Bug 817332 - Gnome Sound applet keeps muting front left/right speakers on SB Audigy
Summary: Gnome Sound applet keeps muting front left/right speakers on SB Audigy
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: control-center
Version: 16
Hardware: x86_64
OS: Linux
unspecified
low
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Control Center Maintainer
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2012-04-29 07:18 UTC by David
Modified: 2013-02-13 13:17 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2013-02-13 13:17:14 UTC
Type: Bug
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description David 2012-04-29 07:18:21 UTC
Description of problem:
Sound Blaster Audigy 4 ("Creative Labs SB0400 Audigy2 Value") will not produce sound in the front left and right channels with an analog 5.1 setup unless the "S/PDIF Optical Raw" output is disabled.  However there is no way to do this using the 'gnome-control -center sound' applet.  All "analog" options result in the digital output still being active (unmuted).

Although this can be worked around by manually muted using "alsamixer" the change is not permanent and has to be done after every reboot.

Note: When this problem occurs all other channels (Center, Rear left/right and Subwoofer) work correctly.  Only the front left and front right speakers are muted as they use the same output port on the back of the sound card as can be used for S/PDIF digital output.



Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
Gnome 3.2.1

Installed packages include;
gnome-settings-daemon-3.2.2-2.fc16.x86_64
alsa-firmware-1.0.25-1.fc16.noarch
alsa-plugins-pulseaudio-1.0.25-3.fc16.x86_64
alsa-tools-firmware-1.0.25-1.fc16.x86_64
alsa-utils-1.0.25-7.fc16.x86_64
alsa-lib-1.0.25-1.fc16.x86_64


How reproducible: 100%


Steps to Reproduce:
1. Obtain a system with a "Sound Blaster Audigy2 Value" based audio card and analog 5.1 surround speakers (these are connected using 3 analog audio cables, front left/right, center/subwoofer and rear left/right, from memory)
2. Using Fedora 16 (Gnome 3) go to Sound Settings
3. Select the "Hardware" tab and select the SB0400 Audigy2 Value card
4. Choose a Profile with Analog Surround output, for example, "Analog Surround 5.1 Output"
5. Click Test Speakers and test each speaker, all but the front-left and front-right should work

Temporary work-around (must be done manually after each reboot):
1. Run 'alsamixer -c0' (if only the Audigy card is installed)
2. Click 20 times to the right until the "S/PDIF Optical Raw" output is selected
3. Press "m" to mute this output.
4. Try steps above again and front left/right channels will now work.

  
Actual results:
The "Creative Labs SB0400 Audigy2 Value" will not produce sound for the front left and right channels in an analog 5.1 setup unless the "S/PDIF Optical Raw" output is disabled.  There is no way to do this using the "gnome-control -center sound" applet.

All "Analog Surround 5.1" profiles in the Sound Settings window seem to be hybrids, with analog and digital outputs enabled simultaneously.


Expected results:
Choosing a sound profile named "Analog Surround 5.1 Output" should be designed for Analog output only!



Additional info:

I don't want to confuse things(!), but I *suspect* this may solve bug 608936 from 2 years ago.

Comment 1 David 2012-04-29 07:21:35 UTC
Also, if somebody knows an easy way to script the muting of an alsa output, without having to use the "alsamixer" TUI, I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks again!

Comment 2 David 2012-04-29 07:23:01 UTC
(Please ignore this post, I hadn't meant to set the additional info in my last post)

Comment 3 David 2012-08-22 12:13:57 UTC
I had been manually switching off the "S/PDIF Optical Raw" output with the following command;
amixer -c 0 cset numid=31,iface=MIXER,name="IEC958 Optical Raw Playback Switch" mute

However my system is either now remembering the state I set this "volume" to, or somebody has inadvertently fixed this bug!

I'm not sure when it changed, but I'm now using Fedora 17 with all updates (22nd Aug 2012).

If I have time, I'll run Fedora from a live CD and see if the problem occurs.

Comment 4 Fedora End Of Life 2013-01-16 12:45:45 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 16 is nearing its end of life.
Approximately 4 (four) weeks from now Fedora will stop maintaining
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Comment 5 Fedora End Of Life 2013-02-13 13:17:17 UTC
Fedora 16 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2013-02-12. Fedora 16 is 
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further 
security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of 
Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version.

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