Ubuntu
alsa-driver package

Sennheiser USB headset not listed as device in aplay -l

Asked by hipitihop

I have a Sennheiser USB headset model PC 8 USB which when plugged in shows in dmesg (see bellow) however the device is not listed via "aplay -l" and does not show up as a valid input/output device in sound settings or pavucontrol.

I have installed and updated/upgraded using sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev/ppa

Kernel: 3.8.0-35-generic #50~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Dec 4 17:25:51 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Ubuntu: 12.04.3

also-info.sh output mentioned on https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProcedure posted: http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=c35e4d07adf0a31647f2c9ddf9f46df75ba6c809

/usr/share/alsa/cards/USB-Audio.conf here: http://paste.ubuntu.com/6700927/

*** DMESG trace ****
[ 6393.031441] usb 3-1: new full-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[ 6393.052766] usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=1395, idProduct=0025
[ 6393.052771] usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 6393.052774] usb 3-1: Product: Sennheiser USB headset
[ 6393.052776] usb 3-1: Manufacturer: Sennheiser Communications
[ 6393.053749] input: Sennheiser Communications Sennheiser USB headset as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-1/3-1:1.3/input/input22
[ 6393.053929] hid-generic 0003:1395:0025.0008: input,hidraw4: USB HID v1.00 Device [Sennheiser Communications Sennheiser USB headset] on usb-0000:00:14.0-1/input3

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu alsa-driver Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
hipitihop
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

What is the output of :

lsusb

Thanks

Revision history for this message
hipitihop (denis-johnson) said : 		#2

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1395:0025 Sennheiser Communications
Bus 007 Device 002: ID 0424:2502 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 12cf:0106
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 046d:c31c Logitech, Inc. Keyboard K120 for Business
Bus 007 Device 003: ID 0424:2504 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 007 Device 004: ID 0424:223a Standard Microsystems Corp. 8-in-1 Card Reader

Revision history for this message
hipitihop (denis-johnson) said : 		#3

Further experiment: with assitance from irc channel, I upgraded the kernel on my 12.04.3 LTS, including having to switch to newer nvidia-331 driver, but this also does not resolve the issue. current kernel:

3.11.0-15-generic #23~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Tue Dec 10 16:39:48 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Revision history for this message
hipitihop (denis-johnson) said : 		#4

Further experiments: Both the 13.10 Desktop 64bit live CD and the 12.04.3 Desktop 64bit live CD both boot fine and the headset is listed as a device in "aplay -l" and shows in system sound settings as both an ouput and input headset device. Using the output setting sound test, audio plays as expected through the headset. I compared thed 12.04.3 live alsa package version and both alsa-base and alsa-tools are 1.0.25 whereas the 13.10 live has alsa-base 1.0.25 and alsa-tools 1.0.27, so alsa version numbers do not seem to explain the difference.

comparable lsub and dmesg output from the 12.04.3 live CD here:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/6707166/

The only difference I can spot is the hid-generic lines bellow, last 4 digits .0008 vs .0006 and hidraw4 vs hidraw0 but not sure if that is significant.

12.04.3 installed: [ 6393.053929] hid-generic 0003:1395:0025.0008: input,hidraw4: USB HID v1.00 Device [Sennheiser Communications Sennheiser USB headset] on usb-0000:00:14.0-1/input3

12.04.3 live: [ 2726.994776] hid-generic 0003:1395:0025.0006: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.00 Device [Sennheiser Communications Sennheiser USB headset] on usb-0000:00:14.0-1/input3

Just to confirm, the live cd variant bot 12.04.3 and 13.10 the headset works, my installed 12.04.3 does not.

Revision history for this message
hipitihop (denis-johnson) said : 		#5

In order to try and compare why the live cd 12.04.3 works, I booted into it (where the sennheiser works fine) and took the following traces to help compare with the installed 12.04.3 which does not work:

lsusb -vvv output: http://paste.ubuntu.com/6707885/
dmesg trace after boot: http://paste.ubuntu.com/6707904/
udevadm info -a -p http://paste.ubuntu.com/6707908/
/usr/share/alsa/cards/USB-Audio.conf
http://paste.ubuntu.com/6707914/

Revision history for this message
hipitihop (denis-johnson) said : 		#6

Is there some way to completely reset/reconfigure audio alsa & pulse ? It seems that since live cd 12.04 and 13.10 work perfectly out of the box, then somehow it is my installed 12.04 that has something broken

Revision history for this message
hipitihop (denis-johnson) said : 		#7

I have confirmed with latest updates the issue is still present, however I have also confirmed that this headset works on a full install of 12.04 on a laptop, so I assume mainly this works everywhere, not just a livecd difference, but that leaves me a little baffled as why it is failing on this machine

Revision history for this message
hipitihop (denis-johnson) said : 		#8

I'm coming back to trying to resolve this issue. I have since upgraded to latest 14.04 LTS and currently running 3.13.0-39-generic #66-Ubuntu SMP x86_64 and the problem continues

Revision history for this message
hipitihop (denis-johnson) said : 		#9

I have finally managed to get this working as follows:

1. /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
  a) comment out all references to # options snd-usb-audio index=-2
  b) add lines at end of file
       # Force Sennheiser PC 8
       alias snd-card-3 snd-usb-audio
       options snd-usb-audio index=3 vid=0x1395 pid=0x0025

2. Test by manually loading module `sudo modprobe snd-usb-audio` and confirm 'aplayl -l' shows card and you can select and test it in sound settings.

3. Organise to always load this module on boot by adding following line to /etc/modules
    snd-usb-audio