I've just installed mandrake 10.0 on an ASUS system and I can't get my sound card (which is built onto the motherboard) to work. Everything appears fine otherwise, the devices exist, songs play fine in Totem, but nothing comes out of the speakers.

Here are the things I've checked...

1. "lspcidrake -v | grep AUDIO" tells me the card is using the "snd-intel8x0" module

snd-intel8x0 : Intel Corp.|82801EB AC'97 Audio [MULTIMEDIA_AUDIO] (vendor:8086 device:24d5 subv:1043 subd:810d)

2. "lsmod | grep snd" tells me that this module is loaded...

snd-seq-oss 31232 0
snd-seq-midi-event 7552 1 snd-seq-oss
snd-seq 51024 4 snd-seq-oss,snd-seq-midi-event
snd-pcm-oss 51812 0
snd-mixer-oss 17952 1 snd-pcm-oss
snd-intel8x0 32776 0
snd-ac97-codec 58148 1 snd-intel8x0
snd-pcm 93156 2 snd-pcm-oss,snd-intel8x0
snd-timer 24484 2 snd-seq,snd-pcm
gameport 4480 1 snd-intel8x0
snd-page-alloc 11972 2 snd-intel8x0,snd-pcm
snd-mpu401-uart 7072 1 snd-intel8x0
snd-rawmidi 23616 1 snd-mpu401-uart
snd-seq-device 8008 3 snd-seq-oss,snd-seq,snd-rawmidi
snd 52484 12 snd-seq-oss,snd-seq-midi-event,snd-seq,snd-pcm-oss,snd-mixer-oss,snd-intel8x0,snd-ac97-codec,snd-pcm,snd-timer,snd-mpu401-uart,snd-rawmidi,snd-seq-device
soundcore 9248 1 snd

3. "grep sound-slot /etc/modules.conf" gives....

alias sound-slot-0 snd-intel8x0

4. "chkconfig --list sound" and "chkconfig --list alsa" show that sound and alsa are enabled in run-level 3....

sound 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
alsa 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off

5.I've checked the various sources are not muted and that all volume levels are at max using both the graphical mixer and "alsamixer" from the command line.

6. I've disable APIC, ACPI and PNPBios in the BIOS as this was suggested in a coulpe of articles I read. Still no joy.

7. I've tried each of the "alternate drivers" listed by harddrake.

Perhaps the most in teresting thing of all is: If I watch it boot in verbose mode, when it gets to the line "starting alsa", it says "ok" and I get a clicking noise form my speakers! So I'm fairly certain it's all working, but nothign it coming out!! :o( I can't hear an MP3 played in totem, I don't get the mandrake start-up noise, and I don't get a speaker icon in my systray.

If I reboot into WindowsXP sound all works fine, so the hardware is ok.

One more thing: On my first system boot after install I got some message about, not having permission to write to /dev/dsp and therefore using the "null device". I can't remember the exact error and didn't write it down (my bad). I can't reproduce the error and there is nothing in "dmesg" to suggest an error with the sound card. I can cat stuff > /dev/dsp without a problem and I've tried "chmod 777 /dev/dsp".

Now, admittedly I'm bit of a linux newbie, but this has got me stumped. Any ideas greatfully received.

Thanks, Adam.

PS - Yes, my speakers are plugged in and turned on ;o)

adambown; from u r post take a good look at #4 stated snd & alsa at run level 3 then follow snd o off 1 off 2,3, 4, 5 on & 6off same with alsa believe
that maybe where solution arises.

Welcome to LQ. If you are getting an error on /dev/dsp then it's likely as you have a similar permissions problem on /dev/mixer Do a chmod 666 on /dev/mixer and hopefully that will make a difference. Based on your description, you have already covered all the common things that typically silence the sound (particularly working with alsamixer and unmuting the volume levels).

I can't say that /dev/mixer is the culprit for sure, but it's something to check. Good luck with it -- J.W.

I have the same problem with a laptop using snd-intel8x0... To the tests I get the same results, but there is no existing
/dev/dsp
/dev/mixer
or
/dev/sound

is there a solution?

tenchi; have a look at J.W. suggestion & advice prior to your post. that will be post#3. as J.w. advises it may be a permission mis config.

As I was saying, dev/dsp, /dev/mixer & /dev/sound does not exist!!!! There is no symlink or whatsoever, so I cannot change permissions either...

tenchi; something is a miss. recheck installation , configuration. for right now not enough information for better solution.
need os , was laptop with sound working with other os? if not then recheck & redo installation.