Gnome audio problems in FC2-T3

[k3ant]

Guys?

I'm using a Gateway M500 laptop in a multi-boot setup - FC1, XPee and a test partition which now holds FC2-T3 (that's what's displayed on boot-ups!). While the sound works well in KDE, in Gnome it acts very flaky. And since I prefer Gnome to KDE, this presents a problem.

When I first log into Gnome, the sound plays fine but at maximum volume. If I try to turn the volume down, as soon as I move the slider away from the maximum position, the slider will move, on it's own, to the minimum position! No matter where I move the slider, if it is NOT set to maximum, the slider will move to minumum on it's own...

When I open the volume applet to display the mixer, there are two mixers displayed...the first mixer is labeled "ALSA Mixer" and the second is labeled "SigmaTel STAC9766/67 OSS Mixer" I don't have any idea how, or why, there are two mixers displayed and if there is a conflict between these mixers.

I have been using ALSA in FC1 ever since FC1 came out and I have had no problems with it at all. I do use a .asoundrc file in my ~/home folder and I do have the alsactl parameters defined in modprobe.conf, which were placed there by default. I even went so far as to add the sound card/sound slot parameters I use in FC1, even though I don't know if they are needed in FC2, in an effort to correct this problem. Didn't help...

Guys, to recap my problem, all the modules needed seem to be loaded, the sound does work but only if the volume is set to maximum. The volume will NOT stay at any level other than maximum or minimum. If I move the volume slider from maximum to any other slider position, it, the slider, will move to minumum all by it's self. The result is no sound, or the sound set too low to be of any use.

Any suggestions???

[foolish]

Try using the text based alsamixer, open a terminal and type alsamixer

[k3ant]

Thanks for the response...

When I first logged into Gnome, I have sound but within moments, it is set to minumum. I ran alsamixer (via terminal) and it does NOT show this... It looks normal, as if it were controlling the volume...with the MASTER and PCM controls set to the proper levels but I have no sound. BTW, the volume applet's slider is set to minimum even though the alsamixer is not!

I now have additional info - when I first login, the sound plays (I can hear the login sound file being played) but then the sound is somehow disabled. No matter how I set the controls on the mixers - the alsamixer via terminal, or if I open the volume applets mixers, both ALSA Mixer and the SigmaTel STAC9766/67 OSS Mixer, ALL of these have their controls set to allow sound to play, but I have no sound! One other thing before I forget, the sound chip used is the ALI-5451.

This may sound a little weird but it acts as if there is a third mixer trying to, or maybe even, controlling things! I know hardly anything Linux as I'm just above being a total noob. Even though this is how it 'feels' to me. Crazy I know...

Any and all help is appreciated...

[k3ant]

Some additional info on this subject...

I did some research into the posibility there may have been some bug reports made on this and I found two relevant reports...number 119732 (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=119732) and number 121376 (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=121376) .

Also, one other thing, the sound no longer works in KDE either...

Let's hope the powers-that-be can figure things out...

[k3ant]

Hey foolish...

This sound thing in FC2T3 is goofy to say the least - or it could very well be all me!

If the sound is NOT working at the moment, I can get the sound to work by running the soundcard config ute. The test sound will be played at full volume. I can turn the volume down by using your suggestion of running alsamixer from the CL. The volume level can be adjusted normally this way but if I should try adjusting the level using the volume applet, I loose sound altogether and to regain sound again I must rerun the soundcard config ute.

That's about it. I can get sound to work but I cannot set up it's various parameters without loosing it. I haven't a clue as to what to try next!

Thanks!

[philmundy]

I had similar problems with sound in FC2tst3

It makes sense to have the Alsa and 'OSS' tabs in the volume control ( it's OSS-emulation really )
However it didn't make sense that adjusting an
alsa setting would kill the sound and vice-versa.

I had a read thru the Documentation dir in /usr/src/linux-xx.xx.xx/Documentation

It was suggested to make OSS emulation work,
you should have a line in modprobe.conf

alias snd-slot-0 snd-via82xx

as well as the snd-card alias

I added this, now both the OSS and ALSA tabs behave, either one can be used to adjust the volume etc....

try it

[k3ant]

philmundy,

Thanks for the tip! Only one of the two lines in your suggestion was in my modprobe.conf so I added the missing line and still the "same". But the "same" has changed since the original post...

I have since removed FC2-T2, which was updated to T3, and installed FC2-T3 from the ISOs. The end results with the audio are a little different...

Right now I have a working sound server, I can play XMMS, xine, mplayer, etc, etc with no problems. The audio levels are adjustable and the volume applet, as well as the mixers, behaves normally. But I have no system sounds!!! That's right, no system sounds but I do have a working sound server. I guess I should hedge my comments a little - I have no system sounds until I log out. As soon as I hit the log out command in the menu, I get my system sounds back and the normal sound files are played at their proper times.

I'm barely above noobie status but I wonder if this is a permissions problem...I just don't know. However, I can go on with Gnomemeeting with totaL success, the sounds in GAIM play just fine...I just no system sounds!¿?¿!

BTW - I did enable the system sounds in the preferences and I did installed the gnome-audio-extra package. I also use a .asoundrc script which I have been using since RHL9.

One other thing - the mixers are not muted on login! The various levels are saved normally on log out.

Anyone have any thoughts???

[jale2ice]

I have the same problem with system sounds and the two tabs (Realtek & Nvidia). I can play xmms/mplayer/xine/rythmbox but no system sounds. Only the start up and logout sounds work. Someone please look into this.

[k3ant]

jale2ice,

No offense but I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one seeing this! You may want to check out this bug report: 121797 (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=121797)

[k3ant]

---> FYI <---

The general release of FC2 has been out for a few days now and I did a clean install on my Gateway M500 laptop. I had audio right from the start (mixer settings were all set to minimum, btw) with the audio applet's slider working normally, as well as the two mixers - OSS and ALSA - both working as expected. I was able to use GnomeMeeting and xine (Dag's) with no trouble at all...

What I found that did not work was the Gnome system sounds. However, a couple of days ago there was an update for libgnome relesased and once it was installed, the system sounds came to life.

Thanks guys!