No sound capture, shivering volume control slider

[NewNerd]

Binary package hint: sound-recorder

I have Ubuntu 7.04 on a HP/Compaq nc6320 laptop with Vista dual boot.
I cannot get my microphone and sound recorder to work. Its not a hardware problem with my microphone (it works with Vista on the same machine). The sound controller icon in the panel is really frustrating: the tooltip says "Microphone 100%" and the slider always stays at the max point. I try to pull the slider down, it shivers and wants to stay in its usual position.

Similar to the above problem of sound capture, till I installed a package called KMix, I could not control my sound output too. The sound controllers did not respond including the mute, volume increase and decrease buttons of the laptop. It also was 100% all the time. But now thanks to KMix, I can control the sound output.

To provide some information as part of the bug, here are the list of sound related devices according to my device manager:
AT-style speaker sound
82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller
AD198x Analog OSS PCM Device (device_file = /dev/audio)
AD198x Analog OSS PCM Device (device_file = /dev/dsp)
AD198x Analog OSS Control Device
Si3054 Modem ALSA Playback Device
AD198x Analog ALSA Playback Device
HDA Intel ALSA Control Device
Si3054 ALSA Capture Device
AD198x Analog ALSA Capture Device
PC Speaker
ALSA Sequencer Device
ALSA Time Device
OSS Sequencer Device
OSS Time Device

Any help really appreciated.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Are you using Gnome or KDE? Thanks in advance.

[NewNerd (abhilash-miranda)]

I use Gnome.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug. What did you change in KMix? What slider do you try to change in the GNOME controller?

[NewNerd (abhilash-miranda)]

----------------------------

Which is the slider that shivers?
"Volume Applet 2.18.0"
Volume control for your GNOME Panel
Using GStreamer 0.10
(c) Ronald Bultje
----------------------------

What did I change in the KMix?
In the "Output" tab, using both "Master" and "PCM" I'm able to control the audio output.
----------------------------

Other observed characteristics in the KMix?
In the "Output" tab, "Mic Boost" and "Internal Mic Boost" are stubbornly nailed and would not move. In the "Input" tab, "Mic Boost" and "Capture" can be slided, but not "Internal Mic Boost". In the "Switches" tab, only one of these can be selected at any particular time viz. "Mic", "Mix", "Docking Station".
----------------------------

Anything else that I want to add now?
I can achieve the same volume output controls achieved through KMix using the gnome-volume-control.
----------------------------

[NewNerd (abhilash-miranda)]

Here's a pm from Ronald who maintains the Volume Applet

----------
there's no need to use kmix, just use gnome-volume-control by clicking "open volume control" when you right-click the volume icon (applet)in your panel. As for why the applet itself won't move, please right-click the volume icon (applet) in your panel, select preferences and choose "pcm" or "master" in the selection box. Then, the volume icon (applet) in your panel should control your master volume, too.

I don't know why the default is wrong, you probably want to report that in the below bug report or send it upstream to the gnome bug tracker so we can fix it. It us probably a bug in alsa or gstreamer.
----------

Yes, there is no need to use kmix. I mentioned this at the end of my previous post.
Thanks to the suggestion above to look at the preferences, I noticed that in "the device and track to control", "Analog Devices ... OSS driver" was selected. And it didn't have the PCM or Master option. When I selected the "HDA Intel (Alsa Mixer)", I got the PCM, Master etc. And I'm happy that the shivering stopped when I selected PCM or Master.

I have no idea what Ronald meant by default is wrong and I am a novice. I also don't know what it means to send it upstream. Please suggest.

Summary: the shivering stopped.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Do you consider it as not being a bug but rather you not using the right slider? Can we close the bug?

[NewNerd (abhilash-miranda)]

The bug report had two parts
1. Shivering volume controller
The default volume controller had the "Analog Devices...OSS Driver" enabled rather than the "HDA Intel (Alsa Mixer)". This was creating the problem of shivering. If you think it is a genuine problem that need to be addressed, please don't close the bug.

2. No sound capture
The sound capture still is not working. May be you could merge this part of the bug with some similar sound capture bug, if it is anyways possible.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

The bug is confusing, should be sent upstream by somebody running into it

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

there is recent comment on this bug nor duplicate and nobody bothered to sent it upstream, closing the bug

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Is this symptom still reproducible in 8.10?

[abhimiranda (miranda-brussels)]

No, I don't have this problem anymore in 8.10 and doubt that it could be
reproduced.

Ciao.

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 12:57 AM, Daniel T Chen <email address hidden> wrote:

> Is this symptom still reproducible in 8.10?
>
> ** Changed in: sound-recorder (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> --
> No sound capture, shivering volume control slider
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/119274
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Michele Mangili (mangilimic)]

This bug report is being closed due to your last comment regarding this being fixed with an update. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the revealed drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status . Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Feel free to submit any future bugs you may find.