audio (nvidia MCP-51 chipset) results in a high pitched whine on both the front and rear left channel speakers. Right and center channels are unaffected. The device is listed as AD198x Analog and is using the snd-hda-intel driver. Googling around turned up similar issues with other nforce boards, but all were solved by using one of the following lines in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base:

options snd-hda-intel index=0 model=3stack position_fix=0 single_cmd=0
options snd-hda-intel position_fix=1 model=3stack
options snd-hda-intel model=3stack
options snd-hda-intel model=auto

I have tried all 4 variations with a reboot in between, and still get the high pitched whine. Using 2ch mode eliminates the problem, but means that 5.1 sound doesn't work. I have tried muting and unmuting various combinations of channels and altering levels, none of which has any positive impact. Additionally, adjusting any level while sound is being played results in the audio output abruptly dying (I was using the test under System->Preferences->Sound). The only fix is to stop any application using the device and adjust the main audio level on the system tray applet, which seems to restore sound.

$ tail -2 /proc/asound/oss/sndstat
Mixers:
0: Analog Devices AD1986A

Will attach debugging outputs. This bug is similar to #89036 and #90303.

[Tim Gardner (timg-tpi)]

Try installing linux-backports-modules which contains ALSA 1.0.15

[James King (t-james-king)]

Thanks for responding Tim. I installed linux-backports-modules and cycled through the above options again, still no change.

[James King (t-james-king)]

I've found a workaround for this issue: http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-4291307.html?sid=2d09aabef90429f5465f9ee35f12456e#4291307

Specifically, setting the playback mode under System->Preferences->Sound to "ALSA - Advanced Linux Sound Architecture" instead of "AD198x Analog" and creating setting up /etc/asound.conf as follows:

pcm.upmix_4ch {
   type plug
   slave.pcm surround40
   slave.channels 4
   route_policy duplicate
}

pcm.default upmix_4ch

Unfortunately, this has the side effect of restricting me to a single application using audio at any given time, but will have to do until ALSA bug #2889 is fixed.

[robbiegregg (am242m)]

Hi,

I (partially) managed to fix the problem but by editing a different file:

/etc/modprobe.conf

Add the following line:

options snd-hda-intel model=3stack

When I run speaker-test, it correctly identifies my speakers:

speaker-test -Dsurround71 -c 6 -t wav (note I have 7.1 speakers but use it as 5.1)

Unfortunately when I then try to play a DVD in MythTV for example, only my right speakers work - my front left and rear left speakers don't work at all) - how very confusing!

[Tim Gardner (timg-tpi)]

Retarget for Hardy

[Tim Gardner (timg-tpi)]

retargeting for Hardy

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Hardy Heron Alpha series is currently under development and contains an updated version of the kernel. It would be helpful if you could test the latest Hardy Alpha release: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . You should be able to then test the new kernel via the LiveCD. If you can, please verify if this bug still exists or not and report back your results. Thanks.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[James King (t-james-king)]

I did a clean install of Hardy a while back, and to my dismay found that with pulseaudio being the default sound system, my workaround specified above no longer works, and reverts to 2-channel sound only. I've tried editing /etc/pulse/daemon.conf to add "default-sample-channels = 6" (because PA only enables 2-channel playback by default), but I don't get anything but 2-channel. Even worse, trying to set the playback to use ALSA again fails on test with the following message:

audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512 ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink: Could not open audio device for playback.

So surround sound has been completely broken for me since.

You didn't specify a repo to add so that I can install linux-image-2.6.27-*, so I downloaded the Intrepid alpha 5, booted into it and still 2-channel sound only. Edited /etc/pulse/daemon.conf as above and ran:

killall pulseaudio
pulseaudio &

Test tone still works, but still only 2-channel, even after unmuting all the appropriate channels. Note that whether I'm using the installed Hardy or live Intrepid, I get the following error when I manually relaunch PA:

jking@sanction:~$ pulseaudio &
[1] 6507
jking@sanction:~$ ALSA lib control.c:909:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL front:0

Let me know if there's any other information I can provide.

[Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

We were wondering if this is still an issue for you. Can you try with the latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.

[Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

 We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!