x61 Tablet Audio problems (Ubuntu Gutsy)

[aliencam]

I actually just posted a response to the "Ubuntu Gutsy" thread a few mintues ago, and while I was reading it, I realized that I had no audio.
i didn't want to put this post in the ubuntu gutsy topic because it is more of a guide on how to get thinkpads set up correctly as opposed to a place to fix a problem that only occurs with my machine.

I got my x61 on thursday afternoon, and audio has worked "out of the box" perfectly for me (including the vol up/down buttons) however, all of the sudden I don't get any audio and I get these errors:

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cameron@camubuntux61tab:~$ aplay
ALSA lib pcm_direct.c:867:(snd_pcm_direct_initialize_slave) snd_pcm_hw_params_any failed
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:876:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to initialize slave
aplay: main:545: audio open error: Invalid argument

cameron@camubuntux61tab:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: AD198x Analog [AD198x Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

and the error i get in system>preferences>sound>test
Autodetect:

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audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512 ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink: Internal data flow error.

AD198x Analog:

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audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512 ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink: Could not open resource for writing.

and so far, I have tried reinstalling alsa with:

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sudo apt-get install --reinstall alsa-base

does anyone know how to fix this??

[aliencam]

solved it for myself...

i remembered that last night I had been using the Ultrabase when I turned off my compuer, but that I had removed hte ultrabase when the computer and ultrabase were powered off, and there was no power available (cord was unpluged and battery was not in the laptop)

so all I needed to do to fix my sound issue was to put the laptop back on the ultrabase while the computer was on, then eject it the correct way (press the eject button on the side before pulling the lever)

[aliencam]

sorry,

I'm having the exact same issue again... i tried the ultrabase again, and it didn't do anything. i am running the same system and have the same error. the only think i can think that I've done recently was to install OSX on an external drive (shouldn't affect this hdd, should it?)

[aliencam]

Strange Update:

so I am still unable to determine whether this is a hardware or software error.... however i tried something new:

my girlfriend has the exact same laptop, except for a different wifi card. she runs windows vista, and I run OSX and Ubuntu.

I took her and my hard drives and swapped them. both worked in the other computer.

that means my Ubuntu distro is not messed up since sound worked perfectly in her laptop

and it also means there is no problem with my hardware since windows vista played sound out of my speakers without any config at all. (the startup sound)

when I switched the hard drives back, my ubuntu sound fails to work again.

how can i "remove" any ubuntu sound settings and get it to work??

[lightweight]

If the drive lets x61 make sounds on your lady's laptop, it doesn't sound like the problem is Ubuntu. But if you want to absolutely remove all your alsa settings and start over, apt's --reinstall doesn't set you back to default since it leaves confs as-is. There might be an apt or dpkg flag to retrieve the default conf, but I do not know it off-hand nor did I see the answer in man. This works though:

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sudo apt-get purge alsa-base && sudo apt-get install alsa-base

[aliencam]

yeah i actually tried that this time... just did it again and it didn't fix anything...

While I don't think it was a problem with my ubuntu since it worked fine in the other laptop, i don't believe it is a hardware issue either since the windows vista drive that i put into the non-working laptop played the logon sound...

if its not a software problem, and it's not a hardware problem...

there must be a problem with my laptop's sound aether interface. Michelson-Morely couldn't even fix it.

[lightweight]

try this with some music player going:

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alsamixer

Hit the right arrow until you hit PCM. Press 9. Use the right arrow until you hit speaker. Does Item top right say off? If so, press m (to unmute) then hit esc to get out.

[aliencam]

no none of them say "off" and just in case i turned them all to 100% (even mic boost and all of those) they all say 00 at the bottom instead of MM.

i wonder if i can call lenovo support about this? even though vista sound worked when i put the other drive in it, ubuntu live cd sound no longer works (it did previously)... so it probably is a hardware issue of some sort...

[aliencam]

I was able to boot into a live CD (with much difficulty for some reason... but thats for another forum topic probably) with the hard drive removed, and i still get the same error.

here are all the errors i got trying it on most of the possible combinations:

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ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ gnome-sound-properties

** (gnome-sound-properties:8901): CRITICAL **: Your OSS device could not be probed correctly
sound-properties-Message: Error running pipeline 'audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512 ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink': Internal data flow error. [gstbasesrc.c(1816): gst_base_src_loop (): /pipeline0/audiotestsrc0:
streaming task paused, reason not-linked (-1)]

** (gnome-sound-properties:8901): CRITICAL **: Your OSS device could not be probed correctly
sound-properties-Message: Error running pipeline 'audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512 ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink': Internal data flow error. [gstbasesrc.c(1816): gst_base_src_loop (): /pipeline1/audiotestsrc1:
streaming task paused, reason not-linked (-1)]
sound-properties-Message: Error running pipeline 'audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512 ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink': Could not open resource for writing. [gstalsasink.c(626): gst_alsasink_open (): /bin2/halaudiosink0/bin3/alsasink2:
Playback open error on device 'default:0': Invalid argument]
sound-properties-Message: Error running pipeline 'audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512 ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink': Could not open resource for writing. [gstalsasink.c(626): gst_alsasink_open (): /bin4/halaudiosink1/bin5/alsasink3:
Playback open error on device 'default:0': Invalid argument]
sound-properties-Message: Error running pipeline 'audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512 ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink': Could not open resource for writing. [gstalsasink.c(626): gst_alsasink_open (): /bin6/alsasink4:
Playback open error on device 'default': Invalid argument]
sound-properties-Message: Error running pipeline 'audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512 ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink': Could not establish connection to sound server [esdsink.c(263): gst_esdsink_open (): /bin7/esdsink2:
can't open connection to esound server]

** (gnome-sound-properties:8901): CRITICAL **: Your OSS device could not be probed correctly
sound-properties-Message: Error running pipeline 'audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512 ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink': Internal data flow error. [gstbasesrc.c(1816): gst_base_src_loop (): /pipeline6/audiotestsrc6:
streaming task paused, reason not-linked (-1)]

[lightweight]

It looks like a broken symlink or something. That's not good. I may be wrong, but it appears most of these errors are related to sound capture. I do not use gstreamer (gst) nor Gnome, but poked around my apt-cache. I'd try apt-get installing gstreamer-tools and gstreamer0.10-esd to see if it can resolve these broken links and .c's.

You see your sound modules loaded in an lsmod |grep sound?

I would try to isolate by mixer:

1) apt-get install audacious. This is a good player anyway.
2) Download this song. (free and in the public domain.) Follow the links to actually download the mp3 -- do not stream it as we want to avoid any browser plugin dependencies first.

http://publicdomain4u.com/html/leadbelly.htm

3) Open audacious. Enter preferences. Go to Audio -> Current Output Plugin. Choose ALSA. Save.

4) Press L. Browse to your mp3. Play it. Turn the volume silder all the way up.

5) Sounds? Try with headphones from the jack too.

6) If failure, repeat steps 3-5 replacing ALSA with OSS, then ESD if still no dice.

Hope this gets closer.

[aliencam]

I called Lenovo support and the first guy didn't know how to fix my problem, but he was the most knowledgeable person i've ever spoken to regarding tech support. he knew just about as much about linux as I do, and actually just talked to me about which distro I was using and how I got things set up... I then found the solution to my problem, and called back in order to tell lenovo in case they ever get a similar call. the person I talked to during my second call was equally knowledgeable and while he did not know the solution immediately, when I told him the solution he knew why that was.

apparently the thinkpad models with this sound card/modem configuration (x60 and x61 and x61 tablets and some others) require that the modem be enabled in BIOS for sound to work. otherwise the intel drivers in linux right now cannot access it. this is because they share a bus.

so just enable the modem in BIOS and it fixed it for me.


thanks for your help everyone.


(oh and BTW, choosing "reset defaults" in bios does NOT enable the modem... you have to go to security> I/O> modem> enable

[lightweight]

Awesome find.

I wanted to see if this problem exists in the git kernel tree strictly for curiosity -- many Intel drivers have been added -- but cannot seem to be able to disable the modem in the BIOS. Is it under Networking on your x61t? Does disabling serial do it? Thanks.