Unsolved-No sound from new Mint installation

[Hopeless-case]

Newby here. Still very early in the Linux learning curve so this is probably a silly question. Installed on a decent spec desktop that is over ten years old. It was working fine in all respects and I had been using Windows 7 all this time until I started finding difficulty with browsers not working properly with W7. I bought a new monitor at the same time I changed to Linux. There is onboard sound and it does make it to the crappy speakers in the monitor via a "display port" cable. The problem is there's no sound getting to either my AKG headphones or a Logitec 2.1 external speaker set. They work on another desktop just fine. I have searched everywhere on the new Linux and can't find anything to make the speakers work. Am I missing something, or do I need to download something more? Thanks in advance.

 

[KGIII]

Open your terminal and enter pavucontrol, and then hit the enter button.

Look around in there for anything muted, turned down, etc... Make sure that it's using the correct output device.

It's too wide a question to give an accurate answer. So, muck about in there to see if you can spot the problem.

 

[Hopeless-case]

I will try that, and report back (tomorrow).
Many thanks.

 

[Condobloke]

if pavucontrol does not produce a response, try typing in

alsamixer

and hit F5 to show all controls and make sure the volumes are high and nothing is muted. Elements that are muted would have: MM, at the base of the bars which can be toggled off using the m key.

 

[theLegionWithin]

I bought a new monitor at the same time I changed to Linux. There is onboard sound and it does make it to the crappy speakers in the monitor via a "display port" cable. The problem is there's no sound getting to either my AKG headphones or a Logitec 2.1 external speaker set. They work on another desktop just fine.

not sure what distro you're using so this will be rather generic:

the speakers/headset, I assume they're connected to the computer, not the monitor? as I understand it, DisplayPort audio comes from the gpu via alsa (to your monitor's speakers). as @KGIII mentioned, pavucontrol is a config utility - it's likely that the correct audio profile is not active. you may also want to check alsamixer to make sure your speakers arent muted, as @Condobloke mentioned

if that doesnt pan out, then check inxi -Axxx (install inxi if you dont already have it, it's a useful tool) and/or lspci to see what audio hardware is getting detected - and then screencap those results and paste them here. I'm not an audio guru but some folks here are.

if nothing else works you can always do what I did - get a usb to audio adapter aka a "usb soundcard" - i pipe all of my audio to a Realtek CUBILUX CA7 and output to a 5.1 speaker system.

 

[Hopeless-case]

OK, time to reply. First of all how do I get the terminal to appear? I have looked through the applications, software, and accessories list and can't find anything called "terminal"..
I have been trying to get help on another forum and was told to install pavucontrol which I did and it was no help. And finally, my installation is Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon. That's all I know about it.

 

[Alexzee]

OK, time to reply. First of all how do I get the terminal to appear? I have looked through the applications, software, and accessories list and can't find anything called "terminal"..
I have been trying to get help on another forum and was told to install pavucontrol which I did and it was no help. And finally, my installation is Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon. That's all I know about it.

Go to your start Menu in Cinnamon and click on the Linux Mint icon in the far left corner.
When your Menu opens you'll see a space bar to type in terminal. See the pictures of my Linux Mint desktop.

 

[Hopeless-case]

I will try to respond to all who have suggested solutions in one go. I now know how to bring up the "Terminal". I can bring up pavucontrol and nothing there was any help. I clicked every option and nothing changes. I tried alsamixer and found different stuff but again, nothing changes to give me sound. At once stage I got one or two vertical coloured bars. The one on the left had "MM" at the bottom so I toggled it with the "M" key on the keyboard and the green "MM" changed to a white "00". No sound. One of the displays that come up shows two devices (?) and a bar below one of them shows the volume level. The other doesn't have one and there is no "mute" switch. I am more confused the more I try. I was wondering if I need to install a discrete sound card to see if it will be recognised by the Mint sound output any better. Any idea? I put inxi -Axxx in the terminal and got a list of I.D. about the computer and Linux stuff. I don't know how to get a screenshot to post here.

 

[Alexzee]

I will try to respond to all who have suggested solutions in one go. I now know how to bring up the "Terminal". I can bring up pavucontrol and nothing there was any help. I clicked every option and nothing changes. I tried alsamixer and found different stuff but again, nothing changes to give me sound. At once stage I got one or two vertical coloured bars. The one on the left had "MM" at the bottom so I toggled it with the "M" key on the keyboard and the green "MM" changed to a white "00". No sound. One of the displays that come up shows two devices (?) and a bar below one of them shows the volume level. The other doesn't have one and there is no "mute" switch. I am more confused the more I try. I was wondering if I need to install a discrete sound card to see if it will be recognised by the Mint sound output any better. Any idea? I put inxi -Axxx in the terminal and got a list of I.D. about the computer and Linux stuff. I don't know how to get a screenshot to post here.

See the pictures I posted in post # 7 for the terminal.

MM means muted.
00 means it's unmuted.

To get a screenshot to post here look in your Menu. See picture of mine, attached.

I wouldn't think that you would need to install a discrete sound card unless your don't have a sound card at all.

Running this command in the terminal will show your sound card.

aplay -l

 

[Condobloke]

There is onboard sound and it does make it to the crappy speakers in the monitor via a "display port" cable. The problem is there's no sound getting to either my AKG headphones or a Logitec 2.1 external speaker set. They work on another desktop just fine

Unplug the new monitor.

Sound now ?

 

[Alexzee]

When you can please give us the name of your monitor 'make and model' and desktop 'make and mode'l please, so I can go find the manuals if they are still online.

Is your monitor a pc monitor or a T.V.?

 

[KGIII]

First of all how do I get the terminal to appear?

CTRL + ALT + T

 

[lazy_lain]

do you have pulse audio libraries? search it in ur system

 

[Hopeless-case]

do you have pulse audio libraries? search it in ur system

I found Pulse Audio Volume Control, nothing else. I tried to do a screenshot but it doesn't work on the Volume Control box to show you what was listed there.

 

[Hopeless-case]

CTRL + ALT + T

Many thanks.

 

[Hopeless-case]

When you can please give us the name of your monitor 'make and model' and desktop 'make and mode'l please, so I can go find the manuals if they are still online.

Is your monitor a pc monitor or a T.V.?

The desktop monitor is an Asus VG249Q5R. The PC is home built. Motherboard- Asus P8Z77-V, processor is Intel Core i5-3570, 16gb Crucial memory.

 

[Hopeless-case]

Unplug the new monitor.

Sound now ?

Unplugging the monitor made no difference.

 

[Hopeless-case]

See the pictures I posted in post # 7 for the terminal.

MM means muted.
00 means it's unmuted.

To get a screenshot to post here look in your Menu. See picture of mine, attached.

I wouldn't think that you would need to install a discrete sound card unless your don't have a sound card at all.

Running this command in the terminal will show your sound card.

aplay -l

I ran the aplay -l and a box came up (very small) and I tried to use the screenshot thing to post it here. The screenshot doesn't seem to have the ability to be sent anywhere. Sorry.

 

[Hopeless-case]

I have noticed some of the problems in the forums get resolved and are marked "Solved" at the top. I can't seem to find how to do this so here's my solution.
After the best efforts of several helpful people here I have to declare this one unsolvable but thank you all for trying. I am still happy to keep Mint on my backup PC but will have to stick with W7 for everyday use because I need the sound function for my music interests, and playing Youtube videos.

 

[KGIII]

I have noticed some of the problems in the forums get resolved and are marked "Solved" at the top. I can't seem to find how to do this

Edit your first post in the thread. You'll see that you can edit the title. Look on the left for 'Prefix'. That's how you can select 'solved'.