No sound after kernel update

[korb]

I've been running vbox 2.1.2 for about a week now on Ubuntu 8.10 without incident. However, today I ran update manager and a new kernel was available, so I decided to install the new kernel. After I rebooted, it told me that I needed to run "/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup" as root, so I did.

I am now able to start my WinXP guest, but when the VM first powers on, I get a VirtualBox Warning window that says:

Code: Select all

No audio devices could be opened. Selecting the NULL audio backend with the consequence that no sound is audible.

Error ID:  HostAudioNotResponding
Severity:  Warning

And indeed, I have no audio. Note that audio has worked in this VM before, and audio still works fine in linux. I even tried rebooting in one of the earlier kernels still on my machine, and no sound there, either!

I also tried a "chmod 666 /dev/audio", but that didn't help, either.

Any ideas?

Thanks much,
Bill

[Sasquatch]

/dev/null is outer space. Change it.

[korb]

Thanks for your reply. I searched, I read the user's guide, and the FAQ, HowTos, and tutorials, but nothing there gave me a clue. I uninstalled/reinstalled vbox, no luck there.

What do you mean about /dev/null?

Thanks,
Bill

[Sasquatch]

/dev/null is a black hole. Can't you understand a subtle hint like that? Set it to ALSA or Pulse.

[korb]

I know what /dev/null is - I've been a Unix sysadmin for 20 years.

That error message is coming from vbox, telling me that it can't communicate with ALSA and it is switching to the NULL audio driver as a result (and hence, no sound). I set it to ALSA, Pulse, whatever, and I get no sound.

I copied the vdi from the system it was running on to another machine running Ubuntu 8.04, and there, the sound works fine. So it's something about the system it came from and the connection between the vbox driver and the system audio devices that are the problem.

Bill

[Sasquatch]

If you have no more sound on your Host, fix that first. VB is just an application like VLC that accesses your audio system.

[korb]

Yes, I have sound in Linux, just not in my XP guest.

Bill

[korb]

Anyone else having this problem? I've tried everything I can think of, and no luck.

Thanks,
Bill

[Oggy97]

Hi,

i have the same issue with Windows XP SP3 Guest !

No sound card detected in Windows XP but Virtualbox doesn't tell me that i can't play sound...

It considers as i have a soundcard installed !!

Of course, it's true because sound plays in Linux with ALSA and PulseAudio !!

[korb]

In my case, it is VBox saying that it cannot access the sound card.

Bill

[Oggy97]

I had this issue too , but after the upgrading, it doesn't tell me that anymore !

Strange !

I'll flag this thread ^^

[WarBride]

After what upgrade did the sound start working? I have the same problem. I get this error when I start the VM.

Some audio devices (PCM_out) could not be opened. Guest applications generating audio output or depending on audio input may hang. Make sure your host audio device is working properly. Check the logfile for error messages of the audio subsystem..
Error ID: HostAudioNotResponding
Severity: Warning

Sound does work in my host OS (Slamd64 / Slackware 12.2). I have tried all combinations of ALSA, OSS, Pulse, AC97, SB16.

Is there a fix action or workaround? Any help would be appreciated. - Thanks.

[WarBride]

After further investigation, I have determined that my problem has nothing to do with this original thread. To avoid thread-hijacking, I have created a new post with more info on my problem.

http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=15752

[korb]

Well, as it turns out, it looks like the appropriate audio device changed from ALSA before my kernel upgrade to PulseAudio afterwards. I went into the System->Preferences->Sound and changed all of the choices to "PulseAudio Sound Server" (with the exception of the "Default Mixer Tracks" which didn't have that as an option) and then when I started my VM, bang, I have sound again.

Who knew?

Bill