No sound, adding user to audio group

Please send us the full terminal output from step 3 and step 4 from this procedure:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProcedure

Hmm, I don't think I can help directly here.

Maybe a little bit of background: There are 2 sound systems in Ubuntu. ALSA is used at the lower layer and pulseaudio on top of it. (I believe Kubuntu does only use ALSA by default. And there exist a couple of other Linux sound systems too, but they are not relevant for the non-expert in year 2010)

If 2 systems are layered, and the end user uses the higher one that unfortunately means that the whole chain only works if every part works. So your problem could be in either alsa or pulseaudio or both.

Myself I have never been forced to troubleshoot alsa, so I have really no advice there. For pulseaudio this link may be useful:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789578 (However, basically in a fresh 9.10 Karmic installation there should be no pulse problems)

> following the directions I found that her username was not in the audio group.

That's weird. But if you have created the username using Ubuntu's GUI tools (instead of editing /etc/passwd) things should just go right automatically. If it doesn't you might have a deeper problem. (I don't have a Karmic system handy right now, no idea whether the whole concept could have been changed that users no longer need to belong to this group)

>continued to try and change the username as advised, found the line, changed "pulse" to "pixiprincess",

I don't think removing pulse is a good idea. I have pulse and all real users and I have never done any manual changes. (But my system has an older history)

If a beginner really wants to try fiddling with groups, I'd recommend the GUI tools. Somewhere under System --> Admin --> Users and Groups. Actually "audio" doesn't seem to be shown as a group in the GUI, but for each username you can select whether the user is allowed to use audio devices.

> When I press enter I am given:
>'[ Error writing /etc/group: Permission denied ]'

You probably missed to use the sudo command. However, I would recommed this only if you really know what you are doing. Use the GUI instead. And maybe checked the raw files that your intended changes really happened.

Have you checked all sound settings under System --> Preferences --> Sound

One basic (command line) command you could try is alsamixer.

If pulseaudio is configured correctly just calling "alsamixer" will open the pulseaudio settings.

Your first sound card you will see with "alsamixer -c 0", the second one with "alsamixer -c 1"

Make sure nothing relevant is muted.

Thanks guys,

When following the steps at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProcedure on step 1 I come across the following message:

pixiprincess@happy:~$ /etc/init.d/alsa-utils stop
* Shutting down ALSA...
* warning: 'alsactl store' failed with error message 'alsactl: save_state:1530:
Cannot open /var/lib/alsa/asound.state for writing: Permission denied'...
                                                                               [fail]
pixiprincess@happy:~$

Here are the terminal outputs from steps 3 and 4

pixiprincess@happy:~$ wget -O alsa-info.sh http://212.20.107.51/alsa-info.sh
--2010-01-14 09:47:45-- http://212.20.107.51/alsa-info.sh
Connecting to 212.20.107.51:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found
Location: http://git.alsa-project.org/?p=alsa-driver.git;a=blob_plain;f=utils/alsa-info.sh [following]
--2010-01-14 09:47:48-- http://git.alsa-project.org/?p=alsa-driver.git;a=blob_plain;f=utils/alsa-info.sh
Resolving git.alsa-project.org... 212.20.107.51
Reusing existing connection to 212.20.107.51:80.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [text/plain]
Saving to: `alsa-info.sh'

    [ <=> ] 26,584 81.2K/s in 0.3s

2010-01-14 09:47:51 (81.2 KB/s) - `alsa-info.sh' saved [26584]

pixiprincess@happy:~$ bash alsa-info.sh --pastebin
ALSA Information Script v 0.4.58
--------------------------------

This script visits the following commands/files to collect diagnostic
information about your ALSA installation and sound related hardware.

  dmesg
  lspci
  lsmod
  aplay
  amixer
  alsactl
  /proc/asound/
  /sys/class/sound/
  ~/.asoundrc (etc.)

See 'alsa-info.sh --help' for command line options.

Automatically upload ALSA information to pastebin? [y/N] : y
Uploading information to www.pastebin.ca ... Done!

Your ALSA information is located at http://pastebin.ca/1750776

Please inform the person helping you.

pixiprincess@happy:~$

-r ~/.pulse ~/.asound* ;sudo rm ~/.pulse-cookie; sudo aptitude install paman gnome-alsamixer libasound2-plugins padevchooser libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio; aplay -l; sudo lshw -C sound; sudo lshw -short;ls -lart /dev/snd; cat /dev/sndstat; lspci -nn; sudo which alsactl; sudo fuser -v /dev/dsp /dev/snd/* ; dpkg -S bin/slmodemd; sudo /etc/init.d/sl-modem-daemon status; lsmod | grep snd
 0 [Intel ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
                      HDA Intel at 0xd4500000 irq 22
[sudo] password for pixiprincess:
rm: cannot remove `/etc/asound.conf': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `/home/pixiprincess/.asound*': No such file or directory
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Initializing package states... Done
Writing extended state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gnome-alsamixer libgconfmm-2.6-1c2{a} libglademm-2.4-1c2a{a}
  libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio padevchooser paman paprefs{a} pavucontrol{a}
  pavumeter{a} pulseaudio-module-zeroconf{a}
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  libsdl1.2debian-alsa{a} linux-headers-2.6.31-14{u}
  linux-headers-2.6.31-14-generic{u}
0 packages upgraded, 10 newly installed, 3 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
Need to get 716kB of archives. After unpacking 78.6MB will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] y
Writing extended state information... Done
Get:1 http://ie.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe gnome-alsamixer 0.9.7~cvs.20060916.ds.1-2 [53.7kB]
Get:2 http://ie.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main libgconfmm-2.6-1c2 2.24.0-2 [31.4kB]
Get:3 http://ie.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main libglademm-2.4-1c2a 2.6.7-2 [21.7kB]
Get:4 http://ie.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe pavumeter 0.9.3-1ubuntu1 [29.2kB]
Get:5 http://ie.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe pavucontrol 0.9.8+git20090701-0ubuntu2 [120kB]
Get:6 http://ie.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe paman 0.9.4-1ubuntu2 [92.2kB]
Get:7 http://ie.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main pulseaudio-module-zeroconf 1:0.9.19-0ubuntu4 [20.2kB]
Get:8 http://ie.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe paprefs 0.9.8+git20090825-0ubuntu2 [111kB]
Get:9 http://ie.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe padevchooser 0.9.3-2ubuntu4 [20.2kB]
Get:10 http://ie.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio 1.2.13-4ubuntu4 [216kB]
Fetched 716kB in 5s (142kB/s)
(Reading database ... 135459 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing linux-headers-2.6.31-14-generic ...
Removing linux-headers-2.6.31-14 ...
dpkg: libsdl1.2debian-alsa: dependency problems, but removing anyway as you requested:
 libsdl1.2debian depends on libsdl1.2debian-alsa (= 1.2.13-4ubuntu4) | libsdl1.2debian-all (= 1.2.13-4ubuntu4) | libsdl1.2debian-esd (= 1.2.13-4ubuntu4) | libsdl1.2debian-oss (= 1.2.13-4ubuntu4) | libsdl1.2debian-nas (= 1.2.13-4ubuntu4) | libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio (= 1.2.13-4ubuntu4); however:
  Package libsdl1.2debian-alsa is to be removed.
  Package libsdl1.2debian-all is not installed.
  Package libsdl1.2debian-esd is not installed.
  Package libsdl1.2debian-oss is not installed.
  Package libsdl1.2debian-nas is not installed.
  Package libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio is not installed.
Removing libsdl1.2debian-alsa ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Selecting previously deselected package gnome-alsamixer.
(Reading database ... 117687 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking gnome-alsamixer (from .../gnome-alsamixer_0.9.7~cvs.20060916.ds.1-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libgconfmm-2.6-1c2.
Unpacking libgconfmm-2.6-1c2 (from .../libgconfmm-2.6-1c2_2.24.0-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libglademm-2.4-1c2a.
Unpacking libglademm-2.4-1c2a (from .../libglademm-2.4-1c2a_2.6.7-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package pavumeter.
Unpacking pavumeter (from .../pavumeter_0.9.3-1ubuntu1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package pavucontrol.
Unpacking pavucontrol (from .../pavucontrol_0.9.8+git20090701-0ubuntu2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package paman.
Unpacking paman (from .../paman_0.9.4-1ubuntu2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package pulseaudio-module-zeroconf.
Unpacking pulseaudio-module-zeroconf (from .../pulseaudio-module-zeroconf_1%3a0.9.19-0ubuntu4_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package paprefs.
Unpacking paprefs (from .../paprefs_0.9.8+git20090825-0ubuntu2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package padevchooser.
Unpacking padevchooser (from .../padevchooser_0.9.3-2ubuntu4_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio.
Unpacking libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio (from .../libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio_1.2.13-4ubuntu4_i386.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Setting up gnome-alsamixer (0.9.7~cvs.20060916.ds.1-2) ...

Setting up libgconfmm-2.6-1c2 (2.24.0-2) ...

Setting up libglademm-2.4-1c2a (2.6.7-2) ...

Setting up pavumeter (0.9.3-1ubuntu1) ...

Setting up pavucontrol (0.9.8+git20090701-0ubuntu2) ...

Setting up paman (0.9.4-1ubuntu2) ...

Setting up pulseaudio-module-zeroconf (1:0.9.19-0ubuntu4) ...
Setting up paprefs (0.9.8+git20090825-0ubuntu2) ...

Setting up padevchooser (0.9.3-2ubuntu4) ...

Setting up libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio (1.2.13-4ubuntu4) ...

Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Writing extended state information... Done

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 3: INTEL HDMI [INTEL HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  *-multimedia
       description: Audio device
       product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 1b
       bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0
       version: 03
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0
       resources: irq:22 memory:d4500000-d4503fff
H/W path Device Class Description
=======================================================
                                system HP G61 Notebook PC
/0 bus 3069
/0/0 memory 1MiB BIOS
/0/f processor Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU T4300
/0/f/10 memory 1MiB L2 cache
/0/f/12 memory 32KiB L1 cache
/0/f/0.1 processor Logical CPU
/0/f/0.2 processor Logical CPU
/0/11 memory 32KiB L1 cache
/0/13 memory 4GiB System Memory
/0/13/0 memory 2GiB SODIMM DDR2 Synchronous 667 MHz
/0/13/1 memory 2GiB SODIMM DDR2 Synchronous 667 MHz
/0/100 bridge Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Contr
/0/100/2 display Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated G
/0/100/2.1 display Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated G
/0/100/1a bus 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Contro
/0/100/1a.1 bus 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Contro
/0/100/1a.7 bus 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Contr
/0/100/1b multimedia 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Contro
/0/100/1c bridge 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Por
/0/100/1c/0 wmaster0 network AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI
/0/100/1c.1 bridge 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Por
/0/100/1c.1/0 eth0 network RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast E
/0/100/1d bus 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Contro
/0/100/1d.1 bus 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Contro
/0/100/1d.2 bus 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Contro
/0/100/1d.3 bus 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Contro
/0/100/1d.7 bus 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Contr
/0/100/1e bridge 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge
/0/100/1f bridge ICH9M LPC Interface Controller
/0/100/1f.2 scsi0 storage ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller
/0/100/1f.2/0 /dev/sda disk 320GB ST9320325AS
/0/100/1f.2/0/1 /dev/sda1 volume 199MiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/100/1f.2/0/2 /dev/sda2 volume 33GiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/100/1f.2/0/3 /dev/sda3 volume 12GiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/100/1f.2/0/4 /dev/sda4 volume 252GiB Extended partition
/0/100/1f.2/0/4/5 /dev/sda5 volume 243GiB Linux filesystem partition
/0/100/1f.2/0/4/6 /dev/sda6 volume 8581MiB Linux swap / Solaris partiti
/0/100/1f.2/1 /dev/cdrom disk DVDRAM GT20L
/0/100/1f.3 bus 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controlle
/0/100/1f.6 generic 82801I (ICH9 Family) Thermal Subsyst
/0/1 scsi28 storage
/0/1/0 /dev/cdrom1 disk Mass Storage
/0/1/0/0 /dev/cdrom1 disk
/0/1/0/0/1 volume 17KiB Apple partition map
/0/1/0/0/2 volume 23MiB Apple HFS
/0/1/1 /dev/sdb disk SCSI Disk
/1 power EV06047
total 0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 2 2010-01-13 22:53 timer
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 3 2010-01-13 22:53 seq
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 7 2010-01-13 22:53 hwC0D3
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 8 2010-01-13 22:53 hwC0D0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 9 2010-01-13 22:53 controlC0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 60 2010-01-13 22:53 by-path
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 220 2010-01-13 22:53 .
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 4 2010-01-14 10:10 pcmC0D3p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 5 2010-01-14 10:10 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 6 2010-01-14 10:10 pcmC0D0c
drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4100 2010-01-14 10:10 ..
Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.20 emulation code)
Kernel: Linux happy 2.6.31-17-generic #54-Ubuntu SMP Thu Dec 10 16:20:31 UTC 2009 i686
Config options: 0

Installed drivers:
Type 10: ALSA emulation

Card config:
HDA Intel at 0xd4500000 irq 22

Audio devices:
0: STAC92xx Analog (DUPLEX)

Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Midi devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Timers:
31: system timer

Mixers:
0: Intel G45 DEVCTG
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a40] (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a42] (rev 07)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a43] (rev 07)
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:2937] (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 [8086:2938] (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 [8086:293c] (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293e] (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:2940] (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 [8086:2942] (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:2934] (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:2935] (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:2936] (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 [8086:2939] (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 [8086:293a] (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller [8086:2919] (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller [8086:2929] (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller [8086:2930] (rev 03)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) Thermal Subsystem [8086:2932] (rev 03)
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:002b] (rev 01)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 02)
/sbin/alsactl
                     USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0: pixiprincess 2196 F.... pulseaudio
dpkg: *bin/slmodemd* not found.
sudo: /etc/init.d/sl-modem-daemon: command not found
snd_hda_codec_intelhdmi 12860 1
snd_hda_codec_idt 59844 1
snd_hda_intel 26920 2
snd_hda_codec 75708 3 snd_hda_codec_intelhdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 7200 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm_oss 37920 0
snd_mixer_oss 16028 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 75296 3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy 2656 0
snd_seq_oss 28576 0
snd_seq_midi 6432 0
snd_rawmidi 22208 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 6940 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 50224 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer 22276 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 6920 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd 59204 17 snd_hda_codec_intelhdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore 7264 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 9156 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
pixiprincess@happy:~$

Rebooted and followed next steps up to 9 with no joy.

When I came to step 10
System/Administration/Users and Groups
and go to the properties of '/home/pixiprincess', and move to the 'User Privileges',
THE 'Use Audio Devices' BOX IS UNTICKED
however all of the txt on this tab is in light gray and i seem unable to change this.

Your ALSA output shows the following issue:

# Amixer output
# -------------
#
# -------Mixer controls for card 0 [Intel]
#
# Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xd4500000 irq 22'
# Mixer name : 'Intel G45 DEVCTG'
# Components : 'HDA:111d7608,103c3069,00100202 HDA:80862802,80860101,00100000'
# Controls : 32
# Simple ctrls : 19
# Simple mixer control 'Master',0
# Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
# Playback channels: Mono
# Limits: Playback 0 - 64
# Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-48.00dB] [off]
# Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
# Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
# Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
# Limits: Playback 0 - 64
# Mono:
# Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-48.00dB] [off]
# Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-48.00dB] [off]
# Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
# Capabilities: pvolume
# Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
# Limits: Playback 0 - 255
# Mono:
# Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-51.00dB]
# Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-51.00dB]

The Master, Headphone and PCM volume channels are muted and set to 0% in alsamixer and gnome-alsamixer.

Use gnome-alsamixer to unmute and increase volume to 100% on ALL channels.

Once the volume issue is fixed, try this solution procedure:

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+question/92779

When i select Applications>Sound & Video>GNOME ALSA Mixer it comes up with a blank screen and no mute/unmute options, how do I unmute?

Strange, looks like gnome-alsamixer is broken on your pc. Try using alsamixer instead. Increase volume on all channels to 100% and unmute in alsamixer. If a channel is muted in alsamixer, there will be a "MM" under that specific channel. The symbol is "00" if the channel is NOT muted. Use the arrow keys and then the M key to toggle mute/unmute.

Thanks Uwe Geuder, that solved my question.

Both the gnome alsamixer and alsa mixer showed my blank displays. I did a fresh install of 9.10 and then I had the full display but still no sound. I then started the https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProcedure from the beginning and (after using the correct sudo commands) I now have full sound. Thanks guys.