internal speaker beep gone after Ubuntu 9.10 upgrade.

have you tried running the command
sudo modprobe pcspkr
this should reinstall the module

Yes. sudo modprobe pcspkr does, indeed, load the pcspkr module and enable the internal speaker beep. Thanks. This confirms that the lack of the pcspkr module being loaded at boot time is the source of the problem. However, having to manually load the pcspkr module is does not completely solve the problem: What needs to be done to have the module loaded at boot time?

As far as I have understood, there are two ways for beep-s to sound:
1)via pc speaker
2)via regular sound system (which all we use e.g. for music)

The speaker kernel module has been disabled (blacklisted), so let's keep from re-enabling it (despite it' possible).

Steps to brings beeps back (tested for me):
1)"alsamixer" on terminal, choose "beep" column, press "m" on it to unmute, increase volume.
2)"gconf-editor" on terminal, open "/desktop/gnome/peripherials/keyboard", set bell_mode to "on", File->"Close window"

In my case, these actions were enough for beeps to start going via headphones. I am not sure, whether alsamixer settings are saved during reboot, so one may need to readjust them.

The question I've asked is how to re-enable the pcspkr module at boot time.
In the answer, below, I see that it is possible, but I'm not seeing how to
do this. I can re-enable the pcspkr module after boot up has been completed
by using the "modprobe pcspkr" command. The question remains: Exactly how
can the pcspkr module be re-enable at boot time so the "modprobe pcspkr"
command does not need to be run after each reboot?

Thnx,

Bradford Castalia

ZelinskiyIS wrote:
> Your question #89948 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/89948
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> ZelinskiyIS proposed the following answer:
> As far as I have understood, there are two ways for beep-s to sound:
> 1)via pc speaker
> 2)via regular sound system (which all we use e.g. for music)
>
> The speaker kernel module has been disabled (blacklisted), so let's keep
> from re-enabling it (despite it' possible).
>
> Steps to brings beeps back (tested for me):
> 1)"alsamixer" on terminal, choose "beep" column, press "m" on it to unmute, increase volume.
> 2)"gconf-editor" on terminal, open "/desktop/gnome/peripherials/keyboard", set bell_mode to "on", File->"Close window"
>
> In my case, these actions were enough for beeps to start going via
> headphones. I am not sure, whether alsamixer settings are saved during
> reboot, so one may need to readjust them.
>

I am sad to have missanswered the question!

I have tested the situation with my hardware, my results follow:
1) When pcspkr is blacklisted in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf, "sudo modprobe pcspkr" is enough to
make dynamic beep as a responce to "beep" command.
2) When pcspkr isn't blacklisted, the situation gets more complicated:
a)"beep" command don't beep after start up, while "lsmod" shows pcspkr it loaded
b)"sudo modprobe pcspkr" don't help (because the module is there!)
c)"sudo modprobe -r pcspkr; sudo modprobe pcspkr" makes beeper work

It is also worth noticing that:
1)to make speaker beep on terminal 'bells' from 'gnome-terminal', 'gconf-editor' step from my previous post needs to be passed
2)reinserting pcspkr STOPS alsa beeping (that beeping, which goes through ordinary audiosystem, if configured with alsamixer). Removing pcspkr re-enables it.
It looks like if pcspkr muting is caused by some related kermnel situation (despite, I am noway a kernel specialist)

Zelinskiy Ivan

Thanks for looking into this. It seems, however, that we still don't have
and answer to the question of how to have pcspkr enabled during the boot
sequence. At this point I still have to manually "modprobe pcspkr" to
restore this functionality. Is there an appropriate script that is used
during the boot sequence where I could insert this command?

The suggestions about configuring terminal applications, while appreciated,
do not address the issue for me. I have long used tools such as xterm and
nedit for the software development work I do; these tools emit a simple
beep for operator attention. And, as I have mentioned, this workstation is
not attached to external speakers.

What is frustrating in this situation is that the basic beep functionality,
expected by many established tools, was disabled by default as a result of
the latest OS upgrade and is now a "special case" that must be manually
enabled and, so far, the way to configure the system to permanently enable
this functionality across reboots is unknown.

If anyone could tell me the fix for this that would be much appreciated.

Thnx,

Bradford Castalia

"It's not what you Think."

ZelinskiyIS wrote:
> Your question #89948 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/89948
>
> ZelinskiyIS posted a new comment:
> I am sad to have missanswered the question!
>
> I have tested the situation with my hardware, my results follow:
> 1) When pcspkr is blacklisted in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf, "sudo modprobe pcspkr" is enough to
> make dynamic beep as a responce to "beep" command.
> 2) When pcspkr isn't blacklisted, the situation gets more complicated:
> a)"beep" command don't beep after start up, while "lsmod" shows pcspkr it loaded
> b)"sudo modprobe pcspkr" don't help (because the module is there!)
> c)"sudo modprobe -r pcspkr; sudo modprobe pcspkr" makes beeper work
>
> It is also worth noticing that:
> 1)to make speaker beep on terminal 'bells' from 'gnome-terminal', 'gconf-editor' step from my previous post needs to be passed
> 2)reinserting pcspkr STOPS alsa beeping (that beeping, which goes through ordinary audiosystem, if configured with alsamixer). Removing pcspkr re-enables it.
> It looks like if pcspkr muting is caused by some related kermnel situation (despite, I am noway a kernel specialist)
>
>
> Zelinskiy Ivan
>