Geforce 210 hdmi audio

[trevs.bronco]

I knew it was simple, all I had to do was change the device from 0,3 0,7

Trev

[jocefus]

Remember... the vdpau is a whole different beast. Since I started using the card heavily totem doesn't know what to do and crashed my system. (repeatedly) However, nvidia's modified smplayer works well when configured properly... and processor usage is dramatically reduced when playing H264 coded videos. I definitely recommend using smplayer from nvidia's ppa for your video playback. Google it.

[jocefus]

I have the geforce 210 as well with freshly compiled alsa 1.0.23 on Mythbuntu 10.04.
alplay -l gets me this

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

my asound.conf is

pcm.!default {
type hw
card 0
device 3
}

I selected all 4 IEC958 switches but can't get a peep out of anything I am probably missing something obvious but I can't figure out what. can anyone point it out to me?

Trev

I had same issue until I followed these instructions I read over... once I did that and rebooted there was only 1 spdif switch to unmute in alsamixer and everything worked.

-

in /etc/modprobe.d/sound.conf place the following line

options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=0 probe_mask=0xffff,0xfff2

[jmail524]

Hi everyone,

I'm having (what looks like) the same problem that has been discussed here except that I still have had no luck getting sound to work.

I have a PNY GeForce 210 video card hooked up to my TV via HDMI. It's installed in a MSI motherboard with on-board nVidia 6150 that has been disabled in the BIOS (no longer shows up when using "lspci -v".) Here is a little history of what has happened so far:

"lspci -v" shows the new video card and audio components but "aplay -l" doesn't show anything. Downloaded and compiled ALSA 1.0.23. "aplay -l" now shows 4 HDMI audio devices (#3,7,8,9) and Ubuntu sound preference's show "High Definition Audio Controller" output device but I still don't have any sound. Then I created the "/etc/modprobe.d/sound.conf" and populated it with "options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=0 probe_mask=0xffff,0xfff2" as per ngupta's instructions. Still no sound. So I created the file "/etc/asound.conf" with "pcm.!default {type hw card 1 device 3}" also as per ngupta's instructions. Still no sound. I have also tried different device numbers (3,7,8,9) without luck. Also, I have umuted all 4 of the digital outputs in "alsamixer" and have checked back after every change to make sure nothing became muted.

I'm sure I'm missing something obvious, but I'm not sure where to go from here. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

[horkthegreen]

I followed the instructions in this thread and was able to get sound to my TV through the hdmi audio.

I'm not sure I understand the reasoning behind choosing device 7 from the list of four devices in the config file. Would they all work? Can someone explain why I would choose a particular one?

I was really happy to get this working since the picture via HDMI is so much better than what I was getting from VGA + audio cable from sound card. However, with the HDMI audio it plays fine for awhile (20 mins +) and then the sounds starts degrading... It gets fuzzy and then crackly. Has anyone else had this issue?

I'm wondering if maybe it's a heat issue due to the new card? I'm going to take the top of my case off and see if it makes a difference. If the sound degrades over time still, I'm not sure what to troubleshoot next.

[imbmiller]

Hi everyone,

I'm having (what looks like) the same problem that has been discussed here except that I still have had no luck getting sound to work.

I have a PNY GeForce 210 video card hooked up to my TV via HDMI. It's installed in a MSI motherboard with on-board nVidia 6150 that has been disabled in the BIOS (no longer shows up when using "lspci -v".) Here is a little history of what has happened so far:

"lspci -v" shows the new video card and audio components but "aplay -l" doesn't show anything. Downloaded and compiled ALSA 1.0.23. "aplay -l" now shows 4 HDMI audio devices (#3,7,8,9) and Ubuntu sound preference's show "High Definition Audio Controller" output device but I still don't have any sound. Then I created the "/etc/modprobe.d/sound.conf" and populated it with "options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=0 probe_mask=0xffff,0xfff2" as per ngupta's instructions. Still no sound. So I created the file "/etc/asound.conf" with "pcm.!default {type hw card 1 device 3}" also as per ngupta's instructions. Still no sound. I have also tried different device numbers (3,7,8,9) without luck. Also, I have umuted all 4 of the digital outputs in "alsamixer" and have checked back after every change to make sure nothing became muted.

I'm sure I'm missing something obvious, but I'm not sure where to go from here. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

I've got a virtually identical setup to you Brian and am having near identical issues as well. I have probably invested upwards of twenty hours to this one issue in the last three days. I've followed every guide on "also from source" "upgrading alsa" "using alsa" etc etc with no luck. I have yet to see any listing in my aplay -l of my Nvidia card. Of course it does show up in lspci -vv perfectly.

It seems fairly backassed to approach this whole problem using alsa when there should be a driver out there from Nvidia. I've only found one mention of it anywhere and it was a brief snippet from the Nvidia support forum. I'm going to try to compile it on a fresh Lucid build that I made today and see if I have any look. Ideally I would like to be able to compile a driver sans alsa since 1)I've obviously never gotten it to work the way I need it to and 2)running a native driver makes sooo much more sense to me.

It makes me so angry that win xp does this perfectly ootb. someone tell me why?

[ubermunkey]

Hi,
Just thought I would chime in here.

SYS SPEC: GeForce 210 512 MB BOARD RAM / 2 GIG SYS RAM / Ubuntu 10.04 32-Bit

In my case getting Audio over HDMI took 5 steps.

1. I added the PPA for alsa, canaberra, and pulseaudio by running the following :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ricotz/unstable && sudo apt-get update

2. After pulling updates for apt I wanted to start from scratch with my sound settings ( new card pushed me to think this ). So, rather than use apt, I used synaptic to Completely remove both alsa and pulseaudio from my system and then reinstalled it.

 sudo apt-get purge pulseaudio alsa-base && sudo apt-get install alsa-base pulseaudio

. Now, check and make sure you have the ppa version ( thats newest stuff ) installed :

:~$ dpkg-query --show alsa-base pulseaudio
      alsa-base    1.0.23+dfsg-1ubuntu2
      pulseaudio    1:0.9.22~0.9.21+stable-queue-32-g8478-0ubuntu16

If your output matches mine your cookin' with pertrol!!
3. As per a post on the arch forums http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=90350 I had one more step to complete. Apparently, alsa was trying to load the incorrect driver for the card. The following code ( READ THE ARCH POST ) got sound working before and after a reboot. So, as per results from aplay -l

card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
        Subdevices: 0/1
        Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I pointed alsa to the device with

sudo echo /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf >> options snd-hda-intel probe_mask=0xffff,0xfff2

. Now to make sure the edit took with

 sudo cat /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

NOTE: it appears that ubuntu uses alsa-base.conf rather than sound.conf!!!
4. At this point sound worked! I went ahead and rebooted anyways.

The only issue I am having at this point is tearing in the video ( its not the machine so much as the driver ). Anyone else getting this with this card and the repo driver?

[jmail524]

Hi everyone,

I have resolved my audio over HDMI issue. It was very frustrating and I was so close to the solution a few times but never knew it.

Here is what I did to resolve the problem:

1) Installed a PPA for ALSA Version 1.0.23, rather than trying to compile it myself. (I found this at http://monespaceperso.org/blog-en/2010/05/02/upgrade-alsa-1-0-23-on-ubuntu-lucid-lynx-10-04 under comment #17.)

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-alsa-driver-modules-2.6.32-23-generic

2) Reboot the computer to start the new/updated ALSA software.

3) Unmute all of the audio channels using the alsamixer command.

alsamixer

4) Use the aplay command to detect what sound devices are available.

aplay -l

In my case 4 audio devices were found.

aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

If, like me, more than one audio device was shown you have to determine which device is the correct one. If only one is listed you could probably skip to step 6, but testing it wouldn't be a bad idea.

5) To determine which audio device was the correct one to use, use the aplay command again to play a test sound file. Use the -D option to force it to play to a particular device and listen for the results. The plughw:X,Y determines which device it tries to use. X is the card number and Y is the device number which were listed by issuing the aplay -l command in step 4. test.wav is the path and name of a sound file. (I used a WAV file because I'm unsure it aplay can play MP3s.) For me I didn't hear anything until I hit device 7 on card 0.

aplay -D plughw:0,7 test.wav

6) Create the file /etc/asound.conf and populate it with what we have learned. After the card and device entries, enter the values that worked for you. In my case card 0, device 7 is what worked for me so that is what I put in the config file.

sudo gedit /etc/asound.conf

Here is what I put into the asound.conf file.

pcm.!default {
     type plug
     slave.pcm {
         type hw
         card 0
         device 7
     }
}

7) Reboot the computer for all of the changes to take effect. (There may be a better way than rebooting. It's just what was easiest for me.)

8) Test the new sound configuration using the aplay command again. This time don't tell it what device to use, the default ALSA device should work at this point.

aplay test.wav

9) Finally tell MythTV to use your default ALSA device. Go into the setup menu under General / Audio System (page 3 I believe) and set "Audio output device" to "ALSA:default".

That should be it. After that I had sound coming through my TV speakers. It was clean sounding and quite a bit louder that when I using an analog audio cable connect to my TV. I have had no problem to date, although I have only had it working for about 2-3 days.

I hope this helps,
Brian

[jocefus]

My system:
Lucid Lynx AMD64
Asus M3NHT-deluxe mobo (onboard audio enabled)
Evga Geforce GT 240 - pci-e

Regardless of your nvidia-driver version (though it obviously needs to support the card)...

1. You must have alsa 1.0.23 installed. Google 'Ubuntu lucid Alsa upgrade' for easy solutions as there are a lot out there like: automated scripts, ppa repositories, and a great blog with posts outlining the manual compilation method. I prefer manual compilation and installation from upstream source. Use what ever you are most comfortable.

2. To correct the 4 switches listed in alsamixer, you must edit the file /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf in Ubuntu 10.04. The needed settings depends on the number of audio cards you have installed and their position reported by alsa. You can type 'aplay -l' to see a list of available devices/cards on your machine.

Look for a line that says:

options snd-hda-intel blah blah

If there isn't a line already with options create it, if there is append to it. In my case, there was no line and the audio device on the video card is listed as the second card (card 1). I added:

options snd-hda-intel probe_mask=0xffff,0xfff2

If you have only the audio devices on the video card (would be card 0) available you should add only:

options snd-hda-intel probe_mask=0xfff2

If you had three cards and the one in question was last then:

options snd-hda-intel probe_mask=0xffff,0xffff,0xfff2

Modify your file accordingly. Do you get the idea?

3. Flash Audio - They say if you have Lucid Lynx you don't need this because npviewer.bin (flash) should default to using pulse, but on my machine flash always defaulted to alsa and I had no way to tell it to use a specific alsa output. Changing the default alsa output in ~/.asoundrc works, but I switch audio outputs quite frequently (hdmi to display or toslink to amplifier) and this method was a bit cumbersome. This method must also be used for each user on your machine. So the solution I've found works best is to create the file /etc/asound.conf which works for every user login and insert the following:

pcm.pulse {
    type pulse
}
ctl.pulse {
    type pulse
}
pcm.!default {
    type pulse
}
ctl.!default {
    type pulse
}

This ensures that all sounds and controls are routed to pulseaudio by default. On a side note, you should also remove or comment out any ~/.asoundrc settings you or your machines other users may have as they could cause a conflict.

4. After making these changes, reboot the system.
Run alsamixer in terminal. check all cards installed and unmute all relevant switches as they are usually muted by default
Switching to the GT2** HDMI card in alsa should now only show one s/pdif switch

All other settings are achieved through sound preferences gui in gnome...
In 'hardware' tab you should now see a device 'High Definition Audio Controller' with only 1 output 'Digital Stereo (HDMI)' and 1 profile
In output tab you should be able to select 'High Definition Audio Controller Digital Stereo (HDMI) Stereo'

All built-in apps (including flash/firefox npviewer.bin) should list in 'applications' tab and should now be coming through your hdmi port. I don't know about system sounds, as those are disabled promptly on my machines. Another thing to remember is that pulse automatically scales all audio to 2ch stereo, so for 5.1+ surround high-def content you will want to by-pass pulse and stream lpcm straight to alsa, but that is another topic all together. Most other good Linux media applications including mplayer have settings in preferences for this, but flash obviously doesn't.

--

I am able to use the sound preferences gui to seamlessly switch between available sound cards, outputs, and profiles. Some displays (my Sony Bravia HDTV for instance) are funny about midstream audio switching, specially during hotplugging display devices. May be something to do with their *cough* HDCP protocol. In any case stopping/restarting audio playback usually fixes the issue. I have experienced no degradation of sound quality over time, and my card (210) runs cool even at 1920x1080 (some very active videos are a little choppy).

I recently switched to a GT240 card. Temps are a bit warmer because of DDR5 memory, however video is much more smooth and stable.

The way I do it (nvidia-installer from their site/alsa 1.0.23 from source) means I have to manually reinstall nvidia driver and recompile alsa every time a kernel or even kernel header update comes through, but I have done it many times and it doesn't take long on my machine.

[chmelarp]

I'm affraid this doesn't work in Ubuntu 10.10.

According to aplay -l I can play a sample sound using aplay -D plughw:1,7 test.wav and It works fine with no other activities necessary.

However, If I put into the asound.conf file.

     pcm.!default {
     type plug
     slave.pcm {
         type hw
         card 1
         device 7
     }
}

then It works only for FLV player in Firefox, but it has no effect for other sounds in the system (because using pulseaudio I guess). Moreover, there can be only one sound playing at a time. aplay -D plughw:1,7 test.wav returns device bussy when playing flash video or other aplay together.

Also, if I set in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

options snd-hda-intel probe_mask=0xffff,0xfff2

the gnome-volume-control 2.31.6 (and pulse audio) doesn't work at all.

So I set the /etc/pulse/default.pa

load-module module-alsa-sink device=hw:1,7 sink_name=Yamaha
set-default-sink Yamaha

However, this has no effect at all, except in the gnome-volume-control there is another output selected and pacmd list-sinks has an other sink:

  * index: 1
    name: <Yamaha>
    driver: <module-alsa-sink.c>
    flags: HARDWARE DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY
    state: SUSPENDED
    suspend cause: IDLE 
    priority: 9050
    volume: 0: 100% 1: 100%
            0: 0,00 dB 1: 0,00 dB
            balance 0,00
    base volume: 100%
                 0,00 dB
    volume steps: 65537
    muted: no
    current latency: 0,00 ms
    max request: 0 KiB
    max rewind: 0 KiB
    monitor source: 2
    sample spec: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
    channel map: front-left,front-right
                 Stereo
    used by: 0
    linked by: 0
    configured latency: 0,00 ms; range is 0,50 .. 1999,82 ms
    module: 18
    properties:
        alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
        device.api = "alsa"
        device.class = "sound"
        alsa.class = "generic"
        alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
        alsa.name = "NVIDIA HDMI"
        alsa.id = "NVIDIA HDMI"
        alsa.subdevice = "0"
        alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
        alsa.device = "7"
        alsa.card = "1"
        alsa.card_name = "HDA NVidia"
        alsa.long_card_name = "HDA NVidia at 0xfe9fc000 irq 16"
        alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
        device.bus_path = "pci-0000:01:00.1"
        sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1"
        device.bus = "pci"
        device.vendor.id = "10de"
        device.vendor.name = "nVidia Corporation"
        device.product.id = "0be3"
        device.product.name = "High Definition Audio Controller"
        device.string = "hw:1,7"
        device.buffering.buffer_size = "352768"
        device.buffering.fragment_size = "176384"
        device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
        device.description = "High Definition Audio Controller"
        device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"

so it seems it should work, but no - there is no sound at all.

Is there a problem with the driver? Probably it should be instead <module-alsa-card.c> of <module-alsa-sink.c> - does anybody know how to change it? Also, other pulse sinks have device.string = "hdmi:1", but there is no other hdmi in fact - do you know how to change the device, which is automatically detected? Or do you think it is a problem of alsa? How can I fix it and attach pulse to it?