HDMI sound stopped? [SOLVED]

[Baldlygo]

Have been using my Dell to show Netflicks etc happily on my TV for months with Mint 17.1 Cinnamon. Two days ago I upgraded to 17.2 - all appeared to work ok (but did not try HDMI TV). Thinking the new version would now support my Bluetooth music player I ran some commands to try and get the player to appear as an output in pulseaudio - no instant success so I gave up. Then this evening I discovered that I could no longer get sound over the hdmi to the TV (picture OK) . Since this is the first time tried since both 17.2 upgrade and bluetooth commands I do not know which caused my problem

Maybe I should have taken the advice of 'If working OK' - don't upgrade - BUT I didn't - help very welcome please.

Code: Select all

inxi -Axx
Audio:     Card: Intel 7 Series/C210 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller 
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:1e20 
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-24-generic

[seeley]

Hi!
Maybe you' ll find a hint in my help (-> signature).
BTW: I had troubles with upgrading, too; so I went back to LM 17 (new installation).

[Baldlygo]

I did do a Systemback restore point before upgrading - should I risk going back with Sytemback restore? What do people think?

[mzsade]

If you have exhausted all possibilites i suggest you give this a shot. Install pavucontrol. You may find something that helps under the 'Configuration' tab.

[Baldlygo]

Used Systemback to go back to 17.1 - very impressed, took less than 15min. My HDMI sound had returned. So upgraded again to 17.2 and HDMI sound still working fine. So my problem must have been caused by me trying to load module for Bluetooth music player I can easily live without that so me's now quite happy again. Thanks for comments.
Paul

[phd21]

Hi Baldlygo, and anyone else with sound, and or HDMI sound issues,

FYI: Any time you have numerous sound devices, (sound card(s), bluetooth, HDMI, etc...), you might have to tell your system which one, or all of them, that you want to use at any particular time. There are some really good programs (utilities) available in your Software Manager or Synaptic Package Manager (SPM) that start with "Qas" which you can search for and install. "Qasmixer" is fantastic and shows all current sound devices on the right side of its screen with various control options. Some applications already have some sound (audio) and or video control options which you can check first before changing "Qasmixer" settings. If you bring up "Qasmixer" , then click "sysdefault" on the right side, you will have numerous options to choose from, the "slider controls" have a "dot" at the bottom which if you click one turns that "on" or "off". Then, there are numerous check boxes at the bottom, select any appropriate ones for your purpose; and the bottom portion scrolls to provide even more options. You might want to "print screen" to save a copy (or copies) of the options of the original working configuration, and other working ones, or just remember them.

Hope this helps ...

[Baldlygo]

Your post sounded interesting phd21 so I went and installed it in Software Manager. Then I found I had lost my HDMI sound again So Sytemback to 17.1 and upgrade again (I should had done a clean Systemback with 17.2)

I am very confused as to how sound works on my Linux Mint - I am using PulseAudio and I now understand Qasmixer is ALSA and the two don't seem to mix. Sound seems to reside outside my understanding of system setting and while it is going OK I don't normally care - however if anyone knows of a good basic simple description I would like to know more.