Can't get sound to work in Debian

coryh · 01-02-2006, 03:48 PM

Wow.. I'm a HUGE newbie when it comes to Linux. But anyway, I've installed Debian and everything is working great except sound.

Before when I'd boot up I'd get:
Sound server informational message:
Error while initializing the sound driver:
device /dev/dsp can't be opened (Permission Denied)
The sound server will continue, using the null output device.

I went in root and ran "adduser cory audio" --- Logged out, Logged in and now I get:
Sound server informational message:
Error while initializing the sound driver:
device /dev/dsp can't be opened (No such device)
The sound server will continue, using the null output device.

wtf? Any help would be good... I'm at a complete loss.

anti.corp · 01-02-2006, 04:43 PM

As root try this:

Code:

apt-get install alsa-base

And:

Code:

apt-get install alsa-oss

to configure your soundcard type:

Code:

alsaconf

to test it type:

Code:

alsamixer

If it still doesne't work try rebooting and configure plus check again.

If nothing happens type these commands and post the output's here:

Code:

lsmod

And

Code:

lspci

Oh and by the way; What kernel are you running 2.4.x or 2.6.x?

coryh · 01-02-2006, 05:29 PM

well.. that got be a step further for sure!

alsa-base and alsa-oss installed. When running alsaconf is says "No Supported PnP or PCI card found." and asks me if I want to probe legacy ISA sound cards/chips. When I do that it comes back and says "No module by that name found for all the snd-cs****.

I should have probably mentiond that have onboard sound card.

lsmod:
Module Size Used by Not tainted
radeon 92440 0
keybdev 1664 0 (unused)
usbkbd 2848 0 (unused)
input 3040 0 [keybdev usbkbd]
usb-ohci 17472 0 (unused)
usbcore 48000 1 [usbkbd usb-ohci]

lspci: I can't figure out if theres a way to copy and paste from the xterm. But I'm assuming this is the part your interested in:
0000:00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE].

Kernal is 2.4.18

anti.corp · 01-03-2006, 06:55 AM

ok.

When you are running 2.4 kernel the alsa modules has to be installed separately. You can do that by typing this line in a terminal (as root)

Code:

apt-get install alsa-modules-$(uname -r)

That should work it out

Oh and by the way: You can copy the text, just by dragging your mouse over the textoutput and press ctrl+c

michapma · 01-03-2006, 09:13 AM

It might be worthwhile considering an upgrade to the 2.6.8 kernel. It offers better hardware support.

Here's a guideline on how to do that. (Somebody please correct me if I've left something out.) I assume you're using Sarge/stable (you should be as a newb):

1) Open a terminal.

2) Use APT to list the choice of kernel packages to install:
$ apt-cache search --names-only kernel-image-2.6
Use the package name that corresponds to your computer's architecture (e.g., kernel-image-2.6-386 for 386 machines, and kernel-image-2.6-686 for PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4).

Note: Packages named as *-2.6-686 depend on the latest 2.6 kernel image available, whereas *-2.6.8-2-686 is a specific kernel version. It's better to take the first one.

3) Switch to root using the su command and root's password.

4) Update your repository indexes:
# apt-get update

5) Install the new kernel:
# apt-get install kernel-image-2.6-686
(for example, choose the package for your architecture)

6) Reboot. The apt-get install will have updated the information in GRUB necessary to boot the new kernel. You will also still see your 2.4 kernel in the GRUB boot list. It will be equally easy to remove the 2.6 kernel.

I've used this article as a guide (it's a little outdated, but still useful):
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/suriy...migration.html

If you have issues, post in the Debian forums here at LQ.

By the way, you can also highlight the xterm text with the mouse and then click where you want to paste it and click the middle mouse button.

sarajones07 · 03-11-2006, 09:56 PM

Hi, another huge newbie here. I'm having almost the exact same problems, except that i already run the 2.6 kernel. I can install alsa-base and alsa-oss with no problems but when i try to run alsaconf i get the same message: "No supported PnP or PCI card can be found. Would you like to probe legacy ISA sound cards/chips?".

Here are the results of lsmod:
Module Size Used by
nls_iso8859_1 4352 2
nls_cp437 6016 2
vfat 13184 2
fat 41792 1 vfat
ipv6 229892 15
ds 17796 2
ip_conntrack_ftp 72240 0
ip_conntrack_irc 71600 0
ipt_LOG 6272 7
ipt_limit 2688 7
ipt_state 2304 55
iptable_filter 3072 1
ip_conntrack 32908 3 ip_conntrack_ftp,ip_conntrack_irc,ipt_state
iptable_mangle 3072 0
ip_tables 16896 5 ipt_LOG,ipt_limit,ipt_state,iptable_filter,iptable_mangle
af_packet 20872 2
pcspkr 3816 0
rtc 12088 0
eth1394 19976 0
ohci1394 32004 0
ieee1394 100408 2 eth1394,ohci1394
yenta_socket 19200 0
pcmcia_core 63028 2 ds,yenta_socket
ehci_hcd 27908 0
usb_storage 59328 2
uhci_hcd 29328 0
usbcore 104164 5 ehci_hcd,usb_storage,uhci_hcd
e100 30080 0
mii 4864 1 e100
mousedev 9996 2
evdev 9088 0
tsdev 7168 0
capability 4872 0
commoncap 7168 1 capability
psmouse 17800 0
ide_cd 38176 0
cdrom 35740 1 ide_cd
reiserfs 209872 1
ext3 109544 0
jbd 54552 1 ext3
ide_generic 1664 0
ide_disk 16768 3
piix 12448 1
ide_core 125028 5 usb_storage,ide_cd,ide_generic,ide_disk,piix
sd_mod 20480 4
ata_piix 7812 0
libata 36228 1 ata_piix
scsi_mod 115148 3 usb_storage,sd_mod,libata
unix 26036 434
font 8576 0
vesafb 6688 0
cfbcopyarea 3840 1 vesafb
cfbimgblt 3200 1 vesafb
cfbfillrect 3712 1 vesafb

and lspci:
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. Mobile Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corp. Mobile Graphics Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corp. Mobile Graphics Controller (rev 03)0000:00:1b.0 0403: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801 PCI Bridge (rev d3)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
0000:06:03.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI7420 CardBus Controller
0000:06:03.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCI7x20 1394a-2000 OHCI Two-Port PHY/Link-Layer Controller
0000:06:03.3 Unknown mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCI7420/PCI7620 Dual Socket CardBus and Smart Card Cont. w/ 1394a-2000 OHCI Two-Port PHY/Link-Layer Cont. an
0000:06:04.0 Network controller: Intel Corp. PRO/Wireless 2200BG (rev 05)
0000:06:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 1068 (rev 03)

Any help would be greatly appreciated, this is making me crazy, lol.

rickh · 03-11-2006, 10:05 PM

Are we to assume you are using Debian? What installation, Sarge, Etch, Sid?
What hardware, and especially just what kind of sound card?

Quote:

82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03)

may mean something to sombody, but not me.

sarajones07 · 03-11-2006, 10:12 PM

yes, sorry, I use Sarge updated to the 2.6 linux kernel, on a fairly newer laptop--Sony Vaio (VGN-FS640). That is actually the most I've been able to find out about my sound card, which admittedly could be half of my problem here

rickh · 03-11-2006, 10:56 PM

OK. I think you're going to have to move to 'testing'

Here's a webpage that addresses some of your issues. You can't believe everything on there, tho.
http://www.progsoc.uts.edu.au/~rheise/LW60/

If you want to follow through on this, edit, your /etc/apt/sources.list file, replacing each occurrence of 'sarge' with 'etch' (or each occurrence of 'stable' with 'testing')

Then
# apt-get update
# apt-get dist-upgrade

This will do a lot of stuff, but it's good stuff. One thing about Debian stable, is that they're very conservative about what goes in there, and newer hardware is often only supported in 'testing'

You can do this.

sarajones07 · 03-12-2006, 01:04 AM

Oh, scary! When I follow those instructions and reboot, it brings up a message something along the lines of "can't run x-window"? It seems to mean that the gui (gnome) will not run. After that I tried rebooting into the old 2.4 through grub, and that works, though quite a few things have been changed. Any suggestions?

rickh · 03-12-2006, 01:09 AM

Do you have a file named /etc/X11/xorg.conf?

You can log in as root at the system prompt, then ls /etc/X11/ to check for it.

sarajones07 · 03-12-2006, 01:17 AM

yeah, found it

rickh · 03-12-2006, 01:24 AM

Ok. The real question there was, Are you using XFree86 or Xorg for video.

Run dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg and reconsider some of the choices you made.

Particularly, you would probably be well advised to select the vesa video drivers with a max screen density of 1024x768. That's good enough to get you going. Once you have X working, you can consider the real drivers for your video card.

sarajones07 · 03-12-2006, 04:52 PM

Alrighty, I think I figured this out, so in case anybody else runs across the exact same problem, here's what I did:

Trying to reconfigure the X-window system didn't work at all. I tried a few different things, but I couldn't get it to run with the 2.6 kernel. So I used grub to boot into the 2.4 linux kernel, and from there I completely uninstalled and then reinstalled 2.6.

From there I was able to run alsaconf, and Etch supports my soundcard!! Thanks for the help and patience,

rickh · 03-12-2006, 06:22 PM

Glad you got it going. I was a little worried about you.