I just finished a new install of Wheezy (i386 port) on my computer.
The computer has both a CD-ROM drive and a sound card. At first
glance, sound appeared to work fine. (For example, when I play
a youtube video, I hear sound.) But when I try to play an audio
CD, I get nothing. I have tried two methods. The first is the
cdplay command from the cdtool package. This method sends a "play"
command to the CD drive. The CD drive "plays itself". That is,
it reads the data off the CD, converts it from digital to analog
via its internal DAC, and sends audio output to the sound card
via an analog audio cable which runs from the CD drive to the
sound card CD audio input. This is the traditional method, but
it requires a physical audio cable running between the CD drive
and the sound card's CD audio input. This is not present on
many modern systems. But it is on mine. I checked. In fact,
I installed the audio cable myself.

The second method is the "ripping" method. This method is used
by programs such as the "Sound Juicer" or the Rhythmbox player.
It reads the audio CD as digital data transferred across the I/O
bus into computer memory, then sends the digital data to the PCM
device of the sound card. This method puts more demands on the I/O
bus, memory, CPU, etc., but it does not require an audio cable
running between the CD drive and the sound card. This method is
not working either. In both cases, the activity light on the
CD drive flashes on and off, but no sound comes out the speakers.
I'm wondering if pulseaudio has something to do with this.
Any help would be appreciated.

lspci -nn -vv output:

04:01.0 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Creative Labs CA0106 Soundblaster [1102:0007]
Subsystem: Creative Labs SB0570 [SB Audigy SE] [1102:100a]
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr+ Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B+ DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 64 (500ns min, 5000ns max)
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 48
Region 0: I/O ports at 8000 [size=32]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
Kernel driver in use: snd_ca0106

I've gone into alsamixer and enabled all outputs and set them to 100%, but to no
avail.

--
.'`. Stephen Powell
: :' :
`. `'`
`-


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Archive: 382046520.956680.1347239162361.JavaMail.root@md01. wow.synacor.com">http://lists.debian.org/382046520.956680.1347239162361.JavaMail.root@md01. wow.synacor.com

On Sun 09 Sep 2012 at 21:06:02 -0400, Stephen Powell wrote:

[Snip]

> I'm wondering if pulseaudio has something to do with this.
> Any help would be appreciated.

I use the first method with cdtool. Let's get the obvious out of the
way. You're in the cdrom and audio groups. The cable is connected
correctly and securely. The speakers are connected correctly to the
output of the sound card.

Pulseaudio isn't on my system but isn't it a daemon? Wouldn't stopping
it allow you to eliminate it as a cause?


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20120910105536.GX24280@desktop

On Mon, 10 Sep 2012 06:55:36 -0400 (EDT), Brian wrote:
>
> I use the first method with cdtool. Let's get the obvious out of the
> way. You're in the cdrom and audio groups. The cable is connected
> correctly and securely. The speakers are connected correctly to the
> output of the sound card.

I can confirm that my userid is in the cdrom and audio groups. I haven't
checked the cable connections yet, but I plan to do that tomorrow.
But the problem seems to be more systemic. I can't seem to get aplay
to work on a .wav file. It runs, and it generates messages on the
screen, but no sound.
>
> Pulseaudio isn't on my system but isn't it a daemon? Wouldn't stopping
> it allow you to eliminate it as a cause?

pulseaudio is a "depends" (not a "recommends") dependency of gnome-core;
so I can't de-install it. As for killing the daemon, gnome automatically
re-spawns pulseaudio if I kill the daemon. I have to stop gnome.
But even then, no output from playing audio CDs and no output from aplay.
Yet, gnome can generate sounds. Maddening.

--
.'`. Stephen Powell
: :' :
`. `'`
`-


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Archive: 610605441.980598.1347329586948.JavaMail.root@md01. wow.synacor.com">http://lists.debian.org/610605441.980598.1347329586948.JavaMail.root@md01. wow.synacor.com

On Mon, September 10, 2012 3:55 am, Brian wrote:
> On Sun 09 Sep 2012 at 21:06:02 -0400, Stephen Powell wrote:
>
> [Snip]
>
>> I'm wondering if pulseaudio has something to do with this.
>> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> I use the first method with cdtool. Let's get the obvious out of the
> way. You're in the cdrom and audio groups. The cable is connected
> correctly and securely. The speakers are connected correctly to the
> output of the sound card.
>
> Pulseaudio isn't on my system but isn't it a daemon? Wouldn't stopping
> it allow you to eliminate it as a cause?

Could it be something as simple as "alsactl init" as root?
Regards,

Weaver
>
>
> --
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
> with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact
> listmaster@lists.debian.org
> Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20120910105536.GX24280@desktop
>
>


--
"It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government."
-- Thomas Paine



--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Archive: 0e424812510db54b01ff90edb1f46524.squirrel@fulvetta .riseup.net">http://lists.debian.org/0e424812510db54b01ff90edb1f46524.squirrel@fulvetta .riseup.net

On Lu, 10 sep 12, 22:13:06, Stephen Powell wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Sep 2012 06:55:36 -0400 (EDT), Brian wrote:
> >
> > I use the first method with cdtool. Let's get the obvious out of the
> > way. You're in the cdrom and audio groups. The cable is connected
> > correctly and securely. The speakers are connected correctly to the
> > output of the sound card.
>
> I can confirm that my userid is in the cdrom and audio groups. I haven't
> checked the cable connections yet, but I plan to do that tomorrow.
> But the problem seems to be more systemic. I can't seem to get aplay
> to work on a .wav file. It runs, and it generates messages on the
> screen, but no sound.

What does

speaker-test -c2 -t wav

do (both as user and root)?

> > Pulseaudio isn't on my system but isn't it a daemon? Wouldn't stopping
> > it allow you to eliminate it as a cause?
>
> pulseaudio is a "depends" (not a "recommends") dependency of gnome-core;
> so I can't de-install it.

Assuming you really want to keep Gnome there are several workarounds for
that:
- just remove the gnome-core metapackage and keep all other dependencies
- equivs (either build a replacement metapackage or a replacement
dependency)
- dpkg --force-depends

Kind regards,
Andrei
--
Offtopic discussions among Debian users and developers:
http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/d-community-offtopic

On Tue, 2012-09-11 at 09:10 +0300, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
> On Lu, 10 sep 12, 22:13:06, Stephen Powell wrote:
> > On Mon, 10 Sep 2012 06:55:36 -0400 (EDT), Brian wrote:
> > >
> > > I use the first method with cdtool. Let's get the obvious out of the
> > > way. You're in the cdrom and audio groups. The cable is connected
> > > correctly and securely. The speakers are connected correctly to the
> > > output of the sound card.
> >
> > I can confirm that my userid is in the cdrom and audio groups. I haven't
> > checked the cable connections yet, but I plan to do that tomorrow.
> > But the problem seems to be more systemic. I can't seem to get aplay
> > to work on a .wav file. It runs, and it generates messages on the
> > screen, but no sound.
>
> What does
>
> speaker-test -c2 -t wav
>
> do (both as user and root)?
>
> > > Pulseaudio isn't on my system but isn't it a daemon? Wouldn't stopping
> > > it allow you to eliminate it as a cause?
> >
> > pulseaudio is a "depends" (not a "recommends") dependency of gnome-core;
> > so I can't de-install it.
>
> Assuming you really want to keep Gnome there are several workarounds for
> that:
> - just remove the gnome-core metapackage and keep all other dependencies
> - equivs (either build a replacement metapackage or a replacement
> dependency)
> - dpkg --force-depends

There are two ways to get rid of pulseaudio:
1. Compile gnome-settings-daemon with --disable-pulse, if Debian didn't
change something, this is the part that upstream makes hard depend on
pulseaudio. Take a look at the Arch PKGBUILD
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=48718 .
2. Build an empty dummy package. I did this for Debian and I'm using one
for Arch.
It's easy to build a dummy package for Debian using equivs. This howto
isn't obsolete:
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/ch-helpers.en.html

Regards,
Ralf


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Archive: http://lists.debian.org/1347348834.1260.19.camel@localhost.localdomain

On Tue, 2012-09-11 at 09:33 +0200, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> On Tue, 2012-09-11 at 09:10 +0300, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
> > On Lu, 10 sep 12, 22:13:06, Stephen Powell wrote:
> > > On Mon, 10 Sep 2012 06:55:36 -0400 (EDT), Brian wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I use the first method with cdtool. Let's get the obvious out of the
> > > > way. You're in the cdrom and audio groups. The cable is connected
> > > > correctly and securely. The speakers are connected correctly to the
> > > > output of the sound card.
> > >
> > > I can confirm that my userid is in the cdrom and audio groups. I haven't
> > > checked the cable connections yet, but I plan to do that tomorrow.
> > > But the problem seems to be more systemic. I can't seem to get aplay
> > > to work on a .wav file. It runs, and it generates messages on the
> > > screen, but no sound.
> >
> > What does
> >
> > speaker-test -c2 -t wav
> >
> > do (both as user and root)?
> >
> > > > Pulseaudio isn't on my system but isn't it a daemon? Wouldn't stopping
> > > > it allow you to eliminate it as a cause?
> > >
> > > pulseaudio is a "depends" (not a "recommends") dependency of gnome-core;
> > > so I can't de-install it.
> >
> > Assuming you really want to keep Gnome there are several workarounds for
> > that:
> > - just remove the gnome-core metapackage and keep all other dependencies
> > - equivs (either build a replacement metapackage or a replacement
> > dependency)
> > - dpkg --force-depends
>
> There are two ways to get rid of pulseaudio:
> 1. Compile gnome-settings-daemon with --disable-pulse, if Debian didn't
> change something, this is the part that upstream makes hard depend on
> pulseaudio. Take a look at the Arch PKGBUILD
> http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=48718 .
> 2. Build an empty dummy package.

BUILD A DUMMY PACKAGE FOR pulseaudio. Don't build it for the lib, not
for a meta package and not for the gnome-settings-daemon.

> I did this for Debian and I'm using one
> for Arch.
> It's easy to build a dummy package for Debian using equivs. This howto
> isn't obsolete:
> http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/ch-helpers.en.html
>
> Regards,
> Ralf



--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Archive: http://lists.debian.org/1347348977.1260.21.camel@localhost.localdomain

On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 10:13:06PM -0400, Stephen Powell wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Sep 2012 06:55:36 -0400 (EDT), Brian wrote:
> >
> > I use the first method with cdtool. Let's get the obvious out of the
> > way. You're in the cdrom and audio groups. The cable is connected
> > correctly and securely. The speakers are connected correctly to the
> > output of the sound card.
>
> I can confirm that my userid is in the cdrom and audio groups. I haven't
> checked the cable connections yet, but I plan to do that tomorrow.
> But the problem seems to be more systemic. I can't seem to get aplay
> to work on a .wav file. It runs, and it generates messages on the
> screen, but no sound.
> >
> > Pulseaudio isn't on my system but isn't it a daemon? Wouldn't stopping
> > it allow you to eliminate it as a cause?
>
> pulseaudio is a "depends" (not a "recommends") dependency of gnome-core;
> so I can't de-install it. As for killing the daemon, gnome automatically
> re-spawns pulseaudio if I kill the daemon. I have to stop gnome.
> But even then, no output from playing audio CDs and no output from aplay.
> Yet, gnome can generate sounds. Maddening.

If you suspect that pulseaudio is hogging your sound system and that the
program you're using also wants to talk to the sound system itself, then
you might try re-routing the sound through pulseaudio:

$ padsp some-program-that-uses-OSS

In the same way that we had a user recently who was trying to use
OSS-based programs to talk to ALSA, you may need this "compatibility
layer" to allow your programs to talk to pulseaudio.

P.S. I don't know why this would affect cdtool as that should, in
theory, bypass any software, but maybe I don't understand sound cards as
well as I think.

On Mon 10 Sep 2012 at 22:13:06 -0400, Stephen Powell wrote:

> I can confirm that my userid is in the cdrom and audio groups. I haven't
> checked the cable connections yet, but I plan to do that tomorrow.
> But the problem seems to be more systemic. I can't seem to get aplay
> to work on a .wav file. It runs, and it generates messages on the
> screen, but no sound.

aplay shoud give just one or two lines saying what it is playing, so
your diagnosis looks correct.

> pulseaudio is a "depends" (not a "recommends") dependency of gnome-core;
> so I can't de-install it. As for killing the daemon, gnome automatically
> re-spawns pulseaudio if I kill the daemon. I have to stop gnome.
> But even then, no output from playing audio CDs and no output from aplay.
> Yet, gnome can generate sounds. Maddening.

A quick and reliable way of disabling pulseaudio permanently is with

update-rc.d pulseaudio disable

But it seems less likely to be at the root of your problem.


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20120911133343.GZ24280@desktop

On Mon, 10 Sep 2012 22:56:15 -0400 (EDT), Weaver wrote:
>
> Could it be something as simple as "alsactl init" as root?

I just tried that. Here's what I got:

alsactl: parse:1655: Unable to open file '/usr/share/alsa/init/ca0106': No such file or directory

--
.'`. Stephen Powell
: :' :
`. `'`
`-


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Archive: 2000114673.1002148.1347414516527.JavaMail.root@md0 1.wow.synacor.com">http://lists.debian.org/2000114673.1002148.1347414516527.JavaMail.root@md0 1.wow.synacor.com