If you’ve upgraded your Ubuntu system to 13.10 and found that you no longer have any sound, you may have noticed in your sound preferences you now only have an audio device called “Dummy Output“. And you can’t change the device to your actual sound card, as it is no longer there (in KDE’s sound preferences, it will probably be listed as a device, yet will be greyed out, meaning you can’t select it). The problem isn’t your sound card, or needing new drivers for it, but a problem with ALSA – and hopefully will be easily fixed with the info in this article.
First, you need to check that your sound card is recognised by running this command in a terminal:
sudo aplay -l
It will then list the devices it finds (in the case of the following output, it finds the built-in audio [which is disabled in the BIOS] as well as the actual sound card I use):
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC883 Analog [ALC883 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC883 Digital [ALC883 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Audigy2 [SB Audigy 2 ZS [SB0360]], device 0: emu10k1 [ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback]
card 1: Audigy2 [SB Audigy 2 ZS [SB0360]], device 2: emu10k1 efx [Multichannel Capture/PT Playback]
card 1: Audigy2 [SB Audigy 2 ZS [SB0360]], device 3: emu10k1 [Multichannel Playback]
card 1: Audigy2 [SB Audigy 2 ZS [SB0360]], device 4: p16v [p16v]
If you see something like that, then all should be well, but if you want to make sure, copy and paste this rather lengthy command into the terminal:
echo "Sound cards recognized by the system:"; lspci -nn | grep --color=none '\[04[80][13]\]'; echo "Sound cards recognized by ALSA:"; lspci -nn | grep '\[04[80][13]\]' | while read line; do lspci -nnk | grep -A 3 '\[04[80][13]\]' | grep -e 'Kernel modules: ..*' -e '\[04[80][13]\]' | grep --color=none -F "$line"; done; echo "Sound cards recognized by ALSA, and activated:"; lspci -nn | grep '\[04[80][13]\]' | while read line; do lspci -nnk | grep -A 3 '\[04[80][13]\]' | grep -e 'Kernel drivers in use: ..*' -e '\[04[80][13]\]' | grep --color=none -F "$line"; done
The output should be something like:
Sound cards recognized by the system:
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293e] (rev 02)
05:01.0 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Creative Labs SB Audigy [1102:0004] (rev 04)
Sound cards recognized by ALSA:
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293e] (rev 02)
05:01.0 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Creative Labs SB Audigy [1102:0004] (rev 04)
Sound cards recognized by ALSA, and activated:
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293e] (rev 02)
05:01.0 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Creative Labs SB Audigy [1102:0004] (rev 04)
Once again, everything seems fine, other than the fact you can’t enable your sound card as an audio device. Hopefully, the following command will rectify the situation:
sudo alsa force-reload
You will probably see no change until you reboot, so do so and when you login again, your sound should be back. If it isn’t, you may need to go back into the sound preferences and make the sound card the default audio device, after which all should be well.
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If the problem still persists, you can try the following command which has worked for some (replace “yourusername” with your actual username):
sudo usermod -aG audio,video,pulse,pulse-access yourusername
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ran sudo aplay -l and it listed no devices at all just the title
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
OK, that doesn’t look good, but did you try the second (rather long) command too (and the one at the very end of the article)? If that doesn’t help either, running sudo alsa force-reload will probably do nothing, but it’s worth a shot. If you’ve ruled out an actual hardware error, like loose card or whatever, and are sure it was something in the upgrade as sound was fine before you did so, I suggest starting a thread at the Ubuntu Forums, mentioning the commands you’ve already used, and the terminal output from each. Hopefully someone there will have already come across this problem and have a fix for it.
You should check out instructions for reinstalling Alsa in #23 at the forum thread (also look at the command for removing the pulse-cookie a few comments after that): http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1475185&page=3
Also, check out the Ubuntu documentation for a bunch of commands that could help: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshooting
And a “sticky” page at the forums: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=205449
after having re-done all the things you reccomended, and then all the other things recommended, about 5 times each, I finnally lost the dummy output. later trying all the commands again, i finnally got sound back! Yay. This has happened many times over the years, where I’m notreally sure what the key ingredient was, andthen just as inexplicably its gone again. Well its gone again! reloading alsa gives additional “dummy outputs” The speech dispatcher is already in the the ‘No’ position. I’ve re-installed Alsa several times. Done your commands above etc. no change
just to clarify, i don’t know if it was upgrade to 13.10 specific. I’ve just lived without sound for a few years of upgrades since i use other devices when I need audio, and I know that it takes like three days of playing around till it seems to work again, so I haven’t bothered. (we had a snow day from school where I teach yesterday ;))
I have been running 13.10 from an usb stick for over a week now from a cheap notebook. All of a sudden KDE informed that the on-board sound device has been removed from the system. I still have the audio working though.
I think that the problem people are facing is only partly related to software issues and it’s mainly related to the working conditions of the hardware as many electrical components are sensitive to some sort of elements which do affect how a component works in general if not properly protected from such unmentioned elements as i do believe is the case for many if not in every case.
Some companies have developed very robust and reliable products (which do address the unmentioned elements) to be used in almost any conditions and therefore are not the cheapest ones to produce nor to buy. No, i don’t work for any of those companies but i’m open for suggestions if you have any.
Thanks so much. I updated my Ubuntu 12.04 and my sound device disappeared. I tried several things but what finally did it was:
sudo usermod -aG audio,video,pulse,pulse-access yourusername
No meu caso, matar o processo pulseaudio resolveu o problema.
3 hours later…
sudo usermod -aG audio,video,pulse,pulse-access yourusername
Ubuntu server xfce desktop
Thankyou
I have a unique problem. My os is ubuntu14.10 and in my sound settings play through is blank with not even dummy output.I have NVIDIA graphics card.
None of the above commands worked. Please help me.
Sorry to hear, but rather than list your graphics card, what are you using for sound? Have you had sound going before, in a previous Ubuntu version or Windows? Assuming you have a built-in soundcard and have never gotten it working, the first thing I’d look at is that it is enabled in the BIOS, or UEFI if a newer computer. No OS will recognise the onboard sound if it is disabled at the hardware level.
I do have a built-in Nvidia graphics card.Sound has never worked after i installed installed ubuntu14.10. I havent upgraded it from any other version. 14.10 is what I installed.Initially i had windows and the sound was working.Can you please through some light on BIOS and UEFI.
OK, first off, BIOS (on older PCs) and UEFI (on more recent ones) is where you control things on your motherboard etc. That is what you get into after you see “Hit Del to Enter Setup” after turning the PC on (the key to hit may differ, especially on laptops). Basically, that is where you would, for example, disable an onboard graphics card so there are no conflicts with the dedicated card, or so it doesn’t default to the onboard chip when in the OS. Lots of other things there, like changing boot order to boot off a disc rather than just go straight to the hard drive, etc. LOTS of info out there, so just Google those terms (rule of thumb: see a term you don’t know, Google it!).
Now, secondly, forget your video card – that has nothing to do with your sound issue whatsoever. I suggest you open a thread at Ubuntu Forums, and give AS MUCH INFO AS POSSIBLE – it does no one any good if people have to keep asking questions rather than give you answers. So you will want to mention whether the sound is a dedicated card or onboard/built-in chip, and as much info on what one as possible (even if it’s onboard, your motherboard manual will mention the sound chipset; if it’s a sound card, you should have the make and model somewhere). As I said, ANY info you can add that will save people asking you more questions.
Anyway, if you had it working in Windows, then obviously it doesn’t need to be enabled in the BIOS. Ubuntu is generally much better autodetecting hardware – in Windows I’ve always had to install the drivers for sound etc before it would be noticed, while in Ubuntu they worked straight after the install – so hopefully you’ll get answers quickly at the Forum from other users who have had similar issues and resolved them. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help than that – best of luck!
PS: I assume you tried everything in this article, so do mention that at the Forum. For example, mention you ran the command sudo aplay -l, and paste the terminal output after you ran it. That will go a long way to helping get an answer.
hello, On running this command sudo aplay -l,
I got the following output
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
“play output through” is empty in my sound settings and the output volume is
unchangeable. it is muted and unchangeable. I reinstalled alsa and pulsesudio but did not get any results. Please help me