All of a sudden I can no longer export audio via my motherboard's SPDIF/optical port to (long) optical cable, to amp, to speakers. I can select it in Volume Control: Output Devices (Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller Pro 1), but there's no option present any more in Volume Control: Configuration, and there used to be. Screenshots.
Can anyone think why this would be the case? I find it hard to imagine it's a hardware issue - I've not done anything to the amp, cable, or its connection at either end. Or with the Linux setup, that I'm aware of. But who knows?
I dual boot to windows, and I didn't seem able to get it to play over the amp either, despite selecting what I'm pretty sure was the right option. Which I guess would suggest hardware a bit more. But I've never set it up in Windows so maybe I was doing it wrongly. Windows audio is as much of a mess as linux's, probably moreso since Pipewire.
Does anyone have any thoughts or diagnostic suggestions? Especially software first, before I start to test each piece one by one?
If the optical cable died, or the amp's optical port died, and subsequently any output from the PC's optical port was no longer received, and returned, would the software hide the device in the Configuration tab? I'm thinking along the lines of a handshake protocol. I have no idea if this is a thing though.
My plan is to go to BestBuy this weekend and buy some optical speakers and a short optical cable, and therefore test whether the PC can output to the new speakers via the new cable, therefore revealing the issue is the cable or the amp. And can then put the speakers at the end of the original cable to test which of amp & old cable are to blame. And if no output from PC to new speakers via new cable, problem is with the PC.
But if there's any way to test this before I drive/buy/carefully unbox/test/rebox/return a load of kit, that would be ideal. The output of various command line tests I found online seem to show the card/device is present but idle (card 2: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 1: ALC1220 Digital [ALC1220 Digital], AKA alsa_output.pci-0000_0a_00.4.pro-output-1).
Thanks in advance for any ideas!
arecord -l
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 1: Webcam [Trust Webcam], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC1220 Analog [ALC1220 Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 2: ALC1220 Alt Analog [ALC1220 Alt Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [NVidia ]: HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
HDA NVidia at 0xfc080000 irq 133
1 [Webcam ]: USB-Audio - Trust Webcam
Salix Corp. Trust Webcam at usb-0000:0a:00.3-4, high speed
2 [Generic ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
HD-Audio Generic at 0xfc800000 irq 135
lspci | grep -i audio
08:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GP102 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1)
0a:00.4 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller
aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [AG352UCG ]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 11: HDMI 5 [HDMI 5]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 12: HDMI 6 [HDMI 6]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC1220 Analog [ALC1220 Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 1: ALC1220 Digital [ALC1220 Digital]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
pw-cli list-objects | grep node.name
node.name = "Dummy-Driver"
node.name = "Freewheel-Driver"
node.name = "Midi-Bridge"
node.name = "v4l2_input.pci-0000_0a_00.3-usb-0_4_1.0"
node.name = "alsa_input.usb-Salix_Corp._Trust_Webcam-02.mono-fallback"
node.name = "alsa_output.pci-0000_08_00.1.hdmi-stereo-extra1"
node.name = "alsa_output.pci-0000_0a_00.4.pro-output-0"
node.name = "alsa_output.pci-0000_0a_00.4.pro-output-1"
node.name = "alsa_input.pci-0000_0a_00.4.pro-input-0"
node.name = "alsa_input.pci-0000_0a_00.4.pro-input-2"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
node.name = "Firefox"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
pw-cli list-objects | grep node.nick
node.nick = "Trust Webcam"
node.nick = "HDA NVidia"
node.nick = "HD-Audio Generic"
node.nick = "HD-Audio Generic"
node.nick = "HD-Audio Generic"
node.nick = "HD-Audio Generic"
pactl list | grep node.name
node.name = "alsa_output.pci-0000_08_00.1.hdmi-stereo-extra1"
node.name = "alsa_output.pci-0000_0a_00.4.pro-output-0"
node.name = "alsa_output.pci-0000_0a_00.4.pro-output-1"
node.name = "alsa_input.usb-Salix_Corp._Trust_Webcam-02.mono-fallback"
node.name = "alsa_output.pci-0000_08_00.1.hdmi-stereo-extra1"
node.name = "alsa_output.pci-0000_0a_00.4.pro-output-0"
node.name = "alsa_output.pci-0000_0a_00.4.pro-output-1"
node.name = "alsa_input.pci-0000_0a_00.4.pro-input-0"
node.name = "alsa_input.pci-0000_0a_00.4.pro-input-2"
node.name = "Firefox"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
node.name = "PulseAudio Volume Control"
pactl list short sinks
47 alsa_output.pci-0000_08_00.1.hdmi-stereo-extra1 PipeWire s16le 2ch 48000Hz RUNNING
48 alsa_output.pci-0000_0a_00.4.pro-output-0 PipeWire s32le 6ch 48000Hz IDLE
49 alsa_output.pci-0000_0a_00.4.pro-output-1 PipeWire s32le 2ch 48000Hz IDLE
aplay --list-devices
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [AG352UCG ]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 11: HDMI 5 [HDMI 5]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 12: HDMI 6 [HDMI 6]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC1220 Analog [ALC1220 Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 1: ALC1220 Digital [ALC1220 Digital]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
