ISA Sound card on old MB fails to work
 

Hi all,
First let me say that I like Mandriva(free)2007.0 so much I decided to try it out on my old Motherboard system..It is an Abit BX6 rev 2 board and installed is an awe64 soundblaster ISA card..
Mandriva works excellent on my newer system and B4 I go out and purchase a boxed version of the + I would like to verify it works on the old system too..
I have network working and all updates but do not have my Nvidia driver installed yet..during the installation it mentioned that I will have to run sndconfig and or alsaconf..
That being said, after the install i ran sndconfig and heard Linus..My system though still had no sound ..More tries of sndconfig apparently worked but I never heard Linus again,,I then tried alsaconf and followed the directions..It loaded the
proper driver and my system had proper sound..Whoo Hoo!
OK,after reboot, the scroll boot message is something like SB module failed to load /etc/int.d/functions bla bla bla (never got that part)..But the systen still has no sound..If I run alsaconf again I have sound until I reboot..
I am stuck as how to get around it..Is this a module problem? if so heres a part of lsmod:

Module Size Used by
snd_seq_dummy 3620 0
snd_seq_oss 31392 0
snd_seq_midi_event 7072 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 49488 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_pcm_oss 40384 0
snd_mixer_oss 16096 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_sbawe 31680 0
snd_opl3_lib 9696 1 snd_sbawe
snd_sb16_dsp 10336 1 snd_sbawe
snd_sb16_csp 18496 1 snd_sbawe
snd_sb_common 15712 3 snd_sbawe,snd_sb16_dsp,snd_sb16_csp
snd_hwdep 7556 2 snd_opl3_lib,snd_sb16_csp
snd_mpu401_uart 7616 1 snd_sbawe
snd_rawmidi 19936 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 7212 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_sbawe,snd_
opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi
snd_pcm 70116 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_sbawe,snd_sb16_dsp
snd_timer 19620 3 snd_seq,snd_opl3_lib,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 8712 1 snd_pcm
snd 46500 15 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,s
nd_sbawe,snd_opl3_lib,snd_sb16_dsp,snd_sb16_csp,snd_sb_common,snd_hwdep,snd_mpu4
01_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 8096 1 snd
ipt_IFWLOG 3780 2
ipt_psd 44488 1
ip_set_iptree 7368 2
eth1394 17380 0

Thats the part where the sound stuff is located..
Any Ideas as to how to troubleshoot this ?
I don't usually post such a lengthy post But I hope it will
aid in getting help..
Thank you to all who read this and suggest something..
jolphil

Add the name of the module (driver) loaded with alsaconf to /etc/modprobe.preload. Put the module name on its own line (read the information at the top of the file for better description). To edit the file you will need root access. Open a terminal window and su to root then enter:

kwrite /etc/modprobe.preload

The file will be opened in kwrite with root access. After reboot, the module should load. If it does not, post the error messages here as accurately as possible.

Also, if you use KDE, open the KDE Control Center ('System / Configuration / Control Center' in the menu system).

Navigate to 'Sound & Multimedia / Sound System'. Confirm the sound system is enabled. There should be an 'x' in the check box next to 'Enable Sound System' near the top of the window.

HTH,

Thanks ernie,
I just had surgery today but as soon as i feel better I'll give it a go..
Keep warm,
jolphil:)
PS I had already enabled the sound systen and did the sound test..

OK I'm back in circulation (of sorts) and I followed your post and added first, sbawe to my /etc/modprobe.preload file...That did not work so I tried snd-sbawe and that did not work either after reboot..
During the booting process as the system boots, I go to the verbose mode and see that"init.d function,sbawe awe not found, Line 585 sbawe command not found"
I looked at that file and it is huge and looked very cryptic to me..
Any suggestions?
Thank you,
jolphil

snd-sbawe is a real module. You can look in /lib/modules/(your-kernel-version)/kernel/sound/isa/sb to see snd-sbawe.ko.gz. I;d have believed that would work OK.

We'll let MCC do the heavy lifting for us, just in case there is more to set up.

Open MCC (System / Configuration / Configure your computer in the menu system).

Click Hardware in the category list (left).

Click Look at and configure the hardware (right pane).

Your SB AWE64 sound card should be listed in the Detected hardware list (left). Select it.

In the right pane, you should see the module listed for your sound card. I have an SBLive! card and this is the pertinent part for my card:

Below the right pane there should be a Run config tool button (bar). You should be able to configure Linux to work with your sound card with this tool, including loading the proper kernel module(s) at system boot.

HTH,

Thats just it ernie..I looked B4 and just again and a sound card is NOT listed at all..Too bad as that would have been a very easy way to do it..
I do remember years ago my first Linux was caldera on an old motherboard where both the sound card and the modem(dial up)
and it took a year of fiddeling around to finally get both devices working..ISA's are a pain in Linux still from day one to now..At least for me..
jolphil
EDIT: ernie, your post jogged my memory..I remember that my Son nearly a year and a half ago,gave me his old audio and video cards as he upgraded..It is a PCI card same as yours..
I removed the ISA card and replaced it with the PCI card..
I booted and ran the alsaconf tool and there was sound..I went to the Hdwr configuration tool and allowed it to configure my new sound card..It asked for my install DVD and Bada Bing it ran the configuration..I now have sound even after I reboot..
BUT one gottcha,the verbose boot dialog still shows an error now for installing the newer card(snd-emu10k1) but after boot I do have sound..Woo Hoo!!I am not sure how serious that failed boot message will be or how to remove it..
jolphil