In mi case it occurs with any of Master or PCM, if one of them is not zero, then there is sound. manu@~ $ cat /proc/asound/cards 0 [ICH5 ]: ICH4 - Intel ICH5 Intel ICH5 with AD1985 at 0xfebff800, irq 17 $ amixer ## Normal (there is sound) manu@~ $ amixer Simple mixer control 'Master',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Front Left: Playback 15 [48%] [on] Front Right: Playback 15 [48%] [on] Simple mixer control 'Master Mono',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Simple mixer control 'Master Surround',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Simple mixer control 'PCM',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Front Left: Playback 14 [45%] [on] Front Right: Playback 14 [45%] [on] Simple mixer control 'Surround',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Simple mixer control 'Surround Jack Mode',0 Capabilities: Mono: Simple mixer control 'Center',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Playback 31 [100%] [off] Simple mixer control 'LFE',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Simple mixer control 'Line',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off] Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'CD',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [on] Capture [on] Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [on] Capture [on] Simple mixer control 'Mic',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Playback channels: Mono Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Front Left: Capture [off] Front Right: Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'Mic Select',0 Capabilities: Mono: Simple mixer control 'Video',0 Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Front Left: Capture [off] Front Right: Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'Phone',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Playback channels: Mono Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Front Left: Capture [off] Front Right: Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Playback AC97-SPSA',0 Capabilities: volume volume-joined Playback channels: Mono Limits: 0 - 3 Mono: 0 [0%] Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Playback Source',0 Capabilities: Mono: Simple mixer control 'PC Speaker',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Limits: Playback 0 - 15 Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Simple mixer control 'Aux',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off] Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'Mono Output Select',0 Capabilities: Mono: Simple mixer control 'Capture',0 Capabilities: cvolume cswitch Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Capture 0 - 15 Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [off] Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [off] Simple mixer control 'Mix',0 Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Front Left: Capture [off] Front Right: Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'Mix Mono',0 Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Front Left: Capture [off] Front Right: Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'Channel Mode',0 Capabilities: Mono: Simple mixer control 'Downmix',0 Capabilities: Mono: Simple mixer control 'Exchange Center/LFE',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'Exchange Front/Surround',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'External Amplifier',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'Spread Front to Surround and Center/LFE',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'Stereo Mic',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] $ amixer (Master set to zero, yet there IS sound) @@ -2,8 +2,8 @@ Capabilities: pvolume pswitch Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 - Front Left: Playback 13 [42%] [on] - Front Right: Playback 13 [42%] [on] + Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [on] + Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [on] Simple mixer control 'Master Mono',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono