I did a command line install of Ubuntu 7.1 on my laptop. lsmod does not show snd-usb-audio. Modprobe snd_usb_audio gives fatal error module not found.

My search of the web leads me to believe that this is not a module I can download. It should be part of the kernel modules. I tried updating the kernel image and modules with no success.

The process I followed on the laptop install was identical to the one on my desktop. The desktop install was a success.

The usb audio device is a Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro. Lsusb shows it as a C-Media audio device. I got the turtle beach because the internal sound card does not mute the on board speakers. Also the sound is really excellent on headphones.

The only obvious difference is the built in sound card on both machines.

The laptop uses Intel IHC7 which HAL Device Manager 0.5.9.1 lists as Realtek ALC861VD.

The desktop uses AC97. On the desktop system the usb audio device functions correctly as does the onboard sound card.

I should make it clear that my systems are custom. I'm not using a full blown Gnome desktop. I use a good deal of gnome stuff.

I run openbox as a windows manager. No gnome applications are automatically started at boot. I turn them on if I need them and off if I don't.

The only other thing I did different on the laptop was getting the latest alsa drivers lib and utilities from the alsa site. I was unable to get the laptop sound card working at all at first. I followed a suggestion on the web and downloaded the latest alsa files. Which did not fix the onboard audio.

It's possible that it may have destroyed some part of the usb audio drivers I guess.

I've got this system very tweaked and mostly to my liking so I'd hate to have to reinstall from scratch.

Thanks in advance for any help.

How and why?
Do you mean you used the "alternate" CD?
What kind of laptop is this?

Usually goes automatically, did you check the output of dmesg before and after hottplugging the card? When you installed to the desknop, was the turtle plugged in?

... check that against lspci.

... that sounds likely.

Your next project should be automating your tweaks, or you'll have to go through all this next upgrade.

Probably best bet is to use apt to completely remove and install alsa. That way you are back to where you started.

From there - you need to decide which device you want to get working first

Yes command line install using the alternate cd. Why because of older hardware and a desire for a leaner faster operating system.

I believe the IHC7 intel is the south bridge chip which probably integrates the Realtek sound chip within it.

lspci shows the onboard sound as Intel 82801G.
Toshiba A135 laptop.

I'd very much like to automate a tweak backup. I'm not totally clueless and can get the system back up in a few hours including rewriting scripts. I'd still like to learn some kind of backup system if you can point me in the right direction.

The usb audio device does not have to be plugged in as demonstrated by the successful desktop install.

And yes the alsa update that I did from their site probably did create problems.

I'm actually pretty happy using Ubuntu as the base for this system. I'm thinking of switching to a different debian based system or debian. There are too many hurdles in using a custom Ubuntu base.

Not Ubuntu's problem. Using the live cd install probably works for most people most of the time. When I chose a custom system from more or less scratch I changed the rules. Not a problem for me or Ubuntu. I just have to learn a bit more.

Since I chose to do it this way I probably should join a community that has the knowledge and experience to lend a hand.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

The kind of customization you have done is more often done with Debian, Gentoo or Slackware... yes. Though extreme ubuntu customizations do happen. However, I doubt that any of these distras will actually do any better with your soundcards than ubuntu did.

Toshiba A135:
"older hardware"?? This is sold as a Vista machine... but there are varients - need the other numbers.

http://ubuntuhcl.org/pub/reviews.php?product_id=307
.. the default ubuntu install seems to work without special effort on the S2246.

http://home.comcast.net/~fbui/Linux-on-ToshibaA135.html
... slackware 12 on the S2276

http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/sh...923/cat/myprod
... from our own HCL

All these models have ATI chipsets rather than intel.

Or it could be the built-in modem?

That's more like it!
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...o-alsa-619261/
It uses the hda-intel driver.Probably the best fix is to get the latest kernel.
(remember to make sure nothing vital got muted - bear in mind that alsamixer does not show everything.)

USB for the laptop will work differently too.

The link to http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...o-alsa-619261/ was very helpful. Some things I had discovered on my own but this was the most complete page I've seen.

I think using the command line install from the alternate disk is pretty close to a debian install. Any custom system is going to take more work. In the last four months of using this custom system has been a real pleasure. Once it's running there's not a lot of maintenance work.

If it wasn't for the goofy sound problem I'd be set.

I'll just reinstall with the latest updates. Hopefully the sound will work correctly.

Okay I've now got usb audio device and onboard card working.

Did a complete reinstall with the USB device plugged in. Then I simply added the following line to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base:

options snd-hda-intel position_fix=1 model=3stack

I should make a couple of things clear for anyone who ends up reading this.
This time I did a complete install of Ubuntu from the alternate CD.

Then I removed nautilus, metacity and gdm. I added openbox, obconf and openbox-themes. I also installed pcmanfm.

The system hangs at running local scripts which is an unsolved bug. It's not a problem for me I just hit the enter key and log in. Then I type xinit at the console and I'm good to go.

I also had to create a new .xinitrc and autostart.sh. If anyone is interested I can post them.

I also did not make myself clear in one of my earlier posts. The older hardware is the desktop which is going into it's seventh year and has hardware in it that is over 10 years old.

The Toshiba A135 is fairly new and came with Vista installed. I hated vista so much that I turned to Linux as an alternative. The reason I put the leaner system on the laptop is to match the desktop as closely as possible.

That and it takes almost two minutes to get to a usable desktop with a stock Ubuntu install.

Thanks

Well done and excellent last post