Sound problems in Mandrake 9.2!

rice · 10-26-2004, 12:45 AM

I have been toying with the idea of using linux for several years now and have finally decided on a distro (for now) and I am determined to make the switch to linux for good. Now to the actual problem. I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop and have installed Mandrake 9.2 as a dual boot with XP. I just simply can't figure out how to set up the sound as the installation didn't do it for me. I have tried to change settings in the control center, but this does not help. Where do I start to troubleshoot? I am very new to linux, but not afraid to learn, so be detailed. Thank you for you help in advance.

Lenard Spencer · 10-26-2004, 12:51 AM

Have you run HardDrake? What sound driver was installed?

jschiwal · 10-26-2004, 04:17 AM

I believe that Mandrake installs alsa. Try running the program 'alsaconf'. Did you hear the sample tune at the end? If so, try this 'ls >/dev/dsp'.

Did you hear a noise? If you got a permission error, there are two things to try. First list the /dev/dsp device file. 'ls -l /dev/dsp'. The group owner may be 'audio'. If so, make yourself a member of the audio group. No try 'ls >/dev/dsp' again.

As a last resort, change the permissions of /dev/dsp to 0766.

jschiwal · 10-26-2004, 04:21 AM

I believe that Mandrake installs alsa. Try running the program 'alsaconf'. Did you hear the sample tune at the end? If so, try this 'ls >/dev/dsp'.

Did you hear a noise? If you got a permission error, there are two things to try. First list the /dev/dsp device file. 'ls -l /dev/dsp'. The group owner may be 'audio'. If so, make yourself a member of the audio group. Now try 'ls >/dev/dsp' again. ( If there is an audio group, make yourself a member even if the group owner of /dev/dsp isn't audio and give it a try. )

As a last resort, change the permissions of /dev/dsp to 0766.

rice · 10-27-2004, 11:07 AM

ok, i have tried running harddrake several times and that did not help.

i also recently noticed that i can hear a error beep when i hit backspace too many times in the terminal. but kde programs still give me an error message and have no sound.

i am ashamed to admit that i cannot figure out how to run alsaconf, i know it is probably simple, but please give me some clues. thank you for your patients once again.