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As said above, I am running Ubuntu Linux 6.06 LTS. My problem is that I cannot find a sound driver for my card. I have posted about this before.

Is there a way that I can watch a video without the sound? For example, when my video player opens, it says "Error establishing a connection to the sound database" and then closes. Certain videos, such as ones that my friends send me that do not need sound, cannot be played.

Another question is with plug-ins in Firefox and in Opera. I can't get a Flash Player or Windows Media Player plugin for Opera, and I can't get a Window Media Player plugin for Firefox. Is there a way to get these, or is there another browser I can use that has them built in?

Thanks in advance
-- Alex

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A few practical steps and checks that address the “Error establishing a connection to the sound database” problem reported by , and expand on suggestions from and .

A quick way to watch video while sound is broken is to run a player with audio disabled or force ALSA output. Examples:

mplayer -nosound /path/to/video.avi
mplayer -ao alsa /path/to/video.avi
vlc --no-audio /path/to/video.avi

Standalone players avoid browser-plugin issues mentioned by and will let the video play even when the desktop sound daemon is not available.

Basic diagnostics to confirm driver/ALSA state:

lspci -v | grep -A7 -i audio
cat /proc/asound/cards
aplay -l
lsmod | grep snd

If the card is missing, install or reinstall the ALSA packages and reload them:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install alsa-base alsa-utils
sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils restart
alsamixer
speaker-test -c2

Use alsamixer to unmute Master/PCM (press M to toggle mute). speaker-test is a quick device-level check.

About the “sound database/daemon” error: some apps expect an older sound server (esd/arts) or OSS. Either run a player that uses ALSA directly (see MPlayer/VLC examples above), start the required daemon (esd is supplied by the esound package), or use the ALSA-OSS wrapper so OSS-only programs can run:

sudo apt-get install alsa-oss
aoss <oss-app>

Plugin/codec notes (ties to ’s Automatix idea): Flash and Windows-media codecs are provided as separate packages in Ubuntu’s repositories. Third-party installers (Automatix/EasyUbuntu) can automate setup but have caused package conflicts historically; prefer enabling Ubuntu’s multiverse/universe and installing codec/plugin packages from apt when possible. If in-browser playback still fails, open the file with a standalone player.

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Member Avatar for John A

Another question is with plug-ins in Firefox and in Opera. I can't get a Flash Player or Windows Media Player plugin for Opera, and I can't get a Window Media Player plugin for Firefox. Is there a way to get these, or is there another browser I can use that has them built in?

Flash Player for Opera

Windows Media for Linux is more tricky... you can either use a standalone app like VLC to play the videos seperately, or you can use Wine (site is down right now) to run Firefox for Windows, which will then enable you to use the WMP plugin available for Firefox. I would assume you could do something similar for Opera.

Hope this helps

Member Avatar for jbennet

what soundcard do you have by the way

i have an intel built in one (whatever one the BTX mobos have) and uts "HD Sound appaarntly" which means linux AND vista both refuse to like it

For flash etc... ahve you tried somethibg like automatix or easyubuntu?

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