Bug 499719

Created attachment 342923 [details]
Output of alsa-info.sh

Which volume control tool are you using? Please note that this is usually a limitation of your hardware, not PA.

Please run PA in a terminal with "pulseaudio -vvvvv" (might need to kill it first via "pulseaudio -k"). Then set the volume shortly below 48% and paste the complete output of that pulseaudio -vvvvv invocation that it printed up to that point here. 

Then, open another terminal and type "pacmd ls" and paste that output here too.

Finally please do "amixer -c0" and paste its output here as well.

I am using the gnome 2.26 notification icon volume control thing. The same thing happens with pavucontrol, so I assume they are both controlling the same volume control.

Here is the output from me changing the volume (using pavucontrol) down to 48% up to 50% and then down to 13%. Even though I changed the volume to 13% the last time it still printed 48%.

I: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Source alsa_input.pci_8086_27d8_sound_card_0 idle for too long, suspending ...
I: alsa-source.c: Device suspended...
I: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Sink alsa_output.pci_8086_27d8_sound_card_0 idle for too long, suspending ...
I: alsa-sink.c: Device suspended...
I: module-device-restore.c: Synced.
D: alsa-sink.c: Read hardware volume: 0:  48% 1:  48%
I: module-device-restore.c: Storing volume/mute for device sink:alsa_output.pci_8086_27d8_sound_card_0.
I: module-device-restore.c: Synced.
D: alsa-sink.c: Read hardware volume: 0:  50% 1:  50%
I: module-device-restore.c: Storing volume/mute for device sink:alsa_output.pci_8086_27d8_sound_card_0.
D: alsa-sink.c: Read hardware volume: 0:  48% 1:  48%
I: module-device-restore.c: Storing volume/mute for device sink:alsa_output.pci_8086_27d8_sound_card_0.
I: module-device-restore.c: Synced.

Created attachment 343070 [details]
Output of pacmd ls

Created attachment 343071 [details]
Output of amixer -c0

Ok, the problem seems to be that the dB information that is exported by your driver is not entirely correct. i.e. The 'Master' slider is at -46.50 dB (the minimal level) but audio is already completely cut off. It seem as if your driver should return a different dB value (a much lower one) for its lowest volume level. Rassigning to alsa/the kernel.

This bug appears to have been reported against 'rawhide' during the Fedora 11 development cycle.
Changing version to '11'.

More information and reason for this action is here:
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers/HouseKeeping

Same bug found here in FC11,

when i reach around 50% of PA volume, no more sound.

I've got a look on how applet control the sound and it looks like the applet both acts on the PA volume but also on the alsamixer master volume.

when i get to 50% on PA volume with the applet, the master volume of alsa mixer reaches zero (while PCM is still at 100).

isn't there a problem ? the applet should only control the PA volume isnt it ?

forgot to mention that i have onboard sound processor, Nvidia CK804

I have the same or similar problems. Dell M90 hda_intel STC9200.
Within pavucontrol I can see for example that the volume control on the playback tab "ALSA plug-in [xine]" and on the Outout Devices tab "internal Audio" has alway the same value.
If I set the alsa mixer master volume control to 0, both volume control within pavu control are set to 48% and of course there is no more sound.

On the first attemp to play Audio with Xine, the sound was very low, I had to increase within alsamixer the PCM volume. which is no present on pavucontrol.

With Fedora 12 on a Dell M90 and hda_intel STC9200, the problem is still there. Sound is cut off just below -45dB, at -46,50dB I do not have sound anymore. No step between -45 and -46,50dB.
I obtained these values with "alsamixer -c 0".

In gnome-volume-control, the sound is turned off when the slider for Output volume goes under ~15%. Above 100%, my head could explode because the sound level is VERY high!

Created attachment 381024 [details]
Result of alsa-info.sh on a Dell M90 with F12 64bits

(In reply to comment #6)
> Ok, the problem seems to be that the dB information that is exported by your
> driver is not entirely correct. i.e. The 'Master' slider is at -46.50 dB (the
> minimal level) but audio is already completely cut off. It seem as if your
> driver should return a different dB value (a much lower one) for its lowest
> volume level. Rassigning to alsa/the kernel.    



Refer to stac9200 datasheet the range of the volume control is (-46.5dB to +0dB)

http://www.idt.com/?genId=STAC9200


5.4.9. AFG OutAmpCap

Table 26. AFG OutAmpCap Command Verb Format
Verb ID Payload Response
Get F00 12 See bitfield table
Table 27. AFG OutAmpCap Command Response Format
Bit Bitfield Name RW Reset Description
[31] Mute R 0x1 Amplifier is capable of muting
[30.:23] Rsvd3 R 0x0 Reserved
[22.:16] StepSize R 0x05 Size of each step in the gain range = 1.5dB
[15] Rsvd2 R 0x0 Reserved
[14.:8] NumSteps R 0x1F Number of steps in the gain range = 32
(-46.5dB to +0dB)
[7] Rsvd1 R 0x0 Reserved
[6.:0] Offset R 0x1F 0dB-step is programmed with this offset

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This bug is still in F11 and also in F12. Moreover I upgraded to F13 a few days ago and this bug is also there. I saw long discussions on the Alsa mailing-lists but at the end users still face this basic problem...