HOWTO: Four Solutions to Chrome/Chromium with no audio

Write tutorials for Linux Mint here
More tutorials on https://github.com/orgs/linuxmint/discu ... /tutorials and (archive) on https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial
Forum rules
Don't add support questions to tutorials; start your own topic in the appropriate sub-forum instead. Before you post read forum rules
Locked
cypherdtraitor
Level 1
Level 1
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2015 2:53 pm

HOWTO: Four Solutions to Chrome/Chromium with no audio

Post by cypherdtraitor »

Scenario: You have Chrome or Chromium installed and the application produces no sound. Most other applications produce sound. This is NOT for a system that plays NO sound.

Note: You can install the proprietary version of Google Chrome here. This has the benefit of being compatible with DRM controlled content like Netflix and Amazon Prime

I have found four root causes and their solutions. Correct them in this order:

I. Verify that sound is enabled for Chrome
1. Open the sound management application by clicking Start > Preferences > Sound
2. On the output tab, verify that sound is being played through a devices, probably built-in audio, depends on your equipment
3. Use the "Test Sound" feature to verify that sound works on your computer. If it doesn't, this is a system wide problem, not chrome. Exit this tutorial and search for answers elsewhere.
4. Go to the Applications tab
5. Start Chrome/Chromium, go to http://www.youtube.com, and start playing a video. Chrome/Chromium should appear as an application here. If not, then you need to update to the newest version of Chrome/Chromium, or reinstall Chrome/Chromium. If you cannot get Chrome to appear here, then this tutorial does not address your problem.
6. Verify that sound is not muted for Chrome. If it is, then unmute Chrome. If not, proceed to procedure II.

II. Verify that Chrome's audio is being piped to the correct device using the pavucontrol application
1. Install the pavucontrol app
$ sudo apt-get install pavucontrol
2. Start the pavucontrol app
$ pavucontrol
3. Go to the playback tab
4. If chrome/chromium is not currently playing a video, start one in youtube
5. Chrome/chromium should appear in the playback tab. The output device should be listed. Try changing it to other output devices. (If pavucontrol refuses to cooperate, try restarting it with "$sudo pavucontrol"
If this procedure fixes the problem, it is likely because chrome correctly triggered an audio output device change when you plugged into a TV or speaker system, but failed to return to its original state when the cable was unplugged.

III. Verify that your google-chrome/chromium installation is not corrupted.
1. uninstall chromium using the package manager, or uninstall chrome using the .deb file from google.
2. There is a hidden folder full of chromium data that has to be eliminated. In the file browser (nemo for linux mint, nautilus for others), go to:
/home/<your username>/.config
Rename the folder "google-chrome" to "google-chrome-delete"
3. Reboot your machine
4. re-install Chrome/Chromium
5. Open chrome/chromium, but DON'T SIGN IN. Go straight to http://www.youtube.com and test a video.
6. If sound worked in step 5, you have a corrupted user profile. Sign in and delete all of your extensions and add ons. 90% of the time one of those is breaking your sound.
7. If sound DIDN'T work on step 5, your user profile was not the root cause of the issue. You may want to restore your old google chrome profile. To do this, close all instances of chrome/chromium. Go to /home/<your username>/.config. Delete the new google-chrome folder and rename "google-chrome-delete" to "google-chrome".

IV. Reinstall ALSA/Pulseaudio (This part I am unsure of)
I haven't had to do this, and my advice will probably be wrong. RESEARCH this solution elsewhere.
It should boil down to:
$sudo apt-get purge alsa-utils
(reboot your computer)
$sudo apt-get install alsa-utils
If this is wrong (and it probably is) you'll likely need to reinstall your OS, so back up your files.
geomon

Re: HOWTO: Four Solutions to Chrome/Chromium with no audio

Post by geomon »

I love you man, thanks.
arevalosoft

Re: HOWTO: Four Solutions to Chrome/Chromium with no audio

Post by arevalosoft »

Thank you very much! :D
kalleowned

Re: HOWTO: Four Solutions to Chrome/Chromium with no audio

Post by kalleowned »

Just did the registration to tell you: I love you! :D
The third solution was the one that I needed.
Locked

Return to “Tutorials”