System volume stuck at 0%. Cannot get audio out. aaarrrghh. help me

[simon123]

Hi All,
I am stuck with system volume @ 0%. I use USB powered speakers with 3.5mm jack.
(I cant use HDMI for volume.)
I have selected speakers in the raspi-config menu and also the audio menu.
I have selected the "forced" 3.5mm jack from the advanced menu...nothing works.
When I plug in headphones I can hear the audio.
The speakers are new and work when connected to another computer. However I can get no sound from them when connected to the Pi....
I am new to this. If someone knows what is happening, please let me know...

[guythp]

Forgive my ignorance but is alsamixer in the retropie repository? I have a similar problem with a netbook running linuxmint and I use alsamixer as a workaround to force the volume back on.

[ucald4amarine]

@simon123 you hear sound when you plug in headphones from the pi itself?

[Clyde]

@guythp said in System volume stuck at 0%. Cannot get audio out. aaarrrghh. help me:

Forgive my ignorance but is alsamixer in the retropie repository?

It is, as part of the package alsa-utils. And I think it comes pre-installed with the official Retropie image.

[simon123]

@ucald4amarine Yes, with the headphones I do hear the sound. However with the speakers, there is only faint static

[hhromic]

@simon123 make sure you are using the right cable. The 3.5mm jack is a composite AV output jack, not only a stereo-output connector. This means it has four pins carrying audio-L, audio-R, video and ground. A suitable cable is this (notice the 3.5mm plug):

This is the pin assignments of the connector:

Is very rare, but maybe the connector of your speakers is not standard, i.e. using Tip, Ring1 and (Ring2 + Sleeve for ground) ?

[simon123]

@hhromic Thank you for the quick and detailed answer. However is not this a bit too much? I will def try it and see if it will get the sound going with this type of cable. The PI is connected to a pc monitor with a HDMI to VGA? connector

[simon123]

@simon123 because the speakers work being connected to a laptop, so it is very strange to me

[hhromic]

@simon123 yes I agree this is unlikely the cause, but I thought it was worth to mention. We don't know much about your setup so is a guessing game too.

[simon123]

@hhromic there is sound through the HDMI, when I plug into TV. Also when earphones are plugged. No sound with the speakers that otherwise work when plugged into a laptop

[hhromic]

@simon123 not every 3.5mm connector is made exactly the same. Does it insert fully into the RPI? as I said, just a mm misplaced might make the connection wrong. A good test is indeed to try another cable.

[simon123]

@hhromic I tried with different speakers. I get very low volume on them and only when volume is set at max on them. However the System volume is still stuck at 0%. I am not sure how I get the sound...

[hhromic]

@simon123 I noticed two things, (1) you are using USB-powered speakers and (2) you didn't seem to have test the suggesitons about using alsamixer.
So I have some suggestions for you to try:

1. Are you connecting these speakers to the RPI itself using a USB port? This might be problematic because the RPI is known to not deliver much power through the USB ports, and I suspects speakers are power hungry. Can you try to power the speakers with a laptop or other source via USB but the audio from the RPI?
2. Can you go to a console and type the following command to set the volume using alsa: amixer sset PCM 90% unmute. This sets the volume reasonable high so be careful with the noise.

After point 2 you should see something like this (volume set to 90%):

Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback -10239 - 400
  Mono: Playback -663 [90%] [-6.63dB] [on]