Sound volume always at loudest level possible after boot

[Rumtscho]

When the PC is turned on, the login sound is always played as loud as possible. Any other sounds played after that (e.g. listening to a song with Rhythmbox) are also at the loudest level. This happens independently of the level to which the sound volume indicator is set.

When the volume level is changed using the volume indicator in the panel, the sound level is changed and stays at a level shown by the indicator until the system is rebooted.

This used to happen with the onboard sound card (a Realtek ALC889). Recently I connected a new USB sound card to the PC (an Onkyo Wavio SE-U55SX) and disabled the on-board one in the BIOS. The new sound card uses a different driver, but the problem persists. I am currently using 10.10 64 bit, but I had it in earlier Ubuntu versions too.

Other users seem to have experienced the same problem. None of the workaround proposals I found worked.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/8454/sound-volume-after-boot-always-at-loudest-level
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1346211&highlight=loud+sound+volume+restart

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: alsa-base 1.0.23+dfsg-1ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-23.41-generic 2.6.35.7
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-23-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 1: SEU55SX [ONKYO SE-U55SX], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: rumtscho 1752 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC1D0p: rumtscho 1752 F...m pulseaudio
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'SEU55SX'/'ONKYO Corporation ONKYO SE-U55SX at usb-0000:00:1a.7-6.1.4, full speed'
   Mixer name : 'USB Mixer'
   Components : 'USB0746:5512'
   Controls : 0
   Simple ctrls : 0
Card1.Amixer.values:

Date: Sat Dec 11 23:51:04 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
PackageArchitecture: all
PciMultimedia:

ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SelectedCard: 1 SEU55SX USB-Audio - ONKYO SE-U55SX
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Title: [USB-Audio - ONKYO SE-U55SX] Playback problem
dmi.bios.date: 02/24/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 0703
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: P6X58D PREMIUM
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev 1.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr0703:bd02/24/2010:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnP6X58DPREMIUM:rvrRev1.xx:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Hello can you please reinstall pulseaudio
Thanks
Fabio

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Hello
Don't consider point #2, not valid.
Thanks
Fabio

[xteejx (xteejx)]

Hi Rumtscho,
The issue that you reported is one that should be reproducible with the live environment of the Desktop CD of the development release - Natty Narwhal. It would help us greatly if you could test with it so we can work on getting it fixed in the next release of Ubuntu. You can find out more about the development release at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/. Thanks again and we appreciate your help.

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

Hello,
I'm experiencing the same bug in Ubuntu 11.04. Everything worked well with the version of pulseaudio that shipped with beta 2 until the recent update (version: 1:0.9.22+stable-queue-24-g67d18-0ubuntu3). After booting or killing pulseaudio with the pulseaudio -k command the volume is at the highest level. If I click the gnome panel's volume slider, it is back at normal.

Note that I had to change in /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-input.conf the volume of the PCM element from merge to ignore to avoid distorted output. This was already necessary for me back in Lucid. Another thing I noticed: Before the bug the volume was loud enough for me right near the slider's lowest end, now I need to set it at around 30% (once the volume is at normal).

Device: Philips PSC805 USB sound card

[xteejx (xteejx)]

Thank you for the update. Can you run "apport-collect 689106" for us please, and allow it to attach the audio stuff to this report. Once that is done we should be able to set this as Triaged and pass it onto the developers. Thank you again.

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: seldon 1327 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1: seldon 1327 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'ICH5'/'Intel ICH5 with AD1981B at irq 17'
   Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1981B'
   Components : 'AC97a:41445374'
   Controls : 34
   Simple ctrls : 23
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'PSC805'/'Philips Electronics Philips PSC805 at usb-0000:00:1d.1-1, full speed'
   Mixer name : 'USB Mixer'
   Components : 'USB0471:0155'
   Controls : 4
   Simple ctrls : 2
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release i386 (20110426)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: pulseaudio 1:0.9.22+stable-queue-24-g67d18-0ubuntu3 [modified: usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-output.conf.common]
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=de_DE:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Tags: natty
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic i686
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 06/26/2003
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1006
dmi.board.name: P4SD-VX
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTek Computer Inc.
dmi.board.version: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.version: RS
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1006:bd06/26/2003:svnSonyCorporation:pnPCV-RSM22(CE):pvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:rvnASUSTekComputerInc.:rnP4SD-VX:rvrTobefilledbyO.E.M.:cvnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:ct3:cvrRS:
dmi.product.name: PCV-RSM22(CE)
dmi.product.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: Sony Corporation

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

apport information

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

apport information

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

apport information

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

apport information

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

apport information

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

apport information

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

apport information

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

apport information

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

apport information

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

apport information

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

apport information

[Misericordia (rivinforum)]

apport information

[xteejx (xteejx)]

Thank you for the quick reply. I have marked this as Triaged, as it should now have enough information to be looked at by the appropriate development people, probably the Ubuntu Audio Team who are subscribed. Thank you again for reporting this to us, and please report any other bugs you may find. :)

[Max (farnsworth)]

Hello,
I also have the same bug, tells me if you need more information or a new collect (Sorry if I shouldn't have answered, I don't really know how launchpad works).
I'm using a Realtek ALC892 (integrated soud card of my Asus P8H67-M PRO), cat /proc/asound/cards gives me:
 0 [PCH ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
                      HDA Intel PCH at 0xfe600000 irq 52
Thanks,
Max