I'm using Red hat 9, and i just downloaded the alsa drivers from their site...

I downloaded alsa-driver-0.9.8.tar.bz2 alsa-lib-0.9.8.tar.bz2 alsa-utils-0.9.8.tar.bz2 and followed the instructions till they ask me to enter

chmod a+rw /dev/dsp /dev/mixer /dev/sequencer /dev/midi

Then it says /dev/midi is not a device, but i continued anyway.

Then when i have to enter

modprobe snd-intel8x0;modprobe snd-pcm-oss;modprobe snd-mixer-oss;modprobe snd-seq-oss

it quits and gives me an error message.

/lib/modules/2.4.20-8/kernel/sound/pci/snd-intel8x0.o: init_module: No such device
Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
/lib/modules/2.4.20-8/kernel/sound/pci/snd-intel8x0.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.20-8/kernel/sound/pci/snd-intel8x0.o failed
/lib/modules/2.4.20-8/kernel/sound/pci/snd-intel8x0.o: insmod snd-intel8x0 failed
/lib/modules/2.4.20-8/kernel/sound/acore/seq/oss/snd-seq-oss.o: init_module: Device or resource
busy
Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
/lib/modules/2.4.20-8/kernel/sound/acore/seq/oss/snd-seq-oss.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.20-8/kernel/sound/acore/seq/oss/snd-seq-oss.o failed
/lib/modules/2.4.20-8/kernel/sound/acore/seq/oss/snd-seq-oss.o: insmod snd-seq-oss failed


when i type dmesg, the last few lines are :

ac97_codec: AC97 Audio codec, id: ADS96 (Analog Devices AD1885)
i810_audio: AC'97 codec 0 Unable to map surround DAC's (or DAC's not present), total channels =
2
Intel ICH soundcard not found or device busy
ALSA seq_oss.c:223: can't register device seq
Intel ICH soundcard not found or device busy
Intel ICH soundcard not found or device busy
Intel ICH soundcard not found or device busy
Intel ICH soundcard not found or device busy
ALSA seq_oss.c:223: can't register device seq

whats going on, and what am i supposed to do now? i think alsa drivers are not installed, 'cos i cant run alsamixer. Any help would be appreciated

to install alsa you have to recompile your kernel with sound card support only and not support for a specific card and then install alsa, to get alsamixer you have to install alsa-utils.

on the other hand, what if you like the specific driver and want to get rid of the intel8x0?

How do i check if my kernel is compiled for a specific card? I'm using redhat, and i didn't change anything from the basic install. I thought the RH9 kernel has all the stuff as modules. if thats so, can i just kick out the modules i don't require? how do i do that?

( I really, really, really want to leave kernel compiling to a later date when i atleast know what i am doing)

type lsmod as root and post you output

[root@LocalHost root]# lsmod
Module Size Used by Tainted: P
snd-pcm-oss 45028 0 (autoclean)
snd-mixer-oss 16432 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss]
snd-intel8x0 24072 0 (autoclean)
snd-pcm 85408 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss snd-intel8x0]
snd-timer 19684 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm]
snd-page-alloc 9844 0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0 snd-pcm]
snd-ac97-codec 51512 0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0]
gameport 3364 0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0]
snd-mpu401-uart 5200 0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0]
snd-rawmidi 18688 0 (autoclean) [snd-mpu401-uart]
snd-seq-device 6204 0 (autoclean) [snd-rawmidi]
snd 45988 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-intel8x0 snd-pcm snd-timer snd-ac97-codec snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device]
soundcore 6404 3 (autoclean) [snd]
agpgart 47776 3 (autoclean)
nvidia 1766848 11 (autoclean)
parport_pc 19076 1 (autoclean)
lp 8996 0 (autoclean)
parport 37056 1 (autoclean) [parport_pc lp]
autofs 13268 0 (autoclean) (unused)
8139too 18088 1
mii 3976 0 [8139too]
ipt_REJECT 3928 2 (autoclean)
iptable_filter 2412 1 (autoclean)
ip_tables 15096 2 [ipt_REJECT iptable_filter]
sg 36524 0 (autoclean)
sr_mod 18136 0 (autoclean)
microcode 4668 0 (autoclean)
ide-scsi 12208 0
scsi_mod 107160 3 [sg sr_mod ide-scsi]
ide-cd 35708 0
cdrom 33728 0 [sr_mod ide-cd]
ibmcam 54720 0
usbvideo 27568 0 [ibmcam]
videodev 8288 1 [usbvideo]
keybdev 2944 0 (unused)
mousedev 5492 1
hid 22148 0 (unused)
input 5856 0 [keybdev mousedev hid]
usb-uhci 26348 0 (unused)
usbcore 78784 1 [ibmcam usbvideo hid usb-uhci]
ext3 70784 2
jbd 51892 2 [ext3]
[root@LocalHost root]#


Holy cow... you guys can understand that??

hmmm, seems like the formatting is screwed up... it looked simpler on the console. how do i keep the formatting straight?

it seems allright are you sure sound isn't working
you mean like this

sound works fine (more or less, i can only get one program to play sounds at a time) Actually, i'm just trying to learn new stuff (and fix that single-prpgram sound issue). Still a newbie...

talking about newbies, I'm one too, I have only been using linux for only 3 months and learning is what linux is all about

"learning is what linux is all about"


couldn't agree with you more....

what does that pile of code mean? and what sound card support is compiled into the kernel?

Those are all the modules loaded in your system, all the ones that start with "snd" are related to alsa, usbcore this one makes possible for the computer to use the USB ports, nvidia video card, 8139too network card, ip_tables firewall, cdrom the name says it, ide-scsi make possible to burn cds, ext3 you file system, I can go all night doing this but it will be boring so if you have another question just ask.

does all that mean that alsa is working? how about the errors that i get when i try to modprobe the files?
Are you saying that the alsa modules are now running?

Hey check this out!!! I tried to run the modprobe command again, and this time, it ran without complaining (no errors, nothing). It finished in less than a second... is that how its supposed to be?

Anyway, now I have a new problem. when I try to run alsamixer, it gives me this message...

alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such file or directory

in my noobish way, i assume that alsa is installed (its muted my speakers). Also, alsamixer (also installed successfully) is looking for a file called default, which it cant find. Why is this so?