No Suitable Mixer Element found

[cirrus_minor]

Occasionally after booting up i get the "No Suitable Mixer Element found" window , where the audio output goes to my usb headset, a cold boot normally rights it and gives output back to the onboard, anything i can do to rectify this? i am new to linux so im afraid i gonna need laymans terms.
                regards
                cirrus

[TerryN]

Not much to go on here 

If I had to guess, I would say in was a possible card ordering problem.  To force the drivers to load in the correct order, find the name of the sound drivers and add the following to /etc/modprobe.d/snd-options:

options snd slots=snd-xxxxxx,snd-yyyyyy

where snd-xxxxxx is the driver for the on-board and snd-yyyyyy is the driver for the usb

Terry

[menotu]

In addition to Terry's post - when and where does the message appear?

[cirrus_minor]

thanks guys , i get the message right after boot on desktop just after  desktop appears , thanks
here is the contents of said file
options bt87x index=-2
options cx88_alsa index=-2
options saa7134-alsa index=-2
options snd-atiixp-modem index=-2
options snd-intel8x0m index=-2
options snd-via82xx-modem index=-2
options snd-usb-audio index=-2
options snd-usb-caiaq index=-2
options snd-usb-ua101 index=-2
options snd-usb-us122l index=-2
options snd-usb-usx2y index=-2
options snd-cmipci mpu_port=0x330 fm_port=0x388
options snd-pcsp index=-2
options snd-usb-audio index=-2

my onboard is intel  so do i move that to top ?  and should i delete thr first two entries as i dont use tv cap card?  only onboard for everything , and usb headset for audacios & VOIP , cheers

[TerryN]

my onboard is intel  so do i move that to top ?

No, I'm not talking about the order things appear in that file, I mean the order that the sound devices are detected on bootup (which is the only thing I can think of that might be different between reboots)

Find out what kernel module is driving your on-board sound by using lspci -v.  

Mine says:

Code: [Select]

00:10.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP51 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
        <snip>
        Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

So in MY case I would add:

Code: [Select]

options snd slots=snd-hda-intel,snd-usb-audio

This forces the on-board to ALWAYS be "Card 0" and the USB to ALWAYS be "Card 1" regardless of what order the system detects them on boot.

Aside:
I could also use

Code: [Select]

options snd-hda-intel index=0
options snd-usb-audio index=1

to achieve the same thing (the "older" way of doing it).

[cirrus_minor]

thank you , i ran the lspci -v command and module was snd-intel8x0
 following terrys advice i have added
options snd-hda-intel8x0 index=0
options snd-usb-audio index=1
i shall see how it goes , so far so good, thanks for all ur help.

[cirrus_minor]

[UPDATE]
                       It transpires that the "no suitable mixer element found" error returns sporadically , and the only fix is a cold boot, Im thinking that maybe the fact i have the USB headset plugged in 24/7 could be a factor , however its not practical to remove them at each boot as they are in a rear USB port, Im also toying with the idea of trying pulse audio to see if that rectifies matters, i shall keep u guys posted as im sure this error will happen to another PCLinuxOS user in the future and hopefully i can find a soloution,  the PC is a stock Dell Optiplex Gx620 with a dedicated GPU.  As ive stated above this is only a minor issue and a cold boot rectifys it  so its by no means a "must" fix.
                                         We Are The People
                                              cirrus

[cirrus_minor]

since enabaling pulse audio i havent experienced this for last 3 or 4 days

[cirrus_minor]

arrghh   instaled a  soundcard and  error has returned , i modded the ^ file to load soundcard then usb like "options snd slots=snd-EMU10k1,snd-usb-audio"  , i can live with it, but sometimes it takes 3 or 4 cold boots to get the audio outputting to the soundcard  ill persevere tho , we have a saying here in the west of Scotland (and Northern Ireland) "No Surrender"
..  we are the people!!

not seen it for a few days now since adding options snd slots=snd-hdaEMU1o1k,snd-usb-audio to the script