Can't get Alsa (mic) to work with my Intel HDA board

Hello,

I used to be able to use my mic with Alsa, about 2 or 3
years ago, I 
hadn't tried since, but the otherday I did and it didn't
work. I have 
reinstalled everything from scratch since (to go from
unstable to 
stable). I followed the guides/howtos on the Gentoo site,
but no luck, 
the mic won't work correctly. I also noticed that I used to
have more 
inputs/outputs to play with in alsamixer, but now all I have
are Master, 
PCM, CD, Mic, Mic Boos, IEC958, and IEC958P. I used to have
for instance 
Front Mic, that's the only one I explicitly remember. My
front mic 
doesn't work at all (this is a laptop, details later), and
if I plug a 
mic in the input, I can hear myself in the speakers, but
none of the 
apps can, I tried to use gnome's recorder program,
wengophone, ekiga, 
etc, no sound.  Could anyone please help me? Here are the
details :

Lenove/IBM Thinkpad T60p, gentoo-sources-2.6.22, alsa kernel
module (I 
tried to use the module in portage, but it wouldn't
compile), 
alsa-utils-1.0.14_rc2-r3.

I used this howto : http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_ALSA_sound_mixer_aka_dmix


I didn't install media-libs/alsa-oss, since the howto in the
gentoo docs 
doesn't say to, I think it's used if I install the driver in
portage and 
not the kernel module (correct me if I'm wrong), the reast
is the same.

lspci output : 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation
82801G (ICH7 
Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)

I have this in my make.conf :

    ALSA_CARDS="hda-intel"
    ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare
dsnoop empty 
extplug file hooks
                                                iec958
ioplug ladspa 
lfloat linear meter mulaw multi null plug
                                                rate route
share shm 
softvol"

The sound works fine, I can listen to music and everything.

any ideas? Thanks!
Gabriel

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Gabriel Rossetti wrote:
> I used to have more inputs/outputs to play with in
> alsamixer, but now all I have are Master, PCM, CD, Mic,
Mic Boos,
> IEC958, and IEC958P. I used to have for instance Front
Mic,

You might need to pass a different model option during
modprobe.

First check with 'aplay -l' to see precisely what chip you
have, 
then put that number into the search box (lower left) on
https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view_
all_bug_page.php

You might need to advance again to unstable for the alsa
packages, 
as hda-intel is seeing many changes.

> Lenove/IBM Thinkpad T60p,

Hmm...  You had alsa working on this laptop two or three
years ago?

Benno
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gentoo-usergentoo.org mailing list

Benno Schulenberg wrote:
> Gabriel Rossetti wrote:
>   
>> I used to have more inputs/outputs to play with in
>> alsamixer, but now all I have are Master, PCM, CD,
Mic, Mic Boos,
>> IEC958, and IEC958P. I used to have for instance
Front Mic,
>>     
>
> You might need to pass a different model option during
modprobe.
>
> First check with 'aplay -l' to see precisely what chip
you have, 
> then put that number into the search box (lower left)
on
> https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view_
all_bug_page.php
>
> You might need to advance again to unstable for the
alsa packages, 
> as hda-intel is seeing many changes.
>
>   
Ok, I'll try this and keep the list up to date on my
advancements.
>> Lenove/IBM Thinkpad T60p,
>>     
>
> Hmm...  You had alsa working on this laptop two or
three years ago?
>   
no, you're right about that, a year ago then (I think), when
it came 
out, feels like more though , but I had
it working and the front mic 
was also there.
> Benno
>   
Thanks for the reply,
Gabriel
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gentoo-usergentoo.org mailing list

Benno Schulenberg wrote:
> Gabriel Rossetti wrote:
>   
>> I used to have more inputs/outputs to play with in
>> alsamixer, but now all I have are Master, PCM, CD,
Mic, Mic Boos,
>> IEC958, and IEC958P. I used to have for instance
Front Mic,
>>     
>
> You might need to pass a different model option during
modprobe.
>
> First check with 'aplay -l' to see precisely what chip
you have, 
> then put that number into the search box (lower left)
on
> https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view_
all_bug_page.php
>
> You might need to advance again to unstable for the
alsa packages, 
> as hda-intel is seeing many changes.
>
>   
>> Lenove/IBM Thinkpad T60p,
>>     
>
> Hmm...  You had alsa working on this laptop two or
three years ago?
>
> Benno
>   
Ok, I checked the bugs, I'm not really sure they help me
much, but I did 
use the alsa-driver instead of the in-kernel stuff. I have
my front mic 
(internal) sort-of working, it isn't called that, it's mixed
with the 
external mic. Sound now comes out of both, but no apps seam
to be able 
to use it. I noticed with gnome's sound recorder that it
won't keep my 
input choice, it always sets it to something else, when
wanting to see 
to what is was set right now, gnome recorder gave me this
error msg when 
I ran it :

Your audio capture settings are invalid. Please correct them
in the 
Multimedia settings.

This was due to my .asoundrc, copied from the howto on the
gentoo-wiki, 
once removed gnome record works again, when I try to record
it always 
want's tu use digital. I did notice something, I had the
gnome volume 
control open also and when I recorded it toggles the audio
capture from 
"Capture", if I untoggle it while I'm recording,
it works, the mic's 
input is recorded. I tried playing with it, muting one, then
the other, 
toggleing one, then the other, the only way I get anything
to record is 
to use the digital as the recording source, and toggle
capture once it's 
started to record.

Gabriel
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gentoo-usergentoo.org mailing list

Gabriel Rossetti wrote:
> I did notice something, I
> had the gnome volume control open also and when I
recorded it
> toggles the audio capture from "Capture", if
I untoggle it while
> I'm recording, it works, the mic's input is recorded.

Sounds like a misconfiguration somewhere.  Or like a bug in
Gnome.
Maybe these forum posts give you new ideas:

  http
://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-529738.html
  http
://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-514297.html

What are you using to record, by the way?

Benno


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