[u-u] Audio diagnostic software

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: arocker at Vex.Net
| 
| I'm trying to diagnose some audio problems on laptops; apparent failure to
| make a mic connection (3.5mm combined audio jack) and distorted sound
| being 2 major ones. Sites such as Skype have been some help, but I'd like
| to have some local diagnostic tools e.g. to indicate whether the machine
| can even see the mic.
| 
| Has anyone any suggestions for Open Source diagnostic tools?

(Previous suggestions have been good.)

You have a solution in mind.  I'd like to walk you back to the
problem.

What is the notebook in question?  I guess you've told us but not this
month.

I think that the processor is an AMD A6 4400M (from previous email).

What distro, version, and Desktop Environment are you using?

Are you using any proprietary drivers?

What does "lspci | grep Audio" list as your audio device?  Mine says
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GK107 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1)

What does "lspic -v" about your audio devices.  For example, it should 
tell you the kernel driver being used.

Is it using Pulse Audio?  That's a heck of a thing to debug in the rare 
cases when it doesn't "just work".  Sometimes "pavucontrol" is helpful.

You have given some hints that your CPUs get "pegged" and sometimes even 
shut down, probably due to heat.  We discussed that previously.  Remember: 
throttling comes before shutting down.

Is sound a problem by itself or is it only a problem when video (or other 
stuff) is hogging the CPU?  (One way of reducing the CPU load of video is 
shrinking the video window.)

There is a chance that the problem relates to network bandwidth.  Are you 
saturating it?

Is the problem sound input (microphone) or sound output (to your 
speakers)?

Are you using the built-in microphone?
Are you using the built-in speakers?

That's just the first round of my questions.