Sound Troubleshooting

This tutorial will try to help you hear sound again! Notice that there is a newer version of this guide available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iTlJ8BfqXUjaHO__TEdlkvuqB1WLOkGaudngc5SFLMI/edit

If you don’t hear sound in flash, open up a Terminal window, and type in it:
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libesd.so.0 /usr/lib/libesd.so.1
sudo mkdir -p /tmp/.esd/
sudo touch /tmp/.esd/socket


Preliminary Checks:

Make sure your speakers are on turned on, not muted, and on full volume
Make sure your speakers are plugged in correctly (usually plugged into a green jack)

Check 1: Check if the problem is the hardware or the software

Burn a LiveCD of any system (preferrably ubuntu), put it in your disk tray, and reboot. See if you can hear sound (by playing an audio file, or something). If you have windows, see if sound works there.
Success: You hear sound, go to Check 2
Failure: You do not hear sound.
This can be caused by 4 things:

1. The LiveCD does not support sound correctly.
2. Your BIOS disabled your soundcard. Reboot, and hit the key to enter your BIOS (usually Esc, Delete, F1, F2, F8, or F12). *TODO: Add more info*
3. Your soundcard is broken. Replace it
4. Your speakers are broken. Replace them

Check 2: Check if ALSA recognizes your soundcard(s)

Boot back into your normal system, open up a Terminal window, and type in it:

aplay -l

Success: You see your soundcard(s)
Type in the Terminal window:

sudo usermod -aG audio `whoami`

Log out, and log back in, then follow the alsamixer section, making sure everything is at full volume, and then test your sound using (you might have to run it a few times):

aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav

Success: You hear sound
Failure: You do not hear sound. Use this guide: http://idyllictux.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/ubuntu-904-jaunty-keeping-the-beast-pulseaudio-at-bay/

Reboot and then follow the alsamixer section

Failure 1: You see something similar to:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
ALSA lib conf.c:3643:(snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf
ALSA lib control.c:882:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL hw:0
aplay: device_list:249: control open (0): No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3643:(snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf
ALSA lib control.c:882:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL hw:1
aplay: device_list:249: control open (1): No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3643:(snd_config_update_r) Cannot access file /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf
ALSA lib control.c:882:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL hw:2
aplay: device_list:249: control open (2): No such file or directory

Simply type in it:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall libasound2

Then follow the Alsamixer section
Failure 2: You see something similar to:

aplay: device_list:221: no soundcard found...

Type in the Terminal window:

sudo aplay -l

Success: You see your soundcard(s).
Type in the Terminal window:
sudo usermod -aG audio `whoami`
Reboot, and follow Check 2
Failure 2: Follow Check 3

Check 3: Check if your system recognizes your soundcard(s)

Type in the Terminal window:

lspci -nn | grep '04[80][13]'

Success: You see results, move on to Check 4
Failure: You do not see results, which means that Ubuntu does not detect your soundcard. *TODO: Add more info*

Check 4: Check if your soundcard(s) are supported by ALSA

Look for your soundcard here: http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main
Success: Your soundcard is listed. Move on to Check 6
Failure: Your soundcard isn’t listed. Move on to Check 5

Check 5: Check if your soundcard(s) are supported by OSS 4
NOTICE: This technique is listed in https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshooting as a last resort. Use this technique with caution because it removes ALSA, the default sound system in Ubuntu. Do not be surprised if you sometimes randomly log out.

Look for your soundcard here: http://opensound.hg.sourceforge.net/hgweb/opensound/opensound/file/3db750724c2d/devlists/Linux
Success: Your soundcard is listed. Follow the instructions here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OpenSound, and then here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9872284&postcount=4
Failure: *TODO: Add more info*

Check 6: Check if your the driver for your soundcard(s) is installed

Type in the terminal window:

sudo modprobe snd-

DO NOT PRESS ENTER. Press the TAB key twice.
Press y if it asks you if you want to see all results
Look for your soundcard driver. Mine is via82xx, so I found: snd-via82xx.
Success: You found your soundcard driver. Type in the rest of your soundcard driver, and press ENTER.
Type in the Terminal window:

echo "snd-yoursoundcarddriver" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

Reboot, then open up a Terminal window, and type in it:

aplay -l

Success: You should see your soundcards. Follow the alsamixer section
Failure: *TODO: Add more info*

Failure: You didn’t find your soundcard driver.
Type in the Terminal window:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils

Reboot, then open up a Terminal window, and type in it:

aplay -l

Success: You see your soundcards. Follow the alsamixer section
Failure: You didn’t see your soundcards.
Follow these instructions: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1681577

Using Alsamixer

Type in the Terminal window:

alsamixer

Success: You should see a nice mixer
To navigate, use the left and right arrow keys
To increase/decrease volume, use the up and down arrow keys, respectively
To mute/unmute, use the M key. Unmuted channels should appear green at the bottom.
To exit, use the Esc key.

To store your settings for the next boot, exit, and type in it:

sudo alsactl store 0

Or if this is your nth sound card (where n is the number of soundcards in your computer) replace 0 with n-1 (so if this is your second sound card, replace 0 by 1).

To test your sound, exit, and type in it (you might have to repeat it a few times):

aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav

Success: You hear sound
Failure: You do not hear sound.
Follow Check 2

Failure: Follow Check 2

If you had any problems with this guide, feel free to comment below!

Credits:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=205449
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=1183439&postcount=1