Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat and 11.04 Natty Narwhal continue to have this issue which is solved by following the steps for Ubuntu 9.10 below.

UPDATE for Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx: I just noticed there is still no audio with a fresh Lucid install. Just follow the below steps from Ubuntu 9.10.

UPDATE for Ubuntu 9.10: The no sound problem is also present in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala for Audigy cards. The fix is basically the same as described below, with one notable difference in doing it. Because the sound preferences got redesigned, there is no GUI option to place a check on “Audigy Analog/Digital Output Jack”.
You will have to open the terminal and enter “alsamixer”. Use the right arrow key to select the channel “Audigy Analog/Digital Output Jack”. Press “M” to turn it on/off.

If you don’t have sound on your Creative Sound Blaster (Audigy) after installing Ubuntu 9.04, here is a solution to enable sound on Creative Sound Blaster cards, it’s not just an Audigy issue. I had the same problem with my SB Audigy 2 after a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.04, it worked with earlier versions out of the box. I only tested this with SB Audigy 2 and SB Live!.
Luckily, the solution is very simple and in my case didn’t require any installing/modifying.

Just do this:
Right click the sound icon on your panel and select “Open Volume Control”. From there click on the “Switches” tab and check the “Audigy Analog/Digital Output Jack”. That’s all quick and easy. It seems the developers forgot to leave it on.

..and now enjoy!

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24 Comments

  1. I wasted more than an hour try to get audio working for Audigy 4 and Mint 7. Thanks for the solution. How did this problem get through beta/rc testing???
    Now, if I could get Ubuntu 9.04 to activate the nVidia driver…

    Linux is not ready for Prime Time.

    • Glad it works for you now, i also wonder how this got through alpha/beta testing. nVidia driver activated easily here (System–>Administration–>Hardware Drivers and i think its only for geforce 6+ series), though i installed the latest one manually. I agree Linux is still a bit rough at the edges but it has great potential. Once you get it all setup to your likings, you\’ll be much more happy then with M$ Windows.

  2. been without sound on ubuntu for 2 years and this is all I had to do.

    In my case I had to switch it off (unchecked it) However first I had to go through preferences in the volume control panel to show the switches tab and the Audigy Analog/Digital Output Jack setting.

    I guess though if you are using digital output to digital speakers then you would want to leave this setting checked on.

  3. My audigy is working under 9.04 but it only plays MP3 it will not play the sounds in avi or in youtube any ideas?
    Thanks, KC

  4. tried this and numerous other fixes to no avail. Found out that with the fresh install of ubuntu over my XP one I needed to go into the BIOS and disable the onboard soundcard to get anything out of my speakers.

    That said, it could be that i needed to do all the other tricks too.

    Brought back to mind all the IRQ issues we used to deal with pre windows 95 :D

  5. Hmmm, didn\’t work for me. No audio after the 9.10 \”upgrade.\” Ubuntu/Kubuntu (both loaded) on an AMD 64 box had no audio problems under 9.01 although I did have to unmute in KDE after the 9.04 upgrade for Gnome to work. Now, with 9.10, I\’ve lost all audio and cannot run alsamixer:

    ==========================================
    curly@curly-desktop:~$ sudo /usr/bin/alsamixer

    alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such file or directory
    ==========================================

    What did I do wrong?

    • Installing gnome alsamixer didn\’t help, the new audio drivers don\’t recognize my nvidia sound system ergo nothing to mix or output to.

      Hope someone does a quick update, this is going to bite a lot of people in the ass and give Ubuntu a bad rep…

    • Do you have an audigy sound card? Try to update alsa to the latest version, there is a script for that somewhere.

      If all fails i suggest you do a clean install.

  6. Thanks! Worked for me. I was having trouble with my sound (SB Audigy 2) in 9.10 and I can\’t recall having any issues what so ever in 9.04. But finally some sound!

  7. Many thanx for your fix, worked great….
    How was this error missed before the release?
    Any road up, Ubuntu is a blessing….
    LovenPeace Reggie

  8. That worked! Thanks a lot. I just did a clean upgrade to Karmic from Jaunty and sound wasn\’t working. In retrospect I\’m pretty sure I had the same issue when I installed Jaunty, but with Karmic the disappearance of the GUI sound mixer made the issue harder to \”discover\’. Thanks again!

  9. Thank you so much! I was going crazy trying to figure out why my sound all of the sudden disappeared.

    This should be posted in the ubuntu forums!

    Thanks again for this awesome article!

    Best!

  10. Hey, you\’ve got this crappy bar on the left side of your page. It blocks the first 2 words of every line so I can\’t read the stupid article.

  11. Thank you!
    I did not know that feature existed. I spent hours, this was not in trouble shooting guide nor in the many posts.Ran all the diagnosis it said all systems OK And all this time a hidden mute switch. The kiss principal certainly rears its head again!

  12. Wow, it\’s 2012 and this problem still persists. I moved from Windows to Ubuntu but this sound issue was a pain until I googled to this site. Cheers for the fix! Why oh why are these settings not in the GUI…

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