1004 zotac MAG and ZBOX video playback problems - SOLVED!

[bushtech]

Hi Tompin2

thanks fior the info.

Please can you just confirm what versions of alsa & Nvidia you are using in the ID41.

Thanks

[tompin2]

Hi Tompin2

thanks fior the info.

Please can you just confirm what versions of alsa & Nvidia you are using in the ID41.

Thanks

Hi Bushtech,

When I got it running (I'll explain that later), I got it running with Alsa 1.25 and Nvidia 295.   The alsa that came with the snapshot I used came with Alsa 1.22 and that one did not detected the nvidia hda at all.  After upgrading to 1.25 , it got listed as it should in aplay.  When I got it running means that I did apt get upgrade last week and rebuild the image for the zotac mag and worked perfectly.  I am doing apt upgrade tonight and going to try rebuilding the image ID41 and see how it handles audio and video.

I hope this info helps.  Keep everyone posted on how it goes.

Cheers,

T

[bushtech]

Thanks for that info Tompin2. I will be watching with great interest as the sound on the ID41 is the issue I need to resolve. Curiously I am still on snap 26029 and I had video on the ID41 after doing libdvdcss & w32codecs. My alsa is still 0.22 & nvidia glx-260. Using UI2.

[l3mce]

It is a bit of a pain. I am working on fixing it all.
apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-`uname -r`
reboot
This will get them listed (aplay -l | grep -i 'hdmi')

You will likely have hw0 devices 3,7,8, and 9. It is almost always 3 or 7 on the id41, and seems to be completely random which. Others output on 9... others output on everything. Should look something like:

Code:

card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]

You can test with:

Code:

speaker-test -c 2 -l 1 -t sine -D hw:0,7

etc based on the output of aplay where the 0 is the card and 7 is the device.

Now getting that to stick is another trick. In /usr/pluto/templates/asound.conf I would replace %MAIN_CARD% with 0,7    or whatever yours is.
pcm.asym_hdmi {
        type asym
        playback.pcm "hdmi_playback"
        capture.pcm "plughw:%MAIN_CARD%"
}


You may also have to add
options snd-hda-intel model=auto  or
options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=0 index=-2
to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf to place the HDMI audo as card 0. For reasons I do not understand, it has to be card 0.

Please report back with your results.

[bushtech]

Thanks so much for that L3*. Will definitely try it tonight & report back.

BR

Dries

[bushtech]

 
Sound works! Big thumbs up to L3mce!

Did the apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-`uname -r`
reboot
That got me the 4 devices but no audio with the sound test

The thing that got it finally working was inserting the second bit of code:
"options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=0 index=-2"
to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.

After that the speaker test gave audio on hw 0,7 and got sound when I played a dvd on the core

Then did the mods to make it stick as per L3mce's post

Note that I didn't try hw 0,3 ,8,9. So one of them might also work
Also didn't try the first line of code "options snd-hda-intel model=auto"

[bushtech]

 
Edit: After a reboot of the system the speaker test on 0,7 still works but I have no sound when playing a dvd.

[bushtech]

Update

After a reboot of the md and a apt-get update I got sound on the dvd's again

[l3mce]

Keep in mind now, should you ever upgrade, you will have to go back and fix that templates hack.

I dislike giving hacks, but man... this stuff is so complicated and so different from case to case... I have not figured out a reliable way to do/undo it automagically, and I think it would involve a precursor menu to avwizard, including a reboot based on conditions.

Not to mention I don't actually have any equipment that doesn't "just work", so I just try and figure out how it works and take stabs in the dark.

[bushtech]

Hope I don't come across you in a dark alley.

You stab pretty good! 

[tompin2]

It is a bit of a pain. I am working on fixing it all.
apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-`uname -r`
reboot
This will get them listed (aplay -l | grep -i 'hdmi')

You will likely have hw0 devices 3,7,8, and 9. It is almost always 3 or 7 on the id41, and seems to be completely random which. Others output on 9... others output on everything. Should look something like:

Code:

card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]

You can test with:

Code:

speaker-test -c 2 -l 1 -t sine -D hw:0,7

etc based on the output of aplay where the 0 is the card and 7 is the device.

Now getting that to stick is another trick. In /usr/pluto/templates/asound.conf I would replace %MAIN_CARD% with 0,7    or whatever yours is.
pcm.asym_hdmi {
        type asym
        playback.pcm "hdmi_playback"
        capture.pcm "plughw:%MAIN_CARD%"
}


You may also have to add
options snd-hda-intel model=auto  or
options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=0 index=-2
to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

Please report back with your results.

Hi L3,
I decided to upgrade the core and start all from scratch.  I downloaded the latest snapshot (yesterday) and video is no issue for neither MAG or ZBOX, It is the audio that is driving me crazy.  On the MAG, I get audio with speaker test, and also within the multimedia kde controle module, but no sound at all when playing the videos, not even if the video is open directly at the kde desktop.  With the ZBOX, I get no sound until I run the speaker test.  Once I run the speakertest at the konsole, everything works perfect.  Any hints?

T

[posde]

Please don't state "latest snapshot" but the version number of the snapshot

[tompin2]

Please don't state "latest snapshot" but the version number of the snapshot

Sorry, it's true, the snapshot was LMCE-1004-20120630133526148

I already found how to solve it by using this post   http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php/topic,12418.0.html  on the ZOTAC MAG.  I trying on the ZBOX and post results

Cheers,

T 

[tompin2]

Hi to all,

No luck with ID41 aka Zotac Zbox,

What have I done.

Modified asound.conf  both at /etc and /pluto/template to point hdmi to hw:0,7
apt-get update and upgrade last night

What is the behaviour:  After fresh start or reboot, there is no sound unless I run at the console:

speaker-test -c 2 -l 1 -t sine -D hw:0,7 .  Making sure there is proper output at the speakers

Once I run speaker test, it works perfectly everywhere until next reboot.

Any hints?

Cheers,

Tomás

[l3mce]

Can you try undoing those changes to the template, and in web admin, under media directors, try changing HDMI-0   to HDMI-0,7  and report back? A reload will likely be in order.