Need help configuring sound in Debian 3.1

freddie_leaf · 09-14-2005, 07:41 AM

I just installed Debian 3.1 and finally got my video card working to my liking. Now it's on to the audio setup. Right now, my audio is not working. I've done a comprehensive search on the web and linuxquestions and have found many suggestions on how to setup the audio. Most of them are outdated. I tried some of them with no success. My understanding is that there are several ways to setup linux sound (Alsa and ??), not sure which is the best up to date method.

I tried alsaconfig and alsamixer but bash can't find them, I don't think they are installed.

I have an ASUS A7V400-MX motherboard with ADI SoundMax audio.

Can someone knowlegeable on the topic give (or point to) a current explanation on what needs to be installed and how to configure sound on Debian 3.1.

Thanks.

dastrike · 09-14-2005, 08:01 AM

Code:

apt-get install alsa-base alsa-oss

alsa-base will pull along most of the needed stuff. alsa-oss allows for OSS apps to work with ALSA.

Code:

alsaconf

Select the sound card that you have in the list it provides after it has performed a probe

Then check with

Code:

alsamixer

that the relevant channels are not muted, e.g Master and PCM should definitively not be muted. (muted channels are marked with "MM", use the m key to toggle muteness) and otherwise that the channel volumes are sensible.

If sound is still is not working, try a reboot and if it is still not working, please post the output of the commands

Code:

lsmod

and

Code:

lspci

freddie_leaf · 09-14-2005, 08:14 AM

Thanks dastrike,

I installed alsa with the apt-get install.

When I run alsaconf it tells me that I have no supported devices. I then run the probe, and get a blank bluce screen with an OK button. I dont think it could find anything when it did the probe?

If then run alsamixer, it does not run, presumably because alsaconf did not find anything?

Consequently, this soundcard did work when I had Ubuntu installed last week, so I know it is compatible with Linux.

Any suggestions?

dastrike · 09-14-2005, 08:27 AM

Run the lsmod and lspci commands and post the results here. There can be some OSS modules active making life sour.

//edit: are you running a 2.4 kernel? In that case you need to install the ALSA modules separately:

Code:

apt-get install alsa-modules-$(uname -r)

freddie_leaf · 09-14-2005, 09:36 AM

I am runnung the 2.4 Kernel.
I'll run the lsmod and lspci commands and post the results when I get home tonight.

freddie_leaf · 09-14-2005, 06:45 PM

Here is the lsmod:

Module Size Used by Tainted: P
input 3040 0 (autoclean)
apm 8428 1 (autoclean)
appletalk 17796 12 (autoclean)
af_packet 11048 1 (autoclean)
ohci1394 21648 0 (unused)
ieee1394 178724 0 [ohci1394]
nvidia 3645692 6
ehci-hcd 14764 0 (unused)
usb-uhci 19504 0 (unused)
usbcore 52268 1 [ehci-hcd usb-uhci]
via82cxxx_audio 17404 1
ac97_codec 11252 0 [via82cxxx_audio]
uart401 5860 0 [via82cxxx_audio]
sound 48872 0 [via82cxxx_audio uart401]
soundcore 3268 4 [via82cxxx_audio sound]
ide-scsi 8272 0
scsi_mod 86052 1 [ide-scsi]
via-rhine 10960 1
mii 1952 0 [via-rhine]
crc32 2848 0 [via-rhine]
ide-cd 27072 0
cdrom 26212 0 [ide-cd]
rtc 5768 0 (autoclean)
ext3 65388 5 (autoclean)
jbd 34628 5 (autoclean) [ext3]
ide-detect 288 0 (autoclean) (unused)
via82cxxx 9256 1 (autoclean)
ide-disk 12448 6 (autoclean)
ide-core 91832 6 (autoclean) [ide-scsi ide-cd ide-detect via82cxxx ide-disk]
unix 12752 198 (autoclean)

Here is the lspci:
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8378 [KM400] Chipset Host Bridge
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI Bridge
0000:00:09.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC16 (CX23416) MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)
0000:00:0a.0 Multimedia controller: Pinnacle Systems Inc.: Unknown device bede
0000:00:0a.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Pinnacle Systems Inc.: Unknown device 0015
0000:00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 82)
0000:00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge
0000:00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
0000:00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
0000:00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 74)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200] (rev a1)

freddie_leaf · 09-15-2005, 02:16 PM

I did get the sound to work finally, by using the following:

Code:

apt-get install alsa-modules-$(uname -r)

The sound works not (.wav files), however, when I put in an audio CD I cant hear anything. Is there another setting (ie, permissions) that needs to be set to make CD audio sound work?

Dead Parrot · 09-15-2005, 04:02 PM

Have you run alsamixer and checked out, like dastrike suggests, that both Master and PCM are unmuted?

freddie_leaf · 09-18-2005, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by freddie_leaf
I did get the sound to work finally, by using the following:

Code:

apt-get install alsa-modules-$(uname -r)

The sound works now (.wav files), however, when I put in an audio CD I cant hear anything. Is there another setting (ie, permissions) that needs to be set to make CD audio sound work?

Xian · 09-18-2005, 11:15 AM

What application are you using to play the CD?
Some will not work unless the drive is hardwired to the s/card.

Try something like Totem which does not require this.

freddie_leaf · 09-18-2005, 02:55 PM

Thanks Xian,

My CD Drive is wired to the Sound Card, and the CD volume is turned up an not muted in Alsamixer. I was using the "default" CD Player that installs with Debian 3.1; Applications|Multimedia|CD Player. Still no sound with that.

I did try Toem and the CDs work! I can hear the CD play throught the sound card/speakers now. Not sure why Toem works and not the other player. oh well...

Ed_Les_Mann · 09-18-2005, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Code:

apt-get install alsa-modules-$(uname -r)

SWEET!! I have been working on trying to figure my soundcard problem for like a week now, AND THIS FIXED IT! WHOOOHOO!!!

...I am so happy...

The problems were so utterly odd that I really did not know what was going on. When I installed Debian, I wanted it really trim, so I though I would just strip out stuff I thought I didnt need. Not a wise I idea for someone jumping into a new distro. Since my "brilliant idea" I was able to get sound to work under gnome and under rythmbox (just mp3s though, no other sound format) but NOTHING else. Then I finally got some alsa driver that let me play cds, and that was it. No DVD's, no avi's, mov, wma, mpg, nothing...I tried like 5 different video players, they all played mp3s and nothing else. Then I found your suggestion, figured "what the hey.." and it worked! Everything I have tested seems to be working now...so thank you very much dastrike! I hope for others, this works as well!

Ed_Les_Mann

Xian · 09-18-2005, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by freddie_leaf
Not sure why Toem works and not the other player. oh well...

Totem really is more forgiving of the hardware than other players. It sounds like your setup should work on more than this application, but there could be another issue as yet undiscovered.