On 23/08/13 12:11, Jim Sabatke wrote:
SUSE 12.2 Plantronics Audio 478 USB Headset KDE Volume Control Programs - pavucontrol - kmix HP G72 Laptop
I can't seem to get any volume out of my headset microphone. If I max the volume on either control program, I can hear if I scratch my fingernail on the mic, or if I stick the microphone in my mouth and yell, I get a very low volume, highly distorted sound through the headset. The sound level bars pavucontrol show high responsiveness to sound, but it doesn't come through the headset.
Skype doesn't work, including the test site. No programs seem to work for recording or hearing microphone input.
A fairly exhaustive search online shows this seems to be, and has been, a pretty common problem for some time, over multiple distro's, and versions. There aren't a whole lot of suggested fixes, and the most common one is to run pavucontrol, which certainly gives me more options than kmix. In fact, when I started with only kmix, I couldn't see any input sources until I installed pavucontrol, which then caused the microphone to be recognized on both programs.
I'm no expert on sound issues or your particular equipment, but I have experienced various similar issues of mics being muted after an install or upgrade. Firstly, Skype can be a culprit since it thoughtfully sets 'Let Skype muck about with my mixer levels' as default and accessible only after logging in to the client, meaning it's already tampered with them before you can attempt to repair the damage. If it has allowed itself to act as studio engineer and the mic isn't working, untick that option, it's evidently not helpful. I've usually succeeded after opening a terminal and typing 'alsamixer', from where you get a basic set of mixer controls. However, with PulseAudio installed it will be default show a single master volume slider (like in KMix). There might be a switch in there to change this, I forget. If not, you might think to temporarily disable PulseAudio, which can be done by going to YaST -> Sound, clicking on 'Other' and Pulse Audio Configuration. I don't recall if any logging in/out, restarting of any service or rebooting is required for that to take effect. When you can get a full mixer control in Alsamixer, try going along each control using the arrow keys and flicking those that have switches, for example something named Ext or Aux, which can show 00 or MM. I've usually found one of those controls, though not obvious, acts as a switch that reroutes the audio and effectively unmutes the mic. You might have to play around a bit with all that. When done, re-enable PulseAudio and you should be okay from thereon. Just my experience. Others might have better suggestions. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org