speaker not working after headphones used on asus eee

[guythp]

I have done a quick search so sorry if this has already been asked, but I recently installed mint mate edition on an old asus eee and have noticed that the speakers stop working after I've plugged headphones in - The headphones play sound whilst plugged in but after I unplug them, the speakers don't work unless I run alsamixer from the terminal and force the speakers on again. Is this a known issue and does anyone know a way to fix it other than using alsamixer each time?

It's a small issue but one that would be useful to sort. Thanks in advance.

Guy

[MrEen]

Hi Guy.

I believe if you install and run PulseAudio Volume Control (pavucontrol,) this will probably sort it out for you.

If you have any questions afterwards, just ask.

[guythp]

Thanks for the suggestion but it still doesn't work - pulseaudio shows music playing but there isn't any sound, until I use alsamixer to force thr volume back up. Pulseaudio acknowledges if the headphones are plugged in or not. Weird.

[MrEen]

Let's try this. On the Output Devices tab of pavucontrol it should look something like this (not my image, stolen off the web):

In your case, the Port will be different and the volume slider(s) may only be one for each section.

Start with working speakers and play a song or video and adjust the volume a little bit using the slider(s) on this page. Then plug in the headphones. The Port hopefully changed on its own. Again, adjust the volume a smidge using the slider(s). Now unplug the headphones. If the Port changed back but the sound went mute, click on the little volume icon in the upper right of the image (beside a padlock and checkmark.) Did this get sound back if it had muted? If so, in the terminal enter [csudo ]alsactl store[/c] and we'll see if that helps preserve the sound settings.

[guythp]

I am most grateful for your persistence in helping me!

I tried as you suggested above and when I unplug the headphones the speakers fail to kick in despite the little sounbar indicating that it's playing music.

Oddly, alsamisxer shows two 'headphones' columns after the master volume one and it is the first 'headphone' column that goes to zero (or mute) when the headphones are unplugged.

I do appreciate your assistance but I think I'll just have to make to with the aslamixer work-around for the time being

[MrEen]

I still think this can be sorted.

When something is playing but you're not hearing it, run pacmd list-sinks in the terminal and paste the output back here. It might be as simple as the wrong selection on the Configuration tab of pavucontrol, which this will help detect.

[guythp]

It shows this :

Code: Select all

1 sink(s) available.
  * index: 0
	name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY
	state: RUNNING
	suspend cause: 
	priority: 9039
	volume: front-left: 49808 /  76% / -7.15 dB,   front-right: 49808 /  76% / -7.15 dB
	        balance 0.00
	base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	volume steps: 65537
	muted: no
	current latency: 84.00 ms
	max request: 16 KiB
	max rewind: 64 KiB
	monitor source: 0
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 48000Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	used by: 1
	linked by: 1
	configured latency: 90.00 ms; range is 0.50 .. 341.33 ms
	card: 0 <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0>
	module: 7
	properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "ALC269VB Analog"
		alsa.id = "ALC269VB Analog"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "0"
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel at 0xf7cf8000 irq 25"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.product.id = "27d8"
		device.product.name = "NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller"
		device.form_factor = "internal"
		device.string = "front:0"
		device.buffering.buffer_size = "65536"
		device.buffering.fragment_size = "32768"
		device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
		device.profile.name = "analog-stereo"
		device.profile.description = "Analogue Stereo"
		device.description = "Built-in Audio Analogue Stereo"
		alsa.mixer_name = "Realtek ALC269VB"
		alsa.components = "HDA:10ec0269,10438437,00100100"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	ports:
		analog-output-speaker: Speakers (priority 10000, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-speakers"
		analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
	active port: <analog-output-speaker>

Any idea?

[MrEen]

No idea I'm afraid. I have no idea why speakers are showing as not available, yet alsamixer kicks them back into gear.

Next time, try deleting the files in ~/.config/pulse then run pulseaudio -k in the terminal and wait a few seconds to see if the speakers come back.

[guythp]

I'll give that a go, it's not the end of the world if it doesn't work as I at least know how to force sound back on the speakers.

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it