SoundBlaster Live Distortion with Linux RedHat 9
 

I had a PC that had been working fine with Windows XP. So, I am pretty confident that the sound system is functional. When I upgraded it to Linux, I had to add "modprobe emu10k1" to the /etc/rc.d/rc.local file. I have also tried sndconfig and other utilities, but no matter what I do, I hear static / distortion when there is no sound playing. Just little popping noises. So, I noted that the speaker connection had a broken pin. Threw them out and bought new ones and thought that would solve it. Well, the new ones have the same exact problem. So, it must be something with my configuration.

It is a SoundBlaster Live! PCI card and I am using emu10k1 as the driver. Can someone provide some ideas for why I might be hearing popping/distortion even when there are no sounds playing?

Thanks!
Scott

Live! 5.1 cards can be tricky to set up properly in linux, the first thing I do with mine is install the latest cvs version of the emu10k1 module, along with the emu-tools package.
Have a look at opensource.creative.com for info and the SourceForge EMU10K1 project page for the code.

Problems with Sound Distortion
 

Aussie,

Thanks for your assistance. I had reviewed that information, but I looked at it again and here is what I tried.

I reran sndconfig.

A PCI sound card was found in
your system. The details are:
Model: Creative Labs|SB Live! EMU10k1

I downloaded:

emu-tools-0.9.4-1.i386.rpm
emu10k1-v0.20a.tar.bz2

I then edited the /usr/local/etc/emu10k1.conf file to enabled digital output which my card supports, but that did not seem to make any difference.

I changed:

CARD_IS_5_1=yes
USE_DIGITAL_OUTPUT=yes

Then ran emu-config but did not notice any difference. I am not sure if the card is 5.1 or not but it appears from the Gateway site where I got the PC from a couple years back that it is.

I am hoping there is something obvious here that I am just not doing right. The static is driving me crazy! :D

Thanks

Do you have digital speakers?

Digital Speakers?
 

I have Sound Blaster SBS250 Speakers from Creative Labs. They were only about 20 bucks.

Those look like analog speakers, can you supply a link the a spec page for them?

Problem with Speakers
 

You are probably correct. I was trying several options to get rid of the distortion and since the card said it could handle digital output, I thought I would give that a shot.

I have now changed:

"/etc/rc.d/rc.local"

to

# sound card SFORSGREN
/sbin/modprobe emu10k1
/usr/local/bin/emu-config -a

I am not really sure if I even needed these two lines to be in here in the first place.

I also then changed /usr/local/etc/emu10k1.conf back to

CARD_IS_5_1=yes
USE_DIGITAL_OUTPUT=no

I am not sure if the card is 5.1 or not but have tried both options.

Thanks again.