Can't Run alsamixer

[mhbgreen]

I've read through a lot of threads and can't figure this out. I'm having problems with my sound card not working and I'm trying to run alsamixer to see if it is muted but when I type alsamixer or alsamixer -c 1 in terminal it says "cannot open mixer: No such file or directory". Alsa-utils ans alsa-tools are latest version.

What do I have to do to run alsamixer?

Thanks.

I'm using this sound card:

https://www.digigram.com/products/sound ... ound-card/

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ocean@SuperLogics:~$  inxi -FAxz
System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-122-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.4.0 
  Desktop: MATE 1.26.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: H370 Pro4 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI [Legacy]: American Megatrends v: P1.00 date: 02/09/2018 
CPU:
  Topology: 6-Core model: Intel Core i5-8600K bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake rev: A L2 cache: 9216 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 43200 
  Speed: 4250 MHz min/max: 800/4300 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 4250 2: 3896 
  3: 3585 4: 4216 5: 4235 6: 4227 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 630 vendor: ASRock driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: modesetting 
  unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1360x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.6 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: PLX PCI9056 32-bit 66MHz PCI <-> IOBus Bridge vendor: Digigram 
  driver: N/A bus ID: 02:04.0 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-122-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: ASRock driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k 
  port: efa0 bus ID: 00:1f.6 
  IF: eno1 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Intel 82574L Gigabit Network driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k 
  port: 7000 bus ID: 04:00.0 
  IF: enp4s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-3: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 6000 bus ID: 07:00.0 
  IF: enp7s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-4: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 5000 bus ID: 08:00.0 
  IF: enp8s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-5: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 4000 bus ID: 09:00.0 
  IF: enp9s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-6: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 0a:00.0 
  IF-ID-1: enp10s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 7.73 TiB used: 14.12 GiB (0.2%) 
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 960 EVO 500GB 
  size: 465.76 GiB 
  ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: HGST (Hitachi) model: HUH728080ALE600 
  size: 7.28 TiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 456.88 GiB used: 14.12 GiB (3.1%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 52.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 214 Uptime: 12m Memory: 31.04 GiB used: 1.29 GiB (4.2%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.4.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 
  inxi: 3.0.38

[zcot]

It's not muted, it has no driver:

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Audio:
  Device-1: PLX PCI9056 32-bit 66MHz PCI <-> IOBus Bridge vendor: Digigram 
  driver: N/A bus ID: 02:04.0 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-122-generic 

It looks like that's a unique situation. I just did a quick search and only spent a couple minutes but check here: https://github.com/Digigram-audio/pcxhr

It mentions right there,

Earlier hardware revisions (or any other PCX/VX board) can use the snd-pcxhr driver that is already included in the Linux kernel.

which would include that vx822e you mention.
-you can just use the snd-pcxhr kernel module. You can sudo modprobe snd-pcxhr and see if that brings it up, that's a good start if it works correctly.

[mhbgreen]

Thanks, that solved it for me.

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sudo modprobe snd-pcxhr

My sound card wasn't detected and it is now after running that command. I guess alsamixer wouldn't run without a sound card.

Thanks

[zcot]

Thanks, that solved it for me.

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sudo modprobe snd-pcxhr

After you reboot then the kernel module will not be loaded. You will have to run that command again.

You can set this to load automatically at boot, like other modules, -just provide a configuration file in the file system.

copy/paste this terminal command, it will create the file and add the module name:

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echo 'snd-pcxhr' | sudo tee -a /etc/modules-load.d/snd-pcxhr.conf

[mhbgreen]

I reinstalled my OS and upgrade to Mint 20.4 and it wouldn't work with just the snd-pcxhr.

I had to do all of the following to get it to work:

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 sudo apt install alsa-tools 

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 sudo apt install alsa-firmware-loaders 

I downloaded the ALSA firmware from https://www.alsa-project.org/files/pub/ ... .4.tar.bz2 and extracted to my home folder, then:

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 sudo apt install build-essential 

Change directory to extracted folder:

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 cd ~/(name of extracted folder) 

mine was called "alsa-firmware-1.2.4"

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 ./configure 

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 make 

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 sudo make install 

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 sudo modprobe snd-pcxhr 

Then rebooted and it works. It still works after rebooting.

I followed this thread for the ALSA firmware install https://askubuntu.com/questions/493122/ ... t-detected

[zcot]

I reinstalled my OS and upgrade to Mint 20.4 and it wouldn't work with just the snd-pcxhr.

Hmm, weird. Mint 20.4 does not exist, -wonder what you're running?

Anyway, glad you got it worked out! good job!