laptop headphones not working

[jonnyt]

Since I can't install xp on my gateway M-6862 laptop I decided to give Ubuntu a chance. And it is great, but there's one issue I haven't been able to solve. My speakers work but when I plug in my headphones I get no sound. I alreade selected headphones on the sound preferences but it's still not working. Can somebody help me solve this problem or point me in the direction to troubleshooting?. I'm a total noob when it comes to linux but I'd like to learn.
thanks in advance
any help is appreciated
Jonny

[mikeL]

Have you tried:
Right click on volume control.
Click 'Open Volume Control'
Go to Edit > Preferences
Check off 'Surround Sound'
Close Preferences
Un-mute 'Surround Sound'
Plug in headphones

[jonnyt]

Originally Posted by mikeL Have you tried: Right click on volume control. Click 'Open Volume Control' Go to Edit > Preferences Check off 'Surround Sound' Close Preferences Un-mute 'Surround Sound' Plug in headphones

I don't see edit anywhere in sound preferences. My sound card is a sigmatel STAC9205

[kylepotts]

Are these usb headphones or 3.5 mm headphones?

[jonnyt]

Originally Posted by kylepotts Are these usb headphones or 3.5 mm headphones?

3.5mm

[kilgoretrout]

Try opening a terminal by going to Applications>Accesories>Terminal. Run this command in the terminal:

$ alsamixer

That will bring up an ncurses version of the alsamixer application in the terminal window. You navigate the various audio channels like Master, PCM , etc using the left and right arrow keys; adjust channel settings with the up and down arrows. Alsamixer typically shows a lot more audio channels than the standard gui mixers. By fooling around with the alsa mixer settings you may be able to get your headphones working. Check carefully for any muted channels. What might actually control headphone volume may not be labled as such.

[jonnyt]

Originally Posted by kilgoretrout Try opening a terminal by going to Applications>Accesories>Terminal. Run this command in the terminal: $ alsamixer That will bring up an ncurses version of the alsamixer application in the terminal window. You navigate the various audio channels like Master, PCM , etc using the left and right arrow keys; adjust channel settings with the up and down arrows. Alsamixer typically shows a lot more audio channels than the standard gui mixers. By fooling around with the alsa mixer settings you may be able to get your headphones working. Check carefully for any muted channels. What might actually control headphone volume may not be labled as such.

thanks but I already tried this, none of the channels are muted and tried changing all the settings without results

[nightsky]

Try a friend's headset and see if its your headphones... Do your head phones work on something else? Only other thing i can think of is to check compatability of your head phones. Doesn't sound like a software issue. Check here see if anyone else is having a similar problem: http://ubuntuforums.org/

[jonnyt]

no it's not the headphones, i've tried several pairs already