Volume control key controls speaker & not headphones

[Rob Frohne]

Binary package hint: ubuntu-base

Hi,

On my Dell Latitude D600, I was pleased to see the keyboard speaker controls controlled the volume up an down nicely, and popped up a little picture on the screen of the level. Also mute worked. Unfortunately it seems it controls the speaker volume and not the headphone volume. It seems like it would be more appropriate to control the master volume with this control. I found a control panel to change the key combination that is activated, but not something to tell it what volume control to use.

Thanks,

Rob

[Lynoure Braakman (lynoure)]

I'm having this same problem on Feisty with HP NC8230.

[JT (eksabajt)]

I'm also having this problem on Feisty with a Dell Inspiron 1000. I opened up the Volume Control preferences and the volume keys do appear to be controlling the Master channel, however it does not result in a change in the volume I am getting through my headphones. If I change the level of the PCM channel that does change the volume I am getting through my headphones (and the speaker volume when the headphones aren't plugged in).

[graey (geertvandijk)]

I have the same and I'm looking around for a fix. It appears to be going like this because of a nicer OSD for the volume when you enable compositing (beryl/compiz/etc), that takes over the standard gnome volume control display... And I'm having quite a hard time finding where to configure the non-gnome shortcuts ^^

[randomwalker (randomwalker)]

same problem, also a dell inspiron.

Looks like there's no one right setting for which volume to control. Therefore the next best thing would be for this pref to be in only one place. It is already in the volume control applet (select the device and track to control), and therefore the volume keys should respect this setting.

[ubunturox (ubunturox-kk)]

I ma having similar problems with ASUS A6M. The volume control shows up OSD and also changes it ... however, other applications dont seem to honor it. For ex: if totem is playing, no changes in volume control affect its output.

Thanks,
Kalyan

[Emilio Pozuelo Monfort (pochu)]

You can change what device control in System>Preferences>Sound, at the bottom of the first tab.

Does it fixes your issue?

Cheers
Emilio

[Emilio Pozuelo Monfort (pochu)]

Closing the bug. Please, let me know if the solution doesn't work.

[ubunturox (ubunturox-kk)]

I discovered that the volume control is affecting only the output on headphone jack but not the laptop speakers. So, I would say it is working but not in the right way.

Let me know what details you want.

thanks,
Kalyan

[Emilio Pozuelo Monfort (pochu)]

Have you changed it in System>Preferences>Sound, at the bottom of the first tab?
You can change there what the multimedia keys control, so choose the frontal speakers or master volume.
If that doesn't work, try changing the device (just above it).

Please, let me know whether it solves your problem.

[Rob Frohne (frohro)]

Hi Emilio,

I tested it on my Dell D600, and here is what I found.

1) When I have "Master" selected, it turns the sound up and down on the
speakers, but not the headphones.

2) When I have have "Headphones" selected, it turns the sound up and
down on the headphones, but not the speakers.

In my understanding "Master" means everything, but that may not be the
case. Anyway, we need a setting that does everything, not just one or
the other.

Thanks for working on this!

Rob

On Tue, 2007-06-05 at 11:00 +0000, Emilio Pozuelo Monfort wrote:
> Have you changed it in System>Preferences>Sound, at the bottom of the first tab?
> You can change there what the multimedia keys control, so choose the frontal speakers or master volume.
> If that doesn't work, try changing the device (just above it).
>
> Please, let me know whether it solves your problem.
>
--
Rob Frohne, Ph.D., P.E., Professor
E.F. Cross School of Engineering
Walla Walla College
100 SW 4th St.
College Place, WA 99324
[phone]
http://www.wwc.edu/~frohro/

[Emilio Pozuelo Monfort (pochu)]

Hi Rob.

That sounds like a sound card problem (that there's no master).

Please, open gnome-volume-control, and see whether there is a track which controls everything.
If there is, select it in gnome-sound-properties, and check whether it works.
If there isn't, then try (in gnome-volume-control) to change the sound device (File>Change Device), and try again with it.

Thanks
Emilio

[Emilio Pozuelo Monfort (pochu)]

Note that it doesn't have to be named "Master". (for me it's PCM)

[Rob Frohne (frohro)]

Hi Emilio,

You are right. The setting that controls both headphones and speaker is
"PCM".

I selected that and both work.

Thanks,

Rob

On Tue, 2007-06-05 at 16:57 +0000, Emilio Pozuelo Monfort wrote:
> Hi Rob.
>
> That sounds like a sound card problem (that there's no master).
>
> Please, open gnome-volume-control, and see whether there is a track which controls everything.
> If there is, select it in gnome-sound-properties, and check whether it works.
> If there isn't, then try (in gnome-volume-control) to change the sound device (File>Change Device), and try again with it.
>
> Thanks
> Emilio
>
--
Rob Frohne, Ph.D., P.E., Professor
E.F. Cross School of Engineering
Walla Walla College
100 SW 4th St.
College Place, WA 99324
[phone]
http://www.wwc.edu/~frohro/

[Paul (laptop765)]

To be more specific:

PCM controls program output... The best way I can think to describe it is what "Wave" would be in Windows. It does not control everything, but likely everything that your programs output. If, for instance, you are using MIDI, it will not have an impact if the MIDI has its own control. Microphones, Line-In, etc. all have their own controls and will not be controlled by PCM volume.

Master relates to speaker output only. Headphones relates to the headphone output only. Master is a bit misleading and it took me a while to figure it out. I personally think this is a great setup because it allows for more control over things.

However, what you CAN do if you would like to have better control over your sound is in System->Preferences->Sound. Highlight Master, hold down CTRL and click on Headphone and have the buttons control BOTH of those which will give you true control over the sound levels you want.

I was actually having the same problem until I stumbled upon this thread. The info here was able to help me achieve my ultimate goal and I figured I'd share the info. The reason PCM doesn't suffice for me is because if I I plug my bass into my line-in for instance, the volume keys would have no impact on it. Actually, I have my desktop chained into my laptop for sound. My line-in always has my desktop connected to it. Even if I lower or mute PCM, the desktop will come through loud and clear unless I do something to my Mic or Line-In [don't remember which is which.] Anyway I hope this helps.

[Aaron Whitehouse (aaron-whitehouse)]

*Sigh*... the joys of free software. Again, something doesn't work properly and the bug gets marked as "invalid" because one can manually fix it.

The current behaviour (in Gutsy Tribe 5) is unexpected and unintuitive. That means that there *is* a bug, we just have to figure out the best solution to the problem and file the appropriate upstream bugs that will result in this being fixed.

I propose that we file an upstream to have the volume hotkeys control both Master and Headphones by default. That seems the intuitive thing for them to control. People that want to change that to "get more control" are likely to be a small percentage of advanced users and these users are likely to be able to find the ability in Sound > Preferences.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

The bug system should not be used as a support tracker, it's meant to describe clearly bugs and suggest what to do. This bug has turned to a debug session with no clear description and several screens of comment, that's not managable and that's one of the reasons why it's closed. If you have a clear description of the issue and how to trigger it feel free to open a new bug