No sound after bullseye install

Daniel Haude

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Oct 2, 2021, 9:30:04 AM10/2/21

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Hi,

after installing Debian bullseye I can't get sound to work. I'm using
lightdm + dwm, and I have pulseaudio installed. "pavucontrol" ist stuck
on the message "Establishing connection to PulseAudio. Please wait..."

I don't understand zilch about how sound on Linux works, but my
previous version of Debian on the same hardware worked.

NB, this is a fresh install, not an upgrade from buster (?).

Alexander V. Makartsev

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Oct 2, 2021, 11:00:05 AM10/2/21

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You have to tell us more about your system. My crystal ball says you probably missing some firmware for a sound adapter from Intel.
Install firmware package from a 'non-free' section and see if that will help:
    # apt install firmware-intel-sound alsa-utils
To test the audio use 'speaker-test' utility:
    $ speaker-test -c2 -t wav
Also check if any channels were accidentally muted using 'alsamixer' utility.

If you still don't have any sound, send output from commands below with your next message:
    $ lspci -knnv | grep -A6 Audio
    $ aplay -l
    $ aplay -L | grep -A1 ^hw:
    # journalctl -b -g pulse

-- 
With kindest regards, Alexander.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀ 
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
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Bob Latest

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Oct 4, 2021, 1:30:04 AM10/4/21

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Alexander V. Makartsev

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Oct 4, 2021, 1:40:04 AM10/4/21

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I've sent a reply to you already. [1]
It's best to subscribe to the list, so you can see new messages.

[1] https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2021/10/msg00106.html

deloptes

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Oct 4, 2021, 1:40:05 AM10/4/21

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Bob Latest wrote:

> after installing Debian bullseye I can't get sound to work. I'm using
> lightdm + dwm, and I have pulseaudio installed. "pavucontrol" ist stuck
> on the message "Establishing connection to PulseAudio. Please wait..."
>

perhaps the pulseaudio server is not running - you can check

> I don't understand zilch about how sound on Linux works, but my
> previous version of Debian on the same hardware worked.

you have

hardware -> kernel driver -> alsa -> pulseaudio -> application

- kernel driver utilizes the hardware
- alsa utilizes the kernel driver
- PA utilizes ALSA and provides a unified interface + capabilities

so it could be anything in the chain - check if you need firmware for
example if ALSA works (aplay etc) then check the next in the chain

--
FCD6 3719 0FFB F1BF 38EA 4727 5348 5F1F DCFE BCB0

Bob Latest

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Oct 4, 2021, 1:30:04 PM10/4/21

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On Mon, 04 Oct 2021 07:35:28 +0200
deloptes <emanoil...@deloptes.org> wrote:

> you have
>
> hardware -> kernel driver -> alsa -> pulseaudio -> application
>
> - kernel driver utilizes the hardware
> - alsa utilizes the kernel driver
> - PA utilizes ALSA and provides a unified interface + capabilities
>
> so it could be anything in the chain - check if you need firmware for
> example if ALSA works (aplay etc) then check the next in the chain

Yeah, that was it. I hadn't installed ALSA at all. I wasn't aware that
pulseaudio sits on top of ALSA.

Thanks!

Andrei POPESCU

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Oct 5, 2021, 3:00:05 AM10/5/21

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Because PulseAudio "sits on top of" ALSA it also depends on it. Some
command-line tools for ALSA are not installed by default though (e.g.
the package alsa-tools).

Kind regards,
Andrei
--
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser

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Daniel Haude

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Oct 5, 2021, 11:30:05 AM10/5/21

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On Tue, 5 Oct 2021 09:52:12 +0300
Andrei POPESCU <andreim...@gmail.com> wrote:

> > Yeah, that was it. I hadn't installed ALSA at all. I wasn't aware
> > that pulseaudio sits on top of ALSA.
>
> Because PulseAudio "sits on top of" ALSA it also depends on it. Some
> command-line tools for ALSA are not installed by default though (e.g.
> the package alsa-tools).

Right. And I needed alsactl from alsa-tools to find out that my
speakers were muted.