ALSA: Failed to open "default" as output device: No such file or directory

[mrbumpy409]

Today my VirtualBox package was upgraded from version 5.1.18-114002~Ubuntu~xenial to 5.1.20-114628~Ubuntu~xenial. Now when I try to launch a virtual machine with the host audio driver set to "ALSA Audio Driver", I get an error message from VirtualBox with the following details:

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

Error ID: 
HostAudioNotResponding
Severity: 
Warning

The log file (attached) shows:

00:00:00.839799 ALSA: Failed to open "default" as input device: No such file or directory
00:00:00.840590 ALSA: Failed to open "default" as input device: No such file or directory
00:00:00.841414 ALSA: Failed to open "default" as output device: No such file or directory
00:00:00.842197 ALSA: Failed to open "default" as output device: No such file or directory

This is happening on both of my linux systems. Here are their details:

System 1:

• OS: KDE Neon 5.9.4 64-bit (Plasma Desktop 5.9.4, KDE Frameworks 5.33.0, Qt 5.7.1)
• CPU: Intel Core i7 930 (2.8 GHz quad-core)
• RAM: 12GB DDR3
• Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 w/ 4GB RAM (PCI Express)
• Sound Card 1: Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Gold
• Sound Card 2: Echo Gina3G
• Linux Kernel: 4.8.0.46-generic
• NVIDIA video driver: 375.39

System 2:

• OS: KDE Neon 5.9.4 64-bit (Plasma Desktop 5.9.4, KDE Frameworks 5.33.0, Qt 5.7.1)
• PC: HP Pavilion m6-1035dx
• CPU/GPU: AMD A10-4600M APU with Radeon HD 7660G Graphics (using xorg radeon driver)
• RAM: 6GB DDR3 800 MHz
• Linux Kernel: 4.8.0.46-generic

[mrbumpy409]

log file showing the alsa fail

[aeichner]

I can't reproduce this issue. Can you please post your /etc/asound.conf and ~/.asoundrc if available?

[cerig]

Replying to aeichner:

I can't reproduce this issue. Can you please post your /etc/asound.conf and ~/.asoundrc if available?

I'm having the same problem. Files /etc/asound.conf and ~/.asoundrc are missing

System 3
Linux 4.9.0-2-686-pae #1 SMP Debian 4.9.18-1 (2017-03-30) i686 GNU/Linux
Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)

5.1.18-114002~Debian~stretch - everything is working!

[Raven9]

Same problem. ("VBox audio problem (Raven9).log" file)

System 4
OS: Ubuntu Linux 16.04.1 (Linux 4.8.0-46-generic #49~16.04.1-Ubuntu SMP x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux)
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3470 CPU @ 3.20GHz
RAM: 8Gb DDR3
Video: NVIDIA Corporation GF108 [GeForce GT 630] (rev a1)
Video driver: nouveau
Sound card1: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
Sound card2: NVIDIA Corporation GF108 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1) [not used]

VirtualBox: 5.1.20 r114628 (Qt5.5.1) (from oracle repo)

No /etc/asound.conf or ~/.asoundrc files.
VirtualBox 5.1.18 and lower is worked fine.

[Don Hughes]

Same problem ASUS laptop with intel chipset. Reverting to 5.1.18 solved the problem. No /etc/asound.conf. VBox 5.1.18 and 5.1.20 logs attached.

[matthewls]

Same issue here, two systems: Linux Mint 18.1 KDE 64 bit host, AMD FX-8350, FX-9370; NVidia GeForce GTX 760, 960; 32GB RAM, HDA Nvidia audio.

Neither 5.1.20 nor testbuild 114652 solves the problem, both also have the absent mini-toolbar issues in seamelss and full screeen.

Test Build 5.1.19 r114236 works fine on all counts.

[Frank Mehnert]

Hopefully fixed in the latest 5.1.x test builds (>= 114682) which you can find here.

Could you confirm? Thank you!

[matthewls]

Yes, ALSA works in test build Version 5.1.21 r114683 (Qt5.6.1). Linux Mint 18.1 KDE 64 bit host, AMD FX-8350, FX-9370; NVidia GeForce GTX 760, 960; 32GB RAM, HDA Nvidia audio.

[Mark Knecht]

Same problem here on Gentoo. I backed down to 5.1.18 but left the installed Guest Additions in the Win 7 VMs at 5.1.20r114628 and that worked fine also.

Glad that you have a fix coming along.

[dinosaur0]

Win XP guest on Linux/ALSA host: bad music

[dinosaur0]

The new test build doesn't do it for me... See VBox-BadMusic.log.gz with loads of log lines like:

00:02:07.004331 Audio: Warning: Mixing guest audio data of '[LUN#0] ac97.po (22050Hz, 2 Channels) (Guest)' to parent failed with VERR_BUFFER_OVERFLOW

Back to v5.1.18 for me...

[Case_Of]

I'm also concerned

Gtk-Message: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"

[Longtime Linux User]

I've got the same problem on vanilla up-to-date Debian 9 (Stretch). So reporting here just to confirm the issue.

I removed virtualbox-5.1_5.1.20-114628~Debian~stretch_amd64.deb (18-Apr-2017 13:21 64M) package and install the virtualbox-5.1_5.1.18-114002-Debian-stretch_amd64.deb (15-Mar-2017 18:59 64M) from ​http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/5.1.18/ and I've got the sound back from the very same VM.

No other changes including reboot was made. The only change I've made - downgrade the deb package via apt.

~/.asoundrc file is present but didn't seem do much of change here.

[dinosaur0]

Replying to Longtime Linux User:

I've got the same problem on vanilla up-to-date Debian 9 (Stretch). So reporting here just to confirm the issue.

I removed virtualbox-5.1_5.1.20-114628~Debian~stretch_amd64.deb (18-Apr-2017 13:21 64M) package .../...

Well, there are test builds now (see frank's post above), so you should try these instead .

In my case, and with test build 5.1.21.114683, the sound still does not work properly (see the VBox-BadMusic.log.gz attached file)

[Frank Mehnert]

dinosaur0, your problem is different. With 5.1.20 ALSA was not working for most people at all. Your log file shows that ALSA is working. All these audio-related warnings are a different problem.

[Frank Mehnert]

I would like to encourage all people having this problem to test the latest 5.1.x test builds from here. The ALSA backend should work again. The sound quality is a different issue, still work in progress.

[dinosaur0]

Replying to frank:

dinosaur0, your problem is different. With 5.1.20 ALSA was not working for most people at all. Your log file shows that ALSA is working.

ALSA is *not* working with v5.1.21 test builds: all I get is some cracking and sputtering in the loudspeaker, while v5.1.18 works like a charm !

[Frank Mehnert]

Replying to dinosaur0:

Replying to frank:

dinosaur0, your problem is different. With 5.1.20 ALSA was not working for most people at all. Your log file shows that ALSA is working.

ALSA is *not* working with v5.1.21 test builds: all I get is some cracking and sputtering in the loudspeaker, while v5.1.18 works like a charm !

Again, that was not the question. At least you hear something. The 5.1.20 ALSA problem is that ALSA does not work at all, no crackling, nothing. Please read the ticket description again. I already said that the current audio crackling is a different problem.

[matthewls]

Alsa and Pulse each work fine for audio I and O using VB Version 5.1.21 r115049 (Qt5.6.1) hosted by Linux Mint 18.1 KDE 64 bit host, AMD FX-8350, FX-9370; NVidia GeForce GTX 760, 960; 32GB RAM, HDA Nvidia audio.

[Frank Mehnert]

Fixed in 5.1.22.

[Don Hughes]

Working for me with 5.1.22. Also, the several second audio delay from video seems to have been cleared up.