microphone does not work

Bug #64491 reported by Keith Finnie
4
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
linux-source-2.6.15 (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

Using either Ekiga or Sound Recorder, microphone does not work. Alsamixer shows microphone is present and active.
Output of lspci:
ALSA Audio Debug v0.1.0 - Thu Oct 5 23:29:17 PDT 2006
http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=aadebug
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt

Kernel ----------------------------------------------------
Linux tiger 2.6.15-23-386 #1 PREEMPT Tue May 23 13:49:40 UTC 2006 i686 GNU/Linux

Loaded Modules --------------------------------------------
snd_intel8x0 33692 1
snd_ac97_codec 92704 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_ac97_bus 2304 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss 53664 0
snd_mixer_oss 18688 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 89864 3 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 25220 1 snd_pcm
snd_mpu401 6728 0
snd_mpu401_uart 7808 1 snd_mpu401
snd_rawmidi 25504 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 8716 1 snd_rawmidi
snd 55268 12 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_ oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401,snd_mpu401_uart,s nd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
snd_page_alloc 10632 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm

Modprobe Conf ---------------------------------------------
Warning: module config file does not exist
This means any kernel modules will not be auto loaded
See your linux distro docs on how to create this file

Proc Asound -----------------------------------------------
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.10rc3 (Mon Nov 07 13:30:21 2005 UTC).
0 [CK8S ]: NFORCE - NVidia CK8S
NVidia CK8S with ALC850 at 0xff6fb000, irq 193
1 [UART ]: MPU-401 UART - MPU-401 UART
MPU-401 UART at 0x300, irq 5
18: [0- 2]: digital audio playback
25: [0- 1]: digital audio capture
16: [0- 0]: digital audio playback
24: [0- 0]: digital audio capture
0: [0- 0]: ctl
40: [1- 0]: raw midi
32: [1- 0]: ctl
33: : timer
cat: /proc/asound/hwdep: No such file or directory
00-00: Intel ICH : NVidia CK8S : playback 1 : capture 1
00-01: Intel ICH - MIC ADC : NVidia CK8S - MIC ADC : capture 1
00-02: Intel ICH - IEC958 : NVidia CK8S - IEC958 : playback 1
cat: /proc/asound/seq/clients: No such file or directory

Dev Snd ---------------------------------------------------
controlC0 controlC1 midiC1D0 pcmC0D0c pcmC0D0p pcmC0D1c pcmC0D2p timer

CPU -------------------------------------------------------
model name : AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 2800+
cpu MHz : 1607.638

RAM -------------------------------------------------------
MemTotal: 1035904 kB
SwapTotal: 2634652 kB

Hardware --------------------------------------------------
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 250Gb Host Bridge (rev a1)
0000:00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce3 250Gb AC'97 Audio Controller (rev a1)
0000:00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
0000:00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
0000:00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
0000:00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
Edit/Delete Message

Output of lspci:
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 250Gb Host Bridge (rev a1)
0000:00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 250Gb LPC Bridge (rev a2)
0000:00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation nForce 250Gb PCI System Management (rev a 1)
0000:00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation CK8S USB Controller (rev a1)
0000:00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation CK8S USB Controller (rev a1)
0000:00:02.2 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce3 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev a2)
0000:00:05.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation CK8S Ethernet Controller (rev a2)
0000:00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce3 250Gb AC'97 Audio Controller (rev a1)
0000:00:08.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation CK8S Parallel ATA Controller (v2. 5) (rev a2)
0000:00:0a.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation CK8S Serial ATA Controller (v2.5) (rev a2)
0000:00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 250Gb AGP Host to PCI Bridge (rev a2)
0000:00:0e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 250Gb PCI-to-PCI Bridge (rev a2)
0000:00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Hyp erTransport Technology Configuration
0000:00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Add ress Map
0000:00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRA M Controller
0000:00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Mis cellaneous Control
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 PRO] (rev 01)
0000:01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5940 (rev 01)
0000:02:09.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 41)
0000:02:09.1 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 41)
0000:02:09.2 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB 2.0 (rev 02)
0000:02:0a.0 Network controller: Intersil Corporation Intersil ISL3890 [Prism GT /Prism Duette] (rev 01)

Note: the original reporter indicated the bug was in package 'alsa'; however, that package was not published in Ubuntu.

Revision history for this message
Daniel T Chen (crimsun) wrote :

Please attach the output from ``lspci -vn && amixer''.

Changed in alsa-utils:
importance: Undecided → Low
status: Unconfirmed → Needs Info
Revision history for this message
Daniel T Chen (crimsun) wrote :

Also, please dist-upgrade to the latest 2.6.15-27.48 kernel.

Revision history for this message
Keith Finnie (kfinnie) wrote :

Here it is. The kernel is at 2.6.15-27-k7 , the latest version available to my knowledge.
Output to ``lspci -vn && amixer'' is attached.

Revision history for this message
Daniel T Chen (crimsun) wrote :

Note the following from your attached output:

Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 15
  Front Left: Capture 10 [67%] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 10 [67%] [off]

Notice the capture element is muted. You need to unmute it.

Revision history for this message
Keith Finnie (kfinnie) wrote :

Thank you - works perfectly now.

A comment: I've attached a screen shot showing the volume control settings before I changed anything. To my eyes this picture says Microphone recording is turned on.

I assume the following is considered 'normal' however it is not clear to me why this should be the case:

1. Mic on , capture on : works with either Mic or Capture selected under 'Record from input' in Sound Recorder (Expected, Mic is on!).
2. Mic on, capture off : does not work with Mic selected as 'Record from input: in Sound Recorder (Not expected, Mic is on!)
3. Mic off, capture on : works with Capture selected as 'Record from input' in Sound Recorder (As this works, why not #2?)
4. Mic off, capture off : does not work (expected)

In retrospect it appears that the 'Capture' control is a global control for all recording.
As there is no obvious physical object to associate with the 'Capture' control (as there is with 'Mic' or 'CD'), reference to 'Capture' as a global control would be a useful addition to the Help documentation.

Thanks again!

Revision history for this message
Daniel T Chen (crimsun) wrote :

Closing per submitter's feedback.

Changed in linux-source-2.6.15:
status: Needs Info → Rejected
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