No sound (but beep present) and vlc error [Solved]

Question

Hello,
I don't know why but after reboot Arch, I don't have any sound except I can hear the beep. I try different methods to have sound again. But none of them worked.
I really don't know what to do.
If it cant help , the output of cat /proc/asound/cards is:
0 [PCH ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
HDA Intel PCH at 0xd4520000 irq 54
1 [Generic ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
HD-Audio Generic at 0xd4420000 irq 55
I have a .asoundrc in my home which is:
pcm.!default {
type hw
card 0
ctl.!default {
type hw
card 0
When I test that command: speaker-test -c 2.
I hear nothing and the output is :
Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 64 to 1048576
Period size range from 32 to 524288
Using max buffer size 1048576
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 262144
was set buffer_size = 1048576
0 - Front Left
1 - Front Right
When I run vlc i have a error which is :
pulse audio output error: PulseAudio server connection failure: Connection refused.
I think that error is because I install pulseaudio. But when I change the audio device with PCH or Generic, I have this error:
mpgatofixed32 audio converter error: libmad error: bad main_data_begin pointer.
And sound it's not working in any browser. But what I find weird it's I can't hear sound like music but I can still hear the beep when I'm on a tty.
I thank you in advance for your help.
Last edited by sylflo (2013-10-09 08:13:27)

Answer 1

You should avoid using card number in your .asoundrc. Using card name is recommended, since soundcards may be recognised in different order at boot. It may interfere with modules. So assuming your default card name is PCH use following code:
pcm.!default {
type hw
card PCH
ctl.!default {
type hw
card PCH
Instead of simply using speaker-test try
aplay -D PCH /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav
#eventually
aplay -D plughw:PCH /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav
#or
speaker-test -D PCH
to test a specific card directly.
Next check your loaded sound modules. Your should have snd-hda-intel specified to load somewhere in /etc/modules-load.d, so to check this you can use:
grep -Ri snd /etc/modules-load.d
#also check what you have loaded
lsmod | grep snd_hda
From what I understand your hardware is, you should have snd-hda-intel model=pch loaded. Check /etc/modprobe.d also. Maybe it got changed in the upgrade.
The reason your hearing sound is that you have pcspkr module loaded and I assume most engineers design a hardware mix/mux between internal and external speakers in laptops, even though they seem to be two different devices. You should be able to use beep or something similar in X to test it.
Is a user required to be in audio user group to use pulseaudio? Is the pulseaudio server running?
Do you have a HDMI output on your laptop? I think the second soundcard is from your graphicscard and they usually use only one digital output, so if that card is used as primary you will not hear a thing.
Last edited by emeres (2013-10-09 07:21:58)