No Sound or Microphone on Skype [SOLVED]

[dj_bridges]

Have got a new laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad T420). The soundcard works perfectly fine when I installed PCLOS, but can't get any sound to work with Skype (tried every option listed in the preferences box). I have tried both versions of Skype, but neither can solve the problem (sticking with the static version for the time being). Happy to provide any other details you may need.... Fingers crossed this is easy to fix!

[Bald Brick]

Do you have PulseAudio installed and activated?

[JALU]

I've had better success with Skype by uninstalling PulseAudio!  Problems with builtin mics in new laptops are usually resolved when the kernel upgrade catches up with the chipset technology.
Cages

[Bald Brick]

My question was not a recommendation. I just felt that one can't even start to think about troubleshooting the problem before one knows how sound is handled on dj_bridges's system.

[dj_bridges]

Sorry for the delayed response, and thanks for the suggestions.

I have now installed pulseaudio. Not sure if I have to do anything to activate it. In PCC it says that I am using 'Your card currently use the ALSA "snd_hda_intel" driver (default driver for your card is "snd_hda_intel")'
The option to enable PulseAudio is also ticked.

What other details would help resolve this? open to trying anything....

[Just17]

Install from the repository  pavucontrol  ....  the PulseAudio Volume Controller ......  a misnamed controller IMO .....  which will give you a graphic indication of Skype and what sound devices it is using.

It will also give you GUI access to manage the sound devices in the PC ......  such as disabling some devices if you wish ......  or determining if some devices should be Duplex or not ...  and so on.

There are quite a lot of controls available and it can take a little while to familiarise yourself with them.

Initially I suggest, on the Configuration tab of PA Vol Control, you should disable any sound devices you do not intend to use for Skype (they can easily be enabled again when required).

Check the Input Devices tab for the presence of the MIC and ensure its slider is not set to Silence or is not Muted (speaker icon).

Give those a try and let us know what you have.
If you have problems then some pics of those tabs would be useful for problem solving.

[dj_bridges]

Thanks Just18 - installed pavucontrol and ran it, but got the following error message:

Connection failed: Connection refused

Any ideas?

[JALU]

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,105407.msg900475.html#msg900475

[Just17]

Thanks Just18 - installed pavucontrol and ran it, but got the following error message:

Connection failed: Connection refused

Any ideas?

This might help

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,105480.0.html


Also some times the PA system is not initially started correctly so a reboot might help ......  or disabling PA in PCC, immediate reboot, enable in PCC and an immediate reboot can kick it into life.

[dj_bridges]

Tried a load of the things suggested, but none worked. So was looking in Synaptic and saw a meta-package for pulseaudio. Selected it to pull in all the dependencies and the sound now works in Skype (strangely though pavucontrol still shows the same error)....

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

[Just17]

Tried a load of the things suggested, but none worked. So was looking in Synaptic and saw a meta-package for pulseaudio. Selected it to pull in all the dependencies and the sound now works in Skype (strangely though pavucontrol still shows the same error)....

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

Glad to hear you have sound in Skype now .....  but it appears that PulseAudio is still not working, so you will not have the benefit of the controls it provides unfortunately.

[david1958]

but it appears that PulseAudio is still not working, so you will not have the benefit of the controls it provides unfortunately.

Just17, I was searching and found this post on skype sound. I too do not have sound on skype. Is that because pulse audio is uninstalled as we disgussed the other day. I can use skype with or without sound. I just text friends across the world.

[Just17]

but it appears that PulseAudio is still not working, so you will not have the benefit of the controls it provides unfortunately.

Just17, I was searching and found this post on skype sound. I too do not have sound on skype. Is that because pulse audio is uninstalled as we disgussed the other day. I can use skype with or without sound. I just text friends across the world.

No, you do not need PulseAudio to have sound working.
PulseAudio is most useful when you have multiple sound devices and need to control to and from which devices sound streams are connected.

Have you tried the various options in Skype set up for the sound settings?

[david1958]

Have you tried the various options in Skype set up for the sound settings?

I tried to change the options the other day when we was working on my sound. I just went back in and changed the sound to "default driver" and it works just fine now. but believe me I tried them all the other day but it works now. tks
david

[Just17]

good 

Things weren't working the last time you tried