Mint 18 sound stopped working all the sudden

[wiz22]

So I installed Mint 18 Cinnamon just two or three weeks ago on this Alienware laptop and everything worked perfectly. Until just a few days ago my sound stopped working, why??

I have no idea what to do, I had no issues with Linux Mint 17.2 and 17.3 for over a year on this comp...I'm a regular linux user so my only suspect is updates screwed things for me, but what updates and when? Like, I have no idea...I dual-boot with win7 (without telemetry updates and other win10 crap) and can confirm the sound works just fine...

Here's stuff:

my inxi -Fxz

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System:    Host: wiz-G75VW Kernel: 4.4.0-21-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.3.1)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.0.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.1)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18 Sarah
Machine:   System: ASUSTeK (portable) product: G75VW v: 1.0
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: G75VW v: 1.0
           Bios: American Megatrends v: G75VW.207 date: 04/06/2012
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-3610QM (-HT-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 18357
           clock speeds: max: 3300 MHz 1: 1804 MHz 2: 1218 MHz 3: 1924 MHz
           4: 1263 MHz 5: 1784 MHz 6: 1322 MHz 7: 1371 MHz 8: 1859 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GF114M [GeForce GTX 670M] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.01hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 670M/PCIe/SSE2
           GLX Version: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 361.42 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 7 Series/C210 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Card-2 NVIDIA GF114 HDMI Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-21-generic
Network:   Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter
           driver: ath9k bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: wlp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet
           driver: atl1c v: 1.0.1.1-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 04:00.0
           IF: enp4s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 750.2GB (16.5% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST9750420AS size: 750.2GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 398G used: 76G (21%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 8.55GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda6
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 49.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 0.0:57C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 2000
Info:      Processes: 231 Uptime: 1:02 Memory: 1268.6/7943.4MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.421) inxi: 2.2.35 

cat /proc/asound/pcm

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00-00: VT1802 Analog : VT1802 Analog : playback 1 : capture 1
00-01: VT1802 Digital : VT1802 Digital : playback 1
00-02: VT1802 Alt Analog : VT1802 Alt Analog : playback 1
01-03: HDMI 0 : HDMI 0 : playback 1
01-07: HDMI 0 : HDMI 0 : playback 1
01-08: HDMI 0 : HDMI 0 : playback 1
01-09: HDMI 0 : HDMI 0 : playback 1

Google is not what it used to be, I can only find messages old as Linux Mint 15...the Linux 17 ones have sound "not working", but my sound DID work, so...no clue.

Here are things I tried from google:

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sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils
sudo apt-get install linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils
sudo reboot

I tried rebooting alsa-sound, and some other stuff on the internet that I don't remember...
Hope somebody can help...very tired right now but I try keep optimistic. Say if any more information is needed. Thanks!

[wiz22]

Uh, so I made a really weird discovery, apparently my sound in games, VLC, and flash-player all works, but not my desktop sound. That didn't happen before I tried all this other stuff around....well...I have no idea what is going on but at least I won't have to use windows!

Anyway I would still like this thing fixed, thanks!

[jimallyn]

Are you talking about system sounds? Click Menu, Preferences, Sound, then click the Sound Effects tab.

[aestarr]

This has been mentioned before, and it helped me, but installing Pulse Audio Volume Control often helps:

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sudo apt-get install pavucontrol

What happened for me is that Pulse Audio was using my HDMI audio output as the only thing playing sounds, not headphones or the internal speakers. I hope this helps!
Edit: Specifically on the Playback panel, every application was set to a Built-In Digital Audio (HDMI 2). This should be set to the audio card. I've even had this problem after weeks of use, suddenly the only output device was considered to be the HDMI.

[wiz22]

Thanks for replying!

Are you talking about system sounds? Click Menu, Preferences, Sound, then click the Sound Effects tab.

Yes exactly, woke up a few hours ago and sound works in everything else (flash on web, games, VLC player etc..)

This has been mentioned before, and it helped me, but installing Pulse Audio Volume Control often helps:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol

What happened for me is that Pulse Audio was using my HDMI audio output as the only thing playing sounds, not headphones or the internal speakers. I hope this helps!
Edit: Specifically on the Playback panel, every application was set to a Built-In Digital Audio (HDMI 2). This should be set to the audio card. I've even had this problem after weeks of use, suddenly the only output device was considered to be the HDMI.

I already have pavucontrol installed, sorry not mentioning it, but maybe that's the reason I have sound? Because before I couldn't play music or anything, total silence, now I hear everything apart from desktop stuff. I tried experimenting with things on pacuvontrol but there aren't many options and nothing that changed my desktop sound...