Audio issues

K

KenGordon

I am having some issues with my audio system for which I have not been able to come up with a solution despite spending a lot of time trying various things to address it. So, I'll describe the issues and what I have tried in hopes that someone here may be able to, at least, point me towards a solution.

My system is a home-built (by me) Intel box with 16 GB of ram, three HDDs, a damaged Win10 system on one HDD (which I do not intend to repair), a FreeBSD 14.4 RELEASE-p9 system (which is my "daily driver" on a separate HDD, a 6TB drive (which, for the present, I am not using except for some storage, but which is formatted ZFS.

I am keeping my system updated by using an auto-update app, which may be at least part of my problem with audio and scanning.

I am using the Lumina desktop, and have various apps installed. If anyone here thinks it may be important, I will list those on request, but there is really nothing out of the ordinary installed.

So, concerning the audio issue:

On boot up, and then starting the desktop, as the desktop is loading, there is a momentary series of musical tones which is loud enough to hear clearly. However, once the entire system is up and running, audio from any source is too weak to hear even with powered speakers set at full volume.

To begin to correct this issue, I open xterm , then su - and input mixer pcm=1. This raises the volume enough to weakly hear audio. Then I must input sysctl hw.snd.vpc_0db=1, and finally I have audio output at what I would consider normal levels.

In an attempt to NOT have to input all this stuff each time I reboot the system, I edit /etc/sysctl.conf to include sysctl hw.snd.vpc_0db=1. However, this does nothing usefull. I suspect this is a result of the system not being fully active yet, and that command cannot be activated until after the system is fully up.

But even more annoying is that unless I have, say, music being played constantly (I often use the music available at http://www.sundaybaroque.org/listen/), after a period of NOT using the sound system, the levels revert back to the same weak level I get when I first modify the mixer settings, and in order to get my audio volume level back to the final setting above, I must reboot the system and input all the above settings again.

I am having a somewhat similar issue with scanning: I had originally successfully set up scanning with my local HP All-In-One via xsane and all that is required for it, but now THAT no longer works correctly either, which is another reason I suspect the auto-update app is causing at least some of my problems.

Might anyone here have any idea how to fix this issue, other than to get rid fo the auto-update app, which I intend to do asap?

Ken Gordon
 
Not sure about Lumina, but if it has any kind of audio volume control app (or applet), it could record the playback level (initially default) and restore on its startup. If so, trying to set via the app(let) possibly help.
The record could be per-device and/or per-apps playing sounds.
 
Alain De Vos said:
Code: 
cat /dev/sndstat
pavucontrol-qt &
gtk-mixer &
Click to expand...
cat /dev/sndstat

Code: 
Installed devices:
pcm0: <NVIDIA (0x0080) (HDMI/DP 8ch)> (play)
pcm1: <NVIDIA (0x0080) (HDMI/DP 8ch)> (play)
pcm2: <NVIDIA (0x0080) (HDMI/DP 8ch)> (play)
pcm3: <Generic USB Audio> (play/rec) default
pcm4: <Generic USB Audio> (play/rec)
No devices installed from userspace.

pavucontrol-qt &

Code: 
-su: pavucontrol-qt;  not found.

[1]  Done (127)                               pavucontrol-qt

gtk-mixer &

Code: 
-su:  gtk-mixer: not found:

[1]  Done (127)                               gtk-mixer

Ken Gordon
 
It's not clear what soundcard you have installed, however, my advice would be to upgrade your audio hardware. You can get good results even from low-cost USB dac's nowadays, which should give you better sound. I reviewed some of the ones available in this thread https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/has-anyone-tried-a-cx31993-usb-dac-with-freebsd.99163/ . Probably the best bang for the buck is the JCALLY JM20, which can be had for not much money on aliexpress. Even the very cheap CX31993 devices, which only cost a few dollars, should give decent results, almost certainly better than what you have now. I haven't had any of the problems you described, using those types of devices. Hopefully that thread will give you some ideas.
 
Last edited:
It has been a while but your system only shows sound via the HDMI port but given that it is a Intel based system, I'm suprised a dedicated snd_hda chip, feeding audio jacks is not present. Just a guess but is the separate audio hardware disabled in the BIOS?

FreeBSD handbook - Multimedia

Per the handbook
#dmesg | grep pcm should enumerate the available devices. With graphics card audio and a dedicated sound chip, it should look like this:
pcm0: <HDA NVIDIA (Unknown) PCM #0 DisplayPort> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0
pcm1: <HDA NVIDIA (Unknown) PCM #0 DisplayPort> at cad 1 nid 1 on hdac0
pcm2: <HDA NVIDIA (Unknown) PCM #0 DisplayPort> at cad 2 nid 1 on hdac0
pcm3: <HDA NVIDIA (Unknown) PCM #0 DisplayPort> at cad 3 nid 1 on hdac0
hdac1: HDA Codec #2: Realtek ALC889
pcm4: <HDA Realtek ALC889 PCM #0 Analog> at cad 2 nid 1 on hdac1
pcm5: <HDA Realtek ALC889 PCM #1 Analog> at cad 2 nid 1 on hdac1
pcm6: <HDA Realtek ALC889 PCM #2 Digital> at cad 2 nid 1 on hdac1
pcm7: <HDA Realtek ALC889 PCM #3 Digital> at cad 2 nid 1 on hdac1
Click to expand...

This also has a section on setting up a scanner. I'd recommend following the handbook initially and then the forum can address both confusion or failure of the handbook guidelines.
 
There is an Nvidia sound card installed, but the system is using the on-board sound-card as the default. I'll buy a better sound-card and adjust the system to use that. Thanks.

Ken Gordon
 
Actually, there is no sound-card installed in this one: I am using the on-board sound device on this computer. You see, I have built 6 computers in our home for various family members and had forgotten what I had done with this desktop.

So, I ordered an Audigy card from Amazon last night. We'll see how that goes.

Thanks for the advice and help, folks.

Ken Gordon
 
There is an Nvidia sound card installed, but the system is using the on-board sound-card as the default. I'll buy a better sound-card and adjust the system to use that. Thanks.

Ken Gordon
willie said:
shouldn't the .conf be
hw.snd.vpc_0db=1
(without sysctl )
Click to expand...
Yes. Thank you.

I don't know why the above post keeps being repeated: I sure don't intend that to be there. Gee....

Ken Gordon
 
So...I installed my new Audigy card, the system finds it, I still have to adjust the sound levels exactly as I have had to do before, AND......within 5 minutes, the entire system locks up solidly: nothing moves. I have to hit RESET and start all over.

I have removed the new audio card.

Ken Gordon
 
No idea what's wrong. I've tried about 10 different usb soundcards here on my thinkpad X220 running 14.5 release, and they all work fine. System locking up solid... can you ssh in from another box? Sounds like a bus error or similar... hardware fault. Maybe check the system to see if you got a kernel crash dump, or if there are any corefiles. Pretty unusual to hear this. I wonder if the problem is that motherboard. Is the nvidia sound section of the chipset disabled in the bios? I wonder if there is some hardware conflict.

Do you get the same problems with the audigy card if you try it in a different pc, running freebsd?
 
blackbird9 said:
No idea what's wrong. I've tried about 10 different usb soundcards here on my thinkpad X220 running 14.5 release, and they all work fine. System locking up solid... can you ssh in from another box? Sounds like a bus error or similar... hardware fault. Maybe check the system to see if you got a kernel crash dump, or if there are any corefiles. Pretty unusual to hear this. I wonder if the problem is that motherboard. Is the nvidia sound section of the chipset disabled in the bios? I wonder if there is some hardware conflict.

Do you get the same problems with the audigy card if you try it in a different pc, running freebsd?
Click to expand...
I have not tried that yet, but will.

I need to track this down. At this point, I suspect several things are going on at once: for one thing, the HDD that my FreeBSD install is operating from is an OLD 320 GB Seagate. I suspect the HDD's firmware is not totally compatible with my mobo bios.

This HDD was built before UEFI was commonly implemented. I think before I dig into the audio issues, I will have to move the complete working installation over to a more modern HDD.

The mobo is a later model Asus ROG.

I am using ZFS so it MAY be fairly easy to move over to a new HDD....maybe...hopefully...probably not... :-(

I suspect I have a lot more to deal with here than simply audio issues.

I may have to upgrade the box and do a complete reinstall...

Despite everything, I am very pleased with the way FreeBSD is working as my daily-driver.

Ken Gordon
 
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