I have just installed Xubuntu 12.04.2. My soundcard is detected:

thomas@thomas-pc:~$ sudo aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
Home directory /home/thomas not ours.
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC889A Analog [ALC889A Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC889A Digital [ALC889A Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Everything is put to max in alsamixer and nothing is muted (all the sliders are on OO. My speakers do not work, but when I plug in a headphone I hear it very soft. When I connect my stereo and put the sound VERY loud (3-blocks-of-complaining-neighbours loud) I hear it on a normal level but crackling.

I added

options snd-hda-intel model=mbp5
amixer set IEC958 off

to at the end of /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf.

When it's still not working I tried everything here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshooting

1

>>> list-sinks
1 sink(s) available.
  * index: 0
    name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo>
    driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
    flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY
    state: SUSPENDED
    suspend cause: IDLE 
    priority: 9959
    volume: 0: 100% 1: 100%
            0: 0.00 dB 1: 0.00 dB
            balance 0.00
    base volume: 100%
                 0.00 dB
    volume steps: 65537
    muted: no
    current latency: 0.00 ms
    max request: 0 KiB
    max rewind: 0 KiB
    monitor source: 0
    sample spec: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
    channel map: front-left,front-right
                 Stereo
    used by: 0
    linked by: 0
    configured latency: 0.00 ms; range is 0.50 .. 371.52 ms
    card: 0 <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0>
    module: 4
    properties:
        alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
        device.api = "alsa"
        device.class = "sound"
        alsa.class = "generic"
        alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
        alsa.name = "ALC889A Analog"
        alsa.id = "ALC889A Analog"
        alsa.subdevice = "0"
        alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
        alsa.device = "0"
        alsa.card = "0"
        alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel"
        alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel at 0x9b500000 irq 46"
        alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
        device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
        sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
        device.bus = "pci"
        device.vendor.id = "8086"
        device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
        device.product.name = "82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller"
        device.form_factor = "internal"
        device.string = "front:0"
        device.buffering.buffer_size = "65536"
        device.buffering.fragment_size = "32768"
        device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
        device.profile.name = "analog-stereo"
        device.profile.description = "Analog Stereo"
        device.description = "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo"
        alsa.mixer_name = "Realtek ALC889A"
        alsa.components = "HDA:10ec0885,106b3a00,00100103"
        module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
        device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
    ports:
        analog-output-speaker: Speakers (priority 10000, available: unknown)
            properties:

        analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9000, available: no)
            properties:

    active port: <analog-output-speaker>

2 and 3: Doesn't seem an permission issue, the sound is very far away (See opening paragraph).

4

thomas@thomas-pc:~$ sudo aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
Home directory /home/thomas not ours.
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC889A Analog [ALC889A Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC889A Digital [ALC889A Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

5

thomas@thomas-pc:~$ find /lib/modules/`uname -r` | grep snd
/lib/modules/3.2.0-48-generic/kernel/sound/core/snd-hwdep.ko
/lib/modules/3.2.0-48-generic/kernel/sound/core/snd-pcm.ko
[.. huge lists continues ..]
/lib/modules/3.2.0-48-generic/kernel/sound/pcmcia/pdaudiocf/snd-pdaudiocf.ko
/lib/modules/3.2.0-48-generic/kernel/sound/pcmcia/vx/snd-vxpocket.ko
thomas@thomas-pc:~$ 

6

thomas@thomas-pc:~$ lspci -v | grep -A7 -i "audio"
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
    Subsystem: Apple Inc. Device 00a4
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 46
    Memory at 9b500000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
    Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

7 I guess it's supported. Linux mint and Xubuntu 13.04 had no trouble with sounds. Everything worked out of the box

Thanks in advance

Edit: alsa-info.sh output:

WARNING: /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf line 45: ignoring bad line starting with 'amixer'
ALSA Information Script v 0.4.62
--------------------------------

This script visits the following commands/files to collect diagnostic
information about your ALSA installation and sound related hardware.

  dmesg
  lspci
  lsmod
  aplay
  amixer
  alsactl
  /proc/asound/
  /sys/class/sound/
  ~/.asoundrc (etc.)

See './alsa-info.sh --help' for command line options.

WARNING: /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf line 45: ignoring bad line starting with 'amixer'
Automatically upload ALSA information to www.alsa-project.org? [y/N] : y
Uploading information to www.alsa-project.org ...  Done!

Your ALSA information is located at http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=6cffc584284d4c0b266eb53249824ef83d6c4e3e

Please inform the person helping you.

thomas@thomas-pc:~$