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  • Author Author: gam3t3ch
  • Date Created: Date Created
  • Views 24769 views
  • Likes 8 likes
  • Comments 38 comments
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Alsa no audio (glitch) issue Pi 4 fix

gam3t3ch

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**Small update: [Oct.13.19] Remember to also plug your audio into another speaker system as well.  Today I thought I had this issue again so  I ran the fix and was getting frustrated that it wasn't working.  Turns out that my speakers on my old monitor that I am using finally went and now I have to find a low powered replacement so remember to also try hardware as well to make sure it is working (I could have run my phone into the monitor to test it which I eventually did after to double check it was the issue after resetting the monitor as well.)

 

 

So recently I have been installing a bunch of programs and been finding some have been causing a weird audio issue with my pi 4 but not to fear instead of wiping the pi and starting over I decided to investigate further and see what I could do to get it to work.

 

If your audio should be working but isn't on the pi 4 this might be something to try before you reset it.

 

Now I had it configured properly but still was not getting sound out after installing a few different programs and even had a issue playing with sdr and some games but finally got it working the following way.

 

 

First off your audio setting are probably all set back to where they were working before but still no audio.

 

First thing we will do is run open terminal ctrl + alt + t  (or from your quick launch)

type the following in bold.

sudo apt-get remove pulseaudio

now if it comes back that pulseaudio is not installed you will have to install it with:

sudo apt-get install pulseaudio

sudo reboot

after the reboot you will run the removal up top.

Test in terminal if you have sound now it might not be working quite yet we have one more line to run but you should hear something

when played through terminal.

aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Noise.wav

alright a few more quick steps to complete now pulseaudio should be removed we are going to run the following

sudo apt autoremove

sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils reset

you can test again before reboot if you hear sound with the aplay command above.

sudo reboot

Now that the unit is rebooted we will select our analogue or HDMI as our default whichever you were using. for me it was the 3.5mm jack

Now open a web browser and go to youtube.com and play a video you should now have sound.

 

I had tested many different configs for getting the audio to work but this was the method I had to do each time to get my audio back even rasp-config wouldn't play nice with me on this one

So hopefully will help someone and if you have any questions about it or having issues let me know.

If I find any other workaround or fixes for this I will post them up here.

  • in reply to truthreigns

    I am not an Engineer myself. I stumbled across this site a number of years ago. I started with a career in electronics and retired after a career in IT security. The site has an eclectic mix of people. The common characteristic I have experience for the most part is they are problem solvers. If the problem is in their wheelhouse to solve, they will share.

     

    Providing relevant information is the key to getting responses. It demonstrates, you are willing to invest in finding a solution and you recognise others are investing also. Throwing up a post, I have a problem may garner some responses but an investment on the posters part of a good problem description catches the big fish on this site. 

     

    I have experienced no responses for posts, which I consider a very good thing. Getting suggestions like have you plugged it in to AC mains or have you turned it on, I find frustrating when you are looking for answers that are well beyond the introduction level.

     

    I'm a rather pragmatic person when it comes to troubleshooting so first I want to make sure of the environment.

     

    Goal: stream web camera

    Problem: audio issue????

    Hardware: Pi4B-4G

    SD card: 32G

    Operating system: Raspbian???

    Camera:????

    External Storage: WD4TB mybook

    Monitor: Emerson model RLC320EM1F TV

    Logitech Wireless Keyboard and Mouse combo MK520

     

    I have put some question marks at some points hoping you can provide more detail.

     

    Can you provide a bit more detail on your audio issue? What is not working? What are you trying to do? What is it you think it should do?

     

    You indicate you used NOOBs to do the operating system install and you think it Raspbian. You made a reference to Ubuntu 19.09 in an earlier post. Are you able to narrow down the actual operating system O/S on the Pi?

     

    I see the Pi environment with two end points. Hardware and operating system. Since the Pi single board computer inception both endpoints keep changing. I believe that is why shared solutions don't work consistently because something is different at the end points.

     

    image

     

    I have included a screen shot for two commands that will provide some O/S details. The Pi4B's was under supported before the latest release of Raspbian. The operating system is not even called Raspbian after the release in May, it is now called Raspberry Pi OS.

     

    I currently have a Pi4B4G connected to my television and have no audio issues through HDMI. I am using it to watch Britbox and Netflix. I have some Bluetooth issues that I need to investigate.  It could be me and not the O/S or hardware. I swap SD cards and Pi's regularly so me having done something that has caused the problem is highly possible.

     

    I like to understand your audio issue better to see if I can duplicate it on my hardware.

     

     

     

     

  • in reply to colporteur
    • Thanks for the welcome Sean.  I just saw the blurb that this website is specifically for engineers so i should let you know i am not an engineer or anywhere close.  I do have a bachelors degree in Psychology so that indicates i can learn.  I would be willing to work with you if you still want.  I know how to copy and paste with terminal and have had some success with other dilemmas.  Please read the reply above to Wesley Gardner.  I have the Raspberry Pi 4B 4GB.  I have ordered a 8 GB a few days ago. I ordered the camera to go with it.  I want to set up a streaming web cam.  I purchased a WD 4 TB My Book to store videos for a video blog hosted with a personal website using Raspberry Pi.   I have the San Disk 32 GB micro SD that came with the 4 GB Pi with Noobs installed.  I installed the recommended OS.  I thought it was called Noobs, is it called Raspbian?  I am using an Emerson model RLC320EM1F TV for a monitor.  I have the fan installed on the board.  I do not have any other peripherals than the Logitech Wireless Keyboard and Mouse combo MK520.  Did i cover everything?
  • in reply to gam3t3ch

    Thank you for all your efforts.  Yes, Wesley, i did install the PulseAudio, before i did the PulseAudio uninstall.  That is where the rtkit (0.11-6) came from which was the only thing that showed up on the uninstall.  On further research i found out that it was not a root kit.  My first effort when this problem arose, was to do a system update.  This solved it till the next reboot.  The above fix also brought back audio till the next reboot.  Then i tried connecting the hdmi to another tv but i could not get anything, video or audio, although my Defender security system on that tv provides video thru that same hdmi port.  Finally, i connected an alternate powered audio system to the jack on the Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB) and it worked there until the next reboot.  My next effort will be to install Ubuntu 19.10 as a means of determining whether this is some manufacturing problem at the hardware level.

  • e14 Contributor
    e14 Contributor

    I have an RPi4 8GB model (functionally the same as the 4GB model) connected to a USB disk as the root [/] partition.  I installed Ubuntu Server 64-bit, augmented by xubuntu_desktop (XFCE4).  Never had any audio or bluetooth issues.  Both worked immediately,  Realistic replacement for a traditional desktop with Pythonic caveats:

    * Python packages from pypi (via pip3) are still a bit out of date compared to the x64 counterparts.

    * No Anaconda support yet.

     

    Highly recommended: 52Pi aluminum case with single fan for a cooled enclosure: https://www.microcenter.com/product/623086/Aluminum_Case_for_Raspberry_Pi_4B

  • in reply to colporteur

    The hardware addressing on the pi 4 is now different as well for audio output which causes some issues.  I also seen one person use sudo apt-get remove blueman  (I have never had it installed myself) but it has to do with the bluetooth as well.    Since the pi 4 they added more audio output and changed the addressing formats.  This was due to the dual hdmi outputs and where I suspect all the issues started from originally on the pi4.  so now instead of just selecting card 1 or card 0 you have to select card 1 device 1 or whatever the output on it is that you want.....will make more sense when I post about it.  But it sure is causing issues with stuff that worked without issues before.  I really think it is a hot mess and should have been more fully addressed in production.