No system (events) sounds in Linux Mint XFCE 18 and 19

[Tomsat50]

I have just installed LM 18.3 Xfce on my old Acer Aspire 5310 laptop which has become unuseable with Windows 10: all major (forced) updates result in crashes.
All works fine now with Linux Mint, the laptop is MUCH quicker, and has started with it's second life...
The only issue is that I cannot activate the system sounds (startup sound, annuciations, etc)!
I can play audio files and audio streams without any problem, using the internal speakers as well as on the headphones.
I have read several threads regarding this issue, and could not find any solution.
So I hope that someone can help me out.
UPDATE: I have installed a newer version (Tara) which does not fix it, unfortunately.....

[a60man]

I recently installed 64 Bit Mint Cinnamon and Mate on two hard drives, one of them gave the startup sound, not sure which, but subsequent boots, no startup sound. Sound working well otherwise.

[MrEen]

Hi Tomsat50.

For starters, are the 2 Event sounds boxes checked in Menu > Settings > Appearance > Settings tab?

This topic may help as well.

[Tomsat50]

Hi MisterEen,

Thanks for your reply.
I try to create the SoundThemeName setting, but I do not know how to create it.
After pressing "New" a popup appears named "New Property", see screenshot.
Can you tell me what I should enter??

Schermafdruk_2018-10-16_14-13-21.png

[MrEen]

For Property:

Code: Select all

/Net/SoundThemeName

For Type:

Code: Select all

String

Then a new choice, Value, will open where you enter a folder name that exists in /usr/share/sounds such as

Code: Select all

freedesktop

or

Code: Select all

LinuxMint

[Tomsat50]

Thanks, I have created the SoundThemeName in the NET xsettings.
In addition I have modified the index.theme in the /usr/shared/sounds/freedesktop folder: Name=freedesktop instead of Name=Default.
I have also verified that both event soundboxes are checked in Menu>Settings>Appearance>Settings.
I have also created the 2 missing files in /etc/X11/Xsession.d (libcanberra etc.)
Still, no sounds after a reboot.....

[MrEen]

What's the output of running sudo fuser -v /dev/snd/* in the terminal?

[Tomsat50]

This is what I see:

Schermafdruk van 2018-10-18 11-54-53.png

[MrEen]

Okay, it's normal.

Maybe try a different sound theme in case there is some problem with your copy of freedesktop. That other thread I linked to has links to a couple of others that I preferred over the default anyway.

[Tomsat50]

Thanks, I will try it out.
In the mean time I have the freedesktop sound theme replaced with LinuxMint, and I have some 'popping' sounds when opening windows....
So I am making some progresss.... I will try to install the Borealis sound theme, see what's happening.
UPDATE: I have the start-up sound with some work-around: http://pclosmag.com/html/Issues/201305/page09.html
I only had to install sox to make it working.
Learning every day...