Had sound, then some sound, now no sound, no soundcard detected

[MrManFitz]

First, my sob story...

I've been chasing this problem for over a week. When I google for sound problems on Fedora, *every* link returned by Google appears visited--ie. I've read them all and tried them all. I've gone through all the emotional stages of loss: anger, denial, grief, depression, etc., but I've turned the corner and am determined to bring my sound back!


Description of my problem:
A fresh install of Fedora 16 on a Dell Optiplex 390. Initially sound worked fine (I'm using headphones) (YouTube videos played as expected). Then I jumped through some hoops to install Spotify and the sound worked fine there, too. Then I I started noticing problems with YouTube--videos wouldn't autoplay, would stop unexpectedly, or the sound would get choppy. And I noticed that the main system volume control did not affect the volume of YouTube videos. Then the sound in Spotify stopped all together, and that's when things spiraled downward. I started reading everything under the sun about sound problems on Fedora and was installing all sorts of pulseaudio utilities, alsa utilities, and editing conf files. I lost track of everything I did, but the end result is....

My current situation:

Alsa Info
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=91...414f2a5840b8f7

Sound Settings > Hardware = No devices listed
Sound Settings > Output = Dummy Output

$ ls -l /dev/snd
ls: cannot access /dev/snd: No such file or directory

Any tips would be really appreciated.

[MrManFitz]

Removed and reinstalled several pulseaudio and alsa packages. Now I have /dev/snd, but still no sound.

$ ls -l /dev/snd/
total 0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116,  1 Apr  4 10:22 seq
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 33 Apr  4 10:22 timer

Unfortunately...

$ aplay -l
aplay: device_list:252: no soundcards found...

---------- Post added at 03:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:53 PM ----------

My hope is that the more information I provide in this thread, the more search hits it will get and the better chance someone can help diagnose my problem.

I'm convinced I did something stupid to my system. I had sound working just last week! How could I have gone from sound working to "no soundcards detected"?!?

Here's output from 'pulseaudio -vvvvv'

$ pulseaudio -vvvvv
I: main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_NICE, (31, 31)) failed: Operation not permitted
D: core-rtclock.c: Timer slack is set to 50 us.
D: core-util.c: RealtimeKit worked.
I: core-util.c: Successfully gained nice level -11.
I: main.c: This is PulseAudio 0.9.23
D: main.c: Compilation host: x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu
D: main.c: Compilation CFLAGS: -O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -m64 -mtune=generic -Wall -W -Wextra -pipe -Wno-long-long -Winline -Wvla -Wno-overlength-strings -Wunsafe-loop-optimizations -Wundef -Wformat=2 -Wlogical-op -Wsign-compare -Wformat-security -Wmissing-include-dirs -Wformat-nonliteral -Wold-style-definition -Wpointer-arith -Winit-self -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wfloat-equal -Wmissing-prototypes -Wstrict-prototypes -Wredundant-decls -Wmissing-declarations -Wmissing-noreturn -Wshadow -Wendif-labels -Wcast-align -Wstrict-aliasing=2 -Wwrite-strings -Wno-unused-parameter -ffast-math -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fno-common -fdiagnostics-show-option
D: main.c: Running on host: Linux x86_64 3.3.0-4.fc16.x86_64 #1 SMP Tue Mar 20 18:05:40 UTC 2012
D: main.c: Found 2 CPUs.
I: main.c: Page size is 4096 bytes
D: main.c: Compiled with Valgrind support: no
D: main.c: Running in valgrind mode: no
D: main.c: Running in VM: no
D: main.c: Optimized build: yes
D: main.c: All asserts enabled.
I: main.c: Machine ID is 03f433d6be06b3f598f0d84d0000000b.
I: main.c: Session ID is 03f433d6be06b3f598f0d84d0000000b-1333581805.440390-1087422271.
I: main.c: Using runtime directory /home/jfitzgerald/.pulse/03f433d6be06b3f598f0d84d0000000b-runtime.
I: main.c: Using state directory /home/jfitzgerald/.pulse.
I: main.c: Using modules directory /usr/lib64/pulse-0.9.23/modules.
I: main.c: Running in system mode: no
I: main.c: Fresh high-resolution timers available! Bon appetit!
I: cpu-x86.c: CPU flags: CMOV MMX SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE4_1 SSE4_2 
I: svolume_mmx.c: Initialising MMX optimized functions.
I: remap_mmx.c: Initialising MMX optimized remappers.
I: svolume_sse.c: Initialising SSE2 optimized functions.
I: remap_sse.c: Initialising SSE2 optimized remappers.
I: sconv_sse.c: Initialising SSE2 optimized conversions.
D: memblock.c: Using shared memory pool with 1024 slots of size 64.0 KiB each, total size is 64.0 MiB, maximum usable slot size is 65472
D: database-tdb.c: Opened TDB database '/home/jfitzgerald/.pulse/03f433d6be06b3f598f0d84d0000000b-device-volumes.tdb'
I: module-device-restore.c: Successfully opened database file '/home/jfitzgerald/.pulse/03f433d6be06b3f598f0d84d0000000b-device-volumes'.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-device-restore" (index: #0; argument: "").
D: database-tdb.c: Opened TDB database '/home/jfitzgerald/.pulse/03f433d6be06b3f598f0d84d0000000b-stream-volumes.tdb'
I: module-stream-restore.c: Successfully opened database file '/home/jfitzgerald/.pulse/03f433d6be06b3f598f0d84d0000000b-stream-volumes'.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-stream-restore" (index: #1; argument: "").
D: database-tdb.c: Opened TDB database '/home/jfitzgerald/.pulse/03f433d6be06b3f598f0d84d0000000b-card-database.tdb'
I: module-card-restore.c: Successfully opened database file '/home/jfitzgerald/.pulse/03f433d6be06b3f598f0d84d0000000b-card-database'.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-card-restore" (index: #2; argument: "").
I: module.c: Loaded "module-augment-properties" (index: #3; argument: "").
D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib64/pulse-0.9.23/modules/module-udev-detect.so': success
I: module-udev-detect.c: Found 0 cards.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-udev-detect" (index: #4; argument: "").
D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib64/pulse-0.9.23/modules/module-bluetooth-discover.so': success
D: dbus-util.c: Successfully connected to D-Bus system bus 9633b74e662c5db7aaede6ab00000012 as :1.249
D: bluetooth-util.c: dbus: interface=org.freedesktop.DBus, path=/org/freedesktop/DBus, member=NameAcquired
E: bluetooth-util.c: Error from ListAdapters reply: org.freedesktop.systemd1.LoadFailed
I: module.c: Loaded "module-bluetooth-discover" (index: #5; argument: "").
D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib64/pulse-0.9.23/modules/module-esound-protocol-unix.so': success
I: module.c: Loaded "module-esound-protocol-unix" (index: #6; argument: "").
I: module.c: Loaded "module-native-protocol-unix" (index: #7; argument: "").
D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib64/pulse-0.9.23/modules/module-gconf.so': success
I: module.c: Loaded "module-gconf" (index: #8; argument: "").
I: module-default-device-restore.c: Saved default sink 'auto_null' not existant, not restoring default sink setting.
I: module-default-device-restore.c: Saved default source 'auto_null.monitor' not existant, not restoring default source setting.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-default-device-restore" (index: #9; argument: "").
I: module.c: Loaded "module-rescue-streams" (index: #10; argument: "").
D: module-always-sink.c: Autoloading null-sink as no other sinks detected.
I: module-device-restore.c: Restoring volume for sink auto_null.
I: module-device-restore.c: Restoring mute state for sink auto_null.
I: sink.c: Created sink 0 "auto_null" with sample spec s16le 2ch 44100Hz and channel map front-left,front-right
I: sink.c:     device.description = "Dummy Output"
I: sink.c:     device.class = "abstract"
I: sink.c:     device.icon_name = "audio-card"
D: core-subscribe.c: Dropped redundant event due to change event.
I: module-device-restore.c: Restoring volume for source auto_null.monitor.
I: source.c: Created source 0 "auto_null.monitor" with sample spec s16le 2ch 44100Hz and channel map front-left,front-right
I: source.c:     device.description = "Monitor of Dummy Output"
I: source.c:     device.class = "monitor"
I: source.c:     device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
D: module-null-sink.c: Thread starting up
I: module.c: Loaded "module-null-sink" (index: #11; argument: "sink_name=auto_null sink_properties='device.description="Dummy Output"'").
I: module.c: Loaded "module-always-sink" (index: #12; argument: "").
I: module.c: Loaded "module-intended-roles" (index: #13; argument: "").
D: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Sink auto_null becomes idle, timeout in 5 seconds.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-suspend-on-idle" (index: #14; argument: "").
D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib64/pulse-0.9.23/modules/module-console-kit.so': success
I: client.c: Created 0 "ConsoleKit Session /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session2"
D: module-console-kit.c: Added new session /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session2
I: module.c: Loaded "module-console-kit" (index: #15; argument: "").
I: module.c: Loaded "module-position-event-sounds" (index: #16; argument: "").
I: module.c: Loaded "module-cork-music-on-phone" (index: #17; argument: "").
D: dbus-util.c: Successfully connected to D-Bus session bus 7b46625a597dbf6aee8d1ea600000022 as :1.233
D: main.c: Got org.pulseaudio.Server!
I: main.c: Daemon startup complete.
^CI: main.c: Got signal SIGINT.
I: main.c: Exiting.
I: main.c: Daemon shutdown initiated.
I: module.c: Unloading "module-device-restore" (index: #0).
I: module.c: Unloaded "module-device-restore" (index: #0).
I: module.c: Unloading "module-stream-restore" (index: #1).
I: module.c: Unloaded "module-stream-restore" (index: #1).
I: module.c: Unloading "module-card-restore" (index: #2).
I: module.c: Unloaded "module-card-restore" (index: #2).
I: module.c: Unloading "module-augment-properties" (index: #3).
I: module.c: Unloaded "module-augment-properties" (index: #3).
I: module.c: Unloading "module-udev-detect" (index: #4).
I: module.c: Unloaded "module-udev-detect" (index: #4).
I: module.c: Unloading "module-bluetooth-discover" (index: #5).
I: module.c: Unloaded "module-bluetooth-discover" (index: #5).
I: module.c: Unloading "module-esound-protocol-unix" (index: #6).
I: module.c: Unloaded "module-esound-protocol-unix" (index: #6).
I: module.c: Unloading "module-native-protocol-unix" (index: #7).
I: module.c: Unloaded "module-native-protocol-unix" (index: #7).
I: module.c: Unloading "module-gconf" (index: #8).
I: module.c: Unloaded "module-gconf" (index: #8).
I: module.c: Unloading "module-default-device-restore" (index: #9).
D: core-subscribe.c: Dropped redundant event due to change event.
I: module.c: Unloaded "module-default-device-restore" (index: #9).
I: module.c: Unloading "module-rescue-streams" (index: #10).
I: module.c: Unloaded "module-rescue-streams" (index: #10).
I: module.c: Unloading "module-null-sink" (index: #11).
D: module-always-sink.c: Autoloaded null-sink removed
D: core-subscribe.c: Dropped redundant event due to change event.
D: core-subscribe.c: Dropped redundant event due to change event.
D: module-null-sink.c: Thread shutting down