When I run the audio configuration I get:
The following audio device was detected:
Vendor: nVidia
Model Coporation GF100 High Definition Audio Controller
Module snd-hda-intel

but I do not hear sound.

The ALSA driver version is 1.0.14rc3
Lib package is: 1.0.17.-1.e15
Utils package is: 1.0.17-1.e15

The sound log has:

class: AUDIO
bus: PCI
detached: 0
driver: snd-hda-intel
desc: "nVidia Corporation GF100 High Definition Audio Controller"
vendorId: 10de
deviceId: 0be5
subVendorId: 10de
subDeviceId: 0770
pciType: 1
pcidom: 0
pcibus: 2
pcidev: 0
pcifn: 1

and the scsrun.log has:

------ System Config Soundcard Log --------
Tue Feb 15 17:15:00 CST 2011

aplay: main:583: audio open error: No such file or directory

/etc/modprobe.conf file has:

alias eth0 tg3
alias scsi_hostadapter ata_piix
alias scsi_hostadapter1 ahci
alias net-pf-10 off
alias ipv6 off
options ipv6 disable=1
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
options snd-card-0 index=0
options snd-hda-intel index=0
remove snd-hda-intel { /usr/sbin/alsactl store 0 >/dev/null 2>&1 || : ; }; /sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove snd-hda-intel


The audio configuration sound test and the answer to the question No returns a message that says: automatic detection of sound card did not work. I am not sure what else is needed to diagnose the problem.
Thanks for your help.



=========================================
Info
=========================================

uname -r: 2.6.18-238.el5

/sbin/lspci: 02:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation GF100 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)

/sbin/modinfo soundcore
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/kernel/sound/soundcore.ko
alias: char-major-14-*
license: GPL
author: Alan Cox
description: Core sound module
srcversion: 548AA54AF08207316C104F8
depends:
vermagic: 2.6.18-238.el5 SMP mod_unload gcc-4.1
module_sig: 883f3504de5f9f43e909ab54b946c1122b6109f48c8687c4b9ba8996e24cca2892fc21fe1f94c10a085483bd498f522d52d5 2a83974e9ab8e6462c15

/sbin/lsmod
Module Size Used by
snd_hda_intel 703425 1
snd_seq_dummy 37061 0
snd_seq_oss 65473 0
snd_seq_midi_event 41024 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 87777 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 41557 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss 77377 0
snd_mixer_oss 49985 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 116681 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 57161 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 44113 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_hwdep 43721 1 snd_hda_intel
snd 100201 11 snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_hwd ep
soundcore 41825 1 snd
autofs4 63049 4
hidp 83649 2
nfs 298413 4
fscache 52385 1 nfs
nfs_acl 36673 1 nfs
rfcomm 104937 0
l2cap 89409 10 hidp,rfcomm
bluetooth 118725 5 hidp,rfcomm,l2cap
vmnet 127976 13
vmblock 53956 3
vsock 124256 0
vmci 104800 1 vsock
vmmon 121664 0
lockd 101553 2 nfs
sunrpc 200073 21 nfs,nfs_acl,lockd
be2iscsi 94045 0
ib_iser 68161 0
rdma_cm 68689 1 ib_iser
ib_cm 72809 1 rdma_cm
iw_cm 43465 1 rdma_cm
ib_sa 74953 2 rdma_cm,ib_cm
ib_mad 70629 2 ib_cm,ib_sa
ib_addr 41673 1 rdma_cm
iscsi_tcp 50509 0
bnx2i 76385 0
cnic 79577 1 bnx2i
ipv6 435105 1 cnic
xfrm_nalgo 43333 1 ipv6
crypto_api 42945 1 xfrm_nalgo
uio 45777 1 cnic
cxgb3i 77873 0
iw_cxgb3 107029 0
ib_core 104901 7 ib_iser,rdma_cm,ib_cm,iw_cm,ib_sa,ib_mad,iw_cxgb3
cxgb3 214705 2 cxgb3i,iw_cxgb3
8021q 57937 1 cxgb3
libiscsi_tcp 53317 2 iscsi_tcp,cxgb3i
libiscsi2 77765 6 be2iscsi,ib_iser,iscsi_tcp,bnx2i,cxgb3i,libiscsi_tcp
scsi_transport_iscsi2 73945 8 be2iscsi,ib_iser,iscsi_tcp,bnx2i,cxgb3i,libiscsi2
scsi_transport_iscsi 35017 1 scsi_transport_iscsi2
loop 48721 0
dm_mirror 54865 0
dm_multipath 56921 0
scsi_dh 42177 1 dm_multipath
video 53197 0
backlight 39873 1 video
sbs 49921 0
power_meter 47053 0
hwmon 36553 1 power_meter
i2c_ec 38593 1 sbs
dell_wmi 37601 0
wmi 41985 1 dell_wmi
button 40545 0
battery 43849 0
asus_acpi 50917 0
acpi_memhotplug 40517 0
ac 38729 0
lp 47121 0
tpm_tis 48077 0
i2c_i801 41941 0
tpm 50273 1 tpm_tis
nvidia 10320008 28
i2c_core 57537 3 i2c_ec,i2c_i801,nvidia
sr_mod 50789 0
tg3 161737 0
cdrom 68713 1 sr_mod
tpm_bios 40897 1 tpm
shpchp 70893 0
i5400_edac 42433 0
edac_mc 60449 1 i5400_edac
sg 70649 0
serio_raw 40517 0
parport_pc 62313 1
parport 73165 2 lp,parport_pc
pcspkr 36289 0
dm_raid45 99657 0
dm_message 36289 1 dm_raid45
dm_region_hash 46145 1 dm_raid45
dm_log 44993 3 dm_mirror,dm_raid45,dm_region_hash
dm_mod 101393 4 dm_mirror,dm_multipath,dm_raid45,dm_log
dm_mem_cache 38977 1 dm_raid45
ata_piix 57285 0
ahci 73293 4
libata 208977 2 ata_piix,ahci
sd_mod 56513 5
scsi_mod 199001 12 be2iscsi,ib_iser,iscsi_tcp,bnx2i,cxgb3i,libiscsi2,scsi_transport_iscsi2,scsi_dh,sr_mod,sg,libata,sd_ mod
ext3 168913 3
jbd 94769 1 ext3
uhci_hcd 57433 0
ohci_hcd 56181 0

i think alsa isn't running, look for it in the output from "ps ax | less" to be sure.
try running alsamixer, in an xterm or at the console.

try $alsaconf

Thank you all.
When one is new, even what to search for is an overwhelming process. I looked around but got lost. Anyway, I do not see alsa running:

alsamixer
No mixer elems found

and I did not find alsaconf (found a directory but nothing to run).

So I downloaded the alsa-driver-1.0.9rc4a, alsa-lib-1.0.24.1 and alsa-utils-1.0.24.2 and following the instructions, I was trying <make> and ran into the problem below. I could not locate a modversions.h anywhere in the system and I did not find a way to create it. Am I on the right track, shall I pursue this path or I am in the wrong direction?

Thanks for your help again.

make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/share/alsa-driver-1.0.9rc4a/acore'
gcc -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE=1 -I/usr/share/alsa-driver-1.0.9rc4a/include -I/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include -I/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/source/include -O2 -mno-red-zone -mcmodel=kernel -fno-reorder-blocks -fno-strength-reduce -finline-limit=2000 -D__SMP__ -DCONFIG_SMP -DLINUX -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fomit-frame-pointer -Wno-trigraphs -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common -pipe -DALSA_BUILD -nostdinc -iwithprefix include -DMODVERSIONS -include /lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/source/include/linux/modversions.h -DKBUILD_BASENAME=hpetimer -c -o hpetimer.o hpetimer.c
cc1: error: /lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/source/include/linux/modversions.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /usr/share/alsa-driver-1.0.9rc4a/include/sound/driver.h:29,
from hpetimer.c:22:
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/linux/config.h:6:2: warning: #warning Including config.h is deprecated.
In file included from /lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/linux/spinlock.h:86,
from /lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/linux/capability.h:45,
from /lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/linux/sched.h:44,
from /lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/linux/module.h:9,
from /usr/share/alsa-driver-1.0.9rc4a/include/adriver.h:45,
from /usr/share/alsa-driver-1.0.9rc4a/include/sound/driver.h:42,
from hpetimer.c:22:
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/asm/spinlock.h: In function ‘__raw_spin_lock’:
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/asm/spinlock.h:43: error: expected ‘:’ or ‘)’ before ‘hpetimer’
In file included from /lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/linux/sched.h:57,
from /lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/linux/module.h:9,
from /usr/share/alsa-driver-1.0.9rc4a/include/adriver.h:45,
from /usr/share/alsa-driver-1.0.9rc4a/include/sound/driver.h:42,
from hpetimer.c:22:
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/asm/semaphore.h: In function ‘down’:
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/asm/semaphore.h:112: error: expected ‘:’ or ‘)’ before ‘hpetimer’
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/asm/semaphore.h: In function ‘down_interruptible’:
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/asm/semaphore.h:137: error: expected ‘:’ or ‘)’ before ‘hpetimer’
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/asm/semaphore.h: In function ‘down_trylock’:
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/asm/semaphore.h:161: error: expected ‘:’ or ‘)’ before ‘hpetimer’
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/asm/semaphore.h: In function ‘up’:
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/asm/semaphore.h:184: error: expected ‘:’ or ‘)’ before ‘hpetimer’
In file included from /usr/share/alsa-driver-1.0.9rc4a/include/adriver.h:674,
from /usr/share/alsa-driver-1.0.9rc4a/include/sound/driver.h:42,
from hpetimer.c:22:
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/linux/pci.h: At top level:
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/build/include/linux/pci.h:625: error: expected identifier or ‘(’ before numeric constant
make[1]: *** [hpetimer.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/share/alsa-driver-1.0.9rc4a/acore'
make: *** [compile] Error 1

That's a very OLD version of ALSA. And snd-hda-intel is fairly new. 1.0.14 -> 1.0.15 -> 1.0.16 had some pretty major snd-hda-intel changes. 1.0.24 just got released. Your version is like two plus years old.

In either case, alsa probably isn't running.

$ cat /proc/asound/cards

$ lsmod | grep -i "snd"

If no hits, no sound, or anything that might resemble sound drivers in use. Baring some form of actual OSS and the likes. (rare)

I'd reinstall the driver, firmware, libraries, plugins, utilities, and tools from http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Download. Then run alsaconf. Then after that run alsamixer as root. Set your volume levels, then run alsactl store to save the volume settings permanently. That should do it.

Here is what I have:

cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [NVidia ]: HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
HDA NVidia at 0xdfcfc000 irq 114


/sbin/lsmod | grep -i "snd"
snd_hda_intel 703425 0
snd_seq_dummy 37061 0
snd_seq_oss 65473 0
snd_seq_midi_event 41024 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 87777 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 41557 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss 77377 0
snd_mixer_oss 49985 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 116681 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 57161 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 44113 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_hwdep 43721 1 snd_hda_intel
snd 100201 9 snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_hwd ep
soundcore 41825 1 snd

and alsaconf says:
No supported PnP or PCI card found.

If I probe for legacy, says no legacy either.

Any idea what all this means?

Again, thanks for all your help.

alsaconf has never worked for me personally.

lsmod shows that you have the modules loaded.

/proc/asound/cards shows that it's working and assigned.

alsamixer should let you set the levels. F1 for help on that one. ESC to exit. And be sure to unmute the channels you want to use. You should have sound according to what you posted.

It could be that hda-intel is with your graphics card and not your integrated soundcard. i.e. audio over HDMI. Or other things.

If you have sox installed.

$ play -n synth 5 sine 440 gain -1

That should play a sine wave at pitch 440Hz for 5 seconds at near, but not at max volume.

You could have things running interference. Pulse audio, artsd, esd, jackd, and other things that can take over audio responsibilities and block access depending on what is trying to use the soundcard and how. Many players let you select the output device / method, but not all.

what operating system are you using ?????????
from " 2.6.18-238.el5" it looks like a version of cent or RHEL


and on a laptop there might be problems - like the sound and mouse pad