No audio after upgrade on 30 June

[bob prohaska]

The audio seemed to be disabled after an update earlier today.
Machine is RPI3, uname -a reports

Linux raspberrypi 4.9.28-v7+ #998 SMP Mon May 15 16:55:39 BST 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux

The machine has been using audio (via HDMI) by default and no intentional
changes were made.

If I do try to change audio settings using raspi-config, a dialog reports
There was an error running option A4 Audio
and nothing changes.

The audio icon in the upper right menu bar has a red X through it.

It's tempting to think a driver went missing, but I've no clue where to
look; up to now audio has worked without so much as a thought.

Anybody got a hint?

Thanks for reading!

bob prohaska

[I R A Darth Aggie]

On Sat, 1 Jul 2017 01:05:17 +0000 (UTC),
bob prohaska <b...@www.zefox.net>, in

Sounds like a kernal module isn't being loaded. I have a new Pi3, and
this is what I see:

# lsmod | grep -i snd
snd_bcm2835 24427 0
snd_pcm 98501 1 snd_bcm2835
snd_timer 23904 1 snd_pcm
snd 70032 3 snd_timer,snd_bcm2835,snd_pcm

Same kernel, I installed the OS a week ago, and updated it this
morning. Seems to work just fine, audio wise. If the modules are
loading properly, make sure the account is in the audio group:

% groups
pi adm dialout cdrom sudo audio video plugdev games users input netdev
gpio i2c spi

Try running alsamixer, that may give a more verbose error message.

--
Consulting Minister for Consultants, DNRC
I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day.
Tomorrow isn't looking good, either.
I am BOFH. Resistance is futile. Your network will be assimilated.

[bob prohaska]

I R A Darth Aggie <n0b...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
> Sounds like a kernal module isn't being loaded. I have a new Pi3, and
> this is what I see:
>
> # lsmod | grep -i snd
> snd_bcm2835 24427 0
> snd_pcm 98501 1 snd_bcm2835
> snd_timer 23904 1 snd_pcm
> snd 70032 3 snd_timer,snd_bcm2835,snd_pcm

Using
lsmod | grep -i snd
produces no output at all. Repeating the command without grep -i
yields up 20-odd lines, so it seems clear "snd" isn't present.

>
> Same kernel, I installed the OS a week ago, and updated it this
> morning. Seems to work just fine, audio wise. If the modules are
> loading properly, make sure the account is in the audio group:
>
> % groups
> pi adm dialout cdrom sudo audio video plugdev games users input netdev
> gpio i2c spi
>

The account (not pi, by the way) _is_ in the audio group.

> Try running alsamixer, that may give a more verbose error message.
>

That produces somewhat puzzling behavior. There is no explict error,
but the only "card" option is pulseaudio. The bargraph responds to
volume commands without error, with no effect on the sound control
icon in the monitor's upper right menu bar which still sports a red X.

I tend to agree there's a kernel module missing, but am baffled at
what happened to it.

Thanks for replying, and any further thoughts!

bob prohaska

[I R A Darth Aggie]

On Sat, 1 Jul 2017 22:52:04 +0000 (UTC),

bob prohaska <b...@www.zefox.net>, in

<oj992k$oo2$1...@news.albasani.net> wrote:
> I R A Darth Aggie <n0b...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> >
> > Sounds like a kernal module isn't being loaded. I have a new Pi3, and
> > this is what I see:
> >
> > # lsmod | grep -i snd
> > snd_bcm2835 24427 0
> > snd_pcm 98501 1 snd_bcm2835
> > snd_timer 23904 1 snd_pcm
> > snd 70032 3 snd_timer,snd_bcm2835,snd_pcm
>
> Using
> lsmod | grep -i snd
> produces no output at all. Repeating the command without grep -i
> yields up 20-odd lines, so it seems clear "snd" isn't present.

Well, now, that's a/the problem. Try this:

sudo modprob snd_bcm2835

[bob prohaska]

I R A Darth Aggie <n0b...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
> Well, now, that's a/the problem. Try this:
>
> sudo modprob snd_bcm2835
>

[thinking you meant modprobe, with an e at the end]



bob@raspberrypi:/boot $ sudo modprobe snd_bcm2835
bob@raspberrypi:/boot $

There are a bunch of bcm2835* items in /boot:
bob@raspberrypi:/boot $ ls *2835*
bcm2835-rpi-a.dtb bcm2835-rpi-b.dtb bcm2835-rpi-b-rev2.dtb
bcm2835-rpi-a-plus.dtb bcm2835-rpi-b-plus.dtb bcm2835-rpi-zero.dtb
but nothing specific to the Pi3.

It looks like the driver got deleted in the course of the last
upgrade. I was prompted to delete unnecessary files, and did so.
Bad move, looks like.

Apt-get update/upgrade insist everything is at its latest and
greatest. Is there a way to forcibly install the correct sound
drivers?

With my thanks!

bob prohaska

[bob prohaska]

Just to wrap things up, the solution turned out to be adding
/boot/config.txt containing

dtparam=audio=on

as the only entry. After reboot audio works as before.

bob prohaska

[Big Bad Bob]

On 07/02/17 22:07, bob prohaska wrote:
> Just to wrap things up, the solution turned out to be adding
> /boot/config.txt containing
>
> dtparam=audio=on
>
> as the only entry. After reboot audio works as before.

hmmm... interesting, the /boot files were causing it.

those are documented, just have to look [hard] for the info

My next suggestion would've been to re-image the SD using the latest
bootable image, if you hadn't found this.

another possibility might be to use 'dist-upgrade' as well as 'upgrade'
with the apt-get commands to upgrade your system. Sometimes that will
do things to fix problems *like* that.

(I'm a long-time Debian user, so I've seen various problems in upgrading
before, not a new situation, just different details)

[bob prohaska]

Big Bad Bob <BigBadBob-at...@testing.local> wrote:
>
> another possibility might be to use 'dist-upgrade' as well as 'upgrade'
> with the apt-get commands to upgrade your system. Sometimes that will
> do things to fix problems *like* that.
>
>

Alas, not in this case. Every upgrade attempt cycled through
update, upgrade and dist-upgrade in the hope some missing change
would get made. No such luck.

Part of the trouble is my own inexperience with Linux. I'm
well acquainted with FreeBSD and was once a user of Apple's A/UX,
but Raspbian is a different animal, and the zookeepers are different.

Is there a central repository for Raspbian documentation, something
like the FreeBSD handbook? A basic guide to how things are done might
have helped in a case like this.

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska

[Martin Gregorie]

On Sun, 09 Jul 2017 02:48:55 +0000, bob prohaska wrote:

> Is there a central repository for Raspbian documentation, something like
> the FreeBSD handbook? A basic guide to how things are done might have
> helped in a case like this.
>

Try this: http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/

www.debian.org also has a policy document that describes the structure
and contents of the Debian archive and several operating system design
issues as well as the technical requirements that each package must
satisfy to be included in the distribution.

It also has a wiki.

Since Raspbian is pretty much a straight Debian port to ARM with added
support for the GPU and some of the logging turned down to save wear and
tear on the SD card, most of the stuff on the Debian site is directly
applicable to Raspbian.

If you need to know about systemd in any detail, the freedesktop.org site
is useful: https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

[bob prohaska]

Martin Gregorie <mar...@address-in-sig.invalid> wrote:
>>
> Try this: http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/
>
>
I think you hit the nail on the head, sparing the thumb!

Thank you.

bob prohaska