kubuntu and sound on a acer 8920

So its time to tackle the sound problem. When installing the Acer Aspier 8920 machine with Kubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron I had the problem that it did not find the network card right and it also did not find the soundcard. Well it found the soundcard ok, but none of the speakers where working. The USB headset I had did work.

So after some googeling and finding out that the card i have in the machine is a new Intel HDA card, a Realtek ALC889. Apparently Intel has done this new standard of soundcards for on the motherboard mounting and as usually with a new standard its implemented slightly different on different machines.

So I did not find any notion of how to solve the problem, but there was this post that said that you could solve the problem by installing OSS4 instead of ALSA. There was ofcause a lot of discussions for and against OSS and if ALSA is better or of OSS of free enough, but frankly I don’t care. I want my stuff to work. I need the audible notification from kopete when someone send me a message, and i need my VOIP softphones to work, prefably with the USB Headset. What does it and how it does it I could not care less about.

This link >> will show you how to install OSS4 on a ubuntu 8.04 machines.

So I did this and now the sound worked. Kind of. I got the sound partly to wok. Speakers works and I can here when someone send a message, and I can use wine to play my eve and get sound and use amarok to play music.

One small thing that they forgot to mention in the post was that OSS don’t fully come up when you reboot the machines, and you have to run ldconfig to get audacity to find the sound drivers right.

So i did edit /etc/rc.local with the command

and added the line

to the end before the exit 0 line.

Then I started to test all my softphones and getting them over and working. And I found that no matter what I did and how I changed devices and setting I could not get the dam mic to work. Not the one on the machine itself or the USB headset one. So I put the project one ice for a while as sound kind of worked and it vacation time here in Sweden.

Back to ALSA

After some time on vacation its time to start working on the sound problem again.

For those who are interested just in the solving this is the solultion:

So the full explanation and all the links and so on.

I started by googeling and reading the forums. No full explenations what given enywhere, but some pointer here and there was given. The first one was to upgrade to ALSA 1.0.17. So i folowed the instructions here>> and installed it. Make sure that you read all of the posting as the alsa_2.sh script is not working but the last post on page 3 has the right code to install the new ALSA on the right place. The code is:

But you will have to change the version of the kernel you are running.

Here is the output of my aplay -l command:

And the output of the grep for Codecs is:

This installed the new version of ALSA, but the default config did not work. If you read the second replie in the previous mentioned post, you will find a list of all models and you can also find it in /usr/src/alsa/alsa-driver-1.0.17/alsa-kernel/Documentation/ALSA-Configuration.txt file after installing ALSA 1.0.17.

Unfortunately the alc889 card is not in the list, so I started out and tried all the models on the alc888 list. And after changing and rebooting like 40 times it felt like – none of them work. So i when back into googleing again. And found a link to a post talking about the same problem and that you needed to send a code to the sound system to get it to work. I set the model to acer-aspire in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base as that seems to be the most logcal one.

So i downloaded the sourecode for the hda-verb program here>>. Unpacked it and compiled it. And then tested it by just running the command:

And it worked. So I copied the hda-verb program to /usr/local/bin and edited /etc/rc.local and inserted the line:

To the end of /etc/rc.local.before the exit 0 line. And now my sound works as it should.

Testing with all the applications and all of my sipphones and it works.

I did offcause have to reinstall the alsa version of the skype program, but as i started with the one it ok.

Update

After some testing i found that I have a small problem with the sound and that is that the sound caard is locked up when using it from multiple applications. So i probably need to test with pulseaudio to se if that solves the problem. But ths a minor thing.

62 thoughts on “kubuntu and sound on a acer 8920

  1. Does your fingerprint reader work on the laptop? how about the “cinitouch” thing on the left side?

  2. Well the fingerprint reader i haven not even tried to get working as i dont have an use for it.

    The Cintouch keypad on the left side works but its only emulating other keys so i have it turned off as its mosly in the way i think.

  3. Thanks for taking the time to describe how you got sound to work – I’ve been struggling with it for a little while! How do you go about compiling the hda-verb program? I’m a relatively new Ubuntu convert!

  4. Well… I tried both methods on my acer 6920… both worked, so what can I say instead of thank you!!!!!!!

  5. hey im in the same place as richard.. how do i go about compiling the hda-verb program????

    verrry new to all this linux crap 😛

  6. Here is a bit more detail nfo on how to download and install the hda-verb program.

    1. download the hda-verb file and save it in your home directiry
    2. Open a terminal window
    3. Unpack the hda-verb file with tar jxvf hda-verb-0.2.tar.bz2
    4. go into the hda-verb direcgtory in the termninal window (cd hda-verb)
    5. Complile it with the command make
    6. Copy it to /usr/local/bin with sudp cp hda-verb /usr/local/bin
    7. Edit /etc/rc.local and add the followind line to the file berfore the exit 0 line:
    /usr/local/bin/hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC0D0 0x15 SET_EAPD_BTLENABLE 2

    Hope that helps

  7. HI,
    Thanks for the very helpful posting.
    I just got my aspire8920 today, popped a second hard drive in (left vista for what it is) and started to install my fav. linux distro. (ubuntu/kubuntu) and got a little scared about video and audio. but thanks to this post I got it working. Great job.

    My WiFi works, but seems that the Ethernet (wired) has issues and is not recognized.
    Any of you guys got past that hurdle?

    Greetings,
    Media Junkie.

  8. Hail Jansaell.

    Great tutorial that you write.
    I buy my aspire 6920 2 days ago and immediately install Ubuntu 8.04.
    This issues with this hardware its expected because are new ones models. But your help was a great think and i’m writing a big one tutorial about productivity with Linux in desktops/notebooks and this case with Aspire 6920/8920 its a great one.
    So, with your help now a can concentrate and solve other issues (like fingerprint reader that i already have a clue) and the camera (that i already know how to make work because the chipset is the same of my old Acer Aspire 5670).
    BTW, can you send me the link of this NASA gadget in your page?

    Its it, best regards.

    Fernando.

  9. Hi Fernando.

    Thanks for the nice comment. Yes its always interesting with new hardware and laptops it seems. As a Linux professional I do tent to get the latest and greatest laptop when changing and that always gives the same problem it seems.

    A small sidenote, the camera in the 8920 works right out of the box for me. I have no interest in the fingetrint reader so i have not spend any time to get ot to work. The only think I kind of would llike to get going os the card reader. Extenals USB solves that currently but it would be nice to have the intenals one working.

  10. Hi.
    I am also struggling with sound on the 8920 with Ubuntu (Gnome)
    Have tried a few of your tips, but no luck maybe Upgrade to ALSA 1.0.17 is important after all. My question: define “ALSA”? There are 8 packages. Which do I need? If I get the installation wrong there will be inconsistencies and nothing will work anyway right?
    Is it just to download, unzip and “make install” in all packages? Or does it involve any Guru magic?

  11. Hi Tony

    The link i followed talked about installing ALSA from source and build it so I did that. Im actually using kubuntu so it might be something different there but i dont think so.

    With the new info on the page about installing the ALSO 1.0-.17 from source you should be able to install that and not the prepackaed pacakages.

    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=820959

  12. Thank for this page! It has been helpful (I use ALSA).
    I just would like to know : does the jack output work for you?

  13. HI Remi!

    Yes and no – the out put works and is OK, but the system don’t recognize that you put in a headphone and don’t turn off the speakers.

  14. Well it’s worst for me : the output doesn’t work! I fear this problem still remain with Ubunu 8.10 and other next distributions! Wait and see…

  15. Thanks for these instructions, they’re great! But I do have one problem. Running the command “sudo ./hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC0D0 0x15 SET_EAPD_BTLENABLE 2” gives me sound until shutdown, but putting the line in the rc.local (with the full path) doesn’t seem to work. Running rc.local without sudo gives the message “open: permission denied”, but with sudo it works. I have chmodded it to allow it to be executable, and the entire contents of the file (apart from the comments at the top” are the line “/usr/local/bin/hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC0D0 0x15 SET_EAPD_BTLENABLE 2” and then exit 0. I am a relative newcomer to linux, does anyone know where I’ve messed up?

    Many thanks

    Robert

  16. Hi there rob!

    Well first the file rc.local should not be run directly as this is run by the system at boot up time. The permissions i have on my files is:
    -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 372 2008-07-28 13:40 /etc/rc.local
    Thats means chmod 755 /etc/rc.local if they are not the same.
    That should work.

  17. Thanks for that. actually my problem seems not o be rc.local not running – it does run, I know because I have now put a test “echo” command in it. The output when I run “/usr/local/bin/hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC0D0 0x15 SET_EAPD_BTLENABLE 2” is “nid = 0x15, verb = 0x70c, param = 0x2
    value = 0x0”, as it should be, and this causes the sound to work. However, the output when rc.local runs (either automatically or manually) has the 15 replaced by a 0. This seems really odd, as the code to be run is exactly the same!
    Any ideas?
    Thanks

  18. Tell a lie, it is working! I just deleted everything in rc.local and entered the line of code again, and it worked! Great tutorial, thanks a lot!

  19. Thanks for this tutorial Jansaell!

    Rob, I had the same issue, and I fixed it the same way. The problem was the “0×15” where the x is a special symbol when you just copy&paste. It has to be a real normal “x”!

    Are there any news about sound on acer 6920/8920?

    schlady

  20. Thanks for the fix!!

    How do you have your Skype sound configured?

    I cannot seem to get any microphone to work using the jack or the one beside the webcam,

  21. Hi there!

    I’m using a external headset for all my phones. So the Sound In is “Logitech USB Headset (plughw:headset,0) and the same for Soubd out and pulse for the Ring so it rings over my pulse audio sound system.

  22. Really sorry…
    i am quite new to Ubuntu.
    Currenly Ubuntu 8.10 comes with Alsa 1.0.17.
    I do not know how to uninstall 1.0.17 and install 1.0.18…
    I tried to download the source package, make and make install…
    but i dun know whether i success or not…

    Maybe you could help?
    Otherwise i need to wait until Ubuntu repository update. T_T

  23. HI there.

    You can run alsaconfig with the parameter —help. it will show you the alsa versionn.

    $ alsaconf –help
    ALSA configurator
    version 1.0.17
    ….

  24. I just bought an Acer 8920. I was wondering if you have got the woofer to work? The sound is only playing on two of the speakers, and the woofer seems silent. I can’t find any setting in the preferences to activate this (like on my 5.1 desktopsetup, there is separate channels for front speaker, side speakers, surrround speakers and sub woofer)

    Not that it’s the most important thing, but the woofer upgrades the sound quality from earpieces to mid range desktop speakers.

  25. Thank you for the istructions, now the audio works on my acer aspire 8930. Anyone has made the surround 5.1 to work??

  26. Thanks for these instructions,I have problem with hda-verb , it can’t open node file /dev/snd/hwC0D0 , that doesn’t exist in my /dev file system , refer to the below

    hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC0D0 0×15 SET_EAPD_BTLENABLE 2
    open: No such file or directory
    issam@ISUX:~$ ls -l /dev/snd/
    total 0
    crw-rw—-+ 1 root audio 116, 8 2008-11-20 07:25 controlC0
    crw-rw—-+ 1 root audio 116, 7 2008-11-20 07:31 pcmC0D0c
    crw-rw—-+ 1 root audio 116, 6 2008-11-20 07:31 pcmC0D0p
    crw-rw—-+ 1 root audio 116, 5 2008-11-20 07:25 pcmC0D1p
    crw-rw—-+ 1 root audio 116, 4 2008-11-20 07:25 pcmC0D2c
    crw-rw—-+ 1 root audio 116, 3 2008-11-20 07:25 seq
    crw-rw—-+ 1 root audio 116, 2 2008-11-20 07:25 timer
    issam@ISUX:~$

  27. There seems to be a problem on some system. Some has reported that upgrading to AlSA 1.0.18 might help. You still probably have to do the hda-verb trick but perhapes that will work under 1.0.18.
    Please report back if it works.

  28. I,m an owner of a acer 6920 and this is the first time compiling a tar.gz file can you tell me where I went wrong?

    rodney@rodney-laptop:~/Desktop$ tar xfvj hda-verb-0.2.tar.bz2
    hda-verb/
    hda-verb/Makefile
    hda-verb/README
    hda-verb/hda-verb.c
    hda-verb/hda_hwdep.h
    rodney@rodney-laptop:~/Desktop$ ls
    flexxxpup v1.1 Nibiru.iso Icepup-301alpha.iso
    GDM-Angel.tar.gz LighthousePup-3.01b7-3.01c.iso.xdelta3
    hda-verb LighthousePup-3.01c.iso
    hda-verb-0.2.tar.bz2 xubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso
    Icebuntu2.3.iso
    rodney@rodney-laptop:~/Desktop$ cd hda-verb
    rodney@rodney-laptop:~/Desktop/hda-verb$ make
    gcc -Wall -O2 -g -c -o hda-verb.o hda-verb.c
    gcc -o hda-verb hda-verb.o
    rodney@rodney-laptop:~/Desktop/hda-verb$ cp hda-verb /usr/local/bin
    cp: cannot create regular file `/usr/local/bin/hda-verb’: Permission denied
    rodney@rodney-laptop:~/Desktop/hda-verb$ sudp cp hda-verb /usr/local/bin
    bash: sudp: command not found

    Thanks

  29. Thanks this is my first foray into the command line world this scares a lot of newbies, but I got big toe in it now.

  30. Hey jansaell
    I have just one more question to ask you. When editing the /etc/rc.local file is there a command code to get to this file and how exactly where do I place this line, (/usr/local/bin/hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC0D0 0×15 SET_EAPD_BTLENABLE 2) I think I know but I want make sure.
    thanks!!!!

  31. Yoy can use gedit or kate depending if you are on ubuntu or kubntu (gedit on ubuntu and kate on kubuntu). In both cases you need to start with sudo so in my kubuntu system its:
    sudo kate /etc/rc.local

  32. Cjay55 in the ubuntu forums has put together package installer for alsa 1.0.18 for people like me, it takes about ten minuts to compile. Just add two comman lines and your done, the mike and cinadash panel do not work except for the volume control. The headphone work perfectly.

  33. Thanks for posting the detailed instructions. Unfortunately I could not get this working with Intrepid Ibex, I am going to try upgrading to alsa 1.0.18. Just thought I’d post a note of thanks.

  34. Hey!!

    Great tutorial! It works perfect with Ubuntu Intrepid in Acer Aspire 8920!
    The only problem is that i have to kill esd every time I reboot the system,not big deal…
    The big problem is that it can not be played two sound sources at the same time.
    If you open Firefox and play a video, pauses the video and then you try to play music in Totem it will not work until you close youtube for example.
    I guess the solution is to use Pulse audio, but there is no way I can make it work…any ideas???

    Thanks for the great help!
    Juan

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