[alsa-devel] Acer Ferrari 5000

[Takashi Iwai]

At Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:42:25 -0700,
Russ Dill wrote:
> 
> [1  <text/plain; UTF-8 (quoted-printable)>]
> On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 6:40 AM, Takashi Iwai <tiwai at suse.de> wrote:
> > At Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:36:06 -0700,
> > Russ Dill wrote:
> >>
> >> On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 5:51 AM, Takashi Iwai <tiwai at suse.de> wrote:
> >> > At Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:54:34 -0700,
> >> > Russ Dill wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 3:54 AM, Takashi Iwai <tiwai at suse.de> wrote:
> >> >> > At Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:23:15 -0700,
> >> >> > Russ Dill wrote:
> >> >> >>
> >> >> >> GIven the recent changes in gnome land (pulseaudio), I'd like to be
> >> >> >> able to get alsa support for my hardware fixed up. My biggest
> >> >> >> annoyance right now is that when I plug headphones in, it doesn't mute
> >> >> >> the speakers. Another issue I have is that I'd like to have support
> >> >> >> for audio out on HDMI (which is supported by Vista). On with the show.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Try the later version of alsa-driver or kernel, and pass model=auto.
> >> >> > As default model=acer is chosen for ALC883 with Acer vendor SSID,
> >> >> > and it's known that it doesn't match with the recent Acer laptops
> >> >> > at all.  The BIOS auto-parsing mode would work better recently.
> >> >>
> >> >> I still get dmesg errors (audio does play though):
> >> >>
> >> >> [229513.339812] hda-intel: Invalid position buffer, using LPIB read
> >> >> method instead.
> >> >> [229513.436583] hda-intel: IRQ timing workaround is activated for card
> >> >> #0. Suggest a bigger bdl_pos_adj.
> >> >
> >> > These are no errors.  You can ignore for now.
> >>
> >> ok, but the "azx_get_response timeout" ones seem to be as audio
> >> glitches when the occur.
> >
> > Does it happen with model=auto?  The driver doesn't work without that
> > option, as I mentioned.
> >
> >> > Which alsa-driver are you using now?  At best, try the latest
> >> > alsa-driver snapshot from
> >> >    ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/tiwai/snapshot/alsa-driver-snapshot.tar.gz
> >> > or the sound git tree at
> >> >    git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound-2.6.git
> >>
> >> I'm currently using whatever comes in 2.6.28 with ubuntu. I'll try out
> >> the git tree.
> >
> > Bah, that's way too old to debug...
> >
> >> >> The Center mixer control now controls my left laptop speaker and the
> >> >> LFE mixer control controls the right speaker. The Surround control
> >> >> that used to control the laptop speakers now does nothing.
> >> >>
> >> >> Attempting to MUTE the LFE channel, the audio skipped a bit and I got:
> >> >>
> >> >> [229698.556044] hda_intel: azx_get_response timeout, switching to
> >> >> polling mode: last cmd=0x10db0001
> >> >> [229699.561017] hda_intel: azx_get_response timeout, switching to
> >> >> single_cmd mode: last cmd=0x10db0001
> >> >>
> >> >> My system just hung (likely due to wireless drivers) and I rebooted
> >> >> and with model=auto again, the mixer controls are different. There is
> >> >> no LFE or Center controls, but there is an added Headphone volume
> >> >> control (which does nothing). Front controls the headphone volume,
> >> >> nothing controls the speaker volume.
> >> >>
> >> >> I've been unable to hear digital output (mplayer -ao alsa:device=iec958).
> >> >
> >> > The device is likely not "iec958" but "hdmi".
> >>
> >> no such device exists with model=auto (or without setting model).
> >
> > Yes, too old version :)
> >
> >> >> My laptop has an internal microphone, two internal speakers, a
> >> >> headphone jack, a mic in jack, a line in jack, and digital audio out
> >> >> via hdmi.
> >> >
> >> > And alsa-info output?  Use model=auto from now on.
> >> > The default model (acer) doesn't work obviously for your laptop.
> >>
> >> It was attached to the previous email
> >
> > Ah, overlooked.  Thanks.
> >
> > But better the one from the latest driver...
> >
> >
> > Takashi
> >
> 
> OK, I've bolted your master branch in your git tree onto my kernel:
> 
> [10580.958816] HDA Intel 0000:00:14.2: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level,
> low) -> IRQ 16
> [10581.101270] input: HDA Digital PCBeep as
> /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/input/input8
> 
> My mixer controls are very similar to what I got before, except now
> Front controls both the front speakers, and the headphones. Plugging
> in and unplugging the headphone jack still has no effect.

See below.

> There is also a "Beep" control now.

It's a new feature in the new version.

> There is still no PCM device labled hdmi, and outputting to iec958
> device doesn't get me any audio output via HDMI.

Right, it's apparently not set by BIOS, so the driver can't detect
it.

How is the HDMI connected?  Is it from the graphic chip/board
or any other route?  In the latter case, an HDMI transmitter (codec)
is connected to the main audio controller, typically in the 4th slot
(codec#3).  In the former case, it usually appears as an individual
PCI device.

If the SPDIF digital device is supposed to be HDMI, then it's a bug of
BIOS.  In that case, using "iec958" is the right choice.

Anyway, you could build the driver with --with-debug=verbose configure
option and try to pass probe_mask=0x1ff.  This will force to probe
all codec slots.  See kernel messages.


> I can still get:
> 
> 
> [11025.533020] hda_intel: azx_get_response timeout, switching to
> polling mode: last cmd=0x106f000a
> [11026.537063] hda_intel: azx_get_response timeout, switching to
> single_cmd mode: last cmd=0x106f000a

Hm.  Judging from alsa-info output, the verb looks correct, it's PCM
parameter inquiry against the widget 0x06.  So, your hardware is
really flaky.  What happens if you add
	codec->bus->needs_damn_long_delay = 1;
in patch_realtek.c:patch_alc883() ?

> [11027.813799] hda-intel: IRQ timing workaround is activated for card
> #0. Suggest a bigger bdl_pos_adj.

This should be the side-effect of the codec communication error above.

> while playing audio.

> I've attached the associated alsa-info.txt
...
> 	control.4 {
> 		comment.access 'read write'
> 		comment.type BOOLEAN
> 		comment.count 2
> 		iface MIXER
> 		name 'Headphone Playback Switch'
> 		value.0 false
> 		value.1 false

Unmute "Headphone" switch.


Takashi