HDMI Audio on NVIDIA GPUs - can we get this to work?

[Elvis]

Still no sound and when I do playback only, the input and output goes gray and switches to default mode.
"Is the HDMI port supposed to support audio capture?" Good question, How can I find that out, no manual, should I call the manufacturer, I could try that. I'll start first by looking on the internet to see if I can find the answer to that.

(This is current)
~$ aplay -l      
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC889 Analog [ALC889 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: ALC889 Digital [ALC889 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
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

When I did this in "gedit"  .asoundrc, I just did a save when I got done, did it save it in the right spot? I have no idea of where it saved it too.
:~$  gedit  .asoundrc
pcm.!default {
type hw
card 1
device 7
}
ctl.!default {
type hw
card 1
device 7
}

[Elvis]

It looks like this has scared off a whole lotta' people.
Have we gone where no Linux user has gone before?
Have we travel into Linux's dark abyss, with no light in sight?
With people like yourselves belonging to a vast / wide Linux
community, Linux will prevail. Strengths are in Numbers.
Am I allowed to ramble on?, Well I guess I'm just scared of
the unknown.

[trulan]

Well AVLinux is just a very small corner of the great Linux world (it's a quite nice corner, IMO, but still a very small one)...

Your .asoundrc should go in your home folder.  The dot at the beginning makes it a hidden file, so if you navigate into your home directory with the file manager, you'll need to hit Ctrl+h to see it.

Also, .asoundrc does not affect your Jack settings, it only affects the output from non-Jack applications.

More later, I gotta run...

[Elvis]

I see it, Thank you for that.

Little by little, some progress is made, some don't show up immediately, but it seems to be moving in the right direction, it might be slow at times, but it is constructive. Thank you, your a diehard.

[trulan]

OK, now we're ready to return to the speaker-test commands I posted earlier.  Try these commands, one at a time, in a terminal.  After about ten seconds, if there is no sound, hit Ctrl+c and try the next one.  If one of them produces white noise in your speakers, make note of which one it is; those are the numbers we need to use for your .asoundrc and for jack.

Code:

speaker-test -c 2 -r 48000 -D hw:1,3
speaker-test -c 2 -r 48000 -D hw:1,7
speaker-test -c 2 -r 48000 -D hw:1,8
speaker-test -c 2 -r 48000 -D hw:1,9

Note:  These should be run without jack running.

[Elvis]

Ran thru each one, one at a time pressing "ctrl c" between each test, still no sound.
~$ speaker-test -c 2 -r 48000 -D hw:1,7

speaker-test 1.0.24.2

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 2048 to 8192
Period size range from 1024 to 1024
Using max buffer size 8192
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 1024
was set buffer_size = 8192
Plug PCM: Linear conversion PCM (S32_LE)
Its setup is:
  stream       : PLAYBACK
  access       : RW_INTERLEAVED
  format       : S16_LE
  subformat    : STD
  channels     : 2
  rate         : 48000
  exact rate   : 48000 (48000/1)
  msbits       : 16
  buffer_size  : 8192
  period_size  : 1024
  period_time  : 21333
  tstamp_mode  : NONE
  period_step  : 1
  avail_min    : 1024
  period_event : 0
  start_threshold  : 8192
  stop_threshold   : 8192
  silence_threshold: 0
  silence_size : 0
  boundary     : 1073741824
Slave: Soft volume PCM
Control: PCM Playback Volume
min_dB: -51
max_dB: 0
resolution: 256
Its setup is:
  stream       : PLAYBACK
  access       : MMAP_INTERLEAVED
  format       : S32_LE
  subformat    : STD
  channels     : 2
  rate         : 48000
  exact rate   : 48000 (48000/1)
  msbits       : 32
  buffer_size  : 8192
  period_size  : 1024
  period_time  : 21333
  tstamp_mode  : NONE
  period_step  : 1
  avail_min    : 1024
  period_event : 0
  start_threshold  : 8192
  stop_threshold   : 8192
  silence_threshold: 0
  silence_size : 0
  boundary     : 1073741824
Slave: Direct Stream Mixing PCM
Its setup is:
  stream       : PLAYBACK
  access       : MMAP_INTERLEAVED
  format       : S32_LE
  subformat    : STD
  channels     : 2
  rate         : 48000
  exact rate   : 48000 (48000/1)
  msbits       : 32
  buffer_size  : 8192
  period_size  : 1024
  period_time  : 21333
  tstamp_mode  : NONE
  period_step  : 1
  avail_min    : 1024
  period_event : 0
  start_threshold  : 8192
  stop_threshold   : 8192
  silence_threshold: 0
  silence_size : 0
  boundary     : 1073741824
Hardware PCM card 0 'HDA Intel PCH' device 0 subdevice 0
Its setup is:
  stream       : PLAYBACK
  access       : MMAP_INTERLEAVED
  format       : S32_LE
  subformat    : STD
  channels     : 2
  rate         : 48000
  exact rate   : 48000 (48000/1)
  msbits       : 32
  buffer_size  : 8192
  period_size  : 1024
  period_time  : 21333
  tstamp_mode  : ENABLE
  period_step  : 1
  avail_min    : 1024
  period_event : 0
  start_threshold  : 1
  stop_threshold   : 1073741824
  silence_threshold: 0
  silence_size : 1073741824
  boundary     : 1073741824
  appl_ptr     : 0
  hw_ptr       : 0
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.824579
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975538
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975542
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975538
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975543
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975541
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975540
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975546
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975538
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975539
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975537
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975539
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975536
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975543
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975541
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975541
 0 - Front Left
 1 - Front Right
Time per period = 5.975534
 0 - Front Left
^C

[trulan]

Hmmm, for whatever reason, speaker-test is not even trying to run on HDMI, it's on 'HDA Intel PCH' which is your onboard sound card....

I've been looking at the 'troubleshooting' section of the NVidia HDMI audio guide,
http://http.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/gpu-hdmi-audio-document/gpu-hdmi-audio.html#_verify_your_card_exists
and I'd like if you could post a few more things:  (commands are copied from the guide)

1. First, let's make sure you're on the 3.2 kernel:

Code:

uname -r

2. Next, make sure the HDMI sound card is still being recognized:

Code:

cat /proc/asound/cards

3. Next, make sure your codec is known/supported:

Code:

ls -F /proc/asound/card1

(This is assuming HDA NVidia is still at card1; if it's at card0 now, use that instead)

4. Finally, post the information about each codec# listed in step 3:

Code:

cat /proc/asound/card1/codec#0

Code:

cat /proc/asound/card1/codec#1

...etc.  These outputs will be long, you'll probably want to put them into pastebin and post links to them here.

[Elvis]

Truly and absolutely amazing what you can do with Linux (the coding)
I posted on pastebin "HDMI SOUND"
http://pastebin.com/pempg4Pt

[trulan]

Wow, I'm about stumped here, everything looks like it should be working now, yet it seems that alsamixer cannot find the HDA NVidia card (that's your HDMI audio) and speaker-test doesn't even try to play anything on it.

Only question I can think of to ask is - do you have a screen plugged into the HDMI port, or just the Pioneer?  It's not clear to me from the guide, but Linux/ALSA may rely on the monitor's EDID to provide soundcard info to the system, and this may not work if there is no video output on the HDMI port.  I'm only guessing here though...  But if you have a TV with an HDMI port that you could hook up and test if you can get sound on that, that might be a worthwhile test.

[soppel]

Just my two cents.
Is it not a good idea to disable the onboard sound card in the BIOS?  ( or is it in use with the windows part )


I know Ubuntu has also sometimes problems 'just because' of two soundcards.
( or an on-board modem)


Elvis: don't change it immediately, wait what Trulan says. 

[Elvis]

Thanks for stopping by "soppel"
The computer's HDMI from the video card plugs into the Pioneer"s HDMI (IN), then from the Pioneer's (OUT) is plugged into the monitor.
When I would go to the terminal and type "alsamixer" it could see the HDMI and now when I type "alsamixer" it can't find it, something has changed, I'm going to boot into the older one and see if I can bring up the mixer.
On the Motherborad, I have not tured off thee on board sound card, I'll have to look in to how thats done. I do not use it.

Someone sent this in:

"You also have an onboard intel hdmi port on your motherboard, which also supports sound via hdmi. Try and disable it in the BIOS. Then try using the command "alsamixer" from the command line and make sure all of your hdmi channels are unmuted (ALSA mutes all channels by default usually, don't ask me why). Use mplayer, vlc, or some other media player that lets you manually select a sound card other than the one ALSA defaults to in order to test out the various outputs you have. Almost always with Nvidia cards, the right one will be device 7, so it will say something like "HDA Nvidia 0,7" or if you haven't yet disabled the intel card, it will be "HDA Nvidia 1,7"."

How do I get "Alsa" working again? still No "alsamixer" working on 3.0 or 3.2, I have not tried this command for some time, so I do not know when it stopped working.

I'll try anything, so I went a head and turned off the on board sound (simple), now my card is "0" it has no other sound to look at but the NVidia. Still No Alsamixer.
Windows sound still works, nothing changed on the windows side of things.

Trulan I can change things back, its simple.

What is PCM? Alsa can't open it anyway because I don't think Alsa is working.
ALSA: Cannot open PCM device alsa_pcm for capture. Falling back to playback-only mode
configuring for 48000Hz, period = 1024 frames (21.3 ms), buffer = 2 periods

[Elvis]

Turlan:
Its all Greek to me, but I'm trying to read and learn something.It looks like a good article.

http://www.volkerschatz.com/noise/alsa.html

He wrote a test program that also is Greek, its about midway down under alsacap click on where you see the word here to download it, I don't know how to run it, but I'm sure you can, I don't know if this is helpful or not, but it looked impressive.

Maybe Linux can't separate audio and video on a HDMI (One Line cable)?

[soppel]

Under AVlinux 5,02 I had it sometimes: no alsamixer!
In the beginning was a simple reboot the thing, but after a while I had sometimes to reboot 3 or 4 times that alsamixer started again.
But I used a hard way to kill the HDMI soundcard, I thought it had to do with that 'trick'
Now I have no problems, but do not kill the HDMI card. I just change it in alsamixer to the right one. 
I just report it, because it could be a help for another who tries to help you.

PCM is one of the volumesliders in alsa-mixer. If Alsamixer starts you will find it.

Other question.
When the on-board card is enabled, do you have sound with that one?
( now you don't because alsa does not start)

Maybe you can reinstall Alsamixer in synaptic.

I will read this article you send, when I am fresh.... now it is to difficult.

[Elvis]

Do I need to reinstall alsa or the mixer? I don't think alsa is working, and if I do have to reinstall, the question would be, how do you reinstall? Synaptic Package Manager lets you delete or install, not reinstall. I would hate to have to reinstall av-linux all over again.

[Elvis]

   I don't know what happen, I don't know if this had anything to do with it, but I went and clicked on the "tube" then clicked on "Sound Utilities" then clicked on the program called "GNOME ALSA Mixer" and down at the bottom I saw 4 unmarked check boxes IE958?, so I checked each one of them. So I went about checking out other programs, so I went back to the "Terminal" and ran "speaker-test -c 2 -r 48000 -D hw:0,7" I do this from time to time, even though I know its not going to work.    Except for this time I heard noise, first from the left, then from the right. But not from "youtube" I am dumb founded. I am not going to do anything else til you tell me, you might want to run some checks. So I just keep playing  "speaker-test -c 2 -r 48000 -D hw:0,7" all the time
If I run "Jack" then I can hear "youtube". Still can't see my "CD Drive" to Play any music. I wounder if I could have kept my on board sound?

[soppel]

So......at least there is sound! That is a good step. But step by step..

About reïnstalling Alsamixer. You are right. It seems that some programs can't be reinstalled. ( the option is grey)
Further: I meant reinstall only the alsamixer. I am confused here, I can't find it in my own synaptic. I guess it is a part of the alsa-utils. But it is not a good idea to reinstall those, because you HAVE sound.
So just forget this part.

Okay, you have used gnome-alsa-mixer and this works. So alsa and alsamixer works. gnome-alsa-mixer is more or less just a graphical shell for alsamixer. ( I like the terminal version more but it is personal)

Normally you should open (gnome)alsa-mixer AND Jack. In Jack you have to connect the left side ( the source were sound is comming from ) to the right side.
Some sound programs work withouth jack but others don't- If you open jack and have it running ( look at the messages) you open the connect part. If a program needs jack it appears at the left. If it not connect, or not connect well, you have to do it yourself.  Sometimes I have to connect system left, to system right to hear sound.


Do you have 1 CD or DVD drive in the computer? no? try the other one.
As I see it, is your problem with sound solved, the problem you have now is the driver for the cd-player.

Can you play en MP3 from the harddisk?
However I don't think the on-board sound card will help the drivers for your cd-player!

PS...maybe it is a good idea to make an ISO from the system as you have it know. If you ruin it after now, you can put it back in 15minutes and you'r running again!!!
you don't have to hassle again with all the steps you made last days!

[trulan]

Sound!! Hey, I like the 'sound' of that!  It would seem that checking those four boxes in gnome-alsamixer was the missing piece.

No problem with disabling the Intel soundcard, if it's working now I'd say let it off.  And as far as using gnome-alsamixer, again if it is working use that.

So as I understand it, you have sound working with speaker-test and with Jack playback, but not on regular alsa apps.  But I believe you still have .asoundrc pointing to card 1, and now that your NVidia card is card 0 you need to change that:

Code:

pcm.!default {
type hw
card 0
device 7
}
ctl.!default {
type hw
card 0
device 7
}

...that should get sound working in youtube and other non-jack apps.

If you do choose to enable your Intel soundcard again, you'll need to change all your sound card numbers (speaker-test, .asoundrc, and Jack) to use card 1.  If the Intel card is disabled, point everything to card 0.

[Elvis]

Soppel-sorry but I don't know what "ISO" or what to do? Still working out all the bugs (fine tuning stag)
I'm getting sound out of the front Left, Right and Center, but not the back (surround) speakers.
Thru Windows, Great movie surround sounds, but for recording, the speakers, well I have a pro ear and the speakers will be different once I get my sound working.

Trulan-Ok, I'm getting sound from the Sound Tester, from YouTube (so far I only need Jack for YouTube) and from the desktop, from a program called "Xine" I doubled clicked on one of my unprocessed .wav files. But not from VLC media player, can't play my CD/DVD/BluRay player, I change it over to CD and press play, the CD blinks a few times and then I get:

Potential ALSA version problem:
VLC failed to initialize your sound output device (if any).
Please update alsa-lib to version 1.0.23-2-g8d80d5f or higher to try to fix this issue.

With AvLinux I'm sure I have the newer version? When I go to the Synaptic Package Manager I see "alsa-base 1.0.23+dfsg-4" I don't see a "alsa-lib" May be "VLC" does not work on AvLinux?

PS. I got "Clementine" and "Hydrogen" to work, so it must see the CD player, how come its not in "File Manager"?

[soppel]

About ISO:
I meant to make a back-up of your system. You have used the DVD from AVlinux, that is an ISO.
If you go under preferences there is the great tool: remaster sys back up.
This makes an back up from your system at your hard disk. If you burn it at a DVD as an image you have the 'ISO' I meant.
If you ruin your system in the future, you don't take the AVlinux dvd, but your own. You start than at the point were you made this one.

I do not use the center and back speakers. I just use plain vanilla stereo. ( as music should be in my opinion  )

[Elvis]

Thanks great idea. I'll use that idea and make backups as I go along.

[Elvis]

I'm still learning (like a sponge) I try and read and find things on the web to help me learn more about Linux. I document all the posts that you have written codes for, I put them on a spreadsheet.
Don't want you to think that I went off in another direction. I just ran across a site that I thought you would find interesting.
They to have issues with HDMI
http://xbmc.org/skins/

[Elvis]

A Big Thanks to all that has contributed and to "Trulan" who has contributed so much of his time, I'm not just talking about time on the forum, But I'm sure he spent a good deal of it testing and writing code on his off time. Well I can keep on going, but I think you know how I feel. Thanks Again.
**Oh, Trulan if you need me to run any more tests, I'll Keep Checking Back.

I think I should start playing around and see what works or not, or if I run into any more problems. I'm Not Signing Off.
I still have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 w/firewire to chk out yet and Alesis HD24 recorder for live performances.
If I put a CD in the drive I still can't see it?

**Should I start a new Post on how to install my HP Officejet pro 8600 plus? I went to the Synaptic Package Manager and installed the hplip package, but when I go to HPLIP Toolbox it can't see my network printer@my ip address.
and they do not have up to date drivers.