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Recently having a problem with my audio device. AC3 Passthrough to my dolby digital receiver via S/PDIF works fine, but if I try to watch a movie or mp3 that doesn't passthrough dolby digital, I have no audio.

I've checked alsamixer to make sure nothing was muted, but aside from that I'm not sure what to check. Any suggestions?
Hi,

I had same problem until I uninstalled pulseaudio.

JP
What's the process for doing this? Do you have to replace it with something else?
Ok, did a little reasearch and see the others that have had this problem. I tried running apt-get remove pulseaudio, but it said it was not installed.

I also tried this thread, but I'm not exactly sure the syntax of the hardware devices I need to add.

http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=XBMC_for_Lin...ital_audio

aplay -l / aplay -L output:
Code:
xbmc@xbmclive:~$ aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default:CARD=Intel
    HDA Intel, ALC887 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC887 Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC887 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC887 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC887 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC887 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC887 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC887 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
xbmc@xbmclive:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC887 Analog [ALC887 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC887 Digital [ALC887 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
xbmc@xbmclive:~$

~/.asoundrc contents (file did not exist on my system)

Code:
pcm.dmixer {
    type dmix
    ipc_key 1024
    slave {
        pcm "hw:0,1"
        period_time 0
        period_size 1024
        buffer_size 8192
        #periods 128
        #rate 44100
        rate 48000
     }
     bindings {
        0 0
        1 1
     }
}

Not sure what to replace "hw:0,1" with given my aplay output. Hopefully this will fix the problem. When I attempt to change audio settings with a 2ch movie playing, I get different errors. If I select HDMI, I get a blue book icon with the error. If I select optical/coax I get a red X with the error. Both errors say failed to initialize audio device. Hope that helps.
Figured it out. After trying numerous things, I found that the settings under System Settings were incorrect. Changed both audio devices to HDA Intel iec and both 2ch and DTS/Dolby Digital passthrough work now. Not sure how it got changed, but hopefully my screw-up will help someone else.
I had similar problems and could never get things to work, and couldn't get pulseaudio to go away (and i'm an experienced linux guy). I ended up doing a from-scratch xmbcbuntu install and that has been great.
Yea, I had a bunch of trouble getting where I am now, and my install is still far from perfect. If I could get suspend working I'd be happy...