In reality it's a linux bug, meaning that the sound driver can be modified
to work around broken hardware. PulseAudio can be tweaked for your
particular hardware (and only yours -- it cannot be a global change for all
users!) by using volume = ignore for the desired mixer elements.

On Oct 3, 2009 5:10 AM, "Sam Vilain" <email address hidden> wrote:

Public bug reported:

Binary package hint: pulseaudio

Hi, this might not be a bug in pulseaudio but I wasn't sure of the right
package for this.

Basically each of the volume controls in gnome seem to control the wrong
mixer channel.

The exact device ID is:

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition
Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1b.0 0403: 8086:27d8 (rev 01)

Sliding the volume control with alsamixer open, I see behaviour where at
the top 80% of the volume range, the Master level is changed from 0 to
100%.  In the ~5% or so below that, the LFE level is changed from 0 to
100%.  In the bottom ~15%, the PCM level is dropped.

This seems like quite deliberate behaviour, but for this laptop it is
entirely inappropriate.  Between the 15% and 20% setting for instance
the subwoofer speaker goes from 0% to 100%, with the treble speakers
off.  It sounds *awful*!

More appropriate behaviour for this laptop is to have LFE at ~100% and
Master at ~85%, and then just changing PCM between about 100% and 25%
will give good levels for most environments.  Alternatively, you can
adjust both LFE and Master together - ideally with LFE slightly higher
than Master - and leave PCM on high and this will achieve a similar
effect.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0:  samv       1781 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p:   samv       1781 F...m pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xefffc000 irq 21'
  Mixer name   : 'SigmaTel STAC9200'
  Components   : 'HDA:83847690,102801cd,00102201
HDA:14f12bfa,14f100c3,00090000'
  Controls      : 13
  Simple ctrls  : 7
Date: Sat Oct  3 21:53:10 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: pulseaudio 1:0.9.18-0ubuntu3
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_NZ.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-11.36-generic
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-11-generic x86_64

** Affects: pulseaudio (Ubuntu)
    Importance: Undecided
        Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug

--
[karmic] Dell Inspiron 9400 / ICH7 - Mixer controlling wrong settings
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/441195
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Audio Team, which is subscribed to pulseaudio in ubuntu.

Status in “pulseaudio” package in Ubuntu: New

Bug description:
Binary package hint: pulseaudio

Hi, this might not be a bug in pulseaudio but I wasn't sure of the right
package for this.

Basically each of the volume controls in gnome seem to control the wrong
mixer channel.

The exact device ID is:

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition
Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1b.0 0403: 8086:27d8 (rev 01)

Sliding the volume control with alsamixer open, I see behaviour where at the
top 80% of the volume range, the Master level is changed from 0 to 100%.  In
the ~5% or so below that, the LFE level is changed from 0 to 100%.  In the
bottom ~15%, the PCM level is dropped.

This seems like quite deliberate behaviour, but for this laptop it is
entirely inappropriate.  Between the 15% and 20% setting for instance the
subwoofer speaker goes from 0% to 100%, with the treble speakers off.  It
sounds *awful*!

More appropriate behaviour for this laptop is to have LFE at ~100% and
Master at ~85%, and then just changing PCM between about 100% and 25% will
give good levels for most environments.  Alternatively, you can adjust both
LFE and Master together - ideally with LFE slightly higher than Master - and
leave PCM on high and this will achieve a similar effect.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0:  samv       1781 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p:   samv       1781 F...m pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xefffc000 irq 21'
  Mixer name   : 'SigmaTel STAC9200'
  Components   : 'HDA:83847690,102801cd,00102201
HDA:14f12bfa,14f100c3,00090000'
  Controls      : 13
  Simple ctrls  : 7
Date: Sat Oct  3 21:53:10 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: pulseaudio 1:0.9.18-0ubuntu3
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_NZ.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-11.36-generic
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-11-generic x86_64