Aureal AU8810 Sound Card not working (using ALSA with Kernel 2.6.5-rc2)
 

I recently replaced my Riptide Audio Soundcard with Aureal AU8810. I tried a lot but still cannot get it to work. I am running 2.6.5-rc2 kernel on Slackware 9.1.

Here is the output of lspci:

---- BEGIN OUTPUT -----

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C693A/694x [Apollo PRO133x] (rev 42)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
Memory at e4000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 1.0

00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C598/694x [Apollo MVP3/Pro133x AGP] (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
Memory behind bridge: e0000000-e1efffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: e1f00000-e3ffffff
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C596 ISA [Mobile South] (rev 11)
Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 0

00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C/VT8235 PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 32
I/O ports at d800 [size=16]

00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6202 [USB 2.0 controller] (rev 05) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. (Wrong ID) USB Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 9
I/O ports at d400 [size=32]

00:07.3 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C596 Power Management (rev 20)
Flags: medium devsel

00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Accton Technology Corporation SMC2-1211TX (rev 10)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company EN-1207D Fast Ethernet Adapter
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 9
I/O ports at d000 [size=256]
Memory at df800000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 1

00:0b.0 Multimedia audio controller: Aureal Semiconductor AU8810 Vortex Digital Audio Processor (rev 02)
Subsystem: Aureal Semiconductor AU8810 Vortex Digital Audio Processor
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
Memory at df000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
I/O ports at b800 [size=8]
I/O ports at b400 [size=8]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV6 [Vanta/Vanta LT] (rev 15) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 001c
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Memory at e2000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
Expansion ROM at e1ff0000 [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 1
Capabilities: [44] AGP version 2.0

----- END OUTPUT -----

Here is the extract from dmesg that shows output for the soundcard:

Vortex: init.... <3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<3>bad adb fifo reset!<6>done.
vortex: revision = 0x2, device = 3
vortex: Erratum workaround enabled.
vortex: IRQ reg error

If somebody knows what the problem is, please help me. Thanks.

--LC

You'll excuse my saying, but the problem is that Aureal went bankrupt several years ago, and when they did, all driver development stopped. The remains were bought (eventually) by Creative, who did not release any of the source (as many hoped), but instead buried the line.

Thus, there are essentially few-to-no complete, reliable and manufacturer-supported drivers for these cards. You're in a bit of luck, having an 8810 chipset (those of us like me with the 8830-based Diamond Monster Sound mx300 are in sorrier shape).

Checking the generic 8810 details on the ALSA project site, there are supposed to be drivers for this chipset, but given that your lspci indicates you're trying to load something called "vortex", and the ALSA driver is called something like "snd-8810", I would guess that you aren't using it.

So I would suggest that you recompile the shiny new kernel you're using, head over to the "sound" section of device drivers, and make sure that the ALSA kernel module for the 8810 is actually being built and loaded.

Alternatively, I'd consider spending a couple of bucks on an old SB Live! Player 5.1, whose manufacturer is still in existence, and whose drivers are well-supported under both ALSA and OSS(-emulation).

Hope this helps.

>> You'll excuse my saying, but the problem is that Aureal went bankrupt several years ago,
>>and when they did, all driver development stopped. The remains were bought (eventually) by
>>Creative, who did not release any of the source (as many hoped), but instead buried the line.

I am aware of all that but I am using the latest ALSA drivers for AU8810 that are now part of the 2.6 kernel. Here is the output from lsmod showing the proper module AU8810 (snd_au8810) loaded.

Module Size Used by
snd_pcm_oss 50052 0
snd_mixer_oss 17696 2 snd_pcm_oss
snd_au8810 55424 2
snd_pcm 84360 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_au8810
snd_page_alloc 8996 1 snd_pcm
snd_timer 21828 1 snd_pcm
snd_ac97_codec 60868 1 snd_au8810
snd_mpu401_uart 6144 1 snd_au8810
snd_rawmidi 20288 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 6440 1 snd_rawmidi
snd 46596 11 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_au8810,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_ac97_codec,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,sn d_seq_device
soundcore 7360 2 snd

--LC

OK, so the card is detected properly, and the drivers load properly.....

So what is that vortex business with the "bad adb fifo reset!"?

This would clearly seem to be the next logical question.

A Google search of the error turned up this diff which is for kernel 2.6.0-test6, but is probably still in the current kernel:
Now I'm not a coder, and I don't know what this says other than that if certain conditions occur -- hwread(vortex->mmio, addr) != (FIFO_U0 | FIFO_U1)) -- that the error message "bad adb fifo reset!" should be printed.

Since it was printed, I gues the conditions occurred, but that's about all I know-- I don't know if this is actually an error, if so; where the error is occurring, or how to fix it (if it is fixeable, or in fact needs to be fixed).

May I ask, what are the symptoms of the card not working? Even knowing as little as I do, I would not expect the hardware and the drivers to load without error-- as they in fact appear to be doing-- if this adb thing was a real problem. And if the adb thing is not a problem, we'd obviously need to look somewhere else.

Thanks for your replies.

Actually, I hear no sound at all, absolutely none. There are no other symptoms. Anyway, after searching a bit I have found the website for this set of drivers:

http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/openvortex/

these are the people who build & maintain the AU88x0 ALSA drivers that are in the 2.6 kernel. I have asked them about the problem, I will see if they will respond.

Thanks for taking the time to search for info on this and also for your replies.

--LC

You're not getting any errors, no "can not open /dev/dsp" or "sound server can not be started"? XMMS isn't crashing when you try to use it?

Have you checked your mixers? They are muted by default... alsamixer in a terminal (you may need to su to root, I don't remember offhand) should bring it up, if you haven't looked.

No, I don't see any of those errors. In fact when I play a sound file or CD I see the "equalizers" working fine, so everything seems to be okay but I don't hear the sound. I did make sure that volume is un-muted in the mixer (I used alsamixer to un-mute). I have even removed the card and plugged back in again, re-checked the connections to speaker etc etc.

This problem is very strange, my guess still is that it is something to do with the driver.

OK, not to be annoying, but to cover all bases (sometimes the problem actually is that "it wasn't plugged in")--- did you also check the mixers in your DE? In my experience, neither GNOME nor KDE (assuming that you use one of those) actually pick up the alsamixer settings as you would expect, and remain muted until you manually raise the volume in KMix or the GNOME mixer applet.

Also, did you raise the volume in your sound app? It is certainly possible (with XMMS, at least) to lower the app volume so you don't hear anything.

Are you sure that your speakers are plugged into the correct output (I have often plugged mine into the Line In rather than the output, since older sound cards don't have that nice color coding)?

Have you checked 'aumix' as well as alsamixer? Maybe nothing is even using alsamixer, but still aumix, and that is maybe still muted.

The thing is.... it seems unlikely to be a driver problem if the card is actually sending sounds to the output as ordered, without error. If the output is not reaching your ears, that is probably an issue with the output itself, rather than that there is something wrong with the card and its driver. At least that's what I think, for what it's worth.

same problem, different card
 

If you figure this out, let me know. I'm having the same problem with 2.6.5 and a Crystal Soundfusion laptop card. The device is being detected fine, but somehow sound isn't playing anyway. I've hunted down the problem to the best of my meagre skills, but all I've figured out is that the device is fine, and is being recognized. All the necessary modules are loaded.

thanks

FIXED
 

The light of the Tao shines upon me.
If, like me, you recently upgrade alsa-utils, then that is likely the source of your problem. Grab the latest from slackware/current (should be 1.0.4). Installpkg and run alsaconf.

Go PCI register, go!
 

I have the same sound card, and the same problem.
Fortunately, I'm a dork and run three different OS'es on my box. Win98 handles the card fine. Win2k Pro does exactly what Linux does, and Linux, you already know about.

This only applies to VIA KT133 and similar chipsets, I believe, but there is a documented PCI Configuration Register issue on this chipset and Vortex (au88x0) sound cards. The workaround in Win2k is simple enough. Use H.Oda's WPCREdit and WPCRSet to mimic Win98's PCR settings in Win2k on bootup. Voila! Works like a charm (Apart from sketchy driver issues and we all KNOW how hard good drivers are to find for this. I'm still looking for an original install disk from a manufacturer, or an *.iso of one, hint hint.)

Unfortunately, I've been hunting for three or four weeks now for a PCR editing utility for Linux and wind up with squat. If you can get Linux to properly recognize the PCI register as Win98 does, it will solve your (and my) problems. I know the PCI device mine is listed as is Device 11 on PCI bus, and you need to change the byte at offset 0x40 from 80 to FF for it to work in Win2k.

Any code-happy folks out there who know how to adjust said bus settings?

Good luck, and I'll repost if I get a fix!

Jon

Fix?
 

>Problem: I have a VIA-based chipset motherboard and I am experiencing >lockups
> and other problems with this driver.
>Solution: Type the following command as root:
> setpci -d '12eb:*' 40.B=ff
>
> If this fixes your problem, you might want to add it to your
> /etc/rc.d/rc.local to run it automatically each time you reboot.
>
> Note: You should only use this if you are experiencing problems.

Haha. Just found it in the Linux README Realease notes for au88x0 rev 1.11 about 2 minutes after my post.

Can be found here.
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.p...EADME?rev=1.11

I yanked the card a few days ago since my Mobo has built in AC97 sound anyway and that's easily supported in Linux, but I may just reinstall it now that I've read this.

Watch your text after POST and before the kernel initializes to see what device you need to edit (May be '12eb:*' but my guess is in my case it'd be 11eb:*'?)

Hmm ... it needs to be 12eb, because that's the manufacturer's hardware ID of the card. Still having problems, but I need to work on getting rid of all references to Via AC'97 first. Fingers crossed.

I have Aureal Vortex2 - which isn't the same thing, I know - but after 2 years of searching for drivers and trying different distros including Mandrake8 and 9 (and Slackware, Redhat, Fedora, Suse etc), I was delighted two weeks ago when I installed Mandrake 10 and heard sounds for the first time in linux.

Maybe Mandrake will sort your sound as well.

Re: Aureal AU8810 Sound Card not working (using ALSA with Kernel 2.6.5-rc2)
 

linchip,

I am wondering if you were able to solve this issue.... I am having the same problem - I'm using the Aureal card, Debian 3.0r2 with 2.6.5. kernel, and I followed all of the steps for compiling the kernel, drivers and modules. The card is recognized without errors on boot, I don't see any error messages when KDE starts, I can start and play an MP3 in xmms or an audio CD with kaboodle and see the graphics move and the play time progress, but I do not hear any sound. My speakers pop when the sound modules are loaded at boot, but after that, nothing. So I'm hoping that you found a solution...