10
2009
Fix Low Volume Issues in Ubuntu
An article by 
My friend wanted to try Ubuntu on his Acer Laptop.I installed Ubuntu(Dual boot with Windows XP) on his laptop and I installed and configured all the essential codecs and software required to play movies and music.
I tried playing some movies and music ,but I could barely hear anything in spite of tinkering with the audio settings and moving the volume bar to the maximum.
The volume and quality of sound was excellent when I played the same movies and music in Windows.So there was nothing wrong with the Sound card or the Speakers.
So there was something definitely wrong with Ubuntu’s Audio Support.I have mentioned problem in this Article.
Now I found solution to fix this problem.It involves increasing the volume from the terminal.
Open Terminal
Using the arrow keys the increase the volume bars of the different options to the maximum.
Press ESC to exit
Save your settings with this command
Restart the computer
You can now enjoy your movies and music in Ubuntu without any problem.
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About the Author: Bharat Balegere
Bharat Balegere is a 27 year old blogger from Bengaluru. He is a technology enthusiast and loves tinkering with computers and usb drives.
Sound Preferences (right click on the volume applet) has an Output Volume slider that goes past 100%, increasing volume.
short and useful, thanks saved my hearing :)
Increasing volume in the terminal is no different from increasing it using a GUI app. In fact, if you open the two simultaneously and change the volume of one, you can see the other changing at the same time.
The root cause of the problem may be bad drivers. The snd-hda-intel module, for instance, is quite problematic.
Ubuntu now has a volume slider that can go beyond 100% as @otkay mentioned. VLC player can also go above 100% volume. So this should not be a problem in the latest ubuntu releases
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Awesome. This solved my low-volume problems I’ve been having for MONTHS. Thanks
Simple but effective, just what the doctor prescribed. Awesome solution!. Thankx for sharing.
Thanks for Sharing useful information
Regards,
Aja
I had almost given up and thought linux wont be able to play sound properly when i came across your post. Thanks for the info.
I updated Ubuntu today and it went from no sound to very very low volume, even when turned up beyond 100%
Is there anything I can do to boost the sound in general?
If the drivers are bad are they likely to be fixed?
Dude!!!!Thanks a lot!!It worked!!I had wasted so many hours using many commands but at last a small command worked..Infintely happy..:)
Wow. Thanks man. This is the simplest and most effective solution I had to ever implement on an ubuntu problem. This is what I love about this OS, being in a community of people like you. Thanks again.
Fantastic solution. Short and sweet! Thanks!