No alsamixer, no headphones but speakers work

[Raimy]

Sorry guys, I know there are a million sound threads here but after having gone through most of them I still am having a problem.

I did a new install of PCLOS 2012.12 (fully updated) on a new alienware laptop. I get sound through the speakers but no headphones. There isn't even a volume control showing in Kmix. In a previous thread someone suggested opening a terminal and typing "alsamixer". I did that and got an error message - "cannot load mixer controls: Invalid argument". Per some other threads I installed Pulse Audio but still no luck. Starting the Pulse Audio volume control gives me the connection failed: connection refused message. Although the standard intel driver is used, Kmix shows (in the title bar) Intel PantherPoint HDMI if that means anything.

I've pretty much gone loopy trying to figure this out and hope there is some help out there.

[menotu]

some other threads I installed Pulse Audio

Just a thought - have you checked in

PCC (Configure Your Computer) > Hardware >> Sound Configuration

to check that PulseAudio is enabled; plus have you rebooted after installing PulseAudio ?

[Just17]

IIRC, on the later kernels, plugging in a headset in my PC invokes an 'auto-sense' which switches the sound from speakers to headset.

connection failed: connection refused

PA is not functioning.

Maybe this would help after ensuring it is enabled and the PC rebooted first

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,105480.msg922606.html#msg922606

[Raimy]

New issue...I uninstalled Pulse Audio and now have no sound. Will reinstall.

some other threads I installed Pulse Audio

Just a thought - have you checked in

PCC (Configure Your Computer) > Hardware >> Sound Configuration

to check that PulseAudio is enabled; plus have you rebooted after installing PulseAudio ?

Yes, after installing PA I went to Sound Configuration and enabled it then immediately rebooted. Went back into Sound Config to make sure it was still checked which it was.

IIRC, on the later kernels, plugging in a headset in my PC invokes an 'auto-sense' which switches the sound from speakers to headset.

connection failed: connection refused

PA is not functioning.

Maybe this would help after ensuring it is enabled and the PC rebooted first

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,105480.msg922606.html#msg922606

Just plugging in headphones always worked for me too...it's just with this new laptop and new install.

Went to the link you provided and tried pulseaudio --use-pid-file=false and got "Daemon startup without any loaded modules, refusing to work."

Replacing the /etc/pulse/default.pa file and the other was set correctly got PA working but I still have NO sound whatsoever anymore.

[Just17]

Play a sound file and in PA Vol Control - Playback tab make sure the sound output is going to the speakers and not to the HDMI.

***

The only other adjustment for some set ups I have had to use is this one

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,108896.msg930853.html#msg930853

Be sure you select the correct content whether PA is enabled or not.

It likely requires a minimum of log out and in again, if not a reboot.

***

If your hardware is very new you might do better with the testing kernel 3.4.11 ....  from the testing section of the repository.

[Raimy]

Okay, I had a huge hissy fit and reinstalled and still have no sound. Typing alsamixer in a terminal gives me the "cannot load mixer controls: Invalid argument".

Windows was always the troublemaker, PCLOS always worked out of the box. I am totally lost right now.

[TNTman]

Similar problems here.
Lost sound after this mornings (5th January) Synaptic update (on pass) this contained several Pulse Audio files.
Finally used task-pulseaudio-remove, reboot then re-install using task-pulseaudio.
This gave error message :-
task-pulseaudio: Could not mark all packages for install or upgrade.
 Depends: pulseaudio-module-x11 (>= 3.0)
 Depends: pulseaudio-module-zeroconf (>= 3.0)
 Depends: pulseaudio-utils (>= 3.0)

TNT

[Just17]

Similar problems here.
Lost sound after this mornings (5th January) Synaptic update (on pass) this contained several Pulse Audio files.
Finally used task-pulseaudio-remove, reboot then re-install using task-pulseaudio.
This gave error message :-
task-pulseaudio: Could not mark all packages for install or upgrade.
 Depends: pulseaudio-module-x11 (>= 3.0)
 Depends: pulseaudio-module-zeroconf (>= 3.0)
 Depends: pulseaudio-utils (>= 3.0)

TNT

Those packages are still in the testing section I believe .....  so to get them you could enable a different mirror and add'testing' to the sections.

Also be aware that there are changes taking place presently with the mirrors, so you might be better advised to hold off for a couple of days ...