["Sound"] > ["ALSA"]


Start

Run the the ALSA mixer command from a terminal window. A ["Ncurses"] interface is displayed.

 alsamixer

You can install the package and use alsamixergui too.

If you get anything, then you know you are running ["ALSA"] rather than ["OSS"] (you may still have an OSS compatibility layer installed).

Troubleshoot

Channels are muted
On some buggy installation, alsa mutes all channels and sets the volume to '0' for all of them. Start the command line alsamixer program and unmute (press 'm') and change the volume of the channels you are interested in (use the arrow keys to navigate and change volume). You can unmute preferly the Master and PCM channels.