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alsa-driver package

Folling updates in Ubuntu 11.10, sound distorition.

Asked by Isaac Wheeler

After updates in Ubuntu 11.10, the sound in speakers, and headphones has become distorted. I use a Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop. After this problem persisted for awhile, i reinstalled unbuntu and before I installed updates the sound worked fine. What might my problem be and how should I go about fixing it? I appreciate any help anyone can offer.

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Isaac Wheeler (ilwheeler84) said : 		#1

After following step one here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProcedure

this is the result in the terminal:

E: Unable to locate package linux-alsa-driver-modules-3.0.0-16-generic
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-alsa-driver-modules-3.0.0-16-generic'
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package linux-alsa-driver-modules-3.0.0-16-generic
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-alsa-driver-modules-3.0.0-16-generic'

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

Try:

killall pulseaudio; rm -r ~/.pulse*

Wait 10 seconds then try sound. Is it ok?

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Ivan Ivanov (ivan-lz) said : 		#3

quote:
E: Unable to locate package linux-alsa-driver-modules-3.0.0-16-generic

You just upgraded to 3.0.0-16 too soon. Before the alsa package came available...

I had the same problem - you just need to downgrade to the last good kernel with which the sound ( i.e. alsa) worked.

I was on 3.0.0-16 - went to 3.0.0-15 and all was back ok...

If you need more info - google for "how to downgrade linux kernel" and "ubuntu troubleshoot alsa"

There are ubuntu docs pages for those...

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Linda Fiechtl (forgetmenot-fiechtl) said : 		#4

I experienced warbling sound when I upgraded to Ubuntu 11.10. Thank goodness I finally found your help. I'm just wondering, after doing a lot of experimenting and looking, why would a new version not be able to handle the product and the solution is to downgrade the kernel? . I finally got it fixed, but I fear the upgrades that are routinely sent out will probably undo the downgraded kernel. Doesn't seem one should have to scrutinize upgrades. Just plain frustrating

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Ivan Ivanov (ivan-lz) said : 		#5

note to Linda - you can pin the kernel version for now and schedule a reminder for 1 month from now to look again if things have become ok with the new kernel...

From my experience going with a 1, 6 or 12 months old kernel does not make any practical difference in performance or security ...

Due to serious raid related problems on kernel updates I usually have my kernels pinned in apt.

google for how to pin a package in apt.

examples of a pinned package:
write this to /etc/apt/preferences

Package: mindi
Pin: version 2.0.*
Pin-Priority: 500

#Package: google-chrome-unstable
#Pin: version 6.0.437.3-r50164
#Pin-Priority: 1001

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