In Ubuntu 11.4, in System > Sound, the Input tab page is disabled in my Login. It is working perfectly when I login on my wife’s login.
Any ideas - can anyone help?
Regards,
Bernie
In System > Sound (a.k.a. Sound Preferences)
On the Hardware tab … are the Device and Profile set the same in yours and your wifes login ?
If it’s not letting you change any settings in YOUR (not wifes login) Sound Preferences … you can always set them back to defaults by renaming the (hidden) .pulse directory in YOUR home directory.
Make sure you are logged in as YOU (not wifes login), then run this command in a terminal:
mv ~/.pulse ~/.pulse-old
Now REBOOT (NOT log off/on) ← Important, to restart pulse audio and alsa
Once rebooted, check your sound preferences and see if they are working the same as your wifes.
Thanks, your solution worked perfectly.
I’m a “newbie” to Linux (not bad at age 74).
But please explain, how did moving the file correct the problem?
Did the system replace the now missing file?
Thanks again,
Bernie
Yes the system automagically replaced the directory and its contents with the system defaults (as contained at /var/lib/gdm/.pulse).
If you go into your home folder, and hit Ctrl+H to display the hidden files/folders … you will see you now have a folder called .pulse, AND one called .pulse-old (all files/folders that start with . are hidden by default in nautilus)… if you wish, you can delete the .pulse-old folder once you’re happy things are working as they should.
I guess there was either some strange settings in there, or something had become corrupt.
Well done for being willing to take on Linux at 74 
Oh, nearly forgot… you’re welcome 