Ubuntu 14.4 No sound

[petl]

I recently did a recommended update and now I have no sound and no sound setting indicator. Is there a simple fix? Help will be much appreciated. Thanks.

[doctormann]

Was this a kernel upgrade?  This can sometimes break things.  Can you revert to your previous kernel and see if this fixes the problem?

[oldcpu]

Further to the above, sometimes after doing a kernel update, all that is needed is a reboot to load the new kernel.

 

If above unsuccessful, and if you do not have any immediate success, you could run a diagnostic script to provide more information, and it may shed a clue as to the issue ...

 

In an xterm as a regular user, with PC connected to internet, send the following command. It will download the diagnostic script, and run it.

wget http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh -O alsa-info.sh && bash alsa-info.sh

Select the 'Share/Upload' option, and let the script run to completion.  When complete, in the xterm, it will give you a URL where the diagnostic information was uploaded.   Share that URL here, and we can look it and it may be able to point out to you where the problem exists.

 

Edited May 22, 2019 by oldcpu

[doctormann]

2 hours ago, oldcpu said:

Further to the above, sometimes after doing a kernel update, all that is needed is a reboot to load the new kernel.

 

If above unsuccessful, and if you do not have any immediate success, you could run a diagnostic script to provide more information, and it may shed a clue as to the issue ...

 

In an xterm as a regular user, with PC connected to internet, send the following command. It will download the diagnostic script, and run it.

wget http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh -O alsa-info.sh && bash alsa-info.sh

Select the 'Share/Upload' option, and let the script run to completion.  When complete, in the xterm, it will give you a URL where the diagnostic information was uploaded.   Share that URL here, and we can look it and it may be able to point out to you where the problem exists.

 

If the OP is running the Alsa Mixer he should just check that he has the appropriate output selected and that it's not muted.

 

Maybe he's done this already but it would be worthwhile checking.  Easy enough to do.

[petl]

Thanks for your replies. I can now get the Sound Control Center but still no sound, not even the Speaker tests. No Alsa Mixer installed (that I can find). The sound problem seemed to happen after I did a routine software update recently, everything else seems OK.

I'm located near Udon Thani, is there a Linux-savvy technician or shop nearby? I'm a seriously old fart and a Ubuntu 14.4 newby, so some of the suggested fixes are beyond me. Keen to persevere with Linux. Thanks.

[oldcpu]

5 hours ago, petl said:

No Alsa Mixer installed (that I can find). The sound problem seemed to happen after I did a routine software update recently, everything else seems OK.

Have you restarted your PC since the routine software update?   

 

Do you know what an 'xterm' (ie x-windows terminal) is ?   If so you can run alsamixer by typing "alsamixer" in such a terminal (don't type the quotes).   

 

I live in Phuket so can not help with your Udon Thani technician question.

Edited May 24, 2019 by oldcpu

[higgy88]

Actually, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (long term support) is 5 years old now, and support would have ended in April.  I wonder what updates the OP would have gotten, and why he doesn't update to a newer version, like 18.04 LTS, which would be supported until April, 2023.

 

Petl, any idea what may have been updated to cause this problem?   It would be pretty easy to save your data to an external drive and just do a fresh install to the newer version.

 

[petl]

Thanks for all the good advice. I went for the upgrade to 16.4lts as suggested, carefully backed up everything, update didn't work from the 14.4 Software Manager), took laptop to local shop who suggested 18.4lts instead. Unthinkingly agreed, now I've got 18.4 ok but in the process he lost all the backup! He can't retrieve it, is it possible it's still on the hard drive?

[doctormann]

Probably depends how how the drive was partitioned.  If you had a separate home partition, and this was not formatted during the 18.4 installation, all your personal data should be intact.  If, on the other hand, the tech just took the default installation option which, I think, just installs everything into one partition, your data will have been lost.

 

I'm not 100% sure about this - I use Mint, not Ubuntu, but the installation process is basically the same.

 

My advice, which is not going to help you in your present situation, is to partition the disc to give you separate boot, root and home partitions and possibly a swap partition.  Lots of info on this - just Google it.

 

Anyway, you can always recover your data from your backup - provided that you have one.  Always back stuff up, otherwise, sooner or later, your failure to do this will bite you on the bum!