Sound not working for USB Headset [Solved]

Question

I've looked everywhere I can to find a solution for this as I'd hate to waste anyone's time.  I've done everythign the wiki has said and even tried some stuff on other webpages (like including a "!" in front of pcspkr in the Modules part of /etc/rc.conf).  This is currently a fresh install with only an updated pacman, password hashes, GNOME, and couple other minor changes.  As far this install goes I've added -- options snd-pcsp index=2 -- to /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf and installed alsa-utils.  I didn't install alsa-oss this time becuase I thought I read somewhere that OSS and ALSA don't mix that well.  I did install it my first time, but it didn't make any difference.
The wiki said to post these:
# lsmod|grep '^snd' | column -t
snd_usb_audio          87191   0
snd_usbmidi_lib        18516   1   snd_usb_audio
snd_rawmidi            19525   1   snd_usbmidi_lib
snd_hda_codec_realtek  295589  1
snd_seq_dummy          1479    0
snd_seq_oss            29240   0
snd_seq_midi_event     5516    1   snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                50562   5   snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device         5281    4   snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss            39509   0
snd_mixer_oss          17730   1   snd_pcm_oss
snd_hda_intel          21837   0
snd_hda_codec          74609   2   snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              6222    2   snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                72321   4   snd_usb_audio,snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_timer              19537   2   snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd                    58906   14  snd_usb_audio,snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
snd_page_alloc         7361    2   snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
# ls -l /dev/snd
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root       80 Mar  4 17:12 by-id
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root      100 Mar  4 17:12 by-path
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 10 Mar  4 17:12 controlC0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 12 Mar  4 17:12 controlC1
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 15 Mar  4 17:12 controlC2
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  9 Mar  4 17:12 hwC0D0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  8 Mar  4 17:12 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  7 Mar  4 17:31 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  6 Mar  4 17:12 pcmC0D1c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  5 Mar  4 17:12 pcmC0D1p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  4 Mar  4 17:12 pcmC0D2c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 11 Mar  4 17:12 pcmC1D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 14 Mar  4 17:12 pcmC2D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 13 Mar  4 17:12 pcmC2D0p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  3 Mar  4 17:12 seq
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  2 Mar  4 17:12 timer
And here's this (The creative headset is what I'm trying to get to work)
# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC889A Analog [ALC889A Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC889A Digital [ALC889A Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: Headset [Creative HS-1200 Headset], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
I'm not a terribly advanced user and am coming from about a month's worth of Linux experience from Ubuntu, but I'm here on Arch because I love the ideals of simplicity and efficiency and would love to learn about what goes on inside my computer behind the scenes.  (On that note, if you know of anything that would help me learn how to fix this type of stuff on my own or anythign that would increase my understanding of what computers do behind the scenes please let me know.)
Thanks
Last edited by Arsenal (2011-03-07 06:00:32)

Answer 1

I reformatted to get sound to work on the normal headset again.  I went to those two sites you suggested, but I'm having a couple issues. 
First I can't find any 'module' related item in /etc that has to do with alsa:
# find /etc -name '*module*'
/etc/syslog-ng/modules.conf
/etc/gtk-2.0/gtk.immodules
/etc/gtk-2.0/gtk.immodules-32
/etc/pango/pango.modules
/etc/pango/pango.modules-32
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/40-libcanberra-gtk-module
This was also the only alsa.conf file I found and all it is is source code and didn't look like what the site was talking about so I didn't want to alter it.
# find / -name '*alsa.conf*'
/usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf
As far as my /etc/modprobe.d:
# ls -a /etc/modprobe.d
.   framebuffer_blacklist.conf    nouveau_blacklist.conf
..  modprobe.conf        usb-load-ehci-first.conf
and all /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf is is this:
# /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf (for v2.6 kernels)
and I don't have a /etc/init.d directory:
# /etc/init.d
bash: /etc/init.d: No such file or directory
I did manage to find a /proc/asound directory though that looks like it might be related to my problem.
# find / -name '*asound*'
/proc/asound
/var/lib/pacman/sync/extra/ecasound-2.7.2-1
/var/lib/alsa/asound.state
/usr/include/alsa/asoundef.h
/usr/include/alsa/asoundlib.h
/usr/include/alsa/sound/asound_fm.h
/usr/include/linux/ultrasound.h
/usr/include/sys/ultrasound.h
/usr/include/sys/asoundlib.h
/usr/include/sound/asound_fm.h
/usr/include/sound/asound.h
/usr/lib/libasound.so.2.0.0
/usr/lib/libasound.so.2
/usr/lib/libasound.so
/usr/lib32/libasound.so.2.0.0
/usr/lib32/libasound.so.2
/usr/lib32/libasound.so
# ls /proc/asound
card0  card2  CinemaTM    Headset  modules  pcm  seq     version
card1  cards  devices    hwdep     oss      SB   timers
# cat cards
0 [SB             ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI SB
                      HDA ATI SB at 0xfe024000 irq 16
1 [CinemaTM       ]: USB-Audio - Microsoft® LifeCam Cinema(TM)
                      Microsoft Microsoft® LifeCam Cinema(TM) at usb-0000:00:12.2-4, high speed
2 [Headset        ]: USB-Audio - Creative HS-1200 Headset
                      Creative HS-1200 Headset Creative HS-1200 Headset at usb-0000:00:12.0-2, full s
I tried to change the order so that the creative headset was "0" and the hda "2" via nano, but after confirming the changes and viewing the file again it always reverted back to this.
I'd like to say that I'd like to write a udev rule to change the default card when I plug/unplug the headset, but I'm not sure how to do that and would like to fix it manually before I create an automatic method so that I know what I'm doing.
**PulseAudio isn't installed atm.  It seemed like even though it provided a temporary fix it didn't actually correct the problem.  I hope the problems I've stated here aren't related to not having it installed.