Failed to open “alsa” device volumio

Help and Support
1

Hello everybody, I been trying to get help from Volumio support but no answer in 10 days. Does anyone know how to address the problem? If it requires a reinstall of volumio in the dac, can anyone suggest a more stable software?

Problem description:
My system worked fine until december last year. A local wifi network as well as an ethernet cable from the same router to an Okto Research dac8 (raspberry pi 4) running Volumio. I could play either directly from the spotify app on my iphone 13 pro, or via the volumio app on the same phone.

Changes in december: update of iOS software to the 17 version on the phone (a lot of users at the apple community forum, including me, reported that the phone remote doesn’t work any more on appletv, some guessed it is wifi related) + I downgraded from Volumio Premium to Free.

The dac won’t play either from spotify or volumio on iphone or macbook although both connected to the local wifi network (the volumio app opens on both displaying correct dac, all playlists and such). The tune turns up, but music won’t play through the dac. If I try the internet radio in the volumio app, there is a “fail to open ‘alsa’ device volumio” message for all radio stations. No other error messages.

I’ve tried restarting the iphone and the relevant apps, nothing happens. I’m no expert on networks settings, and I don’t intend to be, but this problem shouldn’t appear since I haven’t changed anything.

Anyone has any idea why my system doesn’t work anymore? I can only suspect the iOS software or the change from Volumio Premium to Free, no other parameters has been changed (no update of dac firmware, no OSX update on laptop). I don’t know how to provide a log since I can’t find any option in the volumio software to generate one.

Best!

2

Follow this guide, don’t forget to post the returned url.
https://help.volumio.com/help/how-to-send-a-log-link-for-a-bug-report

3

Thanks. I’ve followed the instructions, but I note that it’s only for Premium users, no such assistance for Free. I don’t mind paying for the Premium, which I did last year, but there way too many bugs in the system that has to be fixed. by the way, shouldn’t there be a link in the volumio app in the browser to the log generating procedure/help section?

4

Or do you suggest I should post the returned url here?

1 Like
5

yes, you can paste here the log link

6

http://logs.volumio.org/volumio/y6wTem5.html

7

Do this:

  • Change audio device to Analog Jack or something else than the DAC
  • Click Save
  • Change the audio device to DAC
  • Click Save

This should now work. Unfortunately your asound.conf file was never updated after you downgraded to free. let us know how that goes

8

Thanks for suggestions, but volumio is not playing, alsa error all the time. I changed the audio device to headphones, saved, and then back to the DAC. No change. I’ve also updated the Volumio app software to the latest one, no change either. Everything looks like it should: the app is running, radiostations are there as well as spotify playlist. But no output. The dac8 has both xlr and headphone out, nothing…

9

I would recommend a factory settings then… We will analyze the issue and have a fix, but will take a while

1 Like
10

you mean factory reset of the app, or of the dac? I’ll spin my vinyl in the meantime

11

I mean: factory reset of the volumio app or reinstallment of volumio in the dac itself?

12

factory reset of Volumio OS running on your device

Menu → System → Factory Reset

1 Like
13

Hi again, I did a factory reset of the Volumio OS on my iphone. The guide for configuring the system works fine at first, but stops at the choice of network: no network shows up although the phone is wifi-connected. The space for writing the name when trying to add it manually disappears all the time, I have tried restarting the app but it behaves just the same - no possibility to do a manual config. Now I can’t access the volumio network by OSX or iOS.

1 Like
14

Update: problem is now resolved and the dac8 is working again. I note that the guide for configuring the system in the Volumio iOS app is not very clear: you can’t manually assign a network, it’s impossible to write in a name/ip-number since the pop-up closes all the time. What you are supposed to do is go to the next step (without assigning a network), then suddenly it all works again. Probably went through since I have an open network that doesn’t require a password. Not so smooth.
Furthermore: I suggest that there should be a warning coming up when your system won’t play, not just this ‘alsa’- message (and only under international radio stations, no such thing using spotify in the volumio app). And then somewhere there should be info on the necessity as well as how to produce a log to send to volumio support.

Thanks everybody for your help. Music is back again. Now it’s just to force spotify to deliver high-rez/loss-less audio promised 2021, and qobuz to make that connect feature they also promised.

15

Hello,

I’m facing the same problem with the Hifiberry DAC2 since January.

What I did : switching to headphones / saved / switching to the Hifiberry Dac2 / switched off power supply / restarted - wrote a new Sd card : same problem “failed to open alsa” on every source : radiostations or playlist (through JRiver) - switched to factory settings : some error
What should I do to make Volumio run again normally as it was very stable the previous years…
Thanks in advance for your advise.

16

I have the same issue with a Pi4, & Hifiberry DAC2 HD, and every few weeks the Alsa error pops up.

I predominantly use only YouTube Music with the device.

The only way I’ve found to fix it is to factory reset the Volumio instance and then everything works fine again…for a while.

I’d love to know what causes this and how to fix it properly.

17

It will probably be fixed in a next update. Anyhow, too many problems with Volumio in the meantime and a loss of time. I bought a Wiim Ultra (still have to install it). The previous version Wiim Plus was highly rated by the magazine 'What hifi".

18

I’m getting the same problem, I’m subscribed to the trial period on Volumio Premium on a rPi4B, Ian Canada TransportPi Digi/II plus HdmiPi Pro II outputting I2S into a Gustard X30, DAC in Volumio is set to HiFiBerryDigi plus, as specified in Ian Canadas Quick Start guide for TransportPi Digi/II - all I get is Alsa error. Factory reset - same problem. Switching to headphones and back to I2S DAC - same problem. I am very close to deleting Volumio, cancelling the Premium account and looking for something else more reliable (although maybe that doesn’t exist, who knows), currently I think Volumio is unusable for IanCanada streamer…

19

could you please give a try to the Beta with kernel 6.6?

20

System Information

  • OS info

  • Version of Volumio: 3.758

  • Hostname: volumio

  • Kernel: 6.6.47-v7l+

  • Governor: performance

  • Uptime: 1 days, 22 Hrs, 19 Minutes, 2 Seconds