System Volume Resets to 0, Using HDMI to TV for Audio

[Swordmaster4321]

Hello!

I am having issues with the volume in EmulationStation. It was previously working fine, but then I updated Raspberry Pi packages and updated RetroPie, and now the audio is no longer working. The system volume setting in ES keeps resetting to 0. I opened the audio setting in the RetroPie menu, and it says the audio output is (ALSA). I changed it to HDMI, but then when I go back to the audio settings it goes back to ALSA. I have no clue what caused this issue.

Pi Model: RPI4B 2GB
Power Supply used: 5 Volts 3 Amps
RetroPie Version Used: 4.8
Built From: Official Raspberry Pi Imager
USB Devices connected: Keyboard, Xbox Elite Series 2 controller via USB-C
Controller used: "Generic Xbox Gamepad"
I will supply any other information if it is necessary 👍.

[abj]

Try this to be sure that everything have the default settings:

RetroPie-Setup > audio > Hdmi .
and restart the EmulationStation.

Press the start button, while you are in Emulationstation menu, the sound settings must be:

Audio card : Default
Audio Device: HDMI.

[Swordmaster4321]

@abj All the Emulationstation settings are set correctly, but whenever I go to RetroPie->Audio, it says the output is ALSA, no matter how many times I set it and restart ES. The volume still resets to 0 every time I exit and re-enter the ES menu though.

[abj]

Do you have install the Desktop?

Try to run the following commands and add here the output results:

aplay -l
amixer

[Swordmaster4321]

@abj Yes, I have installed the desktop.

Here are the results:

aplay - l:
This command appears to have broken my terminal. It has been 20 minutes and there still isn't an output.

amixer:

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 65536
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 65536 [100%] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 65536 [100%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 65536
  Front Left: Capture 65536 [100%] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 65536 [100%] [on]

[abj]

@Swordmaster4321

Try to uninstall pulseaudio from here:

RetroPie => RetroPie Setup => Configuration/Tools => rasbiantools => Choose option 3 ( remove some uneede... ) and restart.
After that, make sure that you have the default settings that i post above.

[mitu]

@Swordmaster4321 said in System Volume Resets to 0, Using HDMI to TV for Audio:

aplay - l:
This command appears to have broken my terminal. It has been 20 minutes and there still isn't an output.

There's no space between - and l (lowecase L). I think you've added a space and the command expects some input from you (which is not coming). You can usually end every terminal launched command by pressing Ctrl + C.

[abj]

Sorry, my bad i correct it.

[Swordmaster4321]

The audio is working now! Thank you! The last thing I'm wondering is why pulseaudio messes the whole thing up.

[Swordmaster4321]

And while we're here... is there a way to make scrolling between systems in the dashboard a lot smoother?

10fps isn't really cutting it for me lol

[mitu]

@Swordmaster4321 said in System Volume Resets to 0, Using HDMI to TV for Audio:

And while we're here... is there a way to make scrolling between systems in the dashboard a lot smoother?

Don't run the system at 4k video resolution ? By default, 4k is diplayed at 30fps by the Pi4 unless you configure the HDMI output to run at 60fps with the hdmi_enable_4kp60 option (see here).

[Darksavior]

@abj Thanks. This fixed the audio for me.
On my unsupported pi5 setup, switching to the Pegasus frontend killed the audio, and switching back to ES was not fixing it.