Ubuntu

Microphone doesn't work since Dapper

Asked by Aaron Whitehouse

When I am running ekiga with my headset, the microphone doesn't work. The headphones work fine and the microphone worked perfectly in Breezy with ekiga. The reason I don't think that it is ekiga's fault is that gnome-sound-recorder also records nothing from the microphone (though I am sure it has at some stage).

I have checked that the sound works in Windows on the same machine (dual boot) so the hardware is fine. Unmuting the sound from the microphone in Ubuntu lets me hear myself talking through the headphones (although doesn't mean that ekiga or sound-recorder work).

I have tried changing the devices from 'default' to the name of the sound card but it makes no difference.

I checked the volumes with alsamixer before filing the bug. All the capture sliders that have a slider to change are turned up.

Does anyone have some diagnostics that I can run to help solve this? Any idea which upstream package to bug about it?

Question information

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Solved by:
Dennis Kaarsemaker
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Revision history for this message
Dennis Kaarsemaker (dennis) said : 		#1

Can you post (indeed, attaching is impossible) the output of amixer

Revision history for this message
Aaron Whitehouse (aaron-whitehouse) said : 		#2

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 28 [90%] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 28 [90%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Master Mono',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 21 [68%] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 21 [68%] [on]
Simple mixer control '3D Control - Center',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 15
  Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control '3D Control - Depth',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 15
  Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control '3D Control - Switch',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 16 [52%] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 16 [52%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM Out Path & Mute',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'pre 3D' 'post 3D'
  Item0: 'pre 3D'
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'CD',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 25 [81%] [on] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 25 [81%] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 20 [65%] [off]
  Front Left: Capture [on]
  Front Right: Capture [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Select',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Mic1' 'Mic2'
  Item0: 'Mic1'
Simple mixer control 'Video',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Phone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [off]
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Playback AC97-SPSA',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Mono: 3 [100%]
Simple mixer control 'PC Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 15
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Aux',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mono Output Select',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Mix' 'Mic'
  Item0: 'Mix'
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 15
  Front Left: Capture 8 [53%] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 8 [53%] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mix',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mix Mono',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'External Amplifier',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]

Revision history for this message
Dennis Kaarsemaker (dennis) said : 		#3

> Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
> Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
> Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
> Limits: Capture 0 - 15
> Front Left: Capture 8 [53%] [off]
> Front Right: Capture 8 [53%] [off]

That one looks suspicious, capturing seems to be muted.

Revision history for this message
Aaron Whitehouse (aaron-whitehouse) said : 		#4

Excellent - progress :). Okay, any idea how I can unmute it or how it came to be muted from a default install...?

Revision history for this message
Dennis Kaarsemaker (dennis) said : 		#5

In the terminal, execute alsamixer

Hit tab until the view switched to capture (View: Playback [Capture]
All)

Hit the arrow keys until you land at the item. Hit M to unmute it.

Revision history for this message
Aaron Whitehouse (aaron-whitehouse) said : 		#6

Already tried that one... pressing "m" on "mic" in capture doesn't make any change at all. There should be some visual feedback, right?

I don't need to have had the mic plugged in at startup or something, did I?

Revision history for this message
Aaron Whitehouse (aaron-whitehouse) said : 		#7

Sorted - thanks a lot Dennis. It seems that I had to hit space on the capture item. Again - I have no idea how that got turned off but something went wrong somewhere.

Revision history for this message
Dennis Kaarsemaker (dennis) said : 		#8

I call such things voodoo or black magic. It simply happens sometimes,
regardless of which computer or OS you use :)

Glad it's solved now :)

Revision history for this message
Aaron Whitehouse (aaron-whitehouse) said : 		#9

I'm glad too. Thanks for your help, on this and my other bugs!

I really would have liked to isolate it; known bugs can be fixed but the ones that we can't reproduce just hang around putting people off our OS.

Oh well - fight the battles we can win and focus on the ones we can fix, I suppose :)! Now I just have to remember the obscure method to close this request...

Revision history for this message
Aaron Whitehouse (aaron-whitehouse) said : 		#10

Ah hah!!! I isolated it and filed Bug #39119

Revision history for this message
Aaron Whitehouse (aaron-whitehouse) said : 		#11

Closed - Bug filed.

Revision history for this message
RichPicker (rich-braden) said : 		#12

I am way over my head, and don't understand anything past the GUI select and click. When I double-click the sound icon, under File, I get 2 choices for Change Device:

1) SigmaTel STAC9200 (OSS Mixer), which has no sliders for a mic.
2) HDA Intel (Alsa Mixer) which does have sliders for the mic.

But when I restart while holding the F2, the Audio Controller is the SigmaTel STAC9200.

What I don't understand is the typing in the terminal window. Is there any way to get the mic to work by using the GUI?

Revision history for this message
Federico Andrés Ocampo (ojonegro) said : 		#13

About the alsamixer, i needed to run it with super-user privilegies to made the microphone works.
I'm using KDE so with Kmix (sudo kmix) what you only need is to enable all the Capture and Mic Boost sliders and try to record some sound with, for example, Audacity or Skype.

Revision history for this message
RichPicker (rich-braden) said : 		#14

When I run sudo alsamixer I get this:

- Master
- PCM
- Capture
- Input So (Mic or Line)

None are muted, and the inputs are set to maximum.

When I run sudo kmix I get this:

rich@rich-laptop:~$ sudo kmix
Password:
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input
device 169
  Major opcode: 145
  Minor opcode: 3
  Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input
device 169
  Major opcode: 145
  Minor opcode: 3
  Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
Warning: kbuildsycoca is unable to register with DCOP.
kbuildsycoca running...
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input
device 169
  Major opcode: 145
  Minor opcode: 3
  Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input
device 169
  Major opcode: 145
  Minor opcode: 3
  Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
Session management error: Authentication Rejected,
reason : None of the authentication protocols
specified are supported and host-based authentication
failed
kbuildsycoca running...
Reusing existing ksycoca
kio (KService*): WARNING: The desktop entry file
/usr/share/applications/DefaultPlugins.desktop has
Type=Link instead of "Application" or "Service"
kio (KService*): WARNING: Invalid Service :
/usr/share/applications/DefaultPlugins.desktop
kio (KSycoca): ERROR: No database available!
Error: "/var/tmp/kdecache-rich" is owned by uid 1000
instead of uid 0.
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input
device 169
  Major opcode: 145
  Minor opcode: 3
  Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input
device 169
  Major opcode: 145
  Minor opcode: 3
  Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
rich@rich-laptop:~$

The kmix gui does seem to start. Then with kmix I set
Input Capture and Capture Mux to maximum, and I set
Switches to Mic. But still the mic does not work.

What should I do next?

--- Federico Andrés Ocampo
<email address hidden> wrote:

> Question #701 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/701
>
> Federico Andrés Ocampo posted a new comment:
> About the alsamixer, i needed to run it with
> super-user privilegies to made the microphone works.
>
> I'm using KDE so with Kmix (sudo kmix) what you only
> need is to enable all the Capture and Mic Boost
> sliders and try to record some sound with, for
> example, Audacity or Skype.
>

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
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Revision history for this message
Federico Andrés Ocampo (ojonegro) said : 		#15

For the "X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input" error you can find a possible solution here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1264009
Regarding the Mic problem, honestly i did to many different things before it works, but that only happened after the "sudo kmix" steps that i mention before. Check this site: http://ubuntufs.wordpress.com/2006/06/08/trouble-with-your-microphone/ . That's where i found the solution. Hope this helps.

(Sorry about my english, i'm speak spanish :)
Greetings from Argentina.

Revision history for this message
RichPicker (rich-braden) said : 		#16

I'm striking out here. I do not have any of the
"wacom" problems in my xorg.conf. This is from the
first link.

From the second link. I can't seem to install the
alacarte menu editor.

I do need some help.

--- Federico Andrés Ocampo
<email address hidden> wrote:

> Question #701 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/701
>
> Federico Andrés Ocampo posted a new comment:
> For the "X Error: BadDevice, invalid or
> uninitialized input" error you can find a possible
> solution here:
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1264009
> Regarding the Mic problem, honestly i did to many
> different things before it works, but that only
> happened after the "sudo kmix" steps that i mention
> before. Check this site:
>
http://ubuntufs.wordpress.com/2006/06/08/trouble-with-your-microphone/
> . That's where i found the solution. Hope this
> helps.
>
> (Sorry about my english, i'm speak spanish :)
> Greetings from Argentina.
>

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

Revision history for this message
RichPicker (rich-braden) said : 		#17

Nothing is muted. Input and Play are at maximum. But
still no mic. I have adjusted everything in alsamixer
and kmix. But still no mic. Here is the output I get
with amixer. Does this look right? Your Emglish is
excellente. Thanks.

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 12 [39%] [-28.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 12 [39%] [-28.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 15
  Front Left: Capture 15 [100%] [22.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 15 [100%] [22.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture Mux',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 4
  Front Left: 4 [100%] [40.00dB]
  Front Right: 4 [100%] [40.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Mic' 'Line'
  Item0: 'Mic'

--- Federico Andrés Ocampo
<email address hidden> wrote:

> Question #701 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/701
>
> Federico Andrés Ocampo posted a new comment:
> For the "X Error: BadDevice, invalid or
> uninitialized input" error you can find a possible
> solution here:
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1264009
> Regarding the Mic problem, honestly i did to many
> different things before it works, but that only
> happened after the "sudo kmix" steps that i mention
> before. Check this site:
>
http://ubuntufs.wordpress.com/2006/06/08/trouble-with-your-microphone/
> . That's where i found the solution. Hope this
> helps.
>
> (Sorry about my english, i'm speak spanish :)
> Greetings from Argentina.
>

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

Revision history for this message
Klaas van Schelven (klaas-vanschelven) said : 		#18

I ended up having the same problem (and solution) because I manually compiled ALSA 1.0.14 to make it work on my lenovo 3000 N100 FPG. Microphone capture is muted after this, and not accessible from the GNOME front-end (at least I can't find it).

Revision history for this message
Uditha M de Soysa (madusanka-gmail) said : 		#19

Hi,

I got the same problem in Ubuntu 8.10.

It doesn't show up mic when i run alsamixer in terminal.

Revision history for this message
Sebastian90 (sebas018000) said : 		#20

Hi, I have the same problem, could anybody help me please?

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono: Playback 127 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Front',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 102 [80%] [-18.75dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 102 [80%] [-18.75dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 15
  Front Left: Capture 15 [100%] [22.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 15 [100%] [22.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',1
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 15
  Front Left: Capture 15 [100%] [22.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 15 [100%] [22.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Analog Loopback',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Digital',0
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 120
  Front Left: Capture 120 [100%] [30.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 120 [100%] [30.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Digital Input Source',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Analog Inputs' 'Digital Mic 1'
  Item0: 'Analog Inputs'
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic'
  Item0: 'Mic'
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',1
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic'
  Item0: 'Mic'
Simple mixer control 'Mux',0
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 4
  Front Left: Capture 4 [100%] [40.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 4 [100%] [40.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Mux',1
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 4
  Front Left: Capture 4 [100%] [40.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 4 [100%] [40.00dB]