After spending 4 days trying on my own, I would GREATLY appreciate some help...

Dell Dimension 2350 Desktop Machine
Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) AC'97 Audio Controller

I am using 2.4.6 kernel, Sarge, KDE, testing branch.... Everytime I go into KDE, I get a popup stating that dummy will be used....

I have changed the kernel SEVERAL times, trying different things... following several howtos and to no avail... (Sound works flawlessly in XP, so it's not hardware)

Can someone kindly point me to some working information?

I don't know what to do next.

Thanks
Donny

Have you tried 'alsaconf'?

Several times, it DOES detect my soundcard......
"intel8x0 Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH-M) AC'97 Audio"

Have you compiled the driver as a module in your kernel? If so, please post the output of lsmod

Maybe sometimes your module isn't loading and you haven't added to /etc/modules.
What are you using in kernel? Alsa, Oss another?

acker

I have an AC97 type card on my laptop. Running Sarge kernel 2.6.8. Works pretty good, but I am trying to get an updated driver installed.

On WinXP, I had the same problems I'm now having with Linux until I got a recent driver upgrade. Now XP is fine, and Debian so-so. (Poor quality sound). Hopefully, if I can get this new driver installed, it'll work the same on both systems.

I tried both compiled in and as modules.... Disabled OSS...

On a side note, I tried Ubuntu (which is supposed to have "fabulous" device detection)... ALSA did NOT work but ESD and OSS did, I am trying OSS right now.... never heard of ESD before....

Try a 2.6 kernel... Maybe that helps.

Get in KDE control center and stop that KDE Arts Daemon. Try again with XMMS. What do you get with alsa config in xmms? Only "default" or you see your soundcard there? Post an exact error message. I had some problems with Artsd myself...

Maybe is no problem with your kernel and sound configuration, just with KDE's sound server...

Try again with XMMS. What do you get with alsa config in xmms?

Ooh! I don't know about poor ol' Donnyj, but that fixed about 90% of my problems. I didn't even realize you had to make sure the right driver was installed in xmms.

I'm still going to try getting that newer driver to work, tho ... made a big difference in XP, if it fixes the last litte bit in Linux, that'll be great.

Stripped ALL sound cards out of kernel INCLUDING ISA PNP, installed OSS... snd test worked, sounds in KDE didn't... now, putting sound back into kernel as modules, will update you as I go....

takes a bit of time to compile. Will give a lsmod listing, etc. after the reboot.

Question: debian attempts to load and reload the modules, where does it get the list of modules to try and manually insert at boot?

/etc/modules
man modules

I tried Alsa by itself, no go, oss separate from the kernel, no go... now I have EVERYTHING as module, no go....

Module Size Used by
ipv6 258436 8
parport_pc 36420 0
lp 11048 0
parport 41032 2 parport_pc,lp
af_packet 22408 2
shpchp 99564 0
pciehp 96364 0
joydev 10048 0
usbhid 31680 0
usblp 13184 0
uhci_hcd 32272 0
intel_agp 22432 1
b44 21764 0
mii 5376 1 b44
ehci_hcd 31108 0
snd_fm801 20040 0
snd_tea575x_tuner 4352 1 snd_fm801
videodev 10112 1 snd_tea575x_tuner
snd_opl3_lib 11648 1 snd_fm801
snd_emux_synth 41344 0
snd_util_mem 5248 1 snd_emux_synth
snd_virmidi 5188 0
snd_dummy 10820 1
snd_ainstr_simple 3456 0
snd_ainstr_fm 3072 0
snd_seq_virmidi 7808 2 snd_emux_synth,snd_virmidi
snd_seq_midi_emul 8576 1 snd_emux_synth
snd_seq_dummy 3844 0
snd_seq_instr 9600 0
snd_seq_oss 36224 0
snd_seq_midi 9888 0
snd_seq_midi_event 7808 3 snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 58768 10 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_instr,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_mid i,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_rtctimer 3600 0
rtc 12856 1 snd_rtctimer
snd_hwdep 9988 2 snd_opl3_lib,snd_emux_synth
snd_intel8x0m 20424 0
snd_intel8x0 36652 0
snd_ac97_codec 70020 3 snd_fm801,snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm_oss 62504 0
snd_mixer_oss 21760 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 107144 6 snd_fm801,snd_dummy,snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 27140 4 snd_opl3_lib,snd_seq,snd_rtctimer,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 12424 4 snd_dummy,snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
gameport 4864 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_mpu401_uart 8448 2 snd_fm801,snd_intel8x0
snd_rawmidi 26532 3 snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi,snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 8712 5 snd_opl3_lib,snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi
snd 60772 28 snd_fm801,snd_tea575x_tuner,snd_opl3_lib,snd_emux_synth,snd_util_mem,snd_virmidi,snd_dummy,snd_seq_v irmidi,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_instr,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event,snd _seq,snd_rtctimer,snd_hwdep,snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_ pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
i810_audio 37140 0
soundcore 10464 2 snd,i810_audio
ntfs 138868 0
autofs 16896 0
ac97_codec 18700 1 i810_audio
usbkbd 7552 0
i830 76324 0
tsdev 7552 0
agpgart 33960 2 intel_agp
mousedev 10508 2
pci_hotplug 33968 2 shpchp,pciehp
evdev 9728 0
usbmouse 5888 0
usbcore 115940 8 usbhid,usblp,uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd,usbkbd,usbmouse
psmouse 19976 0
ide_cd 41888 1
cdrom 39708 1 ide_cd
ext3 124136 1
jbd 61080 1 ext3
mbcache 9348 1 ext3
ide_generic 1664 0
piix 13344 1
ide_disk 19072 3
ide_core 136292 4 ide_cd,ide_generic,piix,ide_disk
unix 28468 373

Not very good that you have all the modules in memory... Some programs may start using oss, some will try alsa and you won't find the real problem.

I recommend that you'll compile your kernel (why not try a 2.6 kernel?) for alsa (without the modules for oss, esd), with your sound card as a module too. (At least for the tests).

Anyway, till then you could try the following steps:

(you said test sound works and i assume that works now too)
start xmms, set it to alsa and try to play something.
(if you can't play and get an error like: Sound card in use etc. try another output plugin: artsd (if you have it in the list), oss, esd)

Here i assume you've got xmms to work with alsa. If not, please say what where you're problems.
Let it play and enter KDE control center and go to the sound server section.

Set there the output plugin (i don't know exactly how it's called) to alsa. Click Apply (there is a test sound button too) See if it works. I believe it shouldn't work because xmms is already using the sound card.

Stop xmms and try again.

If it doesn't work try other output plugins. Your card may be blocked by a program (don't know exactly why you can't get it to work)

You could also try
/bin/fuser -v /dev/dsp
to see which program may use you sound card.

--

I wouldn't use KDE's sound server Artsd anyway. You can play simultaneous sounds with alsa's plugin dmix.