[soundnua]: Spurious "Digital Output S/PDIF" output entry for USB headset

Bug #975941 reported by Captain Chaos
28
This bug affects 5 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
alsa-lib (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Low
David Henningsson
gnome-control-center (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Low
Conor Curran

Bug Description

I have a Sennheiser USB headset, which in Ubuntu 11.10 is reported correctly, once, in the sound settings when I plug it in. However in 12.04 it is reported twice:

"Digital Output (S/PDIF)
Sennheiser USB headset"

"Speakers
Sennheiser USB headset"

Both have a headset icon. Only the "Speaker" entry appears to work correctly; when I try to select the "Digital Output (S/PDIF)" entry the selection usually immediately jumps to some other entry.

It's also strange that the icon is a headset, so it appear to recognize that it's a headset, yet the label for the working entry is "Speakers". I don't think that is correct, it should be "Headphones" (as it is for the headphones connector on my motherboard).

Let me know if you need additional information or if I can help in any other way to fix this problem!

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: gnome-control-center 1:3.4.0-0ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-22.35-generic-pae 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-22-generic-pae i686
ApportVersion: 2.0-0ubuntu4
Architecture: i386
Date: Sat Apr 7 15:15:40 2012
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/gnome-control-center
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Alpha i386 (20111129.1)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gnome-control-center
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

Revision history for this message
Captain Chaos (launchpad-chaos) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Captain Chaos (launchpad-chaos) wrote :

The specific headset in question is a "Sennheiser PC 36" USB headset.

Changed in gnome-control-center (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → Conor Curran (cjcurran)
importance: Undecided → Low
summary: - Spurious "Digital Output S/PDIF" output entry for USB headset
+ [soundnua]: Spurious "Digital Output S/PDIF" output entry for USB
+ headset
tags: added: soundnua
Revision history for this message
Conor Curran (cjcurran) wrote :

I have seen this also. Pulse is reporting erroneous ports ...

Changed in pulseaudio:
importance: Undecided → Low
assignee: nobody → David Henningsson (diwic)
Changed in gnome-control-center (Ubuntu):
status: New → Invalid
Revision history for this message
David Henningsson (diwic) wrote :

Hi,
can you provide the output of this terminal command, please:
"cat /proc/asound/cards"

Thanks!

affects: pulseaudio → alsa-lib
Changed in alsa-lib:
status: New → Incomplete
affects: alsa-lib → alsa-lib (Ubuntu)
Revision history for this message
Captain Chaos (launchpad-chaos) wrote :

This is the output of "cat /proc/asound/cards":

 0 [NVidia ]: HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
                      HDA NVidia at 0xf9ff8000 irq 22
 1 [headset ]: USB-Audio - Sennheiser USB headset
                      Sennheiser Communications A/S Sennheiser USB headset at usb-0000:00:0b.0-4, ful

Changed in alsa-lib (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → New
Revision history for this message
David Henningsson (diwic) wrote :

Thanks. Can you edit /usr/share/alsa/cards/USB-Audio.conf, scroll down to the "USB-Audio.pcm.iec958_device" section and add the following line:

 "Sennheiser USB headset" 999

(including quotes)

...just above the similar "Logitech USB Headset" 999 line. Notice that your headset is spelled with a lowercase h.

Save the file and reboot to test. If you can confirm this resolves your problem, I will be able to submit the attached patch, that makes this the default for Ubuntu and upstream ALSA in the future.

Changed in alsa-lib (Ubuntu):
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton) wrote :

The attachment "0001-alsa-lib-conf-block-S-PDIF-access-for-Sennheiser-USB.patch" of this bug report has been identified as being a patch. The ubuntu-reviewers team has been subscribed to the bug report so that they can review the patch. In the event that this is in fact not a patch you can resolve this situation by removing the tag 'patch' from the bug report and editing the attachment so that it is not flagged as a patch. Additionally, if you are member of the ubuntu-reviewers team please also unsubscribe the team from this bug report.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by Brian Murray. Please contact him regarding any issues with the action taken in this bug report.]

tags: added: patch
Revision history for this message
Captain Chaos (launchpad-chaos) wrote :

I have added the requested line to USB-Audio.conf, and it has succeeded in removing the spurious "Digital Output" entry from the Sound Settings!

However, the headset is still identified as "Speakers" in the Sound Settings, instead of "Headphones" (even though the icon is a headset).

Changed in alsa-lib (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Orangedouble (blahblahstuff) wrote :

I had this same bug with a plantronics usb headset. I followed the suggestions in comments 4 and 6 and they successfully removed the S/PDIF listing. For me the output of "cat /proc/asound/cards" was "Plantronics USB Headset".

Revision history for this message
Chris (chris-secondfoundation) wrote :

The same is needed for the Jabra / GN Netcom DECT Phone + USB Sound Headset series:

Add

"GN 9350" 999

to /usr/share/alsa/cards/USB-Audio.conf

to the "USB-Audio.pcm.iec958_device { ... }" section and reboot.

I had wired mouse behaviour. Not left click anymore ....

Revision history for this message
Jason Eggleston (jason-k4cybxwf60f) wrote :

I have the problems described here exactly, but I have this:

$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [PCH ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
                      HDA Intel PCH at 0xf7620000 irq 61
 1 [P7xx ]: USB-Audio - Plantronics Savi 7xx
                      Plantronics Plantronics Savi 7xx at usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.2, full speed
 2 [NVidia ]: HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
                      HDA NVidia at 0xf7080000 irq 17

I added the device to /usr/share/alsa/cards/USB-Audio.conf:

USB-Audio.pcm.iec958_device {
        # "NoiseBlaster 3000" 42

        # The below don't have digital in/out, so prevent them from being opened.
        "Blue Snowball" 999
        "Logitech Speaker Lapdesk N700" 999
        "Logitech USB Headset" 999
        "Logitech Web Camera" 999
        "Logitech Wireless Headset" 999
        "Plantronics USB Headset" 999
        "Sennheiser USB headset" 999
        "Plantronics Savi 7xx" 999
}

restarted, and I have the same problem. I cannot scroll, click windows, etc.

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

@Jason Eggleston: you are commenting on a bug closed as duplicate, please comment on the bug #1002952 instead

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