Sound problem no speakers

[Ric Moore]

On Fri, 2011-03-25 at 08:53 -0700, Patton Echols wrote: 
> On 03/25/2011 12:25 AM, Ric Moore wrote:
> > On Fri, 2011-03-25 at 00:00 -0700, MR ZenWiz wrote:
> >> On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 5:06 PM, Patton Echols<p.echols at comcast.net>  wrote:
> >> :
> > I have had a problem with Xine, as it always seems to set the volume to
> > zero when I use it. But, that doesn't mess up my bootup sounds.
> >
> 
> Yeah, if all settings would stay the same through reboot I'd be happy.
> > But, I'm happier with alsa+pulse than I was with alsa alone. I can
> > switch between my 5.1 sound system and my USB headphones easily. And, if
> > I last listened to a DVD with the headphones, then the headphones are
> > switched to automatically the next time I play a DVD. pavucontrol allows
> > you to select/switch sources and outputs on the fly.
> 
> But how do you do that?  For example, if I want to switch between the 
> built in mic on my netbook and a plugged in one?  I do not see a place 
> to select.  On the hardware tab there is  "internal audio analog stereo" 
> as the only choice.  Same with speakers.  No way to choose headphones 
> over the built in speakers.  (Maybe there would be If I had usb 'phones)

Again, for your first startup, run alsamixer from a command line. Unmute
your microphone(s). Hitting the F6 key will allow you to switch between
your recognized sound devices to set them as available. I betcha the
mike you want to use is muted in alsamixer so, to pavucontrol, it ain't
there. Alsa is the bedrock of your sound system, pulse is just a layer
on top of that to control which of those devices are used with
applications and makes it easy to switch and control them. But, if alsa
isn't configured correctly first, then pulse has no hope at all. 

> Looking at PA chooser, 

PA chooser was deprecated. I have no clue why it's still in the repo.
Use pavucontrol instead. I do not have the padevchooser nor paman
packages installed. There is a notice on the pulseaudio project home
page that notes that. Yet, they are there in synaptic and people not
knowing would install them thinking they would need them. Go figure. 

> there are a bunch of things that I suppose can be 
> configured, like sources, servers and sinks (whatever that is) but so 
> far I have not found any meaningful guides in the 'buntu forums.  Maybe 
> I should try and google up a PA project page.  But the difficulty of 
> getting this working seems to fly in the face of the "it just works" 
> philosophy.

Just give what I wrote ya a chance. Once it's working, it's a truly
useful thing. KDE dinked it up though, in 10.4. So, if you're running
Kubuntu, you're in for a ride. I like KDE, but I install Ubuntu, then
add KDE to it, just to have a working pulse audio system. 

> Any thoughts gratefully accepted.  Even RTFM, if you have an FM in mind!

Heh, I feel your pain. Most of the PA advice I've seen, googling the
web, is a couple of years old. What I'm posting is from personal
experience. Again, it's so incredibly useful that someone must have made
a mistake. alsamixer first, then pavucontrol from then on. It really
ought to work for you. In the "old days", I would have sworn that you
have an IRQ conflict, if sound doesn't work at all. Ric

-- 
My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say:
"There are two Great Sins in the world...
..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity.
Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad.
Linux user# 44256