[Pkg-alsa-devel] Bug#544102: alsa-base: mic inputs don't work in HP 2140, AD1984A

[rickbol]

Package: alsa-base
Version: 1.0.17.dfsg-4
Severity: important


The mic inputs, internal or external, cannot be "captured" (recorded)
by usermode apps including: arecord, skype. 

Note: mic input, both internal and external, is controllable by
alsamixer. That is, mute, level and boost controls have the expected
effect as heard in both the onboard speakers or headphones. The
onboard speakers are muted when headphones ar plugged in (so that
sensing works). The internal mics can infact feedback thru the internal speakers if boost
and level are set high enough.

So, input is being preamped and routed to output, but this "rouing" is
not accessible to apps.

I have verified this same behavior with kernel 2.6.30-bpo.

There are numerous reports of similar symptoms in a variety of other
netbooks\laptops that use the snd-hda-intel driver. Some Ubuntu users
report that some combination of updates with the 2.6.30 kernel have
resulted in a functioning audio subsystem on the HP 2140, but they all
required an update to pulseaudio, which my lenny\lxde system lacks
(and I'd prefer to avoid if possible).

I've chased a number "fixes" for this issue over several days. None
have resolved the issue for this netbook\os combo. I suspect "pin
assignments" around the "capture" devices in the AD1983A driver, but
not for any solid reason.

This is important for me as I intend to use this machine for audio\video
recording.

As an aside, audio is recorded (and real-time monitorable to the 
speakers\headphones) by Kino when sourcing from /dev/raw1394.


-- Package-specific info:
--- Begin additional package status ---
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Cfg-files/Unpacked/Failed-cfg/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name               Version            Description
+++-==================-==================-====================================================
ii  libasound2         1.0.16-2           ALSA library
--- End additional package status ---
--- Begin /proc/asound/version ---
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.16.
--- End /proc/asound/version ---
--- Begin /proc/asound/cards ---
 0 [Intel          ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
                      HDA Intel at 0xe8280000 irq 21
--- End /proc/asound/cards ---
--- Begin /dev/snd/ listing ---
total 0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  0 2009-08-28 11:31 controlC0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 24 2009-08-28 11:31 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 16 2009-08-28 11:31 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  1 2009-08-28 11:31 seq
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 33 2009-08-28 11:31 timer
--- End /dev/snd/ listing ---

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 5.0.2
  APT prefers proposed-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'proposed-updates'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.26-2-686 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages alsa-base depends on:
ii  linux-sound-base           1.0.17.dfsg-4 base package for ALSA and OSS soun
ii  lsof                       4.78.dfsg.1-4 List open files
ii  module-init-tools          3.4-1         tools for managing Linux kernel mo

Versions of packages alsa-base recommends:
ii  alsa-utils                    1.0.16-2   ALSA utilities

Versions of packages alsa-base suggests:
pn  alsa-oss                      <none>     (no description available)
ii  apmd                          3.2.2-12   Utilities for Advanced Power Manag
ii  oss-compat                    0.0.4+nmu2 OSS compatibility package

Versions of packages libasound2 depends on:
ii  libc6                         2.7-18     GNU C Library: Shared libraries

-- no debconf information