new ubuntu install - low sound

[Bender]

I installed the latest ubuntu release on my wife's old computer. She has been d/l mp3s with limewire and it is working fine. However, when she plays mp3 songs (rhythmbox, audacious, or whatever) the sound is much lower than when she was using win 2000 on the same machine. Also the left speaker has no sound at all.

We have gone into the volume control properties, and made sure the sliders were all up.

I have googled the problem and found many other people with the same ubuntu complaint. I also read about the etc/modprobe.d edit where you add that extra line near the bottom... I have not tried that yet. I will later today.

any other tips? The wife is mad...

[koriwhat]

The wife is mad...

what's new? haha.

anyhow i have never run into that problem so i can't be of any help, sorry.

i'll ask my buddy later if he's experienced that problem with his setup. i'll get back to ya.

[spurster]

If you found help on the internets, you aren't going to find any better here. Sound has been among the most flaky things about Linux in my experience. Fonts are equally flaky.

When you are editing configuration files, make sure you save the previous version.

[Bender]

I used linux myself for several years, but not recently... I remember having a couple issues with sound, but from what I remember, it was just a matter of finding the audio sliders and moving them all up. I don't remember having any complicated audio problems. I used RH9, Fedora 2, 3 & 4, Mandrake/Mandriva, and Debian.

I was hoping that the latest ubuntu release would have no basic problems (sound, etc).

I think I'm still a member of a couple of linux boards, so I will look for info there.

[Cry Havoc]

Did you try the headphone jack (if you have one) to see if that is working at a proper volume? Just a thought. We're trying to get as much info as possible here.

[baseline bum]

What's the output when you run the command lsmod ?

[Bender]

I haven't actually messed with it at all yet. Tonight after work I'll sit at her ubuntu machine and check it out.
I don't think there is a headphone jack, just the normal speaker out/ audio out.
It's a home-built machine I did for myself quite a while back. Not sure if it has an audio card, or on-board audio. I'm thinking on-board.

I'll try the "3stack" thingy too.

i fixed it...here was the solution....

adding to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

options snd-hda-intel model=3stack

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=373287

edit: slightly off topic, but what the does "sudo" do? Last night my wife was logged on her ubuntu machine, and I sat down to try to edit the modprobe.d file as above... I went into terminal to sudo gedit it, and ubuntu asked me for the password. I entered my (root) password but it would not accept any characters at all. Was this because my wife was logged on? what's the point of sudo if you have to log out the regular user, and log back in as root??
Same thing when she is logged on, and wants me to install stuff (synaptic). ubuntu asks for the password. I type in the root password (my password created during install). Not accepted. Try her password, not accepted. If I log her out, and log back in as myself, synaptic and everything works fine.

[baseline bum]

That's only going to work if you're using that driver. If you're using that card, the following command will show it (driver is called snd_hda_intel):

lsmod | grep snd_hda_intel

You'll get something like

snd_hda_intel         384176  4 
snd_pcm                83204  3 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd                    63268  16 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
snd_page_alloc         16136  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

as the result if you're using that driver. Intel's HD audio driver was a huge pain in the ass to setup on every Linux I've ever used other than Ubuntu.

[Bender]

man I'm rusty with linux. a couple years ago I knew more about this stuff. Ok, I'll find out what's under the hood when I get home.

[Bender]

output of lsmod:

psmouse                61972  0 
snd                    62628  18 snd_cmipci,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib,snd_hwdep,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
cfg80211               38032  1 mac80211
pcspkr                 10496  0 
serio_raw              13316  0 
irda                  197180  1 via_ircc
soundcore              15200  1 snd
shpchp                 40212  0 
agpgart                42696  2 drm,via_agp
crc_ccitt              10112  1 irda
parport_pc             40100  1 
parport                42220  3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
8139too                32128  0 
8139cp                 27776  0 
mii                    13312  2 8139too,8139cp
floppy                 64324  0 
fbcon                  46112  0 
tileblit               10752  1 fbcon
font                   16384  1 fbcon
bitblit                13824  1 fbcon
softcursor              9984  1 bitblit

[ElNono]

edit: slightly off topic, but what the does "sudo" do?

man sudo

[Bender]

guess I have to learn about sudo.
As mentioned in the previous "distro recommendations" thread, I never had experience with sudo with the distros I was using (Fedora, Debian, Mandriva).

regarding the low sound... it is higher than it was at first... Not sure what my wife did, or I did. It is still lower than normal, however that is probably because the left speaker is not playing.