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I have Ubuntu 13.10 installed on my notebook. I have a problem only with skype. When it plays a notification sound, the program is muted on gnome sound settings (as seen in the screenshot). But the phonecall is OK. Only the notifications sounds are muted.

enter image description here

How can I reset the settings to default configurations? I can't use the mouse to adjust thee volume level of Skype because the notification is very quick, and the sound bar level also disappears quickly (whenever I am able to adjust, the program never remembers the setting).

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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To unmute an audio sink from command line (which can then be scripted to a keyboard shortcut or a .desktop launcher) we can issue:

pacmd set-sink-mute [index|name] 0

The sink index or name for above command can be seen from the output of

pacmd list-sinks

Welcome to PulseAudio! Use "help" for usage information.
>>> 2 sink(s) available.
* index: 0
    name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_14.2.analog-stereo>
[...]

The presently active default sink index is marked with an asterix in case you have more than one sink.

In case the sinks are not loaded in the same order it is preferable to use the sink name rather than the index because the latter may change.

In case application or device settings were stored in the PulseAudio database we can reset to defaults by deleting the directories ~/.pulse and ~/.config/pulse (if present).

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  • I used the commands: "pacmd set-sink-mute alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo 0" and "pacmd set-sink-mute 0 0" But I only get "Welcome to PulseAudio! Use "help" for usage information." and go back to terminal. Sorry if i didn't understand it right. Is there any configuration file or folder that i can delete (inside my home folder) and restore pulseaudio (or gnome-settings) to defaults configuration? I think that would be easier. I searched for any kind of folder related to sound, and deleted the folder '/home/user/.pulseaudio", reboot but didn't work.
    – rihoem
    Dec 8, 2013 at 22:57
  • Deleting ~/.config/pulse and ~/.pulse (again) solved the problem. Thank you very much. I only deleted the "/.pulse" folder at my first attempt. My problem was that, even when i was able to unmute skype (on gnome sound control), pulseaudio muted skype again when the next notificaton sound was played.
    – rihoem
    Dec 9, 2013 at 22:56
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In the sound settings dialog:

  • Sound effects (Efeitos de som) tab

  • Increase the Alert volume (which I don't know in portuguese) or Unmute it if it is muted

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  • Actually i never saw the point of these 'alert volume' options. I never heard a program using the sounds of that tab. Anyway, my problem was relationated with skype notification system, non related to these notifications settings on gnome sound settings. The real problem was that, for some reason, pulseaudio had muted the notifications ONLY with skype :P As i am new here, i didn't know how to mark my question as solved. Now I have accepted the right answer. Thanks for your help.
    – rihoem
    Dec 10, 2013 at 0:53
  • @rihoem Skype is a program which sends its notifications through the alert system. Just try it out. Mute the Alert volume and skype will behave exactly the way as it is on your picture: No notification sounds, but calling is OK. I'm almost sure that this was your problem, but by removing your pulseaudio settings you reset your pulse preferences, including the alert volume. But the most important is that your problem is solved, both methods should work.
    – falconer
    Dec 10, 2013 at 8:40
  • Now i understand (i really thought that skype use a separate alert system, not related to gnome/unity). But the most annoying fact is that the notification volume in the 'sound effects' tab was unmuted, and only skype was muted (other programs notifications were working normally). Somehow pulseaudio had muted only skype nofications =/, but reseting pulse to default settings solved the problem. If this happens again i will try to change the sound effects volume :)
    – rihoem
    Dec 11, 2013 at 1:00

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