Disable a linux sound card

2

I have updated to Kubuntu 12.10 from 12.04 and my sound stopped working ... I think because of I have two soundcards in my system and I think that disabling one of them shouldsolve the problem. Here is the output of inxi:

$ inxi -Ax
Audio:     Card-1: NVIDIA GF106 High Definition Audio Controller
             driver: snd_hda_intel     bus-ID: 05:00.1
           Card-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) 
             driver:     snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:14.2
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: 1.0.25
$

I want to disable the NVIDIA GF106 because it's HDMI output is not coming to my earphones. How do I do that? Or any other tips to get the sound back? Thanks a lot.

Here is the aplay -l output:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC892 Analog [ALC892 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC892 Digital [ALC892 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: Headset [Logitech USB Headset], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

and here is the ~/.asoundrc

pcm.!default {type hw card 0 device 0}
ctl.!default {type hw card 0 device 0}

and still not working :(

Ferenc Deak

Posted 2013-11-14T10:06:46.793

Reputation: 389

Answers

2

Perhaps your NVIDIA card is set as the default audio device; I have a similar issue when trying to get audio via HDMI in e.g. Flash. Problem is my Realtek card is set as default and some applications doesn't let you select which sound device to use. I solve the issue by setting my HDMI audio as default aduio device, which can be achieved by editing the .asoundrc file in your home directory.

Here's what to do. First you have to find the proper card and device you want to use. Run the command aplay -l. I'm guessing you want audio to come out your USB headphones? From the output of aplay -l you can see that the USB headphones is card number 2 and device number 0, so put the following in your .asoundrc file.

pcm.!default {
type hw
card 2
device 0
}

ctl.!default {
type hw
card 2
device 0
}

AcId

Posted 2013-11-14T10:06:46.793

Reputation: 628

modified the question to include my output of aplay -l – Ferenc Deak – 2013-11-14T12:23:45.353

Even after applying the changes it is not working :( – Ferenc Deak – 2013-11-14T12:58:29.683

I'm guessing you want audio to come out your USB headset? (correct me if I'm wrong). From aplay -l you can see that the card number is 2 and device number is 0, so your .aoundrc should read pcm.!default { type hw card 2 device 0 } and ctl.!default { type hw card 2 device 0 }. And remeber to restart any application that you want to use the new default device. – AcId – 2013-11-14T16:02:43.697

I've found it helpfull to have several .aoundrc.* files in my home dir. E.g. I have a file called .aoundrc.hdmi file so that I can just do a cp ~/.asoundrc.hdmi ~/.asoundrc whenever I want to set HDMI as the default device. – AcId – 2013-11-14T16:06:06.680

I've edited my answer according to the information supplied from aplay -l. – AcId – 2013-11-14T17:19:22.267

No, actually I want the output from the analog device of the ATI SB. The USB headphone is plugged into a Windows Virtual machine and it works there. So, for me card 0, and device 0 were the obvious changes... That's how I created the .asoundrc – Ferenc Deak – 2013-11-14T20:00:16.177

Have adjusted the mixer levels with alsamixer? There's usually a separate channel for headphones/AUX output, you should also make sure that it is not muted. – AcId – 2013-11-15T07:06:53.717

Strangely I cannot start alsamixer: $ alsamixer cannot open mixer: Invalid argument – Ferenc Deak – 2013-11-15T08:03:44.360

Asked: 2013-11-14T10:06:46.793

Viewed: 8 464 times

Active: 2014-07-04T13:17:46.673