Getting the mic working on a Dell Dimension 5000 running Ubuntu 8.04
October 19th, 2008 in linux
I’ve been trying hard to get the microphone working on my wife Jenny’s old Dell Dimension 5000 running Ubuntu 8.04. Google wasn’t much help I’m afraid. I finally figured out, after lots of trial and error, that I had to set the option Surround Jack Mode in the Gnome Mixer to the value Independent to get the mic working. Skype seems to be working fine now. Next challenge will be to find a web cam that works…
For your reference, here’s the full output I get when running amixer:
Simple mixer control 'Master',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on] Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'Master Mono',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on] Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'Headphone Jack Sense',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'PCM',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on] Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'Surround',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-46.50dB] [off] Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-46.50dB] [off] Simple mixer control 'Surround Jack Mode',0 Capabilities: enum Items: 'Shared' 'Independent' Item0: 'Independent' Simple mixer control 'Center',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [off] Simple mixer control 'LFE',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-46.50dB] [off] Simple mixer control 'Line',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [off] Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'Line Jack Sense',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'CD',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on] Capture [off] Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on] Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'Mic',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [on] Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [on] Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'Mic Select',0 Capabilities: enum Items: 'Mic1' 'Mic2' Item0: 'Mic2' Simple mixer control 'Video',0 Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Front Left: Capture [off] Front Right: Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'Phone',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Playback channels: Mono Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Front Left: Capture [off] Front Right: Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'PC Speaker',0 Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Limits: Playback 0 - 15 Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-45.00dB] [off] Simple mixer control 'Aux',0 Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Playback 0 - 31 Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on] Capture [off] Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on] Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'Mono Output Select',0 Capabilities: enum Items: 'Mix' 'Mic' Item0: 'Mix' Simple mixer control 'Capture',0 Capabilities: cvolume cswitch Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Limits: Capture 0 - 15 Front Left: Capture 13 [87%] [19.50dB] [on] Front Right: Capture 13 [87%] [19.50dB] [on] Simple mixer control 'Mix',0 Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Front Left: Capture [off] Front Right: Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'Mix Mono',0 Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive Capture exclusive group: 0 Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right Front Left: Capture [off] Front Right: Capture [off] Simple mixer control 'Channel Mode',0 Capabilities: enum Items: '2ch' '4ch' '6ch' Item0: '2ch' Simple mixer control 'Downmix',0 Capabilities: enum Items: 'Off' '6 -> 4' '6 -> 2' Item0: 'Off' Simple mixer control 'Exchange Center/LFE',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'Exchange Front/Surround',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'Exchange Mic/Line In',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'External Amplifier',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'Spread Front to Surround and Center/LFE',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'Stereo Mic',0 Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined Playback channels: Mono Mono: Playback [off] Simple mixer control 'V_REFOUT',0 Capabilities: enum Items: 'High-Z' '3.7 V' '2.25 V' '0 V' Item0: 'High-Z'
And lspci says:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82915G/P/GV/GL/PL/910GL Memory Controller Hub (rev 04) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82915G/P/GV/GL/PL/910GL PCI Express Root Port (rev 04) 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82915G/GV/910GL Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 04) 00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 82915G Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 04) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03) 00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03) 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03) 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03) 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03) 00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03) 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev d3) 00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FR (ICH6/ICH6R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03) 00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FW (ICH6/ICH6W) SATA Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03) 04:03.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401 100Base-T (rev 01)