[holmen]

The Problem
I had a working copy of XBMC Frodo 12.0 (or 12.2 i dont remember if i upgraded) and then i decided to try out the Gotham Nightlies but when there were no sound in Spotify i decided to revert back to Frodo which had ugraded to 12.3.
So now i sit here with no audio in Spotify (started via Advanced Launcher and a openbox script).

My setup
Zotac Zbox HD-ID40
XBMCbuntu Frodo 12.3
sound over optical cable

aplay -l

Code:

xbmcusr@HTPC:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC888 Digital [ALC888 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

~/.asoundrc

Code:

xbmcusr@HTPC:~$ cat .asoundrc

pcm.!default {
        type plug
        slave {
                pcm both
        }
}

pcm.both {
        type route
        slave {
                pcm multi
                channels 6
        }
        ttable.0.0 1.0
        ttable.1.1 1.0
        ttable.0.2 1.0
        ttable.1.3 1.0
        ttable.0.4 1.0
        ttable.1.5 1.0
}

pcm.multi {
        type multi
        slaves.a {
                pcm "hdmi_hw"
                channels 2
        }
        slaves.b {
                pcm "digital_hw"
                channels 2
        }
        slaves.c {
                pcm "analog_hw"
                channels 2
        }
        bindings.0.slave a
        bindings.0.channel 0
        bindings.1.slave a
        bindings.1.channel 1
        bindings.2.slave b
        bindings.2.channel 0
        bindings.3.slave b
        bindings.3.channel 1
        bindings.4.slave c
        bindings.4.channel 0
        bindings.5.slave c
        bindings.5.channel 1
}

pcm.hdmi_hw {
        type hw
        card 1
        device 3
        channels 2
}

pcm.hdmi_formatted {
        type plug
        slave {
                pcm hdmi_hw
                rate 48000
                channels 2
        }
}

pcm.hdmi_complete {
        type softvol
        slave.pcm hdmi_formatted
        control.name hdmi_volume
        control.card 1
}

pcm.digital_hw {
        type hw
        card 0
        device 1
        channels 2
}

pcm.analog_hw {
        type hw
        card 0
        device 0
        channels 2
}

I dont understand was has gone wrong. Sound plays fine in movies and tv series in XBMC.

[holmen]

I solved this by uninstalling alsa-utils

[TRaccer]

Further to Homen's advice I had the same issue and needed to uninstall alsa-utils, reboot and then re-install alsa-utils.

After the re-install, running alsamixer showed the SPDIF was muted (even though it showed un-muted earlier and sound was working the whole time in XBMC through optical)

[arsenic]

Hello,
I’m not sure whether it’s still relevant to whoever is looking the answer to the “no sound in external apps” problem. Still, if it’s relevant, I believe I have some info that might help someone.

I have lately installed the XBMCbuntu “Gotham” on my HTPC using SPDIF as a sound output (connected to my receiver).

Everything worked fine, until I’ve decided to arrange a browser launching directly from XBMC, since I use web on my HTPC for stuff like TED. I did so using Advanced Launcher and a simple bash-script that involves manipulations with openbox (I googled for this solution). I also changed to the Neon scheme to create a custom page for the Internet (as I called to this link) from my XBMX Home.

However, once everything was ready and I’ve lunched the browser, I couldn’t hear any sound – oops.

I spent some time in the forums collecting the information by pieces and testing different variations until I’ve devised a solution that worked for me.

The essentials of the solution:
From the XBMCbuntu GUI set the SPDIF to “ON” using alsamixer. In the file “~/.asoundrc” remove all the line of the configurations (the ones not starting from ‘#’) and also change in it the “AUTOUPDATE=True” to “AUTOUPDATE=False”. In the XBMC settings change the Audio Output Device to the “Default...”. The latter still allows the passthrough and other stuff.

The solution in details:
1. Exit to the XBMCbuntu GUI (after you exit XBMC in the upright corner of the Login page change from XBMC to XBMCbuntu)
2. Launch the alsamixer and make sure that SPDIF (in case you are using it) is switched on (press ‘M’ to toggle the SPDIF switch, once your cursor is moved to it)
3. Now we need to edit the “.asoundrc” file located in the home directory of the user you use for the XBMC.
3.1. To edit the file I used “gedit” editor (google to find how to install it): sudo gedit ~/.asoundrc
3.2. In this file find the line with “AUTOUPDATE=True” and change it to “AUTOUPDATE=False”
3.3. In the same file remove all the lines that are not starting from “#” character. This removes any configuration that this file advises for alsa. Save the file and close it.
4. Return back to the XBMC GUI (the same way we entered the XBMCbuntu from the login page).
5. Go to the System settings to the audio and change the Audio Output Device to the “Default...”. It still allows the passthrough and other stuff.