No sound on FreeBSD 11.2 with Xfce4, Dell Optiplex 455, Intel chipset

A

Alien72

Hi Esteemed Experts,
Can you assist with this “no audio” issue? I love this OS and have been at it for a few days. Success everywhere but no audio. I read the handbook and searched online for driver solutions and modified a few files but can’t get sound on Firefox or VLC. Video is just fine. Xfce seems to have no way to deal with sound setting. Trying to package install pulse audio didn’t work as the repository no longer seems to contain it( wrong version, maybe?). Although familiar with CLI since the 60s, I am new to this. Help would be most appreciated…behold some germane terminal output:

OUTPUT FROM /etc/rc.conf
---------------------
hostname="Alien"
ifconfig_em0="DHCP"
# Set dumpdev to "AUTO" to enable crash dumps, "NO" to disable
dumpdev="AUTO"
zfs_enable="YES"
dbus_enable="YES"
hald_enable="YES"
slim_enable="YES"
snd_hda_load="YES"

OUTPUT FROM /boot/loader.conf
---------------------------
kern.geom.label.disk_ident.enable="0"
kern.geom.label.gptid.enable="0"
zfs_load="YES"
sound_load="YES"
snd_hda_load="YES"

OUTPUT FROM dmesg | grep pcm
---------------------------
Installed devices:
pcm0: <Analog Devices AD1984 (Analog)> (play/rec) default
pcm1: <Analog Devices AD1984 (Analog)> (play/rec)
No devices installed from userspace.

OUTPUT FROM cat /dev/sndstat
---------------------------
pcm0: <Analog Devices AD1984 (Analog)> at nid 18 and 20 on hdaa0
pcm1: <Analog Devices AD1984 (Analog)> at nid 17 and 21 on hdaa0

OTHER INFO:
cat /dev/random > /dev/dsp1 produces horrendously loud static
in the headphones.
running live CD with Linux Mint 19 produces normal sound with total control
as did Lubuntu 14 so the onboard Intel hardware works fine just not on FreeBSD.

Hardware Platform is: Dell Optiplex 755 Desktop with INTEL Pentium 64 bit
2 Gigs RAM, 150 G Harddrive. It won’t boot from USB port but once the bootup is complete, the USB ports operate normally on FreeBSD and Linux. Motherboard is original from 2007. There is no sound card in the PCI slot so I presume it’s integrated on the Intel motherboard.
Software installed is: FreeBSD v11.2 with Xfce4. I have Firefox v62 and VLC also installed. The harddrive is totally dedicated to FreeBSD.

There has to be a way, right?
 
Just an update. I found and installed two pulse audio packages. They appear normal on the Xfce panel. They report "no card to configure." Volume knob twisting does nothing. However, redirecting command output into dev/dsp0 or dsp1 generates loud white noise. Examples; cat /dev/random>/dev/dsp0 or cat .profile> /dev/dsp1. Pulse audio seems to have no advice on installing a driver.
 
Hi Alien...
I'm new to FreeBSD too, but not in UNIX like sysop, I've been using Linux for over 20 years.
I understand that OSS is working well in your system because of your comments. You can configure firefox to use OSS by following the notes that appear after installation with pkg:

To select non-default audio backend open about:config page and create
media.cubeb.backend preference. Supported values are: alsa, jack,
pulse, pulse-rust, oss, sndio. Currently used backend can be inspected
on about:support page.

Add the media.cubeb.backend type string with the value oss.

I am using KDE5 and it handles well the volume, and I kept OSS as a sound system.

I hope I can help you with this comment.
(sorry about my bad english)

Regards.
 
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