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

reed9 · 12-10-2010, 02:18 PM

For diskspace, post the output of

Code:

df -h

hexeta · 12-10-2010, 02:36 PM

Ooo,er, :-
~ $ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 2.8G 2.0G 743M 73% /
none 132M 196K 131M 1% /dev
none 139M 0 139M 0% /dev/shm
none 139M 292K 138M 1% /var/run
none 139M 0 139M 0% /var/lock
none 139M 0 139M 0% /lib/init/rw

Non the wiser, but it doesn't look healthy!
Can you translate?

reed9 · 12-10-2010, 02:47 PM

Code:

/dev/sda1 2.8G 2.0G 743M 73% /

/dev/sda1 is your linux partition, mounted to root (/). It's 2.8 GB in size of 2 GB used. (The discrepancy is apparent size vs. your thought that it is 3.2 GB is normal. Filesystems take some overhead and depending on whether you do the math using base 2 or base 10, ie, is 1 MB calculated as 1024 KB or 1000 KB.)
http://compreviews.about.com/od/stor...ualHDSizes.htm

hexeta · 12-10-2010, 03:31 PM

Yeah, I'm aware of the 1000byte versus the true 1024byte GB, it's just never impinged upon me before

I'm surprised that Linux seems to need more space than XP Pro did!
Must admit though that it (XP) kept complaining that there was less than 82MB of available disk space!!

Does this mean that I can't install sound on this machine (running Mint 9 Lxde)?
Or just that there will be precious little remaining space?

What I'm struggling to understand is this terminal statement:-
Need to get 479MB of archives.
After this operation, 845MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
In view of the stated disk space reported :-
/dev/sda1 2.8G 2.0G 743M 73% /
Complicated by the Disk Utility which reports a total disk space of 3.3GB, split as follows:- 3.0GB ext4, 202MB swap space, and 202MB extended

Wish I could apply Disk Utility's logic to my bank account!

reed9 · 12-10-2010, 03:54 PM

The difference of 479 MB vs 845 MB installed is because you're downloading compressed packages which are then extracted. Obviously, though, there is not enough space, which poses a problem. If you have stuff in the cache from your install, we may be able to recovery enough. Do

Code:

sudo apt-get clean all

And check space again.

reed9 · 12-10-2010, 03:54 PM

The difference of 479 MB vs 845 MB installed is because you're downloading compressed packages which are then extracted. Obviously, though, there is not enough space, which poses a problem. If you have stuff in the cache from your install, we may be able to recovery enough. Do

Code:

sudo apt-get clean all

And check space again.

hexeta · 12-10-2010, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reed9

Code:

sudo apt-get clean all

And check space again.

Terminal response:-
E: Could not get lock /var/cache/apt/archives/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the download directory

Is that maybe because I've not yet completed the other terminal action? (it's wanting an answer to proceed.)

reed9 · 12-10-2010, 05:09 PM

Yes, say no to the other one first.

hexeta · 12-10-2010, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reed9

Yes, say no to the other one first.

Hmm..now "sudo apt-get clean all" just returns me to "hexeta@hexeta-desktop"

hexeta · 12-10-2010, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hexeta

Hmm..now "sudo apt-get clean all" just returns me to "hexeta@hexeta-desktop"

Thinking ...maybe that is the expected response, so I again checked space, with the same figures returned. So either none can be salvaged, or the clean command has not been executed.

hexeta · 12-20-2010, 07:53 AM

Hi Guys!
I haven't given up, just a bit busy with the comming festivities....even though I'll be alone

I do sincerely hope that some of you stumble by this afternoon 'cos after doing a re-install, and grappling with the wireless card installation, I've re-traced my original steps.......and hey presto, I've got sound!!
Wooo Hooo!!!

What I need now is for you clever guys to show me how to "fix" it so that it will endure a re-boot which I know from experience that it won't do at present.

I'm therefore hoping with my fingers and toes crossed that you will happen by before I have to shut down tonight....probably in about 6/8 hrs.

hexeta · 12-20-2010, 10:06 AM

Still living in hope!

Strange thing, having used my one and only USB (1.1) port to access my thumb drive and install the required driver for my WiFi card, the blessed machine can not now "see" any storage device.
I've tried the Thumb drive that worked before, and also a card reader with an SD card in it.....machine is totally oblivious to both!
It does however allow me to use my optical mouse. (Thank God for small mercies!)

Is there some way I can force the machine to "see" my storage devices??

Meanwhile, I continue my quest to find reed9, I know he's here somewhere!

hexeta · 12-20-2010, 10:16 AM

Hi reed9, I've just messaged you!

reed9 · 12-20-2010, 10:25 AM

Alright, trying to remember where all we are here. So you have sound with a fresh install after manually loading the sound module? But adding the sound module to /etc/modules doesn't result in sound after a reboot still?

And upgrading ALSA seems to be a no go based on your current available disk space, since you don't have room to install the necessary build tools. Any way to give Mint a little more space?

After you plug in a USB flash drive, look at the output of

Code:

dmesg | tail
sudo fdisk -l

This should show you whether the system is actually seeing the drive.

Fdisk will show you something like

Code:

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x90909090

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1              63    18426554     9213246   83  Linux
/dev/sda2        18426555    20418614      996030   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3        20418615   625137344   302359365   83  Linux

This is just for my internal harddrive. You should be able to recognize a flash drive because 1) the partition is probably FAT32, and 2) the size of the drive. If it's recognized, you can manually mount it.

Code:

# create a mount point
sudo mkdir /mnt/USB

#mount the drive
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/USB

Again, any thing with a hash mark # is just a comment, don't enter into your terminal. And replace /dev/sdb1 with whatever /dev node the USB device is actually listed as.

hexeta · 12-20-2010, 10:58 AM

Hi reed9, thanks for responding.
The thinkpad is just not quick enough, so I'm also using the Beast in the Corner!
I really don't know what's important here, so I'll give you as full an account of what I've done as I can.
After installing, I needed my WiFi PCMCIA card driver, so just plugged in my Thumb drive and it was instantly recognised. Installed the driver and swapped the thumb drive for my mouse.
I then re-traced my first steps on the Mint forum; the connection keeps timing out but I'll post a link later.
First I tried opening Alsa Mixer, ....totally blank window, clicking Edit and soundcard props. just makes the GUI close.
I then tried "sudo modprobe cs-46xx", followed by "sudo modprobe cs-4236", and Lo! sound....the Alsa mixer GUI was filled with sliders! (The tab though is labeled CS4239, not sure where that originates from!)
At this point, I tried to load some music, but that's when the USB socket decided to sulk!
I have some videos and the sound on them is OK, but I was wanting to set the Graphic Equaliser for the Exaile player, but It couldn't find any radio stations and I didn't have any music!
Last time I got this far and tried a re-boot, I lost it all, and for some reason following the same steps didn't work, even a couple of re-installs had no success, so I'm a bit scared of losing what I've so far achieved!
The Linux Mint site is still not loading...maybe it just doesn't respond to folks on Vista! lol

At Last! Linux Mint has made an appearance this was my first thread:- http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=59480 maybe it will shed some light.
Meanwhile I'll try your instructions to encourage the USB port to work