# How to diagnose no sound?



## JLAIP (Aug 5, 2022)

Dell Inspiron 8100
Not getting any sound outta the laptop's speakers (no headphone jack) when playing music CDs, WAVs or mp3s.
I've got current/latest of both xime and VLC and both appear to be "playing", but I just get no sound. The laptop volume's all the way up and the mutes are NOT on.

```
cat /dev/sndstat....
Installed devices:
pcm0: <ESS Technology Maestro3> (play/rec) default
No devices installed from userspace.

kldstat....
ID     Refs     Address           Size     Name
2       1          0x2032000     badc    snd_maestro3.ko
```
I've been running BSD on this laptop for many years with sound, so I know the hardware works. But I just wiped BSD12 from the drive and installed a fresh copy of BSD 13.1-RELEASE i386.
BSD appears to see the hardware and is loading the driver, but no sound. After spending alotta time reading man pages and trying fixes I found in forum postings, I'm kinda stuck..


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## rsronin (Aug 5, 2022)

I read mixer was/is rewritten completely, maybe one of the reasons!?


```
amw@t430 ~> mixer     
Mixer vol      is currently set to  37:37
Mixer pcm      is currently set to 100:100
Mixer line     is currently set to  75:75
Mixer mic      is currently set to  25:25
Recording source: mic
```
Apart from `mixer vol 100`, you could try `mixer pcm 100` if applicable.

I saw this in my/etc/sysctl.conf: `hw.snd.vpc_0db=45`


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## JLAIP (Aug 5, 2022)

rsronin said:


> Apart from `mixer vol 100`, you could try `mixer pcm 100` if applicable.


Both vol and pcm were set to 75:75, so I don't think that's the bottleneck. But, just to cover all the bases, I tried 100, but no change. Still nothing coming outta the speakers.
However, igain, phin and phout are set to 0:0. I upped them to 100, but, frustratingly, still no-go.

I hadn't thought of checking the mixer config, so thank you for that!


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## oOiOo (Aug 6, 2022)

Volume controls buttons can be hard wired on the Maestro3  . You could try 
	
	



```
hint.pcm.0.hwvol_config="0"
```
 in /boot/device.hints (cf. snd_maestro3(4)).

Howether, to check sound, you can use this command: 
	
	



```
root> cat /dev/random > /dev/dsp
```
 can be noisy...


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## JLAIP (Aug 6, 2022)

oOiOo said:


> Volume controls buttons can be hard wired on the Maestro3  . You could try
> 
> 
> 
> ...



*Re:  cat /dev/random > /dev/dsp:* No sound, either before or after I modified /boot/device.hints (and rebooted).

*Re device.hints:* I added the line you suggested and rebooted. Then, I ran _cat /dev/random > /dev/dsp again_ and got this:

```
pcm0: chn_write(): pcm0:play:dsp0:p1: play interrupt timeout, channel dead
cat: stdout: Invalid argument
```

The Inspiron has keyboard volume controls (no mute!), but I'm getting nothing no matter where I set them.


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## eternal_noob (Aug 6, 2022)

JLAIP said:


> 13.1-RELEASE i386


Why i386 i may ask? i386 has been demoted to Tier 2 with 13.x and you should try a Tier 1 platform (i.e. amd64).

Edit: Ok, sorry. I overlooked the Dell Inspirion part. ;(


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## oOiOo (Aug 6, 2022)

JLAIP said:


> ```
> pcm0: chn_write(): pcm0:play:dsp0:p1: play interrupt timeout, channel dead
> cat: stdout: Invalid argument
> ```


Looks like driver is dead. Could  you try this command without any GUI (Xwindow). If it doesn't work, go back to 12.x : you could open a PR but I doubt that developers take care of such old device.



eternal_noob said:


> Why i386 i may ask? i386 has been demoted to Tier 2 with 13.x and you should try a Tier 1 platform (i.e. amd64).


Pentium M is 32Bits only. I'm afraid this computer has reached retirement age.


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## JLAIP (Aug 6, 2022)

oOiOo said:


> Looks like driver is dead. Could  you try this command without any GUI (Xwindow). If it doesn't work, go back to 12.x : you could open a PR but I doubt that developers take care of such old device.


Unfortunately, I did run the commands from command-line (not within X).
I'll give it a few more days to see if anyone's got a workaround for 13. Failing that, I guess it's back to 12. Odd that the only thing that appears to've been dropped in 13 is sound support. Sadly, 13 seems to run a bit faster (on this laptop) than 12 did.
Thank you for the help!


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## eternal_noob (Aug 6, 2022)

If all fails you still could use a cheap USB sound card rather than going back to 12.


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## JLAIP (Aug 6, 2022)

eternal_noob said:


> If all fails you still could use a cheap USB sound card rather than going back to 12.


Brilliant! I didn't know such a thing exists.
I would need to use external speakers then, no? If not, how would the Inspiron's internal speakers connect to a USB sound card....and might I also run into the same v13 non-support issues as I am with the internal sound system?


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## Vull (Nov 24, 2022)

JLAIP said:


> Brilliant! I didn't know such a thing exists.
> I would need to use external speakers then, no? If not, how would the Inspiron's internal speakers connect to a USB sound card....and might I also run into the same v13 non-support issues as I am with the internal sound system?


When and if you buy a USB sound device, you should get a manual such as this:








						USB Sound Card Manual
					

INTRODUCTION: This 8-Channel 3D USB 2.0 External 7.1 Surround Sound Box with Digital Output offers an array of features for the best surround sound




					docslib.org
				









						usb sound card manual at DuckDuckGo
					

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.




					duckduckgo.com
				




With my USB speakers, I just connect the USB plug to a USB jack on my laptop, and then plug the RSA connector plug from the speaker assembly into the line-in jack on my laptop. Then, as root, I edit the line `hw.snd.default_unit=2` into the file /etc/sysctl.conf and I'm good to go.


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## Vull (Nov 24, 2022)

The problem I'm having today is that it's been so long since I used the laptop's _internal_ speaker, I've forgotten how to reconfigure the system to use _that_, and I haven't even touched the problem of connecting my JBL Clip 4 Bluetooth speaker yet.


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