Microphone not working in Linux Mint Cinnamon18 [SOLVED]

[MenthaSuaveolens]

I did a clean install with Linux Mint Cinnamon 18. Everything is working fine, except the microphone isn't working. This microphone was working with Linux Mint 17.3. I removed the file .config/pulse, but that didn't help.

If I boot from a live-usb with Ubuntu 16.4 or with Linux Mate 18, then the microphone is working! If you boot from a live-usb with Cinnamon 18, then the microphone isn't working.

Can you please give me any hints how to fix this problem? (Installing Mate 18, Ciannamon 17.3 or Ubuntu 16.4 is an option, but I would like to keep my Cinnamon-desktop).

Computer : Sable all-in-one PC (System76)

MicrophoneNotWorking.png

[yaye]

Hello,

What does the Output Tab look like?

[MenthaSuaveolens]

I have a screen-shot with the sound-dialogs Linux Mint Cinnamon 17.3 and 18. It looks that one sound-system isn't detected in Cinnamon 18, namely Analog Output. I don't know if that has a relationship with the microphone on the usb-camera. If I plug an external headset in, then the output towards this headset isn't working, however the microphone is working. The weird thing is, that the microphone input-level is also shown on the usb-camera-microphone-field? (May be once you plug an external headset in, the internal audio-system gets inhibitted - which makes sense).

[yaye]

I don't have Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon installed, but I ran it from a DVD and these are the settings I used in the Sound Applet (Right Click Speaker Icon) to get Audacity to record from the Front Mic. I don't have a USB Mic on this computer. At first, Audacity would not record. I found that the Mute Input slider was turned on in the Sound Applet. After I turned Mute Input off, Audacity started recording.

[phd21]

Hi "MenthaSuaveolens",

Install the Pulse Audio Volume control (pavucontrol) from the Software Manager or Synaptic Package Manager (SPM) and check its settings.

There are some really nice graphical (GUI) programs for sound that start with "Qas", like the fantastic "Qasmixer", in the Software Manager or Synaptic Package Manager (SPM) that you can install and use. Sound "Mixers" can be a little confusing if you are not familiar with them. If you bring up "Qasmixer" make it full screen, on the right side you will have mixer devices where you can control your system sound devices. If you do not see the mixer devices on the upper right, then hit "F6". The item "sysdefault" will show all installed sound card devices and you will have various options to adjust various volume controls using "sliders" which you can turn off and on using the "dot" below the volume slider, a solid dot means that it is on (enabled). You may also have to check the other mixer devices and or sound cards listed below the mixer devices (if there are any), then re-check the mixer devices for that sound device. If you have volume sliders that are maxed out at the highest volume, you will get distortion, just lower the volume. There are also various other check boxes below that you can use. You may have to do a little experimenting to see which settings and options work best for your hardware. For Microphones, make sure capture and mic options are enabled and that their volume sliders are at least at half way.


The applications included are:
- qasconfig - browser for the alsa configuration tree
- qashctl - mixer for alsa's high level control interface
- qasmixer - desktop mixer with features similar to alsamixer
qasmixer is a desktop mixer application for alsa's "simple mixer interface" and offers features similar to alsamixer. it also features a sytem tray icon with basic mixer functionality.

Hope this helps ...

[yaye]

I tried using a USB webcam with Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon, and even with Pulse Audio Volume Control installed and the webcam microphone set as default, I still couldn't get the microphone to record my voice. With Linux Mint 17.3 MATE, Audacity records from the webcam microphone.

[MenthaSuaveolens]

It's a bug in the file /usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/modules/cs_sound.py
@line 607 : self.inputSelector = self.buildDeviceSelect("output", self.inputDeviceList) the word "output" should be replaced by "input" !

[Linux-Bill]

I am new to Linux - hence need sim[ple to under instructions to edit this file. Currently, I do not have permission. How do I get permission to edit same?

[phd21]

Hi "Linux-Bill", "MenthaSuaveolens", & Anyone Else Interested in this,

The fantastic "Qasmixer" program would probably work without having to edit this file. But, if this is a bug in Cinnamon, then kudos to "MenthaSuaveolens" for locating it and providing a fix for it.

There are two ways to edit this file, from a console terminal command prompt, or using your file manager.

1.) Console Terminal prompt: Open a console terminal, and copy the command below and paste that into it, or type it in. Then, follow the instructions from "MenthaSuaveolens" last post. Do not forget to save the file, and then log out, and log back in, or restart your computer. Then, you should have regular control through normal sound applications. Note: the "gedit" in the command below is a text editor that is usually installed in most editions of Linux Mint, if not you can first install it by typing in sudo apt-get install gedit. Be careful what you type, syntax matters.

Command to edit the sound file is below.
sudo gedit /usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/modules/cs_sound.py

Code: Select all

sudo gedit /usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/modules/cs_sound.py

2.) Using your file manager: Bring up your file manager, browse to the root folder, then to "/usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/modules/", right click the file "cs_sound.py", choose root actions, open as text, enter your password, make the change as was suggested, save the file, exit the text editor, logout and log back in, or restart your computer.

Note: There are a lot of changes in Linux Mint 18, one of which I do not like, is that the "root" options are not all available as before, so you may have to browse to the folder (not the file) "/usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/" right click the "/modules" folder and select "actions", "open as root" user, enter your password, when the file manager as root user appears, browse to and right click the file "cs_sound.py", open as text, make the change, save the file, exit the text editor, logout and log back in, or restart your computer.


Hope this helps ...

[MenthaSuaveolens]

Hi Linux-Bill,

First of all, I'am not sure that the solution before-mentioned will work in your case. The first thing that you have to do is to install gedit. You can do that either in the software-center, either via terminal command : sudo apt-get install gedit. Then enter the following line sudo gedit /usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/modules/cs_sound.py (Editing the file as a super-user - you can copy this command here and paste it into the terminal Ctrl-Shift-v). Enable the line-numbers in the preferences. Then at line 609 you have to replace the word "output" by "input". Save the file (See the button near to the left-top). Go to the sounds-dialog. Check if your microphone is working now. I'll hope its works! Good luck.

[Linux-Bill]

Changed the code and all is well. Thanks for the help - I would have never found that myself.

[Prsman]

Sorry late to the party. When I run the sudo gedit command I get this in terminal:

(gedit:4659): Gtk-WARNING **: Calling Inhibit failed: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.gnome.SessionManager was not provided by any .service files

** (gedit:4659): WARNING **: Set document metadata failed: Setting attribute metadata::gedit-spell-enabled not supported

** (gedit:4659): WARNING **: Set document metadata failed: Setting attribute metadata::gedit-encoding not supported

** (gedit:4659): WARNING **: Set document metadata failed: Setting attribute metadata::gedit-position not supported


Gedit opens and I seem to be able to edit the file. What does the above error message mean? Thanks

[bpmint]

It's a bug in the file /usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/modules/cs_sound.py
@line 607 : self.inputSelector = self.buildDeviceSelect("output", self.inputDeviceList) the word "output" should be replaced by "input" !

Hi Mentha,
I had the same problem and this was also the solution for me (I thought PulseAudio was just failing to save the choice of default mic). Has this bug been reported on the tracker?

EDIT: Never mind, I found it here.

[Nic Deane]

Dear Mentha,

Thank you so much for your help. I have just bought a Logitech 920 and although I could get Pulse Audio to see the Sound Input it wasn't 'working'. Following your advice, a couple of pastes into a terminal and all was fine! Without the help of these forums I would have been quite stuck. All is great now

Mint forums really are SO helpful!

Nic Deane

[lynxfan]

Thanks to the forums.
My USB microfone working fine after the below changes to the file /usr/share/cinnamon/cinnamon-settings/modules/cs_sound.py
self.inputSelector = self.buildDeviceSelect("output", self.inputDeviceList) # the line with bug
self.inputSelector = self.buildDeviceSelect("input", self.inputDeviceList) #correct changes

Tested with Microsoft webcam & SENNHEISER headset