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Suse 10.1: need to use a mic integrated with the screen of Campaq v3018tu

Hi Friends,
I have just installed OpenSUSE 10.1 on a Compaq v3018tu laptop. Wow, this OS is cool except for these 2 problems.

1) If I want to use headphones, after plugging in a headphone cable in the headphone's port, sound comes to headphones but it keeps on coming from the laptop's integrated speakers. too which didn't use to happen using windows.

2) There's no way I can record my voice. I really need this as I use skype all the time. I have tried using both the Integrated mic (with the screen) and plugging in an external mic in the mic port with no luck.

The motherboard is Intel 945 GM configuration
and the sound card as shown in Yast2
82801G (ICH7 family) High Definition Audio Controller

Sound playback is fine. I don't get any errors but can't get my voice recorded.

If anyone has came across such a situation, please let me know what should I do to make these things work? Thanks in advance.

Manish

I have the same audio chip on my laptop and there is absolutely no problem with it. I suggest that you have a look at the sound controls in KMix and try to mute/unmute different channels to see if there is any difference. Also check that the IEC985 switch is not enabled (as it is only useful for S/PDIF, afaik). If you have no luck, then you should request help from compaq as they may have implemented a cheaper, software based sound control system.

When I run Kmix, I see these tabs only

Output:
Here I see PCM

Input:
Here I see capture

Switches:
Here I see 2 options.
a) Line
b) Mic

And for Line and Mic, there's no option available to adjust them whereas for the rest, there's a vertical bar which I can use to adjust them.

Does it mean that capture from Line and Mic is disabled?

In the Output tab there is only PCM ??? That's weird. Maybe you have a chip that was made with few hardware controls to be cheaper, or you have a broken alsa installation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gkiagia

In the Output tab there is only PCM ??? That's weird. Maybe you have a chip that was made with few hardware controls to be cheaper

Well, that's not the case as I see all those features when I use Windows XP and I don't really think that it costed me any cheaper than other similar models by Compaq.
No offences, but how would anyone assume that it's cheaper without confirming the price with the owner?

I have gone through other forums and I have noticed such weird problems with similar chips when they use SUSE 10.1.

Anyway, I am gonna try reinstalling alsa and see if there's any difference. Thanks for all your help.

Manish

Quote:

Originally Posted by manishsingh4u

I didn't mean to offend you. I mean that compaq may buy these things cheaper from their manufacturer. Anyway, that's only a guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gkiagia

I didn't mean to offend you. I mean that compaq may buy these things cheaper from their manufacturer. Anyway, that's only a guess.

Sometimes such misunderstanding happens when we use text for communication. Anyway, I uninstalled ALSA and downloaded the latest packages from ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/

For ALSA driver
ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/drive...1.0.13.tar.bz2
For ALSA libs
ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/lib/a...1.0.13.tar.bz2
For ALSA utils
ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/utils...1.0.13.tar.bz2

And followed the instructions to compile them using this link
http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc...dule=hda-intel

Now, I see only PCM and input tabs on the volume control. I also see the bars to adjust the Line and Mic volumes howver, even if I try to change them, they always stay at 100%.

The capture tab is not visible now.

Playback is fine for some applications like Mplayer, XMMS, etc.

But, when I run alsaconf, I get these errors

Code:

Loading driver...

Shutting down sound driver: /usr/sbin/alsactl: save_state:1254: No soundcards found...

ERROR: Module snd_mixer_oss is in use

ERROR: Module snd_hda_intel is in use

ERROR: Module snd_hda_codec is in use by snd_hda_intel

ERROR: Module snd_pcm is in use by snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec

ERROR: Module snd_timer is in use by snd_pcm

ERROR: Module snd is in use by snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer

done

ALSA driver is already running.

Setting default volumes...

amixer: Mixer attach default error: No such device





===============================================================================

 Now ALSA is ready to use.

 For adjustment of volumes, use your favorite mixer.



 Have a lot of fun!



Manish:/home/mann #

I didn't hear any sound when it tried to test it. I think, it's not able to find the sound card for some reasons which I don't know.

Just curious to know. Has anyone else came across the same issue? Was anyone able to resolve it?

Finally, I made is work to record my voice using the integrated mic.

I downloaded these packages and complied them using the same procedure which I followed last time (in my last posts)
For ALSA driver

Code:

ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/driver/alsa-driver-1.0.14rc2.tar.bz2

For ALSA libs

Code:

ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/lib/alsa-lib-1.0.14rc2.tar.bz2

For ALSA utils

Code:

ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/utils/alsa-utils-1.0.14rc2.tar.bz2

This time also, alsaconf failed to recognize my sound card,

Perhaps even after compiling these packages, the system was lacking some configuration.

I was about to switch back to windows so, I took a risk and installed "alsa" package over the current alsa compilation using yast2 (which I have configured to get packages from Packman's repository since the beginning)

Then I went to yast2 -> Hardware -> Sound, and configured it with success (which gave me errors at previous attempt)

I don't exactly know what happened now, but, I am able to record my voice using all the applications including skype.

Now, I don't have to switch to windows which I was about to do today itself. :)