2.6.16.x - relatively low volume and high noice using snd-ali15451

2.6.16.x - relatively low volume and high noice using snd-ali15451

[Andrey Borzenkov]

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I have a notebook with built in sound card:

{pts/0}% lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: ALi Corporation M1644/M1644T Northbridge+Trident (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ALi Corporation PCI to AGP Controller
00:02.0 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)
00:04.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c3)
00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: ALi Corporation M5451 PCI AC-Link 
Controller Audio Device (rev 01)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: ALi Corporation M1533 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV]
00:08.0 Bridge: ALi Corporation M7101 Power Management Controller [PMU]
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro 100] 
(rev 08)
00:10.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller 
(rev 01)
00:11.0 CardBus bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems ToPIC100 PCI to Cardbus 
Bridge with ZV Support (rev 32)
00:11.1 CardBus bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems ToPIC100 PCI to Cardbus 
Bridge with ZV Support (rev 32)
00:12.0 System peripheral: Toshiba America Info Systems SD TypA Controller 
(rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Trident Microsystems CyberBlade XPAi1 (rev 
82)

A some point I noticed that volume became quite low; attempting to turn it up 
using volume control on notebook results in very audible noise that makes it 
impossible to actually use sound.

I am very casual sound user so I unfortunately cannot tell when exactly the 
problem appeared first; but I am pretty sure that in 2.6.14 I could normally 
watch video or listen CD without much strain.

I appreciate any pointers how to debug it further; if required I am ready to 
try to recompile older kernel (as time permits).

TIA

- -andrey
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Re: [Alsa-devel] 2.6.16.x - relatively low volume and high noice using snd-ali15451

[Takashi Iwai]

At Sun, 28 May 2006 11:28:33 +0400,
Andrey Borzenkov wrote:
> 
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> 
> I have a notebook with built in sound card:
> 
> {pts/0}% lspci
> 00:00.0 Host bridge: ALi Corporation M1644/M1644T Northbridge+Trident (rev 01)
> 00:01.0 PCI bridge: ALi Corporation PCI to AGP Controller
> 00:02.0 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)
> 00:04.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c3)
> 00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: ALi Corporation M5451 PCI AC-Link 
> Controller Audio Device (rev 01)
> 00:07.0 ISA bridge: ALi Corporation M1533 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV]
> 00:08.0 Bridge: ALi Corporation M7101 Power Management Controller [PMU]
> 00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro 100] 
> (rev 08)
> 00:10.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller 
> (rev 01)
> 00:11.0 CardBus bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems ToPIC100 PCI to Cardbus 
> Bridge with ZV Support (rev 32)
> 00:11.1 CardBus bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems ToPIC100 PCI to Cardbus 
> Bridge with ZV Support (rev 32)
> 00:12.0 System peripheral: Toshiba America Info Systems SD TypA Controller 
> (rev 03)
> 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Trident Microsystems CyberBlade XPAi1 (rev 
> 82)
> 
> A some point I noticed that volume became quite low; attempting to turn it up 
> using volume control on notebook results in very audible noise that makes it 
> impossible to actually use sound.

This pretty depends on the ac97 codec chip.
Check what is on your device via /proc/asound/card0/codec97#0/*
files.

> 
> I am very casual sound user so I unfortunately cannot tell when exactly the 
> problem appeared first; but I am pretty sure that in 2.6.14 I could normally 
> watch video or listen CD without much strain.

The driver code of ali5451 hasn't been changed much since long time
ago.  So I suspect it's rather the mixer setting or breakage in other
place.

You can try 2.6.14 kernel with the latest ALSA driver 1.0.11 (compile
as external modules from alsa-driver-1.0.11 tarball) to check whether
it's a regression of ALSA or elsewhere.


Takashi