Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Natao arisiva ity resaka mitohy ity. Mametraha fanontaniana azafady raha mila fanampiana.

I cannot get a sound to play on arrival of new mail, default or custom.

  • 5 valiny
  • 3 manana an'ity olana ity
  • 1 view
  • Valiny farany nomen'i Matt

more options

I am running on a Linux box under CentOS 5.10. If I select a .wav file in a file browser screen it plays just fine. The same file is silent when used as a custom mail arrival sound. The default sound also does not play. As far as I know I have set up the sound selection in the General tab correctly. In an earlier version of Thunderbird the sound worked fine. My current version of T'bird is 24.7.0. How do I fix this problem?

I am running on a Linux box under CentOS 5.10. If I select a .wav file in a file browser screen it plays just fine. The same file is silent when used as a custom mail arrival sound. The default sound also does not play. As far as I know I have set up the sound selection in the General tab correctly. In an earlier version of Thunderbird the sound worked fine. My current version of T'bird is 24.7.0. How do I fix this problem?

All Replies (5)

more options

was it the same sound file.... Thunderbird has a limit on the sample rate. is 16khz

Using KDE? Is the file the KDE default mail sound?

more options

"was it the same sound file...." No. I picked another .wav file that sounds like the horn used for horse races.

"Thunderbird has a limit on the sample rate. is 16khz" I have no idea how to determine this for the .wav file I selected. I know that the file plays when I select the file in the file manager screen, so I know that the default audio player handles it; similarly, if I open noatun and specify that .wav file to be played, it plays fine.

"Using KDE? Is the file the KDE default mail sound?" No. I am running gnome, I believe, though the KDE programs that I invoke (such as games) run well also. I really do not know what the default mail sound is, as it has never played on this computer despite my efforts to get SOME kind of audible indication that email has arrived. On an older machine with an older kernel and an older Thunderbird I was able to get the default sound and substitute one I liked better.

more options

this is it for gnome https://help.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/2.24/#rnusers.libcanberra

As for determining the sample rate, I am sure your media player has it somewhere, but I just don't use Linux at the moment and use KDE when I do.

more options

Thanks for the link, but it was not useful to me. It pointed to information on Gnome 2.24. I am running Gnome 2.16 (what came with my machine when I bought it in 2007). The Sound Preferences screen looks very little like the one in 2.24 and does not contain a "new mail" entry. So, I still have an alert-less Thunderbird, though all other sound I have tried works just fine.

more options

You issue is either with Gnome (and not something anyone here knows anything about as this is a Thunderbird forum).

Or

You file have the incorrect sampling rate. Again not something thatr is directly related to Thunderbird. I assume Linux has a music or sound player that will tell you the sampling rate. But until you know what it is, there is no further anyone can go here.