Intel AC'97 Sound Problem

I just installed ubuntu 11 and my sound isn't working. More specifically if the sound is all the way up I can hear very faint noises.

I've read around and this seems to be a common problem historically, but none of the fixes are working for me. There appears to be a similar question already out there No sound on a realtek AC97

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: ICH5 [Intel ICH5], device 0: Intel ICH [Intel ICH5] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: ICH5 [Intel ICH5], device 4: Intel ICH - IEC958 [Intel ICH5 - IEC958] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
$ lspci | grep audio
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)

I've ensured that my volume is up in alsamixer from this thread

I've also tried this fix from the guide, with no luck.

I've tried to update to the newest alsa drivers, but also no luck. This post from 2007 even suggested downgrading to a different kernel rev. I am tempted to try it, but there has got to be a better way.

Please let me know if there is anymore information that I provide.

2 Answers

As it turns out the easiest solution to my problem was to buy a new audio card for $20. Now the sound works great! My conjecture is that the mother board sound was dead, even though I was hearing a very faint "Front Center" via aplay.

I also made it to let my sound card work properly under Debian 6.0 (squeeze) and 7.0 (wheezy). My hardware is DELL Precision 470 Workstation and i found my sound card keywords are: "intel" "82801EB" "ac97".

I could not remember exactly what I did exactly, but the following info definitely helped:

• lost sound with 11.10 - Lost sound with 11.10

• have problem with my ac97 ... -

• download driver (for both Win and Linux) from Realtek Sound Driver Download Page

I do remember that pulseaudio package alone can make my sound card work on both debian 6.0 & 7.0.