Got an odd one. I'm new to Linux, but I'm (I think) picking it up quickly. (behold the amazing teaching power of really screwing things up and then having to fix them... :-) ) When I first installed SuSE, the mixer worked fine, and I had the little KMix icon on the menu to adjust the volume. Now it's stopped working. The only mixer app on my computer which has any effect is Gamix. Everything else, the volume controls are completely ignored. (have tried the command line mixer progs as well, same lack of result) And it's set to the same mixer as everything else. (and I've tried /dev/mix as well instead of the friendly name) I think it's using ALSA for the output, but I'm not entirely sure - there are so many sound options I'm not clear on what's what.

I've got a 2-year-old Gateway (1mhz, 256 RAM) with an OEM SB Live Value, default configuration. (haven't screwed with the jumpers or whatnot) Needless to say, it works fine on the Windows side of things. And in Linux basic sound playing (MODs, MP3s, etc) works.

On a probably unrelated note, I also cannot get CD sound. It acts like it's playing - the drive light blinks and the time advances on the CD App, but no sound. I suspect this is because I don't have the little wire feeding the CD audio straight to the soundcard, as it (in Windows) feeds through the IDE cable. Is there some way of making Linux\SuSE accept this?

Thanks!

Try online update first. Usually those problems will be gone after fire up YOU (or synaptic). Kmix window should open after the login to KDE.

After online update (or upgrade) you can start alsaconf as root in konsole if necessary.


Have fun :-)

I've updated the drivers through YaST, and tried manually running alsaconf a couple times. The sound itself works fine, I just can't get the mixer. Or CD audio.

Kmix is part of KDE

Try post the output of:
rpm -qa | grep kde

kdeartwork3-sound-3.1.2-21
kdelibs3-cups-3.1.2-6
kdegraphics3-kamera-3.1.2-12
kdebase3-nsplugin-3.1.2-19
kdenetwork3-vnc-3.1.2-7
kdegames3-card-3.1.2-7
kdemultimedia3-video-xine-3.1.2-3
kdegames3-tactic-3.1.2-7
kdenetwork3-mail-3.1.2-7
kdegraphics3-fax-3.1.2-12
kdenetwork3-3.1.2-7
kdebase3-devel-3.1.2-19
kdenetwork3-chat-3.1.2-7
kdebase3-samba-3.1.2-19
kdebase3-SuSE-8.2-19
kdeaddons3-kicker-3.1.2-10
kdenetwork3-news-3.1.2-7
kdegames3-arcade-3.1.2-7
taskjuggler-kde-1.4.2-59
kdegraphics3-3.1.2-12
kdebase3-ksysguardd-3.1.2-19
kdegraphics3-postscript-3.1.2-12
kdemultimedia3-video-3.1.2-5
kdeutils3-3.1.2-9
kdebase3-kdm-3.1.2-19
kdenetwork3-lan-3.1.2-7
kdelibs3-3.1.2-6
kdeaddons3-kate-3.1.2-10
kdegraphics3-extra-3.1.2-12
kdeaddons3-konqueror-3.1.2-10
kdegames3-3.1.2-7
kdegames3-board-3.1.2-7
kdemultimedia3-midi-3.1.2-5
kdemultimedia3-sound-3.1.2-5
kdevelop3-2.1.5-92
kdeadmin3-3.1.2-8
kdesdk3-3.1.2-16
kde3-i18n-ar-3.1.2-0
kdelibs3-devel-3.1.2-6
kdelibs3-devel-doc-3.1.2-6
kdeedu3-3.1.2-9
kdebase3-3.1.2-19

Have more fun :-)

I got the CD player "working," BTW. As I suspected, it was because the CD drive was using the IDE cable for output. Just had to find a player which would take that. (XMMS)

Here're the results of that command:
(which was, I gather, searching installed packages for *kde*, right?)

kdeartwork3-sound-3.1.1-80
kdebase3-ksysguardd-3.1.1-69
kdelibs3-3.1.1-52
kdeaddons3-kicker-3.1.1-54
kdebase3-3.1.1-69
kdebase3-kdm-3.1.1-69
kdegames3-3.1.1-56
kdegraphics3-3.1.1-52
kdegraphics3-kamera-3.1.1-52
kdegraphics3-postscript-3.1.1-52
kdelibs3-cups-3.1.1-52
kdemultimedia3-midi-3.1.1-50
kdenetwork3-3.1.1-78
kdenetwork3-chat-3.1.1-78
kdenetwork3-vnc-3.1.1-78
kdepim3-3.1.1-76
kdeutils3-3.1.1-62
kdeutils3-laptop-3.1.1-62
kdeaddons3-kate-3.1.1-54
kdeaddons3-konqueror-3.1.1-54
kdebase3-nsplugin-3.1.1-69
kdegames3-arcade-3.1.1-56
kdegames3-board-3.1.1-56
kdegames3-card-3.1.1-56
kdegames3-tactic-3.1.1-56
kdegraphics3-fax-3.1.1-52
kdemultimedia3-sound-3.1.1-50
kdenetwork3-mail-3.1.1-78
kdenetwork3-news-3.1.1-78
kdepim3-organizer-3.1.1-76
kdebase3-SuSE-8.2-48
kdeaddons3-games-3.1.1-54
kdeadmin3-3.1.1-42
kdeartwork3-3.1.1-80
kdeartwork3-xscreensaver-3.1.1-80
kdebase3-extra-3.1.1-69
kdebindings3-c-3.1-45
kdeedu3-3.1.1-57
kdegraphics3-extra-3.1.1-52
kdemultimedia3-video-3.1.1-50
kdenetwork3-dialup-3.1.1-78
kdenetwork3-query-3.1.1-78
kdepim3-kpilot-3.1.1-76
kdepim3-sync-3.1.1-76
kdepim3-time-management-3.1.1-76
kdetoys3-3.1.1-60
kdeutils3-extra-3.1.1-62
taskjuggler-kde-1.4.2-40
xmms-kde-3.0-299
kdeaddons3-sound-3.1.1-54
kdebase3-samba-3.1.1-69
kdebindings3-mozilla-3.1-45
kdegraphics3-3D-3.1.1-52
kdegraphics3-scan-3.1.1-28
kdegraphics3-tex-3.1.1-52
kdemultimedia3-video-xine-3.1.1-37
plptools-kde-0.12-53
kdenetwork3-lan-3.1.1-78

Kmix is part of kdemultimedia3-sound. Upgrade yours to

kdemultimedia3-sound-3.1.2

You may be able to get it from here:
http://rpm.pbone.net/
or
http://www.rpmseek.com/

If you have apt-get installed you can fetch it (after apt-get update)
apt-get install kdemultimedia3-sound


Have fun :-)

Hmm, nope. I think it's something deeper than just KMix/KDE stuff. Even Alsamix doesn't work. (I've tried rerunning AlsaConf, shutting the sound server on and off, etc) Nothing except that one app I mentioned above has any effect on the sound. (although I'd certainly be happy if KMix decided to work again)

Do you dare to upgrade your kde to 3.1.2?

If not try updating alsa first:
rpm -qa | grep alsa
alsa-devel-0.9.3-0
alsa-tools-0.9.3-0
kalsatools-1.4.1-11
alsa-0.9.3-0

Good luck :-)