Ubuntu :: 9.10 External Microphone Doesn't Work Anymore

Update 6th March 2010: Update to Kernel 2.6.31-20 SOLVED the problem. Recording works again (still wouldn't in kernels 2.6.31-17 to 2.6.31-19). If a kernel update doesn't solve your problem, please read post 14 on page 2 by Mocha which seems to have solved the problem for other users without updating the kernel

Update 8th February 2010 to Kernel 2.6.31-19 did not solve the problem, please also read post number 7 for more details.

Quick Conclusion for other users who might experience the same problem:

After an update to kernel version 2.6.31-17 in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, my external microphone did not work anymore. Playback was possible, just recording would not work anymore, although there was quite some background noise in the headphones. This made it impossible for me to use Skype and/or Sound Recorder.

All the possible solutions offered below did not help in my case (although you might give them a try).

I switched back to kernel version 2.6.31-16 where the problem does not occur.

Output: cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#* | grep Codec

Realtek ALC662 rev1

I know there are lots of threads about this topic, but I have spent hours on this problem already and none of the solutions offered so far worked for me so I decided to start this thread.

I have been using Ubuntu 9.10 and so far, my external microphone worked flawlessly in Skype as well as in Sound Recorder. A few days ago, I received a call on Skype and all the guy on the other side could hear was loud noise. I can only play sound, but not record anymore (i.e. the microphone doesn't work anymore). I tried two different microphones just to be sure whether one was defective and also checked it in Windows (where they both work).

I am not sure what might have caused this problem, I just remember a kernel upgrade about that time (not sure whether this is the reason though). I use 2.6.31-17-generic now.

Here is what I have tried so far:

1) Right-click on the Sound Icon in the top right corner and checked the following: in the hardware tab, it is set to analog stereo duplex, input is set to internal audio analog stereo (no other choice here) and the mic is NOT muted (playing with the volume doesn't help either) and output is set to internal audio analog stereo (again, no other choice) and connector is set to analog output (here I can switch to analog headphones or analog speaker, but makes no difference).

I remember that I could choose between Microphone 1 and Microphone 2 in the input tab; this is somehow magically gone.

2) Installed padevchooser, tried several settings to no avail

3) When I use "alsamixer" (version 1.0.20) in a terminal, Playback>Master is set to 100<>100, Capture is set to 150<>150, lowering and/or playing with these figures doesn't help either.

When I use "alsamixer -Dhw:0" in a terminal, I get the same results as in step four.

4) In Gnome Alsa Mixer, only "Beep" is muted, everything else is set to max. I have Master, Headphon, PCM, Front, Front Mi (x2), Lin, Mic, Mic Boost, Capture (x2, set to record), Beep, Speaker

I have tried to mute/unmute different setting to no avail. Now I wonder why I have two Front Mi and two Capture entries. This is different than it used to be, might this be causing the problem?

5) Fiddling with Pulse Audio Volume Control didn't help either.

6) Had a look at "paman" (pulse audio manager), not sure whether I should change anything here.

7) Installed "linux-backports-modules-alsa-karmic-generic" and rebooted as recommended in several threads, did not help either.

Added the parameters "model=auto" and "probe_mask=1" to '/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf', did not work, so I deleted the entries again (hint from [url], see post 5)

Now I am at my wits end. I need my microphone to work, especially for Skype, otherwise I have to switch to Windows every time I receive or want to make a call which is definitely not a long-term solution?

Does anybody have an idea what might be causing this problem? As I said, it used to work flawlessly just a few days ago and now I don't even know what I should do next to make it work again...

Output of "amixer"

When I run "alsactl init" I get the following result which might be at least a part of the problem, but I wouldn't know how to solve this problem:

Unknown hardware: "HDA-Intel" "Realtek ALC662 rev1" "HDA:10ec0662,103c303a,00100101" "0x103c" "0x303a"
Hardware is initialized using a guess method