Re: [Alsa-user] Help with arecord

[Phil R. <ph...@pr...>]

James,


On Fri, 2008-02-15 at 07:59 -0600, James Shatto wrote:
> > $ arecord -d 10 -f S16_LE -r 48000 -c 2 -t wav -D hw:0 foobar.wav
> > Recording WAVE 'foobar.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000
> > Hz, Stereo
> > arecord: pcm_read:1347: read error: Input/output error
> > 
> > ("-c 1" gives a different error).
> 
> The I/O error is an issue.  What does dmesg or other /var/log/ areas
> say about the error?


I tailed /var/log/messages while I ran the arecord command (as root this
time) - didn't get anything.  No other files in /var/log/ are affected.


> > (See: http://pastebin.ca/903687)
> 
> Everything seems fine there, EXCEPT for the /etc/asound.conf.  It
> appears to explicitly state hw:0,0, which is the playback device(and
> only playback).  hw:0,1 would be recording.  Or just hw:0 if you want
> both.  Or I could be wrong.  You might try removing / moving /
> renaming /etc/asound.conf.  And also .asoundrc.  To see if it works
> without any configuration.


Renamed /etc/asound.conf to .org and ran the arecord command as root -
same error.


> If it does then there's your problem.  If that's the case, then
> changing hw:0,0 to hw:0 in /etc/asound.conf might be a solution.
> You're probably better off without a global conf if you're only using
> one user anyway.
> 
> Other than that you appear to have some sort of hardware issue.


That's what I was thinking  . .


> Given the I/O errors.  Perhaps an IRQ conflict?  Reminds me a little
> of the disable PnP and UPnP options in the CMOS/BIOS to get around it
> days.  Might try that as well.


OK, will have a look.


> Don't fret alsamixer much.  It is a bit cryptic from a first exposure
> POV.  The L R stuff means that it is indeed stereo and has 2 channels.
> intel_8x0 is quite old and well supported afaik.  So upgrading alsa
> versions probably wont help.  hda-intel on the other hand...
> 
> pciids.sf.net says those vender:device numbers correspond to:
> 8086:24d5: 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller
> although the sub-device doesn't have an entry yet.
> 
> There's a dsnoop entry/option for recording devices in .asoundrc.  But
> I normally don't have to specify anything there as the defaults work
> fine for me.  But if you're gonna travel through google and the alsa
> wiki, dsnoop might help you narrow down what you're looking for.


dsnoop does not appear to be available, "arecord -L" does not show a
dsnoop line . . I tried creating a new .asoundrc file per:

	http://alsa.opensrc.org/Dsnoop

but still get the same error . . 


> I don't normally use arecord.  And don't normally have any .asoundrc
> or /etc/asound.conf as long as I have a single sound card.


I am only using it to test - if this doesn't work, I presume nothing
else will . .


> I normally use audacity to record.


I've tried that - when I click the record button it hangs and has to be
killed . . at least with a CLI I can see some sort of error message . .


> Or jackd and ardour.  Depending mainly on which one has a buggy
> distro/svn version on any given day.  I prefer ardour, since it saves
> directly to hard drive.  So I don't have to wait for 3.5 minutes for
> it to save it to the hard drive after recording for over an hour.
> Especially if I need to record again in the coming hour.  I generally
> stop/start recording every hour-ish so the file sizes stay under 1GB.
> Which helps a lot come edit time.  Anyway give audacity a try, if it
> works fine, then something might be out of whack in your asoundrc or
> arecord options.


It appears to be a more fundamental problem . .


> One thing just popped into my head though.  Is your user in the audio
> group?  groups <user> || cat /etc/group | grep -i "audio" ///
> Otherwise give arecord a try as root to see if it also errors out.
> Just a thought.


The audio group doesn't exist but the problem still exists for root so
that shouldn't matter?

Thanks,

Phil.
-- 
Philip Rhoades

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