Volume Control for Adafruit Speaker Bonnet stopped working

[besi]

Script Command

amixer set PCM 5%-

results in

     amixer: Invalid command!

Please note that this worked just yesterday and suddenly it stopped working.

Operating System

Linux raspi 6.12.62+rpt-rpi-v6 #1 Raspbian 1:6.12.62-1+rpt1~bookworm (2026-01-19) armv6l GNU/Linux

Hardware

Raspberrypi Zero WH

Behavior

Volume goes to full blast and I am not able to make it quieter using alsamixer

Description

No response

Additional information

From the logs of my service:

KEY_VOLUMEDOWN
 amixer: Invalid command!
KEY_VOLUMEUP
 Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
   Capabilities: volume
   Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
   Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
   Limits: 0 - 255
   Front Left: 255 [100%]
   Front Right: 255 [100%]

Looking for max98357a:

lsmod | grep max98357a
<empty>

Looking for I2S entries

lsmod | grep i2s
snd_soc_bcm2835_i2s    12288  2
regmap_mmio            12288  1 snd_soc_bcm2835_i2s
snd_soc_core          258048  5 snd_soc_googlevoicehat_codec,vc4,snd_soc_hdmi_codec,snd_soc_bcm2835_i2s,snd_soc_rpi_simple_soundcard
snd_pcm               122880  8 snd_compress,snd_pcm_dmaengine,snd_soc_hdmi_codec,snd_soc_bcm2835_i2s,snd_bcm2835,snd_soc_core,snd_soc_rpi_simple_soundcard

cat /etc/asound.conf

pcm.speakerbonnet {
   type hw card 0
}

pcm.dmixer {
   type dmix
   ipc_key 1024
   ipc_perm 0666
   slave {
     pcm "speakerbonnet"
     period_time 0
     period_size 1024
     buffer_size 8192
     rate 44100
     channels 2
   }
}

ctl.dmixer {
    type hw card 0
}

pcm.softvol {
    type softvol
    slave.pcm "dmixer"
    control.name "PCM"
    control.card 0
}

ctl.softvol {
    type hw card 0
}

pcm.!default {
    type             plug
    slave.pcm       "softvol"
}

[besi]

As describe din bear24rw/alsa-utils#1 I get it to work again when re-running the installer. But that, to my mind should not be necessary.

[besi]

When it's broken the mixer looks like this and the volume can't be decreased using neither the alsamixer nor the amixer command.

DMESG

pi@stereopida:~ $ dmesg
[    0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0
[    0.000000] Linux version 6.12.62+rpt-rpi-v6 (serge@raspberrypi.com) (arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc-12 (Raspbian 12.2.0-14+rpi1+deb12u1) 12.2.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Raspbian) 2.40) #1 Raspbian 1:6.12.62-1+rpt1~bookworm (2026-01-19)
[    0.000000] CPU: ARMv6-compatible processor [410fb767] revision 7 (ARMv7), cr=00c5387d
[    0.000000] CPU: PIPT / VIPT nonaliasing data cache, VIPT nonaliasing instruction cache
[    0.000000] OF: fdt: Machine model: Raspberry Pi Zero W Rev 1.1
[    0.000000] random: crng init done
[    0.000000] Memory policy: Data cache writeback
[    0.000000] Reserved memory: created CMA memory pool at 0x0b800000, size 256 MiB
[    0.000000] OF: reserved mem: initialized node linux,cma, compatible id shared-dma-pool
[    0.000000] OF: reserved mem: 0x0b800000..0x1b7fffff (262144 KiB) map reusable linux,cma
[    0.000000] Zone ranges:
[    0.000000]   Normal   [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x000000001bffffff]
[    0.000000] Movable zone start for each node
[    0.000000] Early memory node ranges
[    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x000000001bffffff]
[    0.000000] Initmem setup node 0 [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x000000001bffffff]
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: s0 r0 d32768 u32768 alloc=1*32768
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: [0] 0 
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: coherent_pool=1M 8250.nr_uarts=0 snd_bcm2835.enable_headphones=0 cgroup_disable=memory snd_bcm2835.enable_hdmi=0 snd_bcm2835.enable_hdmi=0  smsc95xx.macaddr=B8:27:EB:17:60:B1 vc_mem.mem_base=0x1ec00000 vc_mem.mem_size=0x20000000  console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty1 root=PARTUUID=43fe981e-02 rootfstype=ext4 fsck.repair=yes rootwait cfg80211.ieee80211_regdom=CH
[    0.000000] cgroup: Disabling memory control group subsystem
[    0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes, linear)
[    0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes, linear)
[    0.000000] Built 1 zonelists, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 114688
[    0.000000] mem auto-init: stack:all(zero), heap alloc:off, heap free:off
[    0.000000] SLUB: HWalign=32, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1
[    0.000000] ftrace: allocating 35917 entries in 106 pages
[    0.000000] ftrace: allocated 106 pages with 4 groups
[    0.000000] RCU Tasks Rude: Setting shift to 0 and lim to 1 rcu_task_cb_adjust=1 rcu_task_cpu_ids=1.
[    0.000000] RCU Tasks Trace: Setting shift to 0 and lim to 1 rcu_task_cb_adjust=1 rcu_task_cpu_ids=1.
[    0.000000] NR_IRQS: 16, nr_irqs: 16, preallocated irqs: 16
[    0.000008] sched_clock: 32 bits at 1000kHz, resolution 1000ns, wraps every 2147483647500ns
[    0.000056] clocksource: timer: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 1911260446275 ns
[    0.000130] bcm2835: system timer (irq = 27)
[    0.000810] Console: colour dummy device 80x30
[    0.000846] printk: legacy console [tty1] enabled
[    0.001422] Calibrating delay loop... 996.14 BogoMIPS (lpj=4980736)
[    0.040233] CPU: Testing write buffer coherency: ok
[    0.040324] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
[    0.040464] LSM: initializing lsm=capability
[    0.040762] Mount-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes, linear)
[    0.040827] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes, linear)
[    0.044072] Setting up static identity map for 0x8220 - 0x8258
[    0.044701] Memory: 167288K/458752K available (10424K kernel code, 1602K rwdata, 3396K rodata, 480K init, 369K bss, 27632K reserved, 262144K cma-reserved)
[    0.045469] devtmpfs: initialized
[    0.054966] VFP support v0.3: implementor 41 architecture 1 part 20 variant b rev 5
[    0.055315] clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 19112604462750000 ns
[    0.055386] futex hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 3072 bytes, linear)
[    0.085903] pinctrl core: initialized pinctrl subsystem
[    0.087435] NET: Registered PF_NETLINK/PF_ROUTE protocol family
[    0.089443] DMA: preallocated 1024 KiB pool for atomic coherent allocations
[    0.093988] audit: initializing netlink subsys (disabled)
[    0.095295] thermal_sys: Registered thermal governor 'step_wise'
[    0.095601] hw-breakpoint: found 6 breakpoint and 1 watchpoint registers.
[    0.095683] hw-breakpoint: maximum watchpoint size is 4 bytes.
[    0.096055] Serial: AMBA PL011 UART driver
[    0.100533] audit: type=2000 audit(0.090:1): state=initialized audit_enabled=0 res=1
[    0.103788] bcm2835-mbox 2000b880.mailbox: mailbox enabled
[    0.120580] raspberrypi-firmware soc:firmware: Attached to firmware from 2025-08-20T17:04:09, variant start
[    0.130609] raspberrypi-firmware soc:firmware: Firmware hash is cd866525580337c0aee4b25880e1f5f9f674fb24
[    0.144960] kprobes: kprobe jump-optimization is enabled. All kprobes are optimized if possible.
[    0.153923] bcm2835-dma 20007000.dma-controller: DMA legacy API manager, dmachans=0x1
[    0.156066] SCSI subsystem initialized
[    0.156479] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[    0.156595] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[    0.156702] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[    0.157350] pps_core: LinuxPPS API ver. 1 registered
[    0.157407] pps_core: Software ver. 5.3.6 - Copyright 2005-2007 Rodolfo Giometti <giometti@linux.it>
[    0.157473] PTP clock support registered
[    0.172447] clocksource: Switched to clocksource timer
[    0.173561] VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.6.0
[    0.173687] VFS: Dquot-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.206075] NET: Registered PF_INET protocol family
[    0.206342] IP idents hash table entries: 4096 (order: 3, 32768 bytes, linear)
[    0.207598] tcp_listen_portaddr_hash hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes, linear)
[    0.207692] Table-perturb hash table entries: 65536 (order: 6, 262144 bytes, linear)
[    0.207746] TCP established hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes, linear)
[    0.207815] TCP bind hash table entries: 2048 (order: 2, 16384 bytes, linear)
[    0.207888] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 2048 bind 2048)
[    0.208025] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes, linear)
[    0.208091] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes, linear)
[    0.208391] NET: Registered PF_UNIX/PF_LOCAL protocol family
[    0.213165] RPC: Registered named UNIX socket transport module.
[    0.213243] RPC: Registered udp transport module.
[    0.213271] RPC: Registered tcp transport module.
[    0.213295] RPC: Registered tcp-with-tls transport module.
[    0.213320] RPC: Registered tcp NFSv4.1 backchannel transport module.
[    0.213992] Trying to unpack rootfs image as initramfs...
[    2.563564] Freeing initrd memory: 6160K
[    3.108356] Initialise system trusted keyrings
[    3.108818] workingset: timestamp_bits=14 max_order=17 bucket_order=3
[    3.110215] NFS: Registering the id_resolver key type
[    3.110325] Key type id_resolver registered
[    3.110358] Key type id_legacy registered
[    3.110437] nfs4filelayout_init: NFSv4 File Layout Driver Registering...
[    3.110478] nfs4flexfilelayout_init: NFSv4 Flexfile Layout Driver Registering...
[    3.112775] Key type asymmetric registered
[    3.112858] Asymmetric key parser 'x509' registered
[    3.113032] Block layer SCSI generic (bsg) driver version 0.4 loaded (major 247)
[    3.113083] io scheduler mq-deadline registered
[    3.113115] io scheduler kyber registered
[    3.113241] io scheduler bfq registered
[    3.115558] pinctrl-bcm2835 20200000.gpio: GPIO_OUT persistence: yes
[    3.123635] ledtrig-cpu: registered to indicate activity on CPUs
[    3.125779] simple-framebuffer 1eaa9000.framebuffer: framebuffer at 0x1eaa9000, 0x151800 bytes
[    3.125872] simple-framebuffer 1eaa9000.framebuffer: format=a8r8g8b8, mode=720x480x32, linelength=2880
[    3.136886] Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 90x30
[    3.162560] simple-framebuffer 1eaa9000.framebuffer: fb0: simplefb registered!
[    3.184379] bcm2835-rng 20104000.rng: hwrng registered
[    3.187281] vc-mem: phys_addr:0x00000000 mem_base=0x1ec00000 mem_size:0x20000000(512 MiB)
[    3.213045] brd: module loaded
[    3.224835] loop: module loaded
[    3.228213] Loading iSCSI transport class v2.0-870.
[    3.232520] usbcore: registered new interface driver smsc95xx
[    3.234995] dwc_otg: version 3.00a 10-AUG-2012 (platform bus)
[    3.965047] Core Release: 2.80a
[    3.967439] Setting default values for core params
[    3.969736] Finished setting default values for core params
[    4.171911] Using Buffer DMA mode
[    4.174274] Periodic Transfer Interrupt Enhancement - disabled
[    4.176524] Multiprocessor Interrupt Enhancement - disabled
[    4.178787] OTG VER PARAM: 0, OTG VER FLAG: 0
[    4.181180] Dedicated Tx FIFOs mode
[    4.185901] INFO:: FIQ DMA bounce buffers: virt = cb904000 dma = 0x8b904000 len=9024
[    4.188463] FIQ FSM acceleration enabled for :
               Non-periodic Split Transactions
               Periodic Split Transactions
               High-Speed Isochronous Endpoints
               Interrupt/Control Split Transaction hack enabled
[    4.199512] dwc_otg: Microframe scheduler enabled
[    4.199661] INFO:: FIQ on core 0
[    4.201791] INFO:: FIQ ASM at c0780ffc length 36
[    4.203862] INFO:: MPHI regs_base at dc810000
[    4.205934] dwc_otg 20980000.usb: DWC OTG Controller
[    4.207953] dwc_otg 20980000.usb: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[    4.209970] dwc_otg 20980000.usb: irq 56, io mem 0x00000000
[    4.211980] Init: Port Power? op_state=1
[    4.213992] Init: Power Port (0)
[    4.216278] usb usb1: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002, bcdDevice= 6.12
[    4.220299] usb usb1: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    4.222429] usb usb1: Product: DWC OTG Controller
[    4.224588] usb usb1: Manufacturer: Linux 6.12.62+rpt-rpi-v6 dwc_otg_hcd
[    4.226706] usb usb1: SerialNumber: 20980000.usb
[    4.229850] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    4.232110] hub 1-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[    4.235194] dwc_otg: FIQ enabled
[    4.235224] dwc_otg: NAK holdoff enabled
[    4.235234] dwc_otg: FIQ split-transaction FSM enabled
[    4.235258] Module dwc_common_port init
[    4.235811] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[    4.238421] mousedev: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
[    4.243068] sdhci: Secure Digital Host Controller Interface driver
[    4.245243] sdhci: Copyright(c) Pierre Ossman
[    4.247667] sdhci-pltfm: SDHCI platform and OF driver helper
[    4.249865] hid: raw HID events driver (C) Jiri Kosina
[    4.252173] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[    4.254397] usbhid: USB HID core driver
[    4.257129] bcm2835_vchiq 2000b840.mailbox: there is not valid maps for state default
[    4.263996] armv6-pmu arm-pmu: hw perfevents: no irqs for PMU, sampling events not supported
[    4.270470] hw perfevents: enabled with armv6_1176 PMU driver, 3 (00000007) counters available
[    4.276779] Initializing XFRM netlink socket
[    4.279316] NET: Registered PF_PACKET protocol family
[    4.281811] Key type dns_resolver registered
[    4.314406] registered taskstats version 1
[    4.317035] Loading compiled-in X.509 certificates
[    4.340135] pl011-axi 20201000.serial: cts_event_workaround enabled
[    4.343345] 20201000.serial: ttyAMA1 at MMIO 0x20201000 (irq = 81, base_baud = 0) is a PL011 AXI
[    4.348386] serial serial0: tty port ttyAMA1 registered
[    4.353228] bcm2835-wdt bcm2835-wdt: Broadcom BCM2835 watchdog timer
[    4.356854] bcm2835-power bcm2835-power: Broadcom BCM2835 power domains driver
[    4.361156] mmc-bcm2835 20300000.mmcnr: mmc_debug:0 mmc_debug2:0
[    4.363808] mmc-bcm2835 20300000.mmcnr: DMA channel allocated
[    4.393202] of_cfs_init
[    4.396082] of_cfs_init: OK
[    4.400028] clk: Disabling unused clocks
[    4.403193] PM: genpd: Disabling unused power domains
[    4.480002] sdhost-bcm2835 20202000.mmc: loaded - DMA enabled (>1)
[    4.488413] Freeing unused kernel image (initmem) memory: 480K
[    4.490893] Kernel memory protection not selected by kernel config.
[    4.493351] Run /init as init process
[    4.495681]   with arguments:
[    4.495696]     /init
[    4.495706]   with environment:
[    4.495713]     HOME=/
[    4.495721]     TERM=linux
[    4.545009] mmc1: new high speed SDIO card at address 0001
[    4.703472] mmc0: host does not support reading read-only switch, assuming write-enable
[    4.709936] mmc0: new high speed SDHC card at address aaaa
[    4.715543] mmcblk0: mmc0:aaaa SC32G 29.7 GiB
[    4.734963]  mmcblk0: p1 p2
[    4.743207] mmcblk0: mmc0:aaaa SC32G 29.7 GiB (quirks 0x0000c000)
[    7.664503] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): orphan cleanup on readonly fs
[    7.669923] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): mounted filesystem f2e33f52-4ec6-47c3-86f2-d8e129c2919f ro with ordered data mode. Quota mode: none.
[    8.593177] systemd[1]: System time before build time, advancing clock.
[    8.863952] NET: Registered PF_INET6 protocol family
[    8.868663] Segment Routing with IPv6
[    8.871173] In-situ OAM (IOAM) with IPv6
[    9.008892] systemd[1]: systemd 252.39-1~deb12u1+rpi1 running in system mode (+PAM +AUDIT +SELINUX +APPARMOR +IMA +SMACK +SECCOMP +GCRYPT -GNUTLS +OPENSSL +ACL +BLKID +CURL +ELFUTILS +FIDO2 +IDN2 -IDN +IPTC +KMOD +LIBCRYPTSETUP +LIBFDISK +PCRE2 -PWQUALITY +P11KIT +QRENCODE +TPM2 +BZIP2 +LZ4 +XZ +ZLIB +ZSTD -BPF_FRAMEWORK -XKBCOMMON +UTMP +SYSVINIT default-hierarchy=unified)
[    9.021133] systemd[1]: Detected architecture arm.
[    9.045963] systemd[1]: Hostname set to <stereopida>.
[   11.685533] systemd[1]: Queued start job for default target multi-user.target.
[   11.702357] systemd[1]: Created slice system-getty.slice - Slice /system/getty.
[   11.712695] systemd[1]: Created slice system-modprobe.slice - Slice /system/modprobe.
[   11.722389] systemd[1]: Created slice system-systemd\x2dfsck.slice - Slice /system/systemd-fsck.
[   11.733761] systemd[1]: Created slice user.slice - User and Session Slice.
[   11.740825] systemd[1]: Started systemd-ask-password-console.path - Dispatch Password Requests to Console Directory Watch.
[   11.750939] systemd[1]: Started systemd-ask-password-wall.path - Forward Password Requests to Wall Directory Watch.
[   11.762835] systemd[1]: Set up automount proc-sys-fs-binfmt_misc.automount - Arbitrary Executable File Formats File System Automount Point.
[   11.772796] systemd[1]: Expecting device dev-disk-by\x2dpartuuid-43fe981e\x2d01.device - /dev/disk/by-partuuid/43fe981e-01...
[   11.782913] systemd[1]: Reached target cryptsetup.target - Local Encrypted Volumes.
[   11.790417] systemd[1]: Reached target integritysetup.target - Local Integrity Protected Volumes.
[   11.801542] systemd[1]: Reached target paths.target - Path Units.
[   11.809502] systemd[1]: Reached target slices.target - Slice Units.
[   11.817188] systemd[1]: Reached target swap.target - Swaps.
[   11.824626] systemd[1]: Reached target veritysetup.target - Local Verity Protected Volumes.
[   11.836305] systemd[1]: Listening on systemd-fsckd.socket - fsck to fsckd communication Socket.
[   11.847421] systemd[1]: Listening on systemd-initctl.socket - initctl Compatibility Named Pipe.
[   11.860421] systemd[1]: Listening on systemd-journald-audit.socket - Journal Audit Socket.
[   11.872340] systemd[1]: Listening on systemd-journald-dev-log.socket - Journal Socket (/dev/log).
[   11.884598] systemd[1]: Listening on systemd-journald.socket - Journal Socket.
[   11.893828] systemd[1]: Listening on systemd-udevd-control.socket - udev Control Socket.
[   11.905382] systemd[1]: Listening on systemd-udevd-kernel.socket - udev Kernel Socket.
[   11.914788] systemd[1]: dev-hugepages.mount - Huge Pages File System was skipped because of an unmet condition check (ConditionPathExists=/sys/kernel/mm/hugepages).
[   11.932328] systemd[1]: Mounting dev-mqueue.mount - POSIX Message Queue File System...
[   11.963925] systemd[1]: Mounting sys-kernel-debug.mount - Kernel Debug File System...
[   12.003831] systemd[1]: Mounting sys-kernel-tracing.mount - Kernel Trace File System...
[   12.024050] systemd[1]: auth-rpcgss-module.service - Kernel Module supporting RPCSEC_GSS was skipped because of an unmet condition check (ConditionPathExists=/etc/krb5.keytab).
[   12.058601] systemd[1]: Starting fake-hwclock.service - Restore / save the current clock...
[   12.094870] systemd[1]: Starting keyboard-setup.service - Set the console keyboard layout...
[   12.147110] systemd[1]: Starting kmod-static-nodes.service - Create List of Static Device Nodes...
[   12.197197] systemd[1]: Starting modprobe@configfs.service - Load Kernel Module configfs...
[   12.257581] systemd[1]: Starting modprobe@dm_mod.service - Load Kernel Module dm_mod...
[   12.350920] systemd[1]: Starting modprobe@drm.service - Load Kernel Module drm...
[   12.428159] systemd[1]: Starting modprobe@efi_pstore.service - Load Kernel Module efi_pstore...
[   12.517238] systemd[1]: Starting modprobe@fuse.service - Load Kernel Module fuse...
[   12.612667] device-mapper: ioctl: 4.48.0-ioctl (2023-03-01) initialised: dm-devel@lists.linux.dev
[   12.624230] systemd[1]: Starting modprobe@loop.service - Load Kernel Module loop...
[   12.663645] systemd[1]: systemd-fsck-root.service - File System Check on Root Device was skipped because of an unmet condition check (ConditionPathExists=!/run/initramfs/fsck-root).
[   12.794521] systemd[1]: Starting systemd-journald.service - Journal Service...
[   12.889058] systemd[1]: Starting systemd-modules-load.service - Load Kernel Modules...
[   12.977581] fuse: init (API version 7.41)
[   13.006196] systemd[1]: Starting systemd-remount-fs.service - Remount Root and Kernel File Systems...
[   13.138065] systemd[1]: Starting systemd-udev-trigger.service - Coldplug All udev Devices...
[   13.366530] systemd[1]: Mounted dev-mqueue.mount - POSIX Message Queue File System.
[   13.407418] systemd[1]: Mounted sys-kernel-debug.mount - Kernel Debug File System.
[   13.459859] systemd[1]: Mounted sys-kernel-tracing.mount - Kernel Trace File System.
[   13.520824] systemd[1]: Finished fake-hwclock.service - Restore / save the current clock.
[   13.622871] systemd[1]: Finished kmod-static-nodes.service - Create List of Static Device Nodes.
[   13.662908] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): re-mounted f2e33f52-4ec6-47c3-86f2-d8e129c2919f r/w.
[   13.744616] systemd[1]: modprobe@configfs.service: Deactivated successfully.
[   13.752914] systemd[1]: Finished modprobe@configfs.service - Load Kernel Module configfs.
[   13.806507] systemd[1]: modprobe@dm_mod.service: Deactivated successfully.
[   13.832968] systemd[1]: Finished modprobe@dm_mod.service - Load Kernel Module dm_mod.
[   13.873666] systemd[1]: modprobe@drm.service: Deactivated successfully.
[   13.896091] systemd[1]: Finished modprobe@drm.service - Load Kernel Module drm.
[   13.936526] systemd[1]: modprobe@efi_pstore.service: Deactivated successfully.
[   13.972900] systemd[1]: Finished modprobe@efi_pstore.service - Load Kernel Module efi_pstore.
[   14.016208] systemd[1]: modprobe@fuse.service: Deactivated successfully.
[   14.042807] systemd[1]: Finished modprobe@fuse.service - Load Kernel Module fuse.
[   14.083178] systemd[1]: modprobe@loop.service: Deactivated successfully.
[   14.092857] systemd[1]: Finished modprobe@loop.service - Load Kernel Module loop.
[   14.132711] systemd[1]: Finished systemd-modules-load.service - Load Kernel Modules.
[   14.172858] systemd[1]: Finished systemd-remount-fs.service - Remount Root and Kernel File Systems.
[   14.293048] systemd[1]: Mounting sys-fs-fuse-connections.mount - FUSE Control File System...
[   14.413747] systemd[1]: Mounting sys-kernel-config.mount - Kernel Configuration File System...
[   14.495378] systemd[1]: systemd-firstboot.service - First Boot Wizard was skipped because of an unmet condition check (ConditionFirstBoot=yes).
[   14.562660] systemd[1]: systemd-pstore.service - Platform Persistent Storage Archival was skipped because of an unmet condition check (ConditionDirectoryNotEmpty=/sys/fs/pstore).
[   14.626167] systemd[1]: Starting systemd-random-seed.service - Load/Save Random Seed...
[   14.658181] systemd[1]: systemd-repart.service - Repartition Root Disk was skipped because no trigger condition checks were met.
[   14.744142] systemd[1]: Starting systemd-sysctl.service - Apply Kernel Variables...
[   14.834162] systemd[1]: Starting systemd-sysusers.service - Create System Users...
[   15.068563] systemd[1]: Started systemd-journald.service - Journal Service.
[   15.587199] systemd-journald[181]: Received client request to flush runtime journal.
[   21.704529] mc: Linux media interface: v0.10
[   21.951371] rpi-gpiomem 20200000.gpiomem: window base 0x20200000 size 0x00001000
[   22.001782] rpi-gpiomem 20200000.gpiomem: initialised 1 regions as /dev/gpiomem
[   23.550596] snd_bcm2835: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[   24.002113] videodev: Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[   24.671975] vc_sm_cma: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[   24.979682] bcm2835_vc_sm_cma_probe: Videocore shared memory driver
[   24.979730] [vc_sm_connected_init]: start
[   25.054660] [vc_sm_connected_init]: installed successfully
[   25.120232] bcm2835_mmal_vchiq: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[   25.453694] bcm2835_isp: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[   25.503423] Adding 524284k swap on /var/swap.  Priority:-2 extents:15 across:16637952k SS
[   25.642700] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Device node output[0] registered as /dev/video13
[   25.651359] bcm2835_codec: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[   25.730758] bcm2835_v4l2: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[   25.906173] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Device node capture[0] registered as /dev/video14
[   25.932854] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Device node capture[1] registered as /dev/video15
[   25.935632] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Device node stats[2] registered as /dev/video16
[   25.935696] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Register output node 0 with media controller
[   25.935730] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Register capture node 1 with media controller
[   25.935757] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Register capture node 2 with media controller
[   25.935795] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Register capture node 3 with media controller
[   26.165697] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Device node output[0] registered as /dev/video20
[   26.182753] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Device node capture[0] registered as /dev/video21
[   26.197638] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Device node capture[1] registered as /dev/video22
[   26.198652] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Device node stats[2] registered as /dev/video23
[   26.198715] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Register output node 0 with media controller
[   26.198752] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Register capture node 1 with media controller
[   26.201238] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Register capture node 2 with media controller
[   26.201324] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Register capture node 3 with media controller
[   26.223841] bcm2835-isp bcm2835-isp: Loaded V4L2 bcm2835-isp
[   26.554575] bcm2835-codec bcm2835-codec: Device registered as /dev/video10
[   26.554660] bcm2835-codec bcm2835-codec: Loaded V4L2 decode
[   26.608131] bcm2835-codec bcm2835-codec: Device registered as /dev/video11
[   26.608223] bcm2835-codec bcm2835-codec: Loaded V4L2 encode
[   26.619786] bcm2835-codec bcm2835-codec: Device registered as /dev/video12
[   26.619883] bcm2835-codec bcm2835-codec: Loaded V4L2 isp
[   26.675530] bcm2835-codec bcm2835-codec: Device registered as /dev/video18
[   26.675609] bcm2835-codec bcm2835-codec: Loaded V4L2 image_fx
[   26.752820] bcm2835-codec bcm2835-codec: Device registered as /dev/video31
[   26.752897] bcm2835-codec bcm2835-codec: Loaded V4L2 encode_image
[   26.985851] voicehat-codec voicehat-codec: property 'voicehat_sdmode_delay' not found default 5 mS
[   29.567622] voicehat-codec voicehat-codec: Enabling audio amp...
[   31.181114] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.22
[   31.181328] NET: Registered PF_BLUETOOTH protocol family
[   31.181348] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
[   31.685871] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
[   31.685921] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
[   31.686008] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
[   32.648787] Bluetooth: HCI UART driver ver 2.3
[   32.648833] Bluetooth: HCI UART protocol H4 registered
[   32.649015] Bluetooth: HCI UART protocol Three-wire (H5) registered
[   32.827308] hci_uart_bcm serial0-0: supply vbat not found, using dummy regulator
[   32.827634] hci_uart_bcm serial0-0: supply vddio not found, using dummy regulator
[   32.827886] Bluetooth: HCI UART protocol Broadcom registered
[   33.222650] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: chip id 94
[   33.224207] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: features 0x2e
[   33.228024] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM43430A1
[   33.228073] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM43430A1 (001.002.009) build 0000
[   33.305943] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM43430A1 'brcm/BCM43430A1.raspberrypi,model-zero-w.hcd' Patch
[   33.750668] cfg80211: Loading compiled-in X.509 certificates for regulatory database
[   34.143260] Loaded X.509 cert 'benh@debian.org: 577e021cb980e0e820821ba7b54b4961b8b4fadf'
[   34.145942] Loaded X.509 cert 'romain.perier@gmail.com: 3abbc6ec146e09d1b6016ab9d6cf71dd233f0328'
[   34.148579] Loaded X.509 cert 'sforshee: 00b28ddf47aef9cea7'
[   34.151196] Loaded X.509 cert 'wens: 61c038651aabdcf94bd0ac7ff06c7248db18c600'
[   34.304186] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: features 0x2e
[   34.322778] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM43438A1 37.4MHz Raspberry Pi 3-0141
[   34.322831] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM43430A1 (001.002.009) build 0508
[   36.530637] Console: switching to colour dummy device 80x30
[   36.597961] vc4-drm soc:gpu: bound 20400000.hvs (ops vc4_hvs_ops [vc4])
[   36.598774] vc4-drm soc:gpu: bound 20004000.txp (ops vc4_txp_ops [vc4])
[   36.599422] vc4-drm soc:gpu: bound 20206000.pixelvalve (ops vc4_crtc_ops [vc4])
[   36.600082] vc4-drm soc:gpu: bound 20207000.pixelvalve (ops vc4_crtc_ops [vc4])
[   36.600721] vc4-drm soc:gpu: bound 20807000.pixelvalve (ops vc4_crtc_ops [vc4])
[   36.601215] vc4-drm soc:gpu: bound 20c00000.v3d (ops vc4_v3d_ops [vc4])
[   37.113210] [drm] Initialized vc4 0.0.0 for soc:gpu on minor 0
[   37.113293] vc4-drm soc:gpu: [drm] Cannot find any crtc or sizes
[   37.443156] export_store: invalid GPIO 13
[   38.342990] brcmfmac: F1 signature read @0x18000000=0x1541a9a6
[   38.446819] brcmfmac: brcmf_fw_alloc_request: using brcm/brcmfmac43430-sdio for chip BCM43430/1
[   38.447720] usbcore: registered new interface driver brcmfmac
[   38.790799] brcmfmac: brcmf_c_process_txcap_blob: no txcap_blob available (err=-2)
[   38.791768] brcmfmac: brcmf_c_preinit_dcmds: Firmware: BCM43430/1 wl0: Jul 19 2021 03:24:18 version 7.45.98 (TOB) (56df937 CY) FWID 01-8e14b897
[   49.683981] brcmfmac: brcmf_cfg80211_set_power_mgmt: power save enabled
[   50.819904] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
[   50.819947] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
[   50.819980] Bluetooth: BNEP socket layer initialized
[   50.941952] Bluetooth: MGMT ver 1.23
[   50.995910] NET: Registered PF_ALG protocol family

From the journalctl log

sudo journalctl | grep alsa
Feb 04 14:08:37 stereopida systemd[1]: alsa-state.service - Manage Sound Card State (restore and store) was skipped because of an unmet condition check (ConditionPathExists=/etc/alsa/state-daemon.conf).
Feb 04 14:08:37 stereopida systemd[1]: Starting alsa-restore.service - Save/Restore Sound Card State...
Feb 04 14:08:38 stereopida alsactl[426]: alsa-lib main.c:1541:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:0 use case configuration -2
Feb 04 14:08:38 stereopida alsactl[426]: /usr/sbin/alsactl: set_control:1475: Cannot write control '2:0:0:PCM:0' : Operation not permitted
Feb 04 14:08:38 stereopida systemd[1]: Finished alsa-restore.service - Save/Restore Sound Card State.

[makermelissa-ai-assistant]

Hi @besi — good news, this one is already fixed on main. The root cause and the fix went in over a series of commits on 2026-04-23 and 2026-05-05, after you filed this issue.

The bug: the installer's /etc/asound.conf template hardcoded four card 0 references. On Pi OS Bookworm/Trixie when dtparam=audio=on is active (or when the kernel's probe order races and snd_soc_rpi_simple_soundcard / googlevoicehat-codec registers before max98357a), the I2S DAC isn't card 0 anymore — and the softvol plugin happily creates a PCM control bound to whatever card 0 actually is (vc4-hdmi, the simple-soundcard, etc.). amixer set PCM 5%- then fails with Invalid command! because the underlying control can't be written, and alsactl reports the matching Cannot write control '2:0:0:PCM:0' : Operation not permitted you have in your journal.

Your /etc/asound.conf paste shows pcm.speakerbonnet { type hw card 0 } (no quotes, hardcoded index), confirming you're running the pre-fix version.

The fix landed in these commits on main:

• 75d7416 — bind asound.conf by ALSA card name instead of index 0
• c745013 — use the 15-char truncated card id (ALSA kernel limit)
• faf510a — comment out dtparam=audio=on in config.txt so vc4-hdmi can't claim card 0 in the first place
• afcdfe3 — use the full CARD_NAME with proper truncation
• 724941f — discover the ALSA card name dynamically via dtoverlay + aplay -l instead of hardcoding

That last one (724941f) means even if the overlay name → card-id mapping changes in a future kernel, the installer figures out the right name at install time and writes it into the asound.conf. So the brittle bit you were hitting ("works after re-install, breaks on the next probe-order shuffle") shouldn't recur.

To pick up the fix: re-run the installer from the latest main:

sudo python3 -m pip install --upgrade adafruit-python-shell click
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adafruit/Raspberry-Pi-Installer-Scripts/main/i2samp.py
sudo python3 i2samp.py

After it finishes, your /etc/asound.conf should have type hw card "sndrpigooglevoi" (or similar) instead of the bare card 0 — and amixer set PCM 5%- should work persistently across reboots.

This is the same class of bug as the boot-race fix that landed in #369 — both flavors of "card 0 isn't who you think it is at probe time."

Closing recommended once confirmed, @makermelissa.

[makermelissa]

Fixed by #375.

[besi]

I did run the updated installer again and I can confirm that everything now works again. Thank you very much @makermelissa

[besi]

@makermelissa: Unfortunately the problem re-appeared upon another reboot and the command I was previously using to change the volume once again fails to run:

amixer set PCM 5%-~
amixer: Invalid command!

My /boot/firmware/config.txt has the default audio card disabled:

# ...
# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=off
# ...

aplay -l shows me the following:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: sndrpigooglevoi [snd_rpi_googlevoicehat_soundcar], device 0: Google voiceHAT SoundCard HiFi voicehat-hifi-0 [Google voiceHAT SoundCard HiFi voicehat-hifi-0]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

The asound.conf now contains the name of the soundcard rather than the index:

cat /etc/asound.conf

pcm.speakerbonnet {
   type hw card "sndrpigooglevoi"
}

pcm.dmixer {
   type dmix
   ipc_key 1024
   ipc_perm 0666
   slave {
     pcm "speakerbonnet"
     period_time 0
     period_size 1024
     buffer_size 8192
     rate 44100
     channels 2
   }
}

ctl.dmixer {
    type hw card "sndrpigooglevoi"
}

pcm.softvol {
    type softvol
    slave.pcm "dmixer"
    control.name "PCM"
    control.card "sndrpigooglevoi"
}

ctl.softvol {
    type hw card "sndrpigooglevoi"
}

pcm.!default {
    type             plug
    slave.pcm       "softvol"
}

Again I am not able to change the volume using alsamixer:

I suggest to re-open the issue.

[makermelissa-ai-assistant]

Thanks for the follow-up @besi — and sorry the fix didn't fully hold. The issue is still open, no need to re-open.

Looking at your paste: the installer side is doing the right thing now (asound.conf bound by card name, dtparam=audio=off, googlevoicehat is card 0). So this isn't the original card-numbering regression — it's a separate softvol problem layered on top.

Two things stand out:

1. The Mic element next to PCM is unexpected. The kernel googlevoicehat-codec only registers a DAPM "Speaker" route (no mixer controls), and i2samp.py's asound.conf only defines a PCM softvol. Neither should produce a Mic control on card 0 — something else has restored or created it.

2. The Invalid command! + stuck-at-100% pattern is the same fingerprint as determining cause of 'amixer set PCM 5%-' returning "invalid command" bear24rw/alsa-utils#1, including @sir66's reproduction in that thread where amixer set PCM 255 (the current value) succeeds but amixer set PCM 254 fails. That signature comes from alsa-lib's softvol plugin opening, finding a pre-existing kcontrol on the card with the same name but incompatible metadata, attempting snd_ctl_elem_remove + re-add as USER, and the remove failing silently. The most common source of that pre-existing kcontrol is alsa-restore.service reinstating something old from /var/lib/alsa/asound.state at boot — before any softvol PCM opens to override it.

If you're up for two quick diagnostics:

# Is PCM a USER-flagged softvol control, or a stale leftover?
amixer -c 0 controls | grep -i "name='PCM'"
# Take the numid from above, then:
amixer -c 0 cget numid=N | head -5

If the output's access= line is missing user, the softvol plugin isn't owning that control — alsactl restore is.

# Where's the Mic control coming from?
grep -i mic /etc/asound.conf /etc/asound.conf.old ~/.asoundrc 2>/dev/null
sudo grep -B1 -A2 "name 'Mic'" /var/lib/alsa/asound.state | head -10

And one quick recovery experiment to confirm the theory:

sudo alsactl -f /dev/null restore         # wipe saved state for this boot
sudo systemctl restart aplay 2>/dev/null  # if you have aplay.service enabled — opens softvol → recreates PCM
amixer -c 0 sset PCM 50%                  # change volume (note: sset, no trailing chars)

If that recovers volume control, the persistent fix is for i2samp.py to clear the stale element / re-store ALSA state after the softvol is up, so reboots stop reinstating the broken element. If it doesn't recover, the root cause is somewhere else and (a)/(b) above will tell me where to look next.

(Heads-up on syntax: amixer: Invalid command! fires both when the value string is malformed and when the underlying write fails. sset PCM 5%- should work; sset PCM 5%-~ won't, so I want to make sure we're isolating the actual softvol behavior.)