\a ("console beep") -- no sound.

jonaskoelker · 08-08-2005, 06:53 PM

STATUS: solved

I solved this with the help of the nice folx in #debian@freenode (and of course, google

). The solution is in post #13. I hope you can learn from it. Thanks to Matir for patience, time and a good link.

Hi.

printing `\a' doesn't generate any sound.

test program:

Code:

int main(){puts("\a");}

In emacs (M-x shell), it prints "^G"; it screen w. visual bell, the screen blinks. But it screen w. audible bell / console / X, no sound is played.

I checked w. alsamixer -- the PC speaker (that's what generates the `\a beep', right?) volume is maxed out.

The sticky suggests posting $(lspci), kernel and distro. I'm running Debian GNU/Linux, stable <union> testing, main only. See uname --all output.

Code:

$ lspci
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82865G/PE/P PCI to AGP Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:03.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82865G/PE/P PCI to CSA Bridge (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #1 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #2 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #3 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #4 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Bridge (rev 02)
0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) Ultra ATA 100 Storage Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801EB (ICH5) Serial ATA 150 Storage Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV5M64 [RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro] (rev 15)
0000:02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82547EI Gigabit Ethernet Controller (LOM)
0000:03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
0000:03:02.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1371 [AudioPCI-97] (rev 08)
$ uname --all
Linux jonaskoelker.homeunix.org 2.6.8-1-686 #1 Thu Nov 25 04:34:30 UTC 2004 i686 GNU/Linux

I tried googling and searching the forums; found nothing relevant.

What other diagnostics can I run? How can I test if it is the PC speaker (as opposed to a software problem)? If my PC speaker is indeed broken, which workarounds are possible? I've thought about replacing xkbbell with, say, a shell script calling playsound--would this, although it's an incomplete workaround, be a good idea?

Since I don't know much about hardware, especially not sound, feel free to ask *many* probing questions--or even point me to a `Linux sound for dummies'

Thanks for your consideration,

--Jonas

Matir · 08-08-2005, 09:19 PM

You know, it's entirely possible its disabled in your BIOS. I've seen that before.

jonaskoelker · 08-09-2005, 06:16 AM

I looked through my bios settings--nothing seemed appropriate. There was a `Sound - enabled', which I didn't touch. It was in an `onboard -' context, so I figure it wasn't related to the speaker.

I wonder if any software (i.e. GNU/Linux userspace) settings can influence this; I'm thinking stty settings or similar--don't know much about term(io|cap|.*), though.

Thanks again --Jonas

Matir · 08-09-2005, 12:23 PM

Maybe the Visible bell mini-Howto has some information you can glean from it.

How about that guy on the thread about grub? Jeez.

drigz · 08-09-2005, 07:39 PM

That's a good thing! I had to take mine out with a screwdriver! Damn PC speaker...

Matir · 08-09-2005, 07:54 PM

What's wrong with having it?

jonaskoelker · 08-09-2005, 09:30 PM

drigz: quality is in the eye of the beholder--I though everybody knew that.

In case it isn't obvious to you: I want my speaker to work, which is why I posted in the first place.

--Jonas

Matir · 08-09-2005, 10:00 PM

Jonas: did my link provide any useful information for you?

jonaskoelker · 08-09-2005, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Jonas: did my link provide any useful information for you?

Well, my primary goal is to revive my speaker. It doesn't help me with that.

In case my speaker gets declared deceased, it provides me with something to go on, in working around my broken speaker.

So, any diagnostics I can run on my speaker--or any other guidance--will be greatly appreciated.

--Jonas

Matir · 08-09-2005, 11:25 PM

I guess I was referring to the section on disabling the bell... What does your termcap have for 'bl'? Additionally, check out the xsets and so forth. Basically, see if its disabled in any of the ways mentioned in the howto.

jonaskoelker · 08-09-2005, 11:56 PM

tried "xset b 100 440 1000", no change.

I tried the echo -e "\\33[10;50]...", no change.

The only seemingly relevant termcap I could locate(1) was /usr/share/vte/termcap/xterm, in which bl=^G. I see no point in changing that.

I could select `visual bell' in the ctrl-middle-click menu, but that's no help.

I have no .inputrc; in emacs, ring-bell = visible-bell = nil.

Did I miss anything? What should I investigate next?

--Jonas

Matir · 08-09-2005, 11:58 PM

Hrrm, that's all I can think of at the moment. Try booting from a LiveCD and seeing if the bell works there: that could help to rule out hardware issues.

jonaskoelker · 08-14-2005, 10:06 PM

The problem has been solved. Here's the long story:

I boot into Ubuntu, it *has* beeps. I search through debian pkgs for `termcap', find an `emulation' lib, stating that debian uses terminfo.

Hmm... your link doesn't say anything about terminfo.

So, I /join #debian (@freenode), explain about my situation.

One nice guy (beardy) exhausts his brain (man inputrc, man setterm, man readline); vaguely remembers that it was a seperate module or something for newer kernels.

And so it seems; see (google "linux 2.6 pc speaker). "Oh no, my kernel must be broken", I think.

But some previously learned wisdom hits me (see http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=351805): use lsmod & modprobe.

So, in Ubuntu, I lsmod | less; "pcspkr" leaps out at me. Back into debian.

Code:

# modprobe -l pcspkr 
/lib/modules/2.6.8-1-686/kernel/drivers/input/misc/pcspkr.ko
# modprobe pcspkr
# ^G
<BEEEP!!!!>
# echo "pcspkr" >> /etc/modules

That reaffirms what I learned earlier: "start looking in the kernel."

Well, Matir, thanks for taking your time helping me--good link, btw. I hoped you learned something too.

EOF --Jonas