Ancient Thinkpad running Mint 9 cannot get sound to endure re-boot

hexeta · 12-07-2010, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reed9

@OP: Can you run this script from the alsa project and point us to the pastebin upload.

Blimey!!!
Just followed your link!
Do I just copy and paste that into "Terminal", or do I have to prefix it with "sudo"?

Quote:

Originally Posted by reed9

and point us to the pastebin upload.

I presume this is the text equivalent of "Photobucket", how do I access it?
.....time passes!

Just googled "Pastebin" and seems I'm right, which one do I use?
There are several listed in my search results!
.........more time passes

Scratch that,...I think!
I have just read (well, scanned!) the text of the linked page, (totally foreign to me!) but right at the end is mentioned Pastebin.ca.......I think that answers my question!
All I need to know now is do I paste it into terminal prefixed by "sudo" or just as it stands?
Exciting!

brianL · 12-07-2010, 08:22 AM

Did you run alsaconf (as suggested by mlangdn in post #13), before running alsamixer and alsactl store?
Running that usually detects your sound card(s), and sorts out which modules to load.

reed9 · 12-07-2010, 08:22 AM

You can try the script. Copy into a text editor and save as soundcard-on. Move it to the suggested location and make it executable

Code:

sudo mv soundcard-on /usr/local/sbin
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/soundcard-on

Open /etc/modprobe.d/cs4236pnp.conf as root in a text editor (we're creating this file)

Code:

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/cs4236pnp.conf

Add the lines at the bottom of the page and save.

Code:

# Kill any attempts from hotplug or discover to load the PCI driver
install snd-cs46xx /bin/true
# Set up PnP before loading ISA driver
install snd-cs4236 /usr/local/sbin/soundcard-on

Reboot and see what happens. There's nothing in the script that's dangerous, so the worst that can happen is it doesn't work.

reed9 · 12-07-2010, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hexeta

Blimey!!!
Just followed your link!
Do I just copy and paste that into "Terminal", or do I have to prefix it with "sudo"?
I presume this is the text equivalent of "Photobucket", how do I access it?

Save the script as a text file named alsa-info.sh and do

Code:

sh ./alsa-info.sh

Don't use sudo. It automatically uploads the info and gives you a link.

snowday · 12-07-2010, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reed9

I think Mint does use pulseaudio, certainly the GNOME version, but there is still the alsa on the backend. Pulseaudio doesn't handle the hardware, it passes that off to the alsa drivers.

Thanks for clarifying that; I'm not experienced with Pulseaudio and always assumed it was some kind of Alsa replacement...

reed9 · 12-07-2010, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowpine

Thanks for clarifying that; I'm not experienced with Pulseaudio and always assumed it was some kind of Alsa replacement...

It's a replacement for the enlightenment sound daemon. Basically it goes from the decoder, like gstreamer, to the sound server, pulseaudio or esd, to the alsa hardware drivers. The idea with pulseaudio is to route all audio through one server which in theory gives you more control and allows you to do all manner of fancy things, mixing, sending audio over a network, etc.

hexeta · 12-07-2010, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianL

Did you run alsaconf (as suggested by mlangdn in post #13), before running alsamixer and alsactl store?
Running that usually detects your sound card(s), and sorts out which modules to load.

Hi Brian, if it's "an overcoat colder" up there, I'm glad I don't work on Hollins Road any more!!

Answer is, no I didn't run "alsaconf" because mlangden said it needs to be run as root, and I don't know how to do that!
I'm not sure if I've run the other two commands, do they also need to be run as root?

reed9 · 12-07-2010, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hexeta

Hi Brian, if it's "an overcoat colder" up there, I'm glad I don't work on Hollins Road any more!!

Answer is, no I didn't run "alsaconf" because mlangden said it needs to be run as root, and I don't know how to do that!
I'm not sure if I've run the other two commands, do they also need to be run as root?

Just use sudo

Code:

sudo alsaconf
sudo alsactl store

brianL · 12-07-2010, 09:20 AM

Yeah, all three as root. With Mint being based on Ubuntu, use sudo (then enter your password) before them all.

Code:

sudo alsaconf

Code:

sudo alsamixer (set your levels)

Code:

sudo alsactl store

It's like the Arctic circle here. Roads & pavements like skating rinks.

****! Beaten by a faster typer again! Must use more fingers!!!

hexeta · 12-07-2010, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reed9

You can try the script. Copy into a text editor and save as soundcard-on. Move it to the suggested location and make it executable

Code:

sudo mv soundcard-on /usr/local/sbin
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/soundcard-on

Open /etc/modprobe.d/cs4236pnp.conf as root in a text editor (we're creating this file)

Code:

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/cs4236pnp.conf

Add the lines at the bottom of the page and save.

Code:

# Kill any attempts from hotplug or discover to load the PCI driver
install snd-cs46xx /bin/true
# Set up PnP before loading ISA driver
install snd-cs4236 /usr/local/sbin/soundcard-on

Reboot and see what happens. There's nothing in the script that's dangerous, so the worst that can happen is it doesn't work.

This is concerning the script on the Thinkwiki site I linked to, right?
Forgive me for being stupid, but I'm really getting in deeper than my knowledge or experience permits!
From the top!....
paste the script into leafpad and name it "soundcard_on"......OK,
Save it to/usr/local/sbin....yes,
But what is the implication of this:- "Don't forget to make it executable."?
And what am I to do with the code you post after this instruction?
...........and that's just the first step!

hexeta · 12-07-2010, 09:52 AM

Hi Brian, your post #54 here's the terminal response:-
~ $ sudo alsaconf
[sudo] password for hexeta:
sudo: alsaconf: command not found
~ $ sudo alsamixer
cannot open mixer: No such file or directory
~ $ sudo alsactl store
alsactl: save_state:1502: No soundcards found...

snowday · 12-07-2010, 09:56 AM

See my post #20. You need alsa-utils installed ("sudo apt-get install alsa-utils") if you want to use alsamixer and alsaconf.

hexeta · 12-07-2010, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reed9

Save the script as a text file named alsa-info.sh and do

Code:

sh ./alsa-info.sh

Don't use sudo. It automatically uploads the info and gives you a link.

Save the script as a text file............where?

brianL · 12-07-2010, 10:01 AM

Ah, must be that Pulseaudio, or whatever. I haven't tried Mint. I'm lost.

Follow reed9's instructions, see what happens.
chmod +x turns a shell script from more-or-less a text file into an executable.

reed9 · 12-07-2010, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hexeta

This is concerning the script on the Thinkwiki site I linked to, right?
Forgive me for being stupid, but I'm really getting in deeper than my knowledge or experience permits!
From the top!....
paste the script into leafpad and name it "soundcard_on"......OK,
Save it to/usr/local/sbin....yes,
But what is the implication of this:- "Don't forget to make it executable."?
And what am I to do with the code you post after this instruction?
...........and that's just the first step!

This line is making it executable

Code:

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/soundcard-on

Once you've copied the script to /usr/local/sbin just enter the above in the terminal.

This is open to a text editor as root

Code:

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/cs4236pnp.conf

Replace gedit with leafpad, if that's what you have installed.

Copy and paste these lines into the file we opened in leafpad above.

Code:

# Kill any attempts from hotplug or discover to load the PCI driver
install snd-cs46xx /bin/true
# Set up PnP before loading ISA driver
install snd-cs4236 /usr/local/sbin/soundcard-on

Quote:

Save the script as a text file............where?

Anywhere. Just put it in your home folder. We're just using it once.