Fossa randomly enabling all sound cards on reboot (SOLVED)

[peppyy]

For a couple months now, I have found that sound sometimes is not working when I boot up in the morning. This happens randomly.
When I mouse over retrovol I get volume 65295% (or similar).

volume.jpg (3.98 KiB) Viewed 872 times

When I go to Multiple Sound Card Wizard I find that all 4 of the sources are checked and have to select card 1 and apply to get it working.

desktop(14).jpg (40.2 KiB) Viewed 872 times

It isn't that big a deal but I wonder why it loses the setting sometimes? I have disabled the sound card on the motherboard in the bios so it doesn't detect that.
According to PSI card 0 is coming from my video card which I can't disable just the sound in the bios.
"Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV630 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 2600 PRO/XT / HD 3610] [1002:aa08]"
Any ideas?

[rockedge]

@Grey might be able to give some insight. He also runs multiple sound cards and recently has been trying out pulseaudio and alsa set ups I think.

[williams2]

Apparently, for many Linux distros, not just Puppy, the sound cards may not be assigned in the same order each time on booting. In your case, sometimes card0 would be HDMI, sometimes card0 would be Sound Blaster Live.

This was happening in my XenialPup64, but not in BionicPup64.
This may, or may not, be your problem.

I wrote a script to test which card was assigned to the Analog driver, and to copy the configuration file making that card the default. Like this:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
cd /root/
aplay -l | grep Analog | grep 'card 0' && cp .asoundrc0 .asoundrc
aplay -l | grep Analog | grep 'card 1' && cp .asoundrc1 .asoundrc
aplay -l | grep Analog | grep 'card 2' && cp .asoundrc2 .asoundrc

where .asoundrc0 and .asoundrc1 and .asoundrc2 are copies of the configuration that makes card0, card1 and card2 the default respectively.

It might be better to use /etc/asound.conf
Setting a card as default using the Multiple Card Wizard should set the contents of /etc/asound.conf so you can back it up.

Now XenialPup always uses the correct card.

[peppyy]

aplay lists the following.

List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Live [Dell Sound Blaster Live!], device 0: emu10k1x [EMU10K1X Front]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Live [Dell Sound Blaster Live!], device 1: emu10k1x [EMU10K1X Rear]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Live [Dell Sound Blaster Live!], device 2: emu10k1x [EMU10K1X Center/LFE]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

The multiple sound card wizard lists the same.

on-boot.jpg (38 KiB) Viewed 835 times

Which I see is different than yesterday, so you are correct. It must be detecting them in a different order.

I will go back to the bios and see if I can find a way to disable just the sound on the video card. These modern graphical bios are a lot different than what I am used to. I also have a copy of mscw.report.txt if that would help?

[geo_c]

Apparently, for many Linux distros, not just Puppy, the sound cards may not be assigned in the same order each time on booting

Setting a card as default using the Multiple Card Wizard should set the contents of /etc/asound.conf so you can back it up.

Now XenialPup always uses the correct card.

I use multiple audio cards in Fossapup and Jackalpup. I am generally happy with the ALSA architecture and it's ability to run audio equipment, especially under JACK audio. However I was recently musiing to myself that it seems ALSA has the one irritating limitation of assigning different hw numbers when cards are either missing or connection ports in USB are changed, and that of course requires resetting ALSA and JACK hw references.

I'll check out the script and see if I can get my sound cards assigned more consistently.

[peppyy]

So I tried to blacklist the module for the card I am not using.
Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV630 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 2600 PRO/XT / HD 3610] [1002:aa08]
• Kernel Driver: snd_hda_intel
• Memory Used: 28.00 KB
• Path: /lib/modules/5.4.53/kernel/sound/pci/hda/snd-hda-intel.ko
• Description: Intel HDA driver

Rebooted and sound loaded properly however,

blacklist.jpg (42.02 KiB) Viewed 818 times

the card is still listed in PSI and Multiple sound card wizard. It also did not stay in the blacklist.
Wasn't sure if it would work.
The reason for the soundblaster is because onboard sound didn't work, so I disabled that in the bios and it does not show up in PSI.
This however seems to be the video card sound. Possibly different module?

[Clarity]

For those commenting on this thread, I ask:
Do you 'always' start your PC the same each time?

I am curious:

1. If a power-off and power-on gives consistent results VERSUS rebooting?
   OR

2. If rebooting gives consistent results VERSUS power-cycling?

Which or neither?
PC manufacturer name could be useful info, too.

P.S. By "results" I mean the same hardware reference points (hw:nn) as in the screenshot here

[peppyy]

@Clarity

Do you 'always' start your PC the same each time?

I usually shut down around 9pm local time and reboot around 7am.
The pc is a mismatch of parts and pieces I have either been given or collected over the years. (homemede) or (Mutt) as far as machines go I recycle as much as I possibly can.

If a power-off and power-on gives consistent results VERSUS rebooting?
OR

If rebooting gives consistent results VERSUS power-cycling?

I will power it off for a few hours and get back to you on that

[Grey]

@Grey might be able to give some insight. He also runs multiple sound cards and recently has been trying out pulseaudio and alsa set ups I think.

Mmm... I don't want to advise anything that could make it even worse

When I go to Multiple Sound Card Wizard I find that all 4 of the sources are checked

I have never encountered this. I have SB Live! (not Dell, but Creative) on one machine. The only annoying thing is that you have to manually turn on the analog sound. That is, I type (once during the first setup) the alsamixer command in terminal, then select the second square from the right (very far to the right ) and press the m key (before that, sometimes I need to select a card using F6). This turns on the Analog/Digital Output Jack and the sound appears in the system. By the way, the same goes for SB Audigy

SB_analog_on_off.gif (12.16 KiB) Viewed 798 times

[norgo]

@peppyy
All soundcards selected by default?
Oh yes, well known to me.

You should be able to solve this problem by creating a config file like this example

/etc/modprobe.d/sound.conf

Code: Select all

options snd-hda-intel index=0 model=auto vid=8086 pid=8c20
options snd-hda-intel index=1 model=auto vid=8086 pid=0c0c

replace driver, vendor and device id by your used cards
entry index=0 will be the default card after restart

[peppyy]

@Grey

Mmm... I don't want to advise anything that could make it even worse

Well I tried some other things that did... make it worse

@norgo I disabled (Blacklisted) the sound in the video card and came up with only my soundblaster card.(Yeah), or so I thought.
What do you think would happen if I shutdown, removed the soundblaster and rebooted, and then shutdown and reinstalled it ?

[norgo]

@peppyy
To blacklist all not needed soundcards is a ... let me call it stopgap
In my opinion the better solution is to create a config file.

To get to know information about vendor ID, device ID and used driver of your soundcards
open a terminal and type:

Code: Select all

lspci -vnn

Now you can create your config file and define what card should be the default (card 0) after boot, what should be card 1, card 2 ...

But this was not your question.
If you remove you SB and reboot the system, you won't get sound because the other soundcard is still blacklisted.
But this wouldn't be a problem because you can undo the blacklisting.
However, I would not disable working hardware and I'm quite sure someday you will need the HDMI audio

[peppyy]

@norgo
Thanks. This is the information on the sound card I want to use according to lspci.
05:05.0 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Creative Labs EMU10k1X / CA0103 [SB Live! OEM / SB 5.1 / Ectiva 5.1] [1102:0006]
Subsystem: Creative Labs SB0203 SB Live! 5.1 (Dell) [1102:1003]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 20, NUMA node 0
I/O ports at d000 size=32 Brackets removed around size=32 due to font size change
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: snd_emu10k1x
Kernel modules: snd_emu10k1x

05:05.1 Input device controller [0980]: Creative Labs [SB Live! Value] Input device controller [1102:7004]
Subsystem: Creative Labs [SB Live! Value] Input device controller [1102:1003]
Flags: medium devsel, NUMA node 0
I/O ports at d020 size=8 Brackets removed around size=8 due to font size change
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: Emu10k1_gameport
Kernel modules: emu10k1_gp

I don't need the gameport though it is fine to have it accessible.

A friend gave me the motherboard, memory and an ssd. The Ethernet port had quit working so he bought a new one. I installed my wifi card for internet.
I found out that I could not get the onboard sound to work so I disabled it in the bios and put the soundblaster in, which worked fine until I changed the video card and everything got strange.

I just remembered I have a pupsave backup from mid summer, perhaps I can find a clue in that?

[norgo]

@peppyy

please create
/etc/modprobe.d/soundcard.conf

with following content

Code: Select all

options snd_emu10k1x index=0 model=auto vid=1102 pid=0006
options snd_hda_intel index=1 model=auto vid=1102 pid=aa08

and reboot

[peppyy]

Did that and the sound wizard correctly sets the card and output but still no sound.
mscw report shows this.
################################################### aplay -l
card 0: Live [Dell Sound Blaster Live!], device 0: emu10k1x [EMU10K1X Front]
card 0: Live [Dell Sound Blaster Live!], device 1: emu10k1x [EMU10K1X Rear]
card 0: Live [Dell Sound Blaster Live!], device 2: emu10k1x [EMU10K1X Center/LFE]
card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
###################################################

################################################### pcm
00-00: emu10k1x : EMU10K1X Front : playback 1 : capture 1
00-01: emu10k1x : EMU10K1X Rear : playback 1
00-02: emu10k1x : EMU10K1X Center/LFE : playback 1
01-03: HDMI 0 : HDMI 0 : playback 1
###################################################

I see 00-00 front is set to both playback and capture on pcm.
alsamixer also reports capture is on however I see no way to turn it off.

alsamixer.jpg (78.02 KiB) Viewed 751 times

[norgo]

yes looks good, could you run the attached script to unload and reload the kernel modules.

[peppyy]

@norgo SOUND! Only one more thing I need to figure out. My speakers are plugged into the green jack on the soundcard. When I use the test sound on MSCW I have to use card:0 Device:1 rear.
I have set it as default so I will see if it sticks.

[peppyy]

@norgo So, back too sound issues with the soundblaster pci card not showing up in the Multi Sound Card Wizard until the modules reload script is run.
Once I run that, it is detected and set to default, only to disappear on reboot or morning boot.

This took place after I changed the cmos battery that was almost dead. I went through the bios and it appeared the card was not detected. I have not disabled the onboard card this time as I did during my initial setup when I built the machine. It only shows that card and the hdmi on the video card for audio. Puppy seems to detect the pci card fine once modules are reloaded.

The reason for the added card is that the built in audio on the motherboard died along with the Ethernet controller. It is out of a gaming machine a friend gave me. I suppose more parts could be failing?

[bigpup]

the built in audio on the motherboard died

Have you looked in the bios setup for any settings to disable the built in audio?
So it never tries to activate.

[peppyy]

@bigpup I tried that when I first started after the new battery. I will try again however last time I tried disabling the onboard, the only thing the sound wizard found was the hdmi on the radeon video card. Currently on boot the sound wizard gives me this.

On Boot

on-boot-sound.jpg (34.05 KiB) Viewed 624 times

After reloading the modules I have this.

After reloading modules

after-moodule-reload.jpg (49.84 KiB) Viewed 624 times

I will boot to the bios and disable the onboard sound and report back.

[peppyy]

This time it is back and appears to be working correctly.

onboard disabled

desktop(9).jpg (39.7 KiB) Viewed 464 times

Interesting that the sound wizard could not find my Sound Blaster until I disabled the onboard sound.
Thanks.