[karmic] pulseaudio always receive hardware volume=1% from Philips PSC805 USB

Hi and thanks for reporting this bug!

Can you check by running the following commands:

echo autospawn = no|tee -a ~/.pulse/client.conf
killall pulseaudio
PULSE_NO_SIMD=1 pulseaudio -vvvv

Either it fixes the error, or if it does not, can you provide the log from the last command (while playing a distorted sound)?

Hi david, and thanks for your time!
attached the output for PULSE_NO_SIMD=1 pulseaudio -vvvv
On the log session I launch pulseaudio, then play with the volumebar of gnome-volume-control, open an audio file with totem(sound ok) and closes the session.
I realized that the problem is about the volume,if I set the volume bar in gnome-volume-control to the first step of the bar and do the same on totem, sounds ok.
On the log file I see this:

D: alsa-sink.c: Requested volume: 0: 65% 1: 65% 2: 65% 3: 65% 4: 65%
D: alsa-sink.c: Got hardware volume: 0: 1% 1: 1% 2: 1% 3: 1% 4: 1%
D: alsa-sink.c: Calculated software volume: 0: 8059% 1: 8059% 2: 8059% 3: 8059% 4: 8059% (accurate-enough=no)

Requested 65% - calculated software volume 8059%, that could explain why it sounds bad!

Okay, that was interesting, probably your sound card / ALSA drivers fail to report proper hardware dB volumes. Can you load the alsa-sink module with ignore_dB=1? To do that, edit /etc/pulse/default.pa and make sure you have a line looking like this:

load-module module-alsa-sink ignore_dB=1

then restart the pulseaudio sound server:

echo autospawn = no|tee -a ~/.pulse/client.conf
killall pulseaudio
pulseaudio -vvvv

Can you then report back with the new log? Thanks!

Update:
-Tried ignore_dB=1 and pulseaudio won't start,here is the output:

E: module.c: Failed to load module "module-alsa-sink" (argument: "ignore_dB=1"): initialization failed.
E: main.c: Module load failed.
E: main.c: Fallo al intentar iniciar el demonio.

I don't know what i'm doing wrong.

-Also noticed that the trick of lowering the volume only works with PULSE_NO_SIMD=1

I believe the NO_SIMD was fixed the other day, so now you should be able to run without it.
Can you please start pulseaudio with

LANG=C pulseaudio -vvvv

instead, and if it still does not start, please attach /etc/pulse/default.pa and the log from pulseaudio -vvvv (please include all lines) to this bug report? Thanks!

Right! NO_SIMD no longer neccesary, since a few days it works from the startup with volumevar at first step.

I'm still unable to start pulseaudio with ignore_dB=1, attached my default.pa and 2 logs for pulse audio.

Whats next?

Hmm, it is trying to load card 0 or the default device...perhaps it will work if you replace this line in /etc/pulse/default.pa:

load-module module-alsa-sink ignore_dB=1

with

load-module module-alsa-sink ignore_dB=1 device=hw:1,0

or

load-module module-alsa-sink ignore_dB=1 device=hw:1

?

Now I can run pulseaudio with ignoredb=1, on gnome-volume-control I see 1 hardware with 2 outputs, one as 5.1 and other as 4.1, first one appears when running with ignoredb=1 and sounds right, while second one sounds distorted. the maximal volume is set by the volumevar of the distorted interface, on that interface sounds distorted but when go back to the working one it applied the volume change right.

Log attached, on that log session:
run pulseaudio
open volumecontrol
played sound with the first output -->sounds good
change to second interface --> sounds distorted
raised volume var of 2nd interface-->even more distorted
switch back to first interface --> sounds good and louder

With ignoredb workaround I can use sound normally, thanks David!

This is probably a bug related to your hardware rather than pulseaudio.

Thanks for helping out with the testing! I'll mark this as low importance for now, since your hardware is not that common and since there is a workaround.

I have the same problem in the Karmic LiveCD. If it is at 1% sound in software, then it doesn't sound distorted but I have to turn to speakers up a lot. If I have it at 100% software sound, then I can literally hear the static and distortion even if I have the speakers physically turned all the way down - it is VERY loud, and very distorted.

Same hardware - Philips PSC805. It works flawlessly in Jaunty.

I have what may be the same problem, and have also noticed that the "Analog Stereo Output" profile is missing from the list of profiles in pavucontrol in Karmic (only 4.1, 5.0, and 5.1 profiles area available for output); the USB sound device worked just fine for me in Jaunty too, and I'm fairly certain the normal stereo profile was in use at the time. Could this be related?

By the way, does it help if you update your sound drivers according to these instructions: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems/KarmicCaveats#Sound%20drivers%20needs%20to%20be%20updated ?

Either a recent round of system updates or installing the "linux-backports-modules-alsa-karmic-generic" package as recommended seems to have done the trick for me. Still not sure whether this was the same issue as the original post, though.

bullsh*t another apparent fix that doesnt work >.<

Anyone know the real fix?

I have tried countless things, and rebooted countless times...

Still choppy audio...

I just want to get back to work, now I have wasted 5 hours attempting to sort this out...

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

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After being redirected by David to this bug from bug #445849, I can provide my experience.

After following the workaround explained in https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems/KarmicCaveats#Volume%20range%20anomalies, the problem was solved.

Thanks David