Slackware Sound Problems

ddu_ · 05-31-2007, 10:19 PM

Hey all, i tried searching the forum archives but was unable to come up with anything.

I've got a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI card that i'd like to get working with linux (I have no sound otherwise). Prior to buying the card, I went to the ALSA site to make sure it was supported.

I have a fresh install of Slackware 11 with the 2.4.33.3 kernel. Install went smooth and all seemed to be ok. When i started KDE I recieved no error messages. I used alsamixer to turn up the volumes and tried to listen to an MP3 and CD. No audio for either. The players ran fine, no errors messages there was just no audio. I tried running alsaconf and it finds ca0106 Creative Labs SB Audigy LS and loads the modules for it. Here is the output of lspci:

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (different version?) (rev c1)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 1 (rev c1)
00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 4 (rev c1)
00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 3 (rev c1)
00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 2 (rev c1)
00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 5 (rev c1)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 ISA Bridge (rev a4)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation nForce2 SMBus (MCP) (rev a2)
00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4)
00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4)
00:02.2 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4)
00:08.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 External PCI Bridge (rev a3)
00:09.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation nForce2 IDE (rev a2)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (rev c1)
01:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy LS
01:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV18 [GeForce4 MX 4000 AGP 8x] (rev c1)

here is the output of lsmod:

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted
usb-storage            63520   1
snd-seq-oss            23104   0  (unused)
snd-seq-midi-event      3208   0  [snd-seq-oss]
snd-seq                33552   2  [snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event]
snd-pcm-oss            28928   0  (unused)
snd-mixer-oss          11928   0  [snd-pcm-oss]
keybdev                 1828   0  (unused)
mousedev                4244   1
hid                    21380   0  (unused)
usbmouse                1912   0  (unused)
input                   3104   0  [keybdev mousedev hid usbmouse]
usb-ohci               18856   0  (unused)
ehci-hcd               17644   0  (unused)
usbcore                56812   1  [usb-storage hid usbmouse usb-ohci ehci-hcd]
snd-ca0106             18724   0
snd-rawmidi            12224   0  [snd-ca0106]
snd-seq-device          3716   0  [snd-seq-oss snd-seq snd-rawmidi]
snd-ac97-codec         68160   0  [snd-ca0106]
snd-pcm                52804   0  [snd-pcm-oss snd-ca0106 snd-ac97-codec]
snd-timer              13168   0  [snd-seq snd-pcm]
snd                    34304   0  [snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event snd-seq snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-ca0106 snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device snd-ac97-codec snd-pcm snd-timer]
snd-page-alloc          4980   0  [snd-seq-oss snd-seq snd-mixer-oss snd-ca0106 snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device snd-pcm snd-timer snd]
soundcore               3300   8  [snd]
8139too                13672   1
mii                     2304   0  [8139too]
crc32                   2880   0  [8139too]
pcmcia_core            39492   0
ide-scsi                9392   0
agpgart                45092   0  (unused)

I'm totally lost, any help is apperciated!

Thanks guys!

Worksman · 06-01-2007, 05:49 AM

I can only think that you have your volume muted. After openning alsamixer press M for each channel and unmute it (MM turns to a ## indicating volume level).

Just for reference, you need to properly configure your kernel to have proper sound.
Other reasons your might not be able to hear sound is when the sound card is locked by some other app - usually happens only with OSS apps, or ESD, or ARTS.

Worksman · 06-01-2007, 05:52 AM

You could also try the 2.6 kernel; it kicks ass

.

ddu_ · 06-01-2007, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worksman

I can only think that you have your volume muted. After openning alsamixer press M for each channel and unmute it (MM turns to a ## indicating volume level).

Just for reference, you need to properly configure your kernel to have proper sound.
Other reasons your might not be able to hear sound is when the sound card is locked by some other app - usually happens only with OSS apps, or ESD, or ARTS.

Thanks for your input. I was able to verify that the sound was not muted. I'm a little confused as to what you mean by "you need to properly configure your kernel to have proper sound". Is loading the modules not enough? Another question, do my lsmod and lspci outputs look normal? Sorry for the extra questions and thanks again for the help.

Worksman · 06-02-2007, 12:32 AM

Your lspci and lsmod outputs are ok. By properly configuring your kernel I mean selecting all the sound modules you need, the proper ones for your sound card.

Code:

Device Drivers -> Sound
<*> Sound card support
        Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
                 <M> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
                 <M> Sequncer Support
                 <M> Sequencer dummy client
                 <M> OSS PCM API
                 <M> RTC Timer Support
                 [*] Use RTC as default sequencer timer
                 [*] Verbose procfs
                        PCI devices
                                 <M> SB Audigy LS / Live 24bit
                                 <M> Emu10k1 (SB Live!, Audigy, E-mu APS)
Open Sound Sytem 
        < > Open Sound System (Deprecated)

So basically OSS disabled, OSS Alsa emulation API enabled and almost all other alsa modules built as modules, except for sound card support module, and of course only the PCI devices you need. I know SB Live! Audigy cards are based on the Emu10k1 processor so I select both drivers. You may need both. After you get your kernel ok, install or compile alsa-utils, alsa-tools, alsa-headers, alsa-firmware, alsa-plugins, alsa-oss, alsa-lib but don't install alsa-drivers, because you already use the kernel modules. Then run alsaconf and select your sound card. After it's done, use alsamixer to set your volume up and save it for next reboots...

fotoguy · 06-02-2007, 07:05 PM

You can unmute the sound card from the command line try this and see if this works

Code:

amixer set 'Master' 60% unmute
amixer set 'PCM' 100% unmute