[Wlug] ALSA - mic trouble

[Eric Stein]

Jamie Guinan wrote:
> Hi,
>
> What kind of Mic is it?  Some of mine have a small battery, and an
> on/off switch, which I tend to forget "on". 
>
> Have you tried other mics?
>   
Non-USB - the kind that just plugs into the sound card like headphones.
It never had batteries or a switch.

My roommate's mic doesn't work either - it's part of a headset, but
doesn't require power either.
>> Info: Ubuntu Breezy 5.10
>> Linux pippin 2.6.12-10-386 #1 Tue Jul 18 22:08:27 UTC 2006 i686 GNU/Linux
>>
>> I'm prepared to spend a good deal of time on this, but I don't know what
>> I need to do.  If you need more information, let me know how to get it
>> and I'll be happy to share it.
>> Send output of "amixer".
eastein at pippin:~$ amixer
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 27 [87%] [on]
Front Right: Playback 27 [87%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Master Mono',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 28 [90%] [on]
Front Right: Playback 28 [90%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Surround',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [on]
Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Surround Jack Mode',0
Capabilities:
Mono:
Simple mixer control 'Center',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 27 [87%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'LFE',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined
cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 27 [87%] [off] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 27 [87%] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'CD',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined
cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 27 [87%] [on] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 27 [87%] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch
cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 27 [87%] [off]
Front Left: Capture [on]
Front Right: Capture [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Select',0
Capabilities:
Mono:
Simple mixer control 'Video',0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Phone',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch
cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 27 [87%] [off]
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on] Capture [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Playback AC97-SPSA',0
Capabilities: volume volume-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: 0 - 3
Mono: 3 [100%]
Simple mixer control 'PC Speaker',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 15
Mono: Playback 15 [100%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Aux',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined
cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 27 [87%] [off] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 27 [87%] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mono Output Select',0
Capabilities:
Mono:
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 15
Front Left: Capture 13 [87%] [off]
Front Right: Capture 13 [87%] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mix',0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mix Mono',0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Channel Mode',0
Capabilities:
Mono:
Simple mixer control 'Duplicate Front',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'External Amplifier',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [off]
eastein at pippin:~$
> Also, what kind of sound chip/card?  Onboard?  Add-in PCI?
eastein at pippin:~$ lspci|grep audio
0000:00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2
AC97 Audio Controler (MCP) (rev a1)
eastein at pippin:~$

I hope this is enough to tip you off as to what's wrong...

Eric