[LIVE] HDMI sound works on LIVE but not after I install

EDIT: This post provides the most current and detailed information about my situation. If this is the first time reading this post, please start from there. I have learned several things along the way so I figured I'd save you some time. Or skip to the bottom.


The setup:

Acer Aspire Revo AR 1600 w/ NVIDIA ION LE hooked up via HDMI to TV.

The problem:

I spent all installing XBMCLive to the hard drive and configuring ubuntu to my liking. I had my Revo hooked up to a spare monitor while doing via VGA. Sound worked fine over headphone jack. After I had gotten everything in order, I went to hook it up to my TV via HDMI. Video worked fine but no sound. So I googled...and googled...and googled. Found several 'solutions' but none worked for me. I tried different .asoundrc alsa-base.conf but no luck. I checked alsamixer to make sure everything was unmuted. I even tried manually inputting the device ( plughw:0,3 ) in the custom field in xbmc. Still nothing.

A ray of light:

After several hours of troubleshooting and trying different things, I was at my wit's end and ready to give up. I had a crazy idea to see if it worked in the LIVE version. So I popped in my USB drive, booted to LIVE (note: this is the LIVE version booted off a usb drive, identical to the LIVE CD, it was not put there by the installer), changed audio output to digital and low and behold it worked! So at the point I am really excited because at least I know it is possible.

What I want to do:

I want clear out any and all audio configuration in my installed version and copy the audio configuration from the live version to my installed version. That's my theory to getting all of this to work.

What I've done:

I deleted my instances of /etc/modprob.d/alsa-base.conf and asound.conf and ~/.asoundrc. I've then copied the LIVE alsa-base.conf to my installed version. Still no luck though.

I know I could just start from scratch. But I am REALLY trying to avoid that because this would be the fourth time to rebuild. I did a lot of configuring with other programs running in the background (rtorrent, lighttpd, irssi, dropbox, etc)

Any suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks!

Hey TaterSalad,

I've been wading through google and the forums for 2 months now, and no audio. My 9.04.1 installation works like a charm (Revo->Yamaha amp->Philips FTV), but anything XBMC 9.11 gives me stunning video and total silence...

Been playing with xorg.conf, nividia drivers and alsa / asoundrc's for ever now, guess i'm stuck with 9.04 for another while...

I've got an official change freeze now from my girlfriend, but i'm going to try your method, running it from a live USB just in case.

The strange thing at my end is that if i plug my hdmi cable straight into the TV i get sound, ahhh if only my Revo had spdif. Also I've just found some information on the ubuntu forum that my Yamaha amp might block audio when the hdmi signal is not send in true 720p or 1080p format... But from reading your post i'm not sure if you are using an amplifier in between.

greetings,
Mike

Mike,

Good luck with that. Burn the live CD and try it out with an external optical drive. If you don't have one of those, you'll need to use unetbootin to put it on a USB drive. Then change your audio output to digital and everything to hdmi. Let me know if it works for you too.


However, my problem still remains. Is there any way to copy the audio configuration from the LIVE disc to my installed version?


Thanks!

Hey!

I'm far from being a linux expert, but you should be able to boot from the live cd and mount your hdd and copy the sound config files? Search this great forum for mounting hdd's... or boot from the live cd and attach a usb key, it should be mounted automagically.

I've just managed to create a live usb with unetbootin and make it full read/write so i can test various settings and config files now. This means i don't destroy my working 9.04 setup every time... thanks for the tip!

on with testing 9.11...

greetings
Mike

Good luck testing Mike. I tried copying alsa-base.conf over to my install before but still no luck. I even checked the md5 sums to make sure the file was the same and they matched. not sure what the issue is. I feel like I am missing some conf files off the LIVE version, which is my original question. I know how to copy the files...just not what to copy.

At any rate... I got trigger happy and decided to wipe my install. I used to the LIVE version to format my drive and install a fresh copy to the hard drive. I tried the HDMI sound on this fresh install (with the same xbmc settings as the live install) and STILL NOTHING! So I am perplexed. Can anyone shed some light on why sound works in Live but not after fresh install when XBMC settings are the same?

Worked some more. I figured I would install ubuntu minimal rather than use the live disc. Installed ubuntu minimal and used this guide to setup everything up. Still no sound over HDMI.

Here are the things I've tried:

[LIVE] HOW-TO install XBMC Live on Acer Aspire Revo - The Complete Guide for Newbies
XBMC on an Acer Aspire Revo 1600
S/PDIF out for both analog and digital audio

That's all I can think of for now, but there's lots more.


I've tried several different ~/.asoundrc configurations.
I've tried tinkering with /etc/modprob.d/alsa-base.conf
Checked alsamixer to make sure everything was 100 and not muted.
speaker-test -Dplug:hdmi -c2 fires but no sound. (which leads me to believe the problem is not with xbmc, but with ubuntu)

Some relative console outputs:

http://pastebin.ca/1732785

I'm still stumped. I've spent a solid 5 days on this thing. I've been to the end of the internet and back researching the forums, google, wiki, etc. I've tripled checked everything I can think of and still nothing. At this point, I would just determine the hardware as defective, but it works on the Live disc! I just can't get it work in any sort of installed environment which is my ultimate goal. I would really appreciate some expert advise on this.

So I am well into a week of researching this. I've read nearly every tip and trick to getting this to work and nothing seems to work. I have even been in contact with an alsa developer as it could be a possible bug. We went thru several diagnosing and debugging steps but couldnt find anything that would cause sound not to work. But things don't add up for this to just be a 'bug'. I know for a fact that:

- It works with my hardware. There are several accounts of users with an Acer Aspire Revo 1600 having success pushing sound over hdmi. (I can't even get stereo)
- My hardware isn't defective because everything works great off the live disc. And the hardware less than two weeks old.
- It's not my TV or hdmi cable either because a) it works on the live disc and b) I can reproduce the same result on a seperate display
- It's probably not an xbmc problem because tests like speaker-test and aplay dont even produce sound.

So is there any linux expert out there that could help me out? I realize in order to properly diagnose problems like these you need to know more about my configuration and setup. The problem is that these things are constantly changing and I am always reinstalling and tinkering to try new solutions. So the best I can do for you is give you this information:

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=25afb2...e57d5bed5f

This is generated by an official script from the alsa people. Basically it spits out everything they need to know about my system, sound card, and configuration. This was generated off a fresh karmic install.

I had a nice guy over at #alsa on freenode take a look at this and he thought everything look good. We tried various aplay -D plughw:0,3 commands. All executed fine but no sound.

I'm up for any suggestions. Feel free to take a stab. Any help is more than appreciated.

I am having trouble getting sound over hdmi with my Nvidia MCP7A HDMI. The strange thing is that everything works fine in a Live disc, but once I do a fresh install of that Live disc I get no sound, even though my configuration is exactly the same (as far as I can tell). I've checked the little things like alsamixer volumes, aplay -l, etc etc. Everything looks good to me. I can reproduce on multiple TVs so its not the receiver. Video drivers are the same in both live version and installed. aplay -l detects my device. sound/pci/hda/patch_nvhdmi.c already has my correct vendor id in it. Perhaps the following info can help figure out what my installed environment is lacking. I've been at it for days now and I'm stumped! Any ideas?

Live Disc Info

XBMC Live 9.11 (basically a optimized version of Karmic configured to start XBMC, or Xbox Media Center, see http://www.xbmc.org for more info)
NOTE: My problem is not specific to the XBMC program. Things like aplay and speaker-test don't work either.

Hardware

Acer Aspire Revo R1600

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...Tpk=AR1600

XBMC Live installed to hard disk via Ubuntu installer

(This setup gives me no sound over HDMI)

(This is a fresh install. No additional changes were made)

alsa-info.sh

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=ab7cef...84b9147d38

xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ aplay -L
default:CARD=NVidia
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
Default Audio Device
front:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
Front speakers
surround40:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, NVIDIA HDMI
HDMI Audio Output
null
Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)


### speaker-test executes but NO SOUND over hdmi. I've also tried other device aliases like -D hdmi:0 -D hw:0,3 -D hdmi -D plug:hdmi, etc, etc

xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ speaker-test -D plughw:0,3 -c2

speaker-test 1.0.20

Playback device is plughw:0,3
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 64 to 16384
Period size range from 32 to 8192
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 = 5.637709
0 - Front Left

xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version
NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module 190.53 Tue Dec 8 18:51:41 PST 2009
GCC version: gcc version 4.4.1 (Ubuntu 4.4.1-4ubuntu8)


XBMC Live Disc

(This setup gives me audio over hdmi perfectly)

(This is running as a Live disc, ie not installed)

alsa-info.sh

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=c95beb...1e4d0b72ad [^]

xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0


xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ aplay -L
default:CARD=NVidia
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
Default Audio Device
front:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
Front speakers
surround40:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, ALC662 rev1 Analog
7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
HDA NVidia, NVIDIA HDMI
HDMI Audio Output
null
Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)

### speaker-test plays audio over hdmi perfectly. other programs play audio over hdmi.

xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ speaker-test -D plughw:0,3 -c2

speaker-test 1.0.20

Playback device is plughw:0,3
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 64 to 16384
Period size range from 32 to 8192
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 = 5.638693

xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version
NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module 190.53 Tue Dec 8 18:51:41 PST 2009
GCC version: gcc version 4.4.1 (Ubuntu 4.4.1-4ubuntu8)


Additional Information

I had an idea to run a diff on the two alsa-info.sh outputs of my installed and live version. (non-working and working, see above) I figured that might give me a clue on what I was missing. Most things should be identical with a few exceptions like timestamps, etc.

MacBook-Austin:Desktop Austin$ diff -crB alsa-info_installed.txt alsa-info_live.txt > alsa-infodiff.diff

alsa-info_installed.txt: http://pastebin.com/f63afa045 (non-working, same as above)

alsa-info_live.txt: http://pastebin.com/f7b47d46d (working, same as above)

alsa-infodiff.diff: http://pastebin.com/f79cf9c15

Only a few things caught my attention. At first I thought I had my playback volumes muted (line 525,532) according to the diff. But then I realized that was just for the mic, so that shouldn't matter. The only other thing that I saw was that my Amp-Out vals differed (line 123, 129). Perhaps, a more trained eye will have better luck.

I also managed to build the driver -with-debug=verbose on the non-working setup and I get the following dmesg | grep ALSA:

http://pastebin.com/f60bf127c

Bug has also been reported here: https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-b...hp?id=4865

I have found a solution! For better performance, I had set my iGPU Buffer to manual and set it to 512MB as recommended by many. This is what was causing the problem. If I change it to automatic, it works! I get audio over HDMI perfectly. Perhaps I need more than 1.5GB of RAM for the 512MB buffer to work. Still strange that it worked in a Live disc. I guess considering a Live disc will allocate RAM much different than an install version, that may have had something to do with.

TaterSalad Wrote:I have found a solution! For better performance, I had set my iGPU Buffer to manual and set it to 512MB as recommended by many. This is what was causing the problem. If I change it to automatic, it works! I get audio over HDMI perfectly. Perhaps I need more than 1.5GB of RAM for the 512MB buffer to work. Still strange that it worked in a Live disc. I guess considering a Live disc will allocate RAM much different than an install version, that may have had something to do with.

I have this same problem with 1.5GB RAM in my revo when I set it to 512MB IGPU Buffer on version 9.11. Bumping it down to 256 or less fixes it, but i'm unsure why. Perhaps it's time to bump it up to 2GB to see if the problem goes away.