How on earth do I "start" alsa?

f0rmula · 12-03-2004, 04:07 PM

I'm pretty sure this is a stupid question, but this is a fresh install of debian, to which i've run "apt-get install alsa".. That installed alsa fine, and i ran alsaconf, and went through the setup..

but now then i when i tried to run the mixer i got:

Code:

alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such device

I googled and found a thread on here which recommended running snddevices from the alsa-base package:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...?postid=815303

Still didn't work

Any other ideas? I also ran lsmod and its output is below.. seems to have lots of sound modules present, but god knows what they are

Thanks people..

James

Code:

james@HansenJ:~$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
i830                   68644  2
ipv6                  229764  15
lp                     10408  0
af_packet              20872  2
eepro100               28300  0
8139cp                 19072  0
snd_intel8x0           33068  0
snd_ac97_codec         59268  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm                85384  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_timer              23172  1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc         11144  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
gameport                4736  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_mpu401_uart         7296  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_rawmidi            23204  1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device          7944  1 snd_rawmidi
snd                    50660  7 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
hw_random               5652  0
pciehp                 83948  0
shpchp                 87148  0
pci_hotplug            30640  2 pciehp,shpchp
intel_agp              20512  1
agpgart                31784  3 intel_agp
mousedev                9996  2
tsdev                   7168  0
psmouse                17800  0
parport_pc             33348  1
parport                37320  2 lp,parport_pc
floppy                 54992  0
pcspkr                  3816  0
evdev                   9088  0
ehci_hcd               27908  0
uhci_hcd               29328  0
usbcore               104164  4 ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
i810_audio             33300  0
ac97_codec             16908  1 i810_audio
soundcore               9824  2 snd,i810_audio
e100                   30080  0
8139too                23936  0
mii                     4864  4 eepro100,8139cp,e100,8139too
crc32                   4608  2 8139cp,8139too
capability              4872  0
commoncap               7168  1 capability
ide_cd                 38176  0
cdrom                  35740  1 ide_cd
rtc                    12088  0
ext3                  109672  2
jbd                    54552  1 ext3
ide_generic             1664  0
ide_disk               16768  3
piix                   12448  1
ide_core              125028  4 ide_cd,ide_generic,ide_disk,piix
unix                   25908  455
font                    8576  0
vesafb                  6688  0
cfbcopyarea             3840  1 vesafb
cfbimgblt               3200  1 vesafb
cfbfillrect             3712  1 vesafb

darkleaf · 12-03-2004, 04:41 PM

Did you also install the other alsa-packages? I don't know what it's called but one has the mixer in it.

f0rmula · 12-06-2004, 07:47 AM

I have the commands "amixer", "alsamixer" and also "gnome-alsamixer" and "alsamixergui"..

they all respond a similar error:

"function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such device"

James

sulfa · 12-06-2004, 02:41 PM

A hint: you can say "modinfo X" to get a pithy description of what a module in your lsmod list really is.

From what I can see, you are running the soundcore (needed) and the ALSA modules (all those modules that begin with snd*). But it looks like you're also running the OSS module for your Intel sound card. Try removing that by opening /etc/discover.conf and adding in the line "skip i810_audio". This will prevent discover from loading the OSS driver on boot.

I got my information from Linux Mafia.

Electro · 12-06-2004, 03:30 PM

Make sure you have ALSA libraries installed because alsamixer and amixer needs them. Using packages to install something like ALSA can be a pain. I suggest compiling ALSA.

Try to remove i810_audio. To do this type rmmod i810_audio as su or root.

belkens · 12-07-2004, 07:17 PM

try to run alsaconf