I am gradually getting my Linux issues worked out. Next issue, then:

SuSE 8.2 recognizes my soundcard (a built in SoundMax on my ASUS P4P800 mobo) as an Intel Corp. AC97 codec. Basically, I think they *are* the same thing (same codec), but I'm not 100% sure. At any rate, I'm getting no sound when I run a test, no sound with programs, and no sound through my CD player. I searched, but couldn't find a problem similar enough to this that I could possibly adapt to my situation with my limited knowledge of Linux. Has anyone seen this happen? What are the best ways for a total newb to get this going? I am getting sounds through Windows, so I know my speakers and the onboard sound actually work...

Repeat... very little knowledge of Linux commands.

shoe

EDIT: Tried the modprobe ac97 trick, but unfortunately, that didn't work...

Yes - AC97 is correct. As I understand it, AC97 is some kind of standard protocol which is implemented by many on-board sound chips. To confuse things further the sound chips themselves generally need their own specialised driver.

To confuse the issue further still, there are two different sound systems for linux, OSS and ALSA, each with its own suite of drivers. I think SuSE use ALSA (but I'm not 100% sure).

But if that is the case you need the intel8x0 driver for this m/board. If you log in as root the 'modprobe snd-intel8x0' just might get you working, but you would need to use SuSE's sound configuration tool (whatever that is) to make this configuration permanent.

To check what drivers are loaded run command 'lsmod'. On this m/b (Asus P4P800-VM) I get (among other things)

snd-intel8x0 18244 1
snd-ac97-codec 40264 0 [snd-intel8x0]

showing that the intel8x0 driver is using the ac97 driver.

As this m/b is pretty new it is just possible your current distro does not support it. In that case you should look for updates on the SuSE web site.

I seem to have ALSA and I see a similar result to the lsmod command, but alas, no sound. I tried the modprobe, too. Still no luck. It doesn't look like the drivers are here yet. Sigh. I'll keep an eye out on SuSE, and on ASUS. I could get lucky, they HAVE been known to supply Linux drivers, I guess.


Thanks!
shoe

Also check you have everything unmuted and turned up. If you run 'alsamixer' inside a terminal window an 'MM' over the channel means it's muted (key 'm' to unmute).

Otherwise you might need to try a new alsa-drivers package.

For more information on ALSA see http://www.alsa-project.org. Compiling ALSA yourself is also a possibility, but a bit of UNIX experience helps there.

I discovered some Linux drivers on my mobo disk, so I installed those, but still no luck. I am going to try installing a new version of alsa as well, since SuSE is known for sticking old versions of things on their distro.

I checked what I have for Alsamixer, and nothing was muted. Hmmmm.

take care
shoe

I would just like to say that I'm having the same problem, ur not the only one...I came across this post while looking for a solution.. Have you had any luck yet?

Hey,

Yeah, problem solved... Upgrading to SuSE 9 (or, failing that, just a higher version of alsa) fixed the problem. The sound was coming out the wrong jack at first, and with the new version of alsa, it works beautifully. Good luck.

SuSE 9 seems to support hardware much better than 8.2 did.

shoe

Maybe its the same problem as mine
Mandrake 10beta and kernel 2.6.2
Try plugging the speakers into the Mic jack instead.
This is a multichanel card :-)

I never could get my AC97 to work in SuSE8 or 9...eventually I gave up, disabled it in BIOS, and pulled the sound blaster out of my Slack box. it sounds better than the onboard sound ever did in windows anyway.