2014-09-11, 22:06
I've no idea what happened, I only know how it happened.
I was running Ubuntu 12.04 and an old Gotham build for quite a long time. I have XBMC set up where I have an "xbmc" user that has no login required and goes straight to the XBMC system. Worked brilliantly and also allowed a full PC on my TV when I needed that instead.
Yesterday, I decided it was probably time to get to the next LTS version, so I upgraded Ubuntu. I saw that the XBMC ppa's got disabled with the new upgrade, so I re-added the 14.04 XBMC ppa and got that updates as well. I logged out (not rebooted) and logged into XBMC. Perfect! Except I was having some trouble with my remote control (I use a USB-based IR remote), so I went into the input settings via the mouse and checked then unchecked the "system keys" button. The remote started working perfectly again.
When I rebooted, the sound didn't work in XBMC. I have some dumbed down sound settings even on Expert, and what I mean by that is I don't see anything relating to passthrough. I forget what the setting was that it was on, but I definitely had to switch that when I moved from a receiver to just a TV as my output (so I suspect I had to switch to no passthrough. Now I see the HDMI sound output option, but nothing about passthrough.
I thought maybe this is an nvidia card problem (I've got a GT520 in it), so I purged the nvidia drivers and reinstalled them, then rebooted. Same problem. Sound works great for the "mactastic" user of the PC, but doesn't work for xbmc at all.
I don't remember where to check next. The logs didn't seem to think there was an issue, the sound isn't muted (it's maxed volume and unmuted in XBMC), and I don't see any general issues in dmesg or anywhere. Obviously it works well for my other user.
I tried checking the pulse audio controls, and there was nothing muted there and all looked good. I also tried checking alsamixer, but this was odd (and I have no idea if it's related). The main levels for the Intel G620 hdmi a/v (which I'm not using ... the HDMI is plugged into only the NVidia card) were set fine, but the GT520 Nvidia card just showed [00] [00] for two slots and nothing more.
I don't think that's an issue since I think XBMC is running off pulse, but thought I'd mention it.
So I'm at a loss. I don't know where to check, why I can't set or change passthrough (which I suspect is the actual issue) or where my sound went. I'd appreciate any thoughts / tips / tricks / ideas.
I was running Ubuntu 12.04 and an old Gotham build for quite a long time. I have XBMC set up where I have an "xbmc" user that has no login required and goes straight to the XBMC system. Worked brilliantly and also allowed a full PC on my TV when I needed that instead.
Yesterday, I decided it was probably time to get to the next LTS version, so I upgraded Ubuntu. I saw that the XBMC ppa's got disabled with the new upgrade, so I re-added the 14.04 XBMC ppa and got that updates as well. I logged out (not rebooted) and logged into XBMC. Perfect! Except I was having some trouble with my remote control (I use a USB-based IR remote), so I went into the input settings via the mouse and checked then unchecked the "system keys" button. The remote started working perfectly again.
When I rebooted, the sound didn't work in XBMC. I have some dumbed down sound settings even on Expert, and what I mean by that is I don't see anything relating to passthrough. I forget what the setting was that it was on, but I definitely had to switch that when I moved from a receiver to just a TV as my output (so I suspect I had to switch to no passthrough. Now I see the HDMI sound output option, but nothing about passthrough.
I thought maybe this is an nvidia card problem (I've got a GT520 in it), so I purged the nvidia drivers and reinstalled them, then rebooted. Same problem. Sound works great for the "mactastic" user of the PC, but doesn't work for xbmc at all.
I don't remember where to check next. The logs didn't seem to think there was an issue, the sound isn't muted (it's maxed volume and unmuted in XBMC), and I don't see any general issues in dmesg or anywhere. Obviously it works well for my other user.
I tried checking the pulse audio controls, and there was nothing muted there and all looked good. I also tried checking alsamixer, but this was odd (and I have no idea if it's related). The main levels for the Intel G620 hdmi a/v (which I'm not using ... the HDMI is plugged into only the NVidia card) were set fine, but the GT520 Nvidia card just showed [00] [00] for two slots and nothing more.
I don't think that's an issue since I think XBMC is running off pulse, but thought I'd mention it.
So I'm at a loss. I don't know where to check, why I can't set or change passthrough (which I suspect is the actual issue) or where my sound went. I'd appreciate any thoughts / tips / tricks / ideas.