[gentoo-user] Can't get Alsa (mic) to work with my Intel HDA board

[gentoo-user] Can't get Alsa (mic) to work with my Intel HDA board

[Gabriel Rossetti]

Hello,

I used to be able to use my mic with Alsa, about 2 or 3 years ago, I 
hadn't tried since, but the otherday I did and it didn't work. I have 
reinstalled everything from scratch since (to go from unstable to 
stable). I followed the guides/howtos on the Gentoo site, but no luck, 
the mic won't work correctly. I also noticed that I used to have more 
inputs/outputs to play with in alsamixer, but now all I have are Master, 
PCM, CD, Mic, Mic Boos, IEC958, and IEC958P. I used to have for instance 
Front Mic, that's the only one I explicitly remember. My front mic 
doesn't work at all (this is a laptop, details later), and if I plug a 
mic in the input, I can hear myself in the speakers, but none of the 
apps can, I tried to use gnome's recorder program, wengophone, ekiga, 
etc, no sound.  Could anyone please help me? Here are the details :

Lenove/IBM Thinkpad T60p, gentoo-sources-2.6.22, alsa kernel module (I 
tried to use the module in portage, but it wouldn't compile), 
alsa-utils-1.0.14_rc2-r3.

I used this howto : http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_ALSA_sound_mixer_aka_dmix

I didn't install media-libs/alsa-oss, since the howto in the gentoo docs 
doesn't say to, I think it's used if I install the driver in portage and 
not the kernel module (correct me if I'm wrong), the reast is the same.

lspci output : 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 
Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)

I have this in my make.conf :

    ALSA_CARDS="hda-intel"
    ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty 
extplug file hooks
                                                iec958 ioplug ladspa 
lfloat linear meter mulaw multi null plug
                                                rate route share shm 
softvol"

The sound works fine, I can listen to music and everything.

any ideas? Thanks!
Gabriel

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Re: [gentoo-user] Can't get Alsa (mic) to work with my Intel HDA board

[Benno Schulenberg]

Gabriel Rossetti wrote:
> I used to have more inputs/outputs to play with in
> alsamixer, but now all I have are Master, PCM, CD, Mic, Mic Boos,
> IEC958, and IEC958P. I used to have for instance Front Mic,

You might need to pass a different model option during modprobe.

First check with 'aplay -l' to see precisely what chip you have, 
then put that number into the search box (lower left) on
https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view_all_bug_page.php

You might need to advance again to unstable for the alsa packages, 
as hda-intel is seeing many changes.

> Lenove/IBM Thinkpad T60p,

Hmm...  You had alsa working on this laptop two or three years ago?

Benno
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Re: [gentoo-user] Can't get Alsa (mic) to work with my Intel HDA board

[Gabriel Rossetti]

Benno Schulenberg wrote:
> Gabriel Rossetti wrote:
>   
>> I used to have more inputs/outputs to play with in
>> alsamixer, but now all I have are Master, PCM, CD, Mic, Mic Boos,
>> IEC958, and IEC958P. I used to have for instance Front Mic,
>>     
>
> You might need to pass a different model option during modprobe.
>
> First check with 'aplay -l' to see precisely what chip you have, 
> then put that number into the search box (lower left) on
> https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view_all_bug_page.php
>
> You might need to advance again to unstable for the alsa packages, 
> as hda-intel is seeing many changes.
>
>   
Ok, I'll try this and keep the list up to date on my advancements.
>> Lenove/IBM Thinkpad T60p,
>>     
>
> Hmm...  You had alsa working on this laptop two or three years ago?
>   
no, you're right about that, a year ago then (I think), when it came 
out, feels like more though :-), but I had it working and the front mic 
was also there.
> Benno
>   
Thanks for the reply,
Gabriel
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Re: [gentoo-user] Can't get Alsa (mic) to work with my Intel HDA board

[Gabriel Rossetti]

Benno Schulenberg wrote:
> Gabriel Rossetti wrote:
>   
>> I used to have more inputs/outputs to play with in
>> alsamixer, but now all I have are Master, PCM, CD, Mic, Mic Boos,
>> IEC958, and IEC958P. I used to have for instance Front Mic,
>>     
>
> You might need to pass a different model option during modprobe.
>
> First check with 'aplay -l' to see precisely what chip you have, 
> then put that number into the search box (lower left) on
> https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view_all_bug_page.php
>
> You might need to advance again to unstable for the alsa packages, 
> as hda-intel is seeing many changes.
>
>   
>> Lenove/IBM Thinkpad T60p,
>>     
>
> Hmm...  You had alsa working on this laptop two or three years ago?
>
> Benno
>   
Ok, I checked the bugs, I'm not really sure they help me much, but I did 
use the alsa-driver instead of the in-kernel stuff. I have my front mic 
(internal) sort-of working, it isn't called that, it's mixed with the 
external mic. Sound now comes out of both, but no apps seam to be able 
to use it. I noticed with gnome's sound recorder that it won't keep my 
input choice, it always sets it to something else, when wanting to see 
to what is was set right now, gnome recorder gave me this error msg when 
I ran it :

Your audio capture settings are invalid. Please correct them in the 
Multimedia settings.

This was due to my .asoundrc, copied from the howto on the gentoo-wiki, 
once removed gnome record works again, when I try to record it always 
want's tu use digital. I did notice something, I had the gnome volume 
control open also and when I recorded it toggles the audio capture from 
"Capture", if I untoggle it while I'm recording, it works, the mic's 
input is recorded. I tried playing with it, muting one, then the other, 
toggleing one, then the other, the only way I get anything to record is 
to use the digital as the recording source, and toggle capture once it's 
started to record.

Gabriel
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Re: [gentoo-user] Can't get Alsa (mic) to work with my Intel HDA board

[Benno Schulenberg]

Gabriel Rossetti wrote:
> I did notice something, I
> had the gnome volume control open also and when I recorded it
> toggles the audio capture from "Capture", if I untoggle it while
> I'm recording, it works, the mic's input is recorded.

Sounds like a misconfiguration somewhere.  Or like a bug in Gnome.
Maybe these forum posts give you new ideas:

  http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-529738.html
  http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-514297.html

What are you using to record, by the way?

Benno


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Re: [gentoo-user] Can't get Alsa (mic) to work with my Intel HDA board

[Gabriel Rossetti]

Benno Schulenberg wrote:
> Gabriel Rossetti wrote:
>   
>> I did notice something, I
>> had the gnome volume control open also and when I recorded it
>> toggles the audio capture from "Capture", if I untoggle it while
>> I'm recording, it works, the mic's input is recorded.
>>     
>
> Sounds like a misconfiguration somewhere.  Or like a bug in Gnome.
> Maybe these forum posts give you new ideas:
>
>   http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-529738.html
>   http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-514297.html
>
> What are you using to record, by the way?
>
> Benno
>
>
>   
Well, it  could be, I think I solved it, I muted the microphone, the 
digital capture, and I don't touch Gnome sound recorder anymore :-)

I basically just left Capture unmuted and toggles the audio capture from 
it, if I mute Digital it just unmutes it'self at some point, but the 
audio capture from it stays toggled off. I can't hear myself in the 
speakers (since I muted the microphone, I didn't want to have echoes and 
such) but Ekiga can hear me speaking, from either the front internal mic 
or an external mic. They can't be controlled independently though. If 
someone wants any of my config files, just ask and I'll send them. My 
setup is not optimal, but at least it sort of works. Thanks Benno for 
your time and links, I know this issue isn't really solved.

Gabriel
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