[PLUG] Laptop, Sound Codecs, Modules, and Intel Hardware

Sun Jan 13 21:35:00 UTC 2013

On 01/13/2013 10:33 AM, Rich Shepard wrote:
>     I've been digging further trying to get sound working on the Sony Vaio
> PCG-61A14L with its Intel sound chip(s).
>
>     Found a Slackware page that suggested adding
> /etc/modprobe.d/snd-hda-intel.conf with an option of model=auto. That did
> not fix the problem. Neither did changing the model to vaio.
>
>     Next on the page were instructions on checking /proc/sound/ for the
> installed codecs; that revealed two of them: Conextant GXZ0590 and Intel
> CougarPoint HDMI. A search of the source code document directory file for
> the snd-hda-intel Codecs did not find either of these.
>
>     A DuckDuckGo search for the make, model, and 'snd-hda-intel' found a
> number of hits referring to ubuntu and CentOS. Tried a couple of their
> reported solutions, but to no avail. A related search for make, model,
> distribution and 'no sound' returned a few hits on the make and model but
> that's all.
>
>     When I try to play a test .mp3 the system tells me no driver is found. I'm
> confident that we have sufficient hardware, Intel, and driver module
> expertise on the list here to help me figure out what to do next. If more
> information would be helpful I'll get it.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rich
>
Did you check 'lspci" to see if the kernel sees the Intel sound chip?  I 
don't have my Intel laptop running, but you should see something like 
this as root:

$ sudo /sbin/lspci |grep -E 'Audio|audio'
01:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation GF108 High Definition Audio 
Controller (rev a1)
03:03.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy (rev 03)

$ /sbin/lspci -v

...
03:03.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy (rev 03)
     Subsystem: Creative Labs SB0090 Audigy Player
     Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 21
     I/O ports at e400 [size=32]
     Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
     Kernel driver in use: snd_emu10k1
...

If the "kernel driver in use" is missing or blank,then you don't have 
the Alsa kernel module loaded.  Also, in my example, and in your 
statement above, you have a HDMI controller (mine's on the Geforce 
GT430).  Your audio might be going to that by default.  for example, 
/etc/modprobe.d/sound.conf

alias snd-card-0 snd-emu10k1
alias sound-slot-0 snd-emu10k1

and /etc/modprobe.d/snd-hdmi.conf

# Don't load HDMI sound from the Nvidia GPU card
blacklist snd_hda_intel

As I do not use the HDMI port.

Also, did you run alsamixer to make sure you sound is not muted? Did run 
check "aplay -L' to see what audio channels ALSA found ('aplay -l' gives 
devices 'small ell')?  And then use "speaker-test" to see where the 
sound is going? For example,

$ aplay -L
null
     Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default:CARD=Audigy
     SB Audigy 1 [SB0090], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback
     Default Audio Device
sysdefault:CARD=Audigy
     SB Audigy 1 [SB0090], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback
     Default Audio Device
front:CARD=Audigy,DEV=0
     SB Audigy 1 [SB0090], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback
     Front speakers
rear:CARD=Audigy,DEV=0
     SB Audigy 1 [SB0090], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback
     Rear speakers
center_lfe:CARD=Audigy,DEV=0
     SB Audigy 1 [SB0090], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback
     Center and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=Audigy,DEV=0
     SB Audigy 1 [SB0090], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback
     4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=Audigy,DEV=0
     SB Audigy 1 [SB0090], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback
     4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=Audigy,DEV=0
     SB Audigy 1 [SB0090], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback
     5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=Audigy,DEV=0
     SB Audigy 1 [SB0090], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback
     5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
iec958:CARD=Audigy,DEV=0
     SB Audigy 1 [SB0090], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback
     IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output

$ speaker-test -Dplug:front -c2 -twav

speaker-test 1.0.26

Playback device is plug:front
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
WAV file(s)
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 64 to 16384
Period size range from 16 to 16384
Using max buffer size 16384
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 4096
was set buffer_size = 16384
  0 - Front Left
  1 - Front Right
Time per period = 2.731624
...
(repeats until Ctrl-C)

Forget Ubuntu how-tos: most of then have the extra complexity of 
pulsaudio.  BTW, the laptop number you gave is not the true model number 
but the series.  Somewhere there should be a tag with any of so you can 
look up at Sony www the actual hardware specs:
  VPCEG11FX
  VPCEG11FXB
  VPCEG11FXL
  VPCEG11FXP
  VPCEG11FXW
  VPCEG12FX
  VPCEG12FXB
  VPCEG12FXL
  VPCEG12FXP
  VPCEG12FXW
  VPCEG13FX
  VPCEG13FXB
  VPCEG13FXL
  VPCEG13FXW
  VPCEG14FX
  VPCEG14FXB
  VPCEG14FXL
  VPCEG14FXP
  VPCEG14FXW
  VPCEG15FX
  VPCEG15FXB
  VPCEG17FX
  VPCEG17FXB
  VPCEG17FXL
  VPCEG18FX
  VPCEG18FXB
  VPCEG18FXL
  VPCEG18FXP
  VPCEG18FXW
  VPCEG1DGX
  VPCEG1DGXB
  VPCEG23FX
  VPCEG23FXB
  VPCEG23FXL
  VPCEG23FXP
  VPCEG23FXW
  VPCEG24FX
  VPCEG24FXB
  VPCEG24FXL
  VPCEG24FXP
  VPCEG24FXW
  VPCEG25FX
  VPCEG25FXB
  VPCEG25FXL
  VPCEG25FXP
  VPCEG25FXW
  VPCEG26FX
  VPCEG26FXB
  VPCEG26FXL
  VPCEG2DFX
  VPCEG2DFXP
  VPCEG2DFXPC
  VPCEG2DFXW
  VPCEG2DFXWC
  VPCEG33FX
  VPCEG33FXB
  VPCEG33FXL
  VPCEG33FXP
  VPCEG33FXW
  VPCEG34FX
  VPCEG34FXB
  VPCEG34FXL
  VPCEG34FXP
  VPCEG34FXW
  VPCEG36FX
  VPCEG36FXB
  VPCEG36FXL
  VPCEG36FXP
  VPCEG36FXW
  VPCEG3AGX
  VPCEG3AGXB
  VPCEG3PFX
  VPCEG3PFXW