ATI RS880 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4200 Series] No Audio Output

[billmc]

Folks,

I need a little help getting my audio outputted via HDMI. This is the listing from the lspci command:

ATI RS880 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4200 Series]

This is the built in chipset on the motherboard.

Background: I'm running a multiboot system. (I've been using Ubuntu since 5.04). I have multiple hard drives installed. Until just the other day, I've been using the same home directory for all the different flavors. I've just changed that, and now have links from the "old" home drive directory to each of the "new" home directories for all things I want available on any Linux flavor I'm using.

On /dev/sda I have a common swap partition.
/dev/sda5 Debian 6.0.5
/dev/sda6 Ubuntu 12.04
/dev/sda7 Mint 14
/dev/sda9 /home/{debian,ubuntu,mint}
/dev/sdb1 "old home directory"

I first experienced the audio out problem via HDMI on Ubuntu 12.04. At that time, I found a post indicating that audio output via HDMI had been disabled in the kernel and to add a switch to a line in grub (don't recall exactly what it was). That worked and I assumed it had been fixed in later kernels because I never had to change it again. I installed Kubuntu 12.10, and the audio out from HDMI stopped working. Couldn't find a solution, got frustrated, repartioned and started from scratch with what I described above.

I found one post on the Arch Wiki which suggested creating a .asoundrc file with the following contents:
pcm.!default {
type hw
card 1
device 3
}
This worked for Debian, which is running a 2.6 kernel, but would not work with the 3.2 or 3.5 kernel's of Ubuntu. I downloaded the latest fglrx drivers from AMD's site (one post I read on the Ubuntu Wiki stated you needed the latest proprietary drivers to make it work) and that didn't work. There is a HDMI cable connected, so that shouldn't be the issue. I've tried the latest audio files from the Ubuntu PPA files, still doesn't work.

I know the hardware is fine, because it works in Debian and I have been using it in Ubuntu since 11.10. I'm convinced its software, but I don't know where to go. I'd rather not have to build new kernels, would prefer to get the updates as they come out. Any ideas would be helpfull.

As an aside question (probably better for another post, but). Does anyone know how to create a 2nd taskbar in Cinamon? I'd like to have one on top and one on the bottom, more like gnome.

Thanks for the help.

[bigj231]

Is this problem in Ubuntu or Mint?
You might check pulseaudio and see if it is detecting your HDMI out. You could also try a different sound server. Also, start looking around at the Pulseaudio configs if you haven't already done so. The GRUB switch from Ubuntu 12.04 might work with Ubuntu 12.10/Mint 14.
Seeing how Mint is built on Ubuntu, some of the upstream bugs are still apparent in Mint.

And yes, a second thread for the second question would be better. I don't believe that there is a way to (easily) add a second panel to Cinnamon. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[billmc]

Is this problem in Ubuntu or Mint?

Actually its a problem in both Ubuntu 12.04 and Mint 14. The HDMI output is being detected in both distros as well. When I run alsamixer and choose the HDMI output, there is only one setting available, S/PDIF. This setting is not muted, but indicates the output is 00. Nothing I do changes that. The only change I can make is to mute it and unmute it.

The GRUB switch from Ubuntu 12.04 might work with Ubuntu 12.10/Mint 14.

I did try using the switch in grub again, it didn't work and I'm not looking at the post where I found it; but it was something like adding radeon = 1. Maybe I'm making assumptions I shouldn't, but after originally making that change for the first 12.04 kernel in grub, I never added it again to any of the follow on kernel updates. I assumed, because I didn't add it and it continued working, that the kernel had been fixed.Now this is a fresh install of Ubuntu 12.04 with updates applied and that switch doesn't work. The switch also doesn't work with Mint 14.

You could also try a different sound server. Also, start looking around at the Pulseaudio configs if you haven't already done so.

I've read numerous posts where other folks with this same hardware are having similar problems, but as of yet, haven't found a singular solution that seems to work all the time. Although I haven't yet tried a sound server other than Pulseaudio, everything I've read points in the direction of the hardware driver. (I am being lazy and have ordered a card with a nVida chipset, but that won't arrive until late next week, dare I say next year.) I'd prefer to have the sound working before then. It does all work fine on the analog output, but the box runs through the stereo to the TV for a monitor; using analog isn't a viable option.

[robbt]

I've had a great deal of trouble with this particular card in Linux. It's built into my laptop and is of the hybrid graphic driver variety. It worked for me reasonably well under Ubuntu 10.04 and 12.04 but I never got the HDMI working properly. Then 12.10 broke the video and I installed Linux Mint Debian Edition and the fglrx broke the video as well. The problem with Radeon is that this the video driver also controls the fans and the machine runs hot and the fan runs at full speed with the open-source driver. It's good to hear that you have this working on Debian, perhaps I will try that.

I read that this chipset is no longer supported by the newer catalyst driver but I don't know if that is true or not, but that was the message displayed by the fglrx installer for LMDE and like I said it didn't work, at the same time installing an older version of catalyst that I think I read supported it didn't work for me under LMDE. So perhaps if support was phased out it isn't compatible with the newer linux kernels. I would have no problem using Radeon if it didn't result in my laptop being non-functional due to the fan issues. Perhaps I will try Debian stable if you even got HDMI sound output working.

[billmc]

I hadn't heard that this chipset was no longer supported, that's interesting. When I downloaded and installed the latest driver from AMD's support site (they say its still a beta) it reported back to me, that no hardware was found. So maybe you're right, the support is no longer there.

Previous, I did have it working in Ubuntu 12.04. What I don't remember is when or how I initially got it going. I've been keeping the same /home on a seperate disk for quit some time now, and using it for all distros (multiboot and upgrades). It was getting rather cluttered with a bunch of hidden files for programs I no longer had, and it also caused some funky things, from time to time, for setting, such as gnome, that were different versions. So this time, I decided that each distro would have its own /home directory, and I'd link the stuff like Documents, etc, back to the seprate disk, mounted in a different location. This way, no mater which way I booted, that stuff would always be there, and I'd still only have to run one backup job.

But doing this, has caused 12.04 to no longer output sound through HDMI. Using the fglrx drivers through the HDMI port, did mess with my video as well, but not so that it wasn't useable. I ended up have a small black border around the entire desktop (it wasn't driving the video to the full size of the screen).

Before ordering it, stuff I read on line about the nVidia 5200 series chipsets, although not the newest, seem to work very well with Linux. So that's what I ordered (an Asus card). It should be here in the next day or two, so I'm hoping it'll solve my problem and keep me from having to repeat this escapade.

That .asoundrc file I mentioned before, was noted in the wiki to be a per user setup. I didn't try, but you may be able to do the same thing in the /etc/asound.conf file for system wide use. Other than that particular thing, the stock Debian kernel, without proprietary drives handled the video over HDMI just fine.

[TxLnx]

I just installed Mint 13 64-bit on my Inspiron desktop that uses this chipset. I had to change a line in the GRUB file to get the HDMI audio to work. Found the fix here:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/67113/fast-video-playback-with-no-sound.
Worked for me.

[billmc]

Found the fix here:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/67113/fa ... h-no-sound.
Worked for me.

When I mentioned earlier that didn't work for me, I forgot to run update-grub. On my partition for Ubuntu 12.04, went back and did that, now audio comes over the Radeon HDMI port.

Mint 14 - no joy.

I'm taking the lazy (easy) way out. My new video card came in, the one with the Nvidia GT 520 chipset. With this card I learned that the nouveau opensource drivers will not output audio via HDMI, you must use the proprietary drivers. I downloaded and installed the latest drivers from Nvidia. I now have audio via HDMI on both Ubuntu 12.04 and Mint 14.

I found this article from Nvidia:
ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/gpu-hdmi-audio-document/gpu-hdmi-audio.html

Although they say it pertains only to Nvidia chipsets, I learned quit a bit about how and where to troubleshoot alsa sound; you may find it useful. They do talk about various bugs and in which kernel they were patched, and they give the links to these. The article is dated Feb. 2012, and some of the fixes they anticipate coming in the 3.2 kernel. Maybe they all didn't quit make it and that's the reason for the radeon.audio=1 grub switch in Ubuntu 12.04 / Mint 13.

I have an MSI motherboard that the RS880 is output from. In the BIOS I have selections for onboard video or pci. Because the onboard video always shows up as card0 in /proc/asound, I discovered that I needed to disable that setting in BIOS. The reason being (as I understand things anyway) sound needs to go over the same HDMI output as the video. The system will choose the first card it comes across, so as long as my onboard stuff was enabled, the output never made it to the nvidia pci card.

Another thing I learned; I read where a monitor needs to be connected to the HDMI port before the system will use it. I was not able to hot swap between HDMI ports. I had to power down, then up, in order to use the "other" HDMI port.

I imagine if you wanted to, you could get into the xorg.conf file and enable both HDMI ports (I'm thinking using more than one monitor). I don't have a need for this, so I'm not going to try.

So at this time, I'm not going to persue a fix for the RS880 issue. I didn't find the answer for that, but took a different approach to get my system working; thefore the title Closed not Solved.

[rob1980]

I've only just read this after installing mint KDE14, I again found myself without HDMI audio with the above internal AGP.

The link provided above with the grub edit fix works for me, as it did previous.

I simply forget how I've fixed things when I install a new distro, or newer version.

An option to enable it during install would be far better!!

http://askubuntu.com/questions/67113/fa ... h-no-sound. < this one works for me anyway, obviously no drivers for this card now other than open source that come with mint, fortunately for me, they are my prefered driver for this card