Bug 64752 - microphone does not work Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210
Summary: microphone does not work Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210
Status: RESOLVED MOVED
Alias: None
Product: PulseAudio
Classification: Unclassified
Component: alsa (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Hardware: Other All
: medium normal
Assignee: pulseaudio-bugs
QA Contact: pulseaudio-bugs
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2013-05-19 07:36 UTC by daniele rosa
Modified: 2018-07-30 09:58 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
i915 platform:
i915 features:


Attachments
pulse log, alsa log, pactl-list (29.87 KB, application/x-gzip)
2013-05-19 07:36 UTC, daniele rosa
Details
alsa-info.sh output (30.38 KB, text/plain)
2013-06-12 15:16 UTC, Alexey
Details

Description daniele rosa 2013-05-19 07:36:48 UTC
Created attachment 79512 [details]
pulse log, alsa log, pactl-list

the mic does not work
here is the computer info

ubuntu 13.04

daniele@daniele-hpenvy:$ uname -a
Linux daniele-hpenvy 3.8.0-19-generic #30-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 1 16:35:23 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)

i reported the bug here too:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/1177687
Comment 1 Tanu Kaskinen 2013-05-31 10:44:27 UTC
Are you trying to use the internal or an external microphone?

Things seem to be fine at least from PulseAudio's point of view (also the alsa mixer settings) if you're trying to use the internal microphone. The possibility of an external mic is recognized too, but the "pactl list" output shows that the external mic is not currently available (not plugged in).
Comment 2 Alexey 2013-06-05 06:46:18 UTC
It is possible to choose external mic through the "pavucontrol" utility. After that mic is working well.
Comment 3 Tanu Kaskinen 2013-06-05 08:20:19 UTC
Daniele, can you confirm this?
Comment 4 daniele rosa 2013-06-05 08:47:48 UTC
Hi

i tested with pavucontrol and:

- the external mic works fine
- the "internal mic" does not work even if i mute a channel
- the internal mic position works when the external one is plugged in.
This is the external one that somehow is going through that channel
because the sound volume varies with the distance between the external
mic and my mouth while it is not changing if i get closer to the
computer mic. The quality of the sound is poorer, however

also, the vumeter bar of the recording level in pavucontrol is all
orange (at the top) when the external mic is not plugged in

d

On Wed, 2013-06-05 at 08:20 +0000, bugzilla-daemon@freedesktop.org
wrote:
> https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=64752
> 
> --- Comment #3 from Tanu Kaskinen <tanuk@iki.fi> ---
> Daniele, can you confirm this?
>
Comment 5 Alexey 2013-06-05 19:42:19 UTC
I've did not plug external mic physically - just switch to "external" in pavucontrol and after that internal mic starts working well. Until next reboot, however... After reboot I have to repeat this again.

My question is how to switch to this input recording channel permanently.
Comment 6 Tanu Kaskinen 2013-06-06 10:46:40 UTC
(In reply to comment #5)
> I've did not plug external mic physically - just switch to "external" in
> pavucontrol and after that internal mic starts working well. Until next
> reboot, however... After reboot I have to repeat this again.
> 
> My question is how to switch to this input recording channel permanently.

You obviously shouldn't need to switch to any "external" mode in pavucontrol in order to use the internal mic. I suppose the change that you make is not permanent, because to pulseaudio it seems like the external mic is not available, and thus it won't restore the mode to it automatically.

Could you attach the output of "amixer -c0" before and after you change the port in pavucontrol to "Microphone"? (The options that you have are "Microphone" and "Internal Microphone", right?)
Comment 7 Alexey 2013-06-12 14:40:57 UTC
Thats right, switching from "Internal Microphone" (selected by default when starting pavucontrol) to "Microphone".

BEFORE:
----begin----
amixer -c0
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 28 [90%] [7.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 28 [90%] [7.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch penum
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 63
  Front Left: Capture 51 [81%] [21.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 51 [81%] [21.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Auto-Mute Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Disabled' 'Enabled'
  Item0: 'Disabled'
Simple mixer control 'Digital',0
  Capabilities: cvolume penum
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 120
  Front Left: Capture 80 [67%] [10.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 80 [67%] [10.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Internal Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 3 [100%] [30.00dB]
  Front Right: 3 [100%] [30.00dB]
----end----

AFTER:
----begin----
amixer -c0
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 87
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 87 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 28 [90%] [7.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 28 [90%] [7.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost',0
  Capabil-ities: volume penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 3 [100%] [30.00dB]
  Front Right: 3 [100%] [30.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch penum
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 63
  Front Left: Capture 51 [81%] [21.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 51 [81%] [21.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Auto-Mute Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Disabled' 'Enabled'
  Item0: 'Disabled'
Simple mixer control 'Digital',0
  Capabilities: cvolume penum
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 120
  Front Left: Capture 80 [67%] [10.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 80 [67%] [10.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Internal Mic Boost',0
  Capabilities: volume penum
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
----end----
Comment 8 Tanu Kaskinen 2013-06-12 14:50:28 UTC
Here is the diff:


--- /home/tanu/tmp/before.txt	2013-06-12 17:48:01.450414593 +0300
+++ /home/tanu/tmp/after.txt	2013-06-12 17:48:19.722413985 +0300
@@ -30,16 +30,16 @@
   Limits: Playback 0 - 31
   Mono:
   Front Left: Playback 28 [90%] [7.50dB] [on]
   Front Right: Playback 28 [90%] [7.50dB] [on]
 Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost',0
-  Capabilities: volume penum
+  Capabil-ities: volume penum
   Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
   Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
   Limits: 0 - 3
-  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
-  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
+  Front Left: 3 [100%] [30.00dB]
+  Front Right: 3 [100%] [30.00dB]
 Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [off]
 Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
 Simple mixer control 'Internal Mic Boost',0
   Capabilities: volume penum
   Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
   Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
   Limits: 0 - 3
-  Front Left: 3 [100%] [30.00dB]
-  Front Right: 3 [100%] [30.00dB]
+  Front Left: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
+  Front Right: 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Comment 9 Tanu Kaskinen 2013-06-12 14:59:37 UTC
So the only difference is the increased boost for "Mic" and reduced boost for "Internal Mic". If that is required for the internal mic to be audible, it sounds like the driver has mixed up these two mixer elements.

David, do you think you can or have time to do something about this?

Alexey, alsa-info.sh output would probably be useful for identifying the exact hardware you have. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/AlsaInfo
Comment 10 Alexey 2013-06-12 15:16:40 UTC
Created attachment 80730 [details]
alsa-info.sh output
Comment 11 Arun Raghavan 2013-06-12 15:35:54 UTC
CC'ing David (see comment 9)
Comment 12 David Henningsson 2013-06-12 18:41:20 UTC
Alexey and daniele rosa have two different bugs, most likely. Which makes this bug confusing, so please don't do that in the future.

For daniele rosa, I'm waiting for reply in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/1177687/comments/14

For alexey, yes, sometimes the highest boost of "internal mic" is extremely noisy. First make sure you have no external mic plugged in. Then try manually adjusting "Internal Mic Boost" in alsamixer - try all four levels of boost to see which ones work well and which ones do not (or are too noisy). Make sure you don't touch PulseAudio's input gain during this test because that will reset the boost to what PulseAudio thinks is best.
It is possible to write driver quirks that limit the boost.
Comment 13 GitLab Migration User 2018-07-30 09:58:50 UTC
-- GitLab Migration Automatic Message --

This bug has been migrated to freedesktop.org's GitLab instance and has been closed from further activity.

You can subscribe and participate further through the new bug through this link to our GitLab instance: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/issues/145.


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