audio doesn't work on Intel HDA 82801H

[Torfi Gunnarsson]

There is no sound. I tried to boot from an older live-cd (8.04) but that didn't work nor did the new one (8.10).
Ubuntu came pre-installed from a local shop with the audio working, however that shop has now permanently closed so I cannot get in contact with its technical staff.

The laptop is a mitac 8252D.

[Torfi Gunnarsson (hamstur)]

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
 Subsystem: Mitac Device 8253
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information <?>
 Kernel modules: intel-agp

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
 I/O behind bridge: 00002000-00002fff
 Memory behind bridge: cc000000-ceffffff
 Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d0000000-00000000dfffffff
 Capabilities: [88] Subsystem: Mitac Device 8253
 Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
 Capabilities: [90] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable+
 Capabilities: [a0] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
 Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel <?>
 Capabilities: [140] Root Complex Link <?>
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
 Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
 Subsystem: Mitac Device 8253
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
 I/O ports at 1800 [size=32]
 Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
 Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
 Subsystem: Mitac Device 8253
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
 I/O ports at 1820 [size=32]
 Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
 Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03) (prog-if 20)
 Subsystem: Mitac Device 8253
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
 Memory at fc204800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
 Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
 Capabilities: [58] Debug port: BAR=1 offset=00a0
 Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
 Kernel modules: ehci-hcd

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
 Subsystem: Mitac Device 8253
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
 Memory at fc200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
 Capabilities: [60] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
 Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
 Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel <?>
 Capabilities: [130] Root Complex Link <?>
 Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
 Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
 I/O behind bridge: 00003000-00003fff
 Memory behind bridge: f6000000-f7ffffff
 Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000f0000000-00000000f1ffffff
 Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
 Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable+
 Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Mitac Device 8253
 Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2
 Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel <?>
 Capabilities: [180] Root Complex Link <?>
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
 Kernel modules: s...

[Torfi Gunnarsson (hamstur)]

Module Size Used by
ipv6 263972 10
af_packet 25728 4
binfmt_misc 16904 1
rfcomm 44432 2
sco 18308 2
bridge 56980 0
stp 10628 1 bridge
bnep 20480 2
l2cap 30464 16 rfcomm,bnep
ppdev 15620 0
acpi_cpufreq 15500 1
cpufreq_userspace 11396 0
cpufreq_ondemand 14988 1
cpufreq_stats 13188 0
freq_table 12672 3 acpi_cpufreq,cpufreq_ondemand,cpufreq_stats
cpufreq_powersave 9856 0
cpufreq_conservative 14600 0
sbs 19464 0
container 11520 0
wmi 14504 0
sbshc 13440 1 sbs
pci_slot 12552 0
iptable_filter 10752 0
ip_tables 19600 1 iptable_filter
x_tables 22916 1 ip_tables
parport_pc 39204 0
lp 17156 0
parport 42604 3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
joydev 18368 0
arc4 9984 2
ecb 10880 2
crypto_blkcipher 25476 1 ecb
snd_hda_intel 381488 0
snd_pcm_oss 46848 0
snd_mixer_oss 22784 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 83204 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy 10884 0
iwlagn 99588 0
snd_seq_oss 38528 0
iwlcore 92740 1 iwlagn
snd_seq_midi 14336 0
snd_rawmidi 29824 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 15232 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
psmouse 45200 0
btusb 19736 3
rfkill 17176 2 iwlcore
serio_raw 13444 0
evdev 17696 10
snd_seq 57776 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
pcspkr 10624 0
led_class 12164 1 iwlcore
nvidia 6900560 38
bluetooth 61924 11 rfcomm,sco,bnep,l2cap,btusb
snd_timer 29960 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 15116 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
mac80211 216820 2 iwlagn,iwlcore
i2c_core 31892 1 nvidia
snd 63268 9 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
cfg80211 32392 3 iwlagn,iwlcore,mac80211
soundcore 15328 1 snd
video 25104 5
battery 18436 0
output 11008 1 video
ac 12292 0
button 14224 0
snd_page_alloc 16136 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
iTCO_wdt 18596 0
iTCO_vendor_support 11652 1 iTCO_wdt
intel_agp 33724 0
agpgart 42184 2 nvidia,intel_agp
shpchp 37908 0
pci_hotplug 35236 1 shpchp
ext3 133384 1
jbd 55444 1 ext3
mbcache 16004 1 ext3
sr_mod 22212 0
cdrom 43168 1 sr_mod
sd_mod 42264 3
crc_t...

[Ian Weisser (ian-weisser)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.

1) Try the fixes detailed in 'HOWTO: PulseAudio Fixes & System-Wide Equalizer Support' at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789578 . This article really should resolve most of the problems for users who dist-upgraded from 8.04.

If that works, then please close the bug report (or let me know and I will close it for you).

2) If that doesn't work, then please include the information requested from the "Reporting Sound Bugs" section of https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems as separate attachments.

Thanks in advance.

[Torfi Gunnarsson (hamstur)]

Thanks for your help! I followed the instructions at
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789578
and it did not do the trick. In fact, I couldn't even complete the last step, which was to do
$ alsamixer -Dhw
it gives me this error:

ALSA lib simple_none.c:1520:(simple_add1) helem (MIXER,'Headphone Playback Switch',0,2,0) appears twice or more

alsamixer: function snd_mixer_load failed: Invalid argument

I ran alsa-info.sh, like https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems told me to do, and the results of that script are here:
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=a8f5d58fbe3036963170e397e7c317ef90a39fc2

The computer behaves as if the sound is working. I can "play" mp3s and so on, but no sound comes out of the speakers or headphones (if I plug them in). It seems like the sound is mysteriously muted, but with no way to un-mute it. By the way, the sound also doesn't work on openSUSE 11.0 gnome liveCD or Fedora 10 liveCD (same symptoms, or so it seems)

[Torfi Gunnarsson (hamstur)]

I did the thing in Appendix A at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789578
I played a sound file while viewing the PulseAudio Volume Control thing, and it does list the application as using PulseAudio to play the sound, and even the volume meter works as if it's playing sound. In other words from it matches

C. The application does not play audio and does list an entry in the Playback tab;
- the application is using PulseAudio but there is a problem, such as: a bug in PulseAudio, a problem with your ALSA kernel module or libraries, or your PCM/Master volume is muted.

I have attached a screenshot for clarity.

[Torfi Gunnarsson (hamstur)]

Solved! It turns out the bug was caused by two codecs conflicting with each other, or something like that. We got sound by adding the line

options snd-hda-intel probe_mask=1

to the file

/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

This should of course have been done automatically by ALSA but since this particular computer is not a "known buggy" device, ALSA doesn't know about it. Here is a post about the issue:
http://<email address hidden>/msg20501.html

[Torfi Gunnarsson (hamstur)]

Addition: We also installed a recent version of ALSA, using the script "AlsaUpgrade-1.0.x-rev-1.15.tar" from this thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=962695

The sound did not work in the "out of the box" Intrepid version of ALSA, even with the above "fix".