No sound with C-Media 8738 PCI in Mandrake 10.0
 

I have searched through the posts here, read similar entries, but am nowhere close to soving my problem, so my apologies if this has been discussed before. Please direct me to the relevant post.

The setup (working fine in MDK 9.1) is listed as :

Card-config:
C-media pci 8738 (model 37) at 0xd800, irq 3

audio devices:
0: C-Media PCI DAC/ADC (DUPLEX)

synth devices:
0: OPL3 FM Synth

Midi devices:
0: MPU - 401 (UART) 0-0

Timers:
7: System Timer

Mixers:
0 Cmedia PCI

=============================================
In Mandrake 10.0 : it is listed in Hard drake as:

Vendor: ‎C-Media Electronics Inc
Alternative drivers: ‎cmpci
Bus: ‎PCI
Bus identification: ‎13f6:111
Location on the bus: ‎2:d:0
Description: ‎CM8738
Module: ‎snd-cmipci
Media class: ‎MULTIMEDIA_AUDIO

But there is no sound :(
Volume is not muted, aumix shows the levels at 100.

Though I have been using linux for some time now, it is mainly for text editing / email / browsing, and Mandrake 9.1 'just worked'. So I am a newbie to troubleshooting!

Any advice on getting sound in Mandrake 10 working?

Thanks in advance.

I followed the suggestions given in the 'troubleshooting' window of harddrake and here are the outputs:

lspcidrake -v | fgrep AUDIO
----------------------------------------
snd-cmipci : C-Media Electronics Inc|CM8738 [MULTIMEDIA_AUDIO] (vendor:13f6 device:0111)

grep sound-slot /etc/modules.conf
--------------------------------------------------
alias sound-slot-0 snd-cmipci

/sbin/lsmod
--------------------
Module Size Used by
cmpci 38776 0
ppp_deflate 6112 0
zlib_deflate 22904 1 ppp_deflate
zlib_inflate 22656 1 ppp_deflate
bsd_comp 5952 0
ppp_async 11744 0
ppp_generic 29360 3 ppp_deflate,bsd_comp,ppp_async
slhc 7200 1 ppp_generic
md5 3872 1
ipv6 232352 6
sg 38044 0
sr_mod 17060 0
lp 12200 0
snd-seq-oss 31232 0
snd-seq-midi-event 7552 1 snd-seq-oss
snd-seq 51024 4 snd-seq-oss,snd-seq-midi-event
snd-pcm-oss 51812 0
snd-mixer-oss 17952 1 snd-pcm-oss
snd-cmipci 33236 1
snd-pcm 93156 2 snd-pcm-oss,snd-cmipci
snd-page-alloc 11972 1 snd-pcm
snd-opl3-lib 9984 1 snd-cmipci
snd-timer 24484 3 snd-seq,snd-pcm,snd-opl3-lib
snd-hwdep 8928 1 snd-opl3-lib
gameport 4480 1 snd-cmipci
snd-mpu401-uart 7072 1 snd-cmipci
snd-rawmidi 23616 1 snd-mpu401-uart
snd-seq-device 8008 4 snd-seq-oss,snd-seq,snd-opl3-lib,snd-rawmidi
snd 52484 15 snd-seq-oss,snd-seq-midi-event,snd-seq,snd-pcm-oss,snd-mixer-oss,snd-cmipci,snd-pcm,snd-opl3-lib,snd-timer,snd-hwdep,snd-mpu401-uart,snd-rawmidi,snd-seq-device
soundcore 9248 2 cmpci,snd
af_packet 20520 0
hid 53312 0
ide-floppy 18752 0
ide-tape 34864 0
ide-cd 40548 0
cdrom 37184 2 sr_mod,ide-cd
floppy 59444 0
nls_cp850 4736 1
vfat 13760 1
fat 45120 1 vfat
nls_iso8859-1 3904 5
ntfs 85932 4
supermount 37876 1
intel-agp 17372 1
agpgart 31016 1 intel-agp
ppa 12296 0
parport_pc 32832 1
imm 12360 0
scsi_mod 114744 4 sg,sr_mod,ppa,imm
parport 38952 4 lp,ppa,parport_pc,imm
usblp 12256 0
uhci-hcd 29104 0
usbcore 99132 5 hid,usblp,uhci-hcd
rtc 11576 0
ext3 110376 6
jbd 54328 1 ext3

/sbin/chkconfig --list sound
-----------------------------------------
sound 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off


/sbin/chkconfig --list alsa
-------------------------------------
alsa 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off


It is not exactly rocket science, but I am just starting out with the help manuals, and its a bit incomprehensible for me as of now. The lsmod command doesn't seem to showing snd-cmpci
being used by any application?

Any advice or suggestions please?

Thanks in advance.

dude_a_b_c,
I had your exact problem, and i've got the exact same sound card as you. Please can you post a bug at http://bugs.mandrakelinux.com/ . Actually once you've registered, see if you can add a comment to this http://bugs.mandrakelinux.com/query.php?bug=513 I'm the one who posted it.

Right, now the solution to the problem.
You need to switch to the OSS driver. Go to hadrake, configure your sound card and choose the cmpci driver instead of the snd-cmpci.
The OSS driver sounds terrible at first, save these values in a file named .aumixrc and then load the file in with aumx.
vol:100:100:P
synth:0:0:P
pcm:100:100:P
speaker:100:100:R
line:0:0:P
mic:0:0:R
cd:100:100:P

I hope this resolves your problem.

beejayzed,
I tried the steps outlined by you, however there is no change even after using the cmpci driver :(
However, I have added a comment to Bug # 513 in the mandrake anthill along with the troubleshooting output I have presented here.

any other suggestions folks?

Thanks in advance.

I have the same card integrated into my mobo...I am currently listening to Led Zeppelin with no problem but for a while Unreal Tournament 2003 had really choppy audio, so I went and did that driver switch and it worked just fine....but I am not using OSS, I just did the autodetect deal with the KDE audio settings.

But mine has worked since the beginning....let me compare my output with yours and see if there is a difference....

under the harddrake info for the sound card, does it list an alternative driver and the module?
The reason i ask is that the main differences between your output and mine is the drivers... tell me if it matches mine:

Vendor: ‎C-Media Electronics Inc

Alternative drivers: ‎cmpci

Bus: ‎PCI

Bus identification: ‎13f6:111:10fd:a715

Location on the bus: ‎0:e:0

Description: ‎CM8738

Module: ‎snd-cmipci

Media class: ‎MULTIMEDIA_AUDIO

----obviously the bus id and location will probably be different...

and what's your Mobo if it's an integrated chip? vendor and chipset please

Yes, it has the alternative cmpci driver listed.

Sound is not integrated on the motherboard. It is a PCI slot card. The motherboard is an Intel 850GB motherboard.

Seems to be a real showstopper for me!

You should switch to the alternate driver, that's the OSS one.

I did switch to the oss driver 'cmpci', and set the .aumixrc file and loaded it also. However, no relief

Now
grep sound-slot /etc/modules.conf

gives the following output:

alias sound-slot-0 cmpci

Which program are you using to test it. Try opening up after a restart. Also try sound in another desktop environment.

Sound works now ?

I did a hard reboot, no use even then.

Then I switched to GNOME (try a different desktop) as suggested.
And sound works now!!
It's working even in KDE. It's awfully noisy, but it's working..

Thanks for all the suggestions...

Alrght, kewl :)

Oh yeah try, playing around with the volumes in aumix if the sound doesn't sound too good. When I first used OSS, I stopped using it immediately because the volumes were wrong.
When I installed Mandrake 10 I was forced to get the volumes right. Once they're done nicely I usually use xmms to adjust the volume.