pulseaudio only lowers volume when below 15%

[Virgil Brummond]

Binary package hint: pulseaudio

The pulseaudio volume control applet does not change the volume level at all (it remains loud) until the slider is around 15%. Then it will lower the sound in the four steps it takes to hit 0%, then it mutes just fine. It seems that the slider "Master Front" hits zero at around 15%, then the "Front" slider actually controls the volume. I can obtain more information, please tell me what you need.

I expected the volume to become progressively quieter as the bar goes down, however it does not change until 15% as was said.

ProblemType: Bug
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: VT1708S Analog [VT1708S Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/2
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: VT1708S Analog [VT1708S Analog]
   Subdevices: 2/2
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: virgil 1380 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: virgil 1380 F...m pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfe9f4000 irq 22'
   Mixer name : 'VIA VT1708S'
   Components : 'HDA:11060397,10431111,00100000'
   Controls : 19
   Simple ctrls : 12
Date: Fri Mar 19 21:42:30 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
InstallationMedia: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/installer/media-info'
Package: pulseaudio 1:0.9.22~0.9.21+stable-queue-32-g8478-0ubuntu12
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-16.25-generic
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-16-generic x86_64

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

There are workarounds for this bug, see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems/KarmicCaveats#Volume%20range%20anomalies
Please report back and tell us whether any of these two workarounds worked for you. Thanks!

[Virgil Brummond (uraharakisuke153)]

The tweak to change the mixer to use solely alsa PCM fixes the issue I describe, however it adds another. When I manually change the volume it stutters badly. Sometimes it will randomly garble for a split second. The other tweak to add dB=1 has no effect.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Thanks. Looks like a kernel bug to me.

[Edward (edward-coffey)]

This explains what PulseAudio is trying to achieve with the volume control: http://pulseaudio.org/wiki/PulseAudioStoleMyVolumes

The trouble seems to be that for the VT1708S the "Master Front" control, which Pulse assumes is the master volume control for the front speakers, actually has no effect at all on volume. Looks like it's a bug in the sound-card driver, though it's possible PulseAudio and I are misinterpreting the purpose of the Master Front control.

[Edward (edward-coffey)]

The work-around that has worked for me was to edit "/usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-output.conf". You need to find the "[Element Master Front]" section, and replace "volume = merge" with "volume = ignore". This tells PulseAudio not to use the "Master Front" control as part of the volume control, which is fine for the VT1708S, since it can still use "Front" for broad volume control, and "PCM" for fine-tuning.

[Virgil Brummond (uraharakisuke153)]

The volume = ignore workaround does not work for me. Same behavior with the internal speakers. The headphones always work fine either case when plugged in, volume goes up and down as normal. Also, the speakers do not unmute when I change the headphone volume, which is actually a fix from Karmic.

[Virgil Brummond (uraharakisuke153)]

Ignore the above, I reset some pulse configuration and the tweak worked. Now adjusting the volume on my headphones unmutes the normal speakers. Still, it is more consistent.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Virgil Brummond, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, could you please test the latest upstream kernel available following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Please do not test the daily folder, but the one all the way at the bottom. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested. For example:
kernel-fixed-upstream-v3.11

This can be done by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon next to the word Tags located at the bottom of the bug description. As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug's Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results. Thank you for your understanding.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]