Ubuntu – Restore audio settings – cannot open mixer: No such file or directory

12.04alsasound

The internal speaker of my laptop never functionned under Ubuntu. I tried to follow indication on the web and now the jack audio does not work either.

The graphic interface for audio management now displays a 'dummy output' instead of the three possible outputs I used to have (one of them was working for the jack output).

In a terminal 

alsamixer

raises an error:

cannot open mixer: No such file or directory

I did try to remove and reinstall alsa-utils but it did not change anything.

This happened after a failed atempt to install alsa-driver-linuxant_1.0.23.1_all.deb from here.

My sound card seems to be not recognised anymore. After reboot I have no more the sound icon in menu bar the upper right corner.

I think I have removed my sound card driver.
Indeed, the command sudo lshw -class multimedia
indicated audi device as unclaimed.

Any idea how I could revert to a better situation (that is jack support and alsa working)?

EDIT:
The command lspci -nnk | grep -iEA3 audio gives

lspci -nnk | grep -iEA3 audio
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293e] (rev 03)
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:1893]
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:2940] (rev 03)

Best Answer

Yikes! This "pre-compiled binary package" is an ugly one.

  • It installs source code in /usr/lib rather than /usr/src.
  • It appears to ship almost all Alsa with it.
  • It compiles the kernel module from source very bluntly in a postinst script. So it's a source package packaged as a binary one.
  • Basically it does not follow any packaging guidelines as it appears.

However, it appears to also feature some uninstall script invoked by simply removing the package (triggered by the prerm hook).

The driver is for Conexant hardware, but you appear not to have such a sound card!

So, long story short, just try to remove the package to revert your actions (and hope it does indeed revert all actions):

sudo dpkg -r alsa-driver-linuxant

Lessons for next time:

  • Don't install third party packages, but if you do:
    • verify that the driver/package you're about to install is actually fit for your hardware.
    • try out changes like this on a persistent USB install for example. If it screws up or does not help, you can simply discard that installation.
  • File non-working hardware as bugs. Hardware in Ubuntu should just work.
  • Try to understand what you're doing - it appears that you seem not to understand what changes you made to your system.
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