ThinkPad microphone not working

[stan]

On Sun, 15 Apr 2012 21:51:16 +0200
suvayu ali <fatkasuvayu+linux at gmail.com> wrote:

> I finally figured out what is going wrong. The "Internal Mic" is
> turned off, as you observed, when I turn it on and raise the volume,
> recording works. But this does not survive a reboot. So I thought
> maybe its the state file that is causing this. So I deleted it, fixed
> the settings with alsamixer, then stored the state with "alsactl
> store". I confirmed the state file has the correct settings, and yet
> it still does not survive a reboot! So I checked the state file
> again, and strangely it has the correct settings! So for some unknown
> reason the state file is being ignored. I can fix this by executing
> "alsactl restore".
> 
> For the moment this is an acceptable workaround, but this made me
> think; the error I mentioned earlier in the thread,
> 
>   pulseaudio[1455]: module-alsa-card.c: Failed to find a working
> profile
> 
> probably indicates to this issue. Would you agree? Does this seem
> worthy enough for further investigation?

Sure sounds like part of the same problem.  It's as if an interface
changed, and clients of that interface weren't updated.

One quick check you could do is to turn off pulseaudio for the device in
pavucontrol, reboot, and see if the settings are loaded properly into
alsa by looking at alsamixer.  If they are, that confirms it is a
pulseaudio problem, if they aren't, an alsa problem.  I think you
should then open a bugzilla against alsa or pulseaudio, putting in the
text you wrote above, and attaching the alsa-info.sh output for your
system to the ticket.

> 
> Your suggestions were very helpful throughout this thread. And I
> became a lot more familiar with alsa in the process. Thank you very
> much. :)

You're welcome.