Alsaconf cannot detect soundcard (Realtek ALC889)..after upgrade to 13.37.

slackd · 05-04-2011, 06:22 AM

Hello,

I updated my Slackware installation to 13.37 today. I was running current (a few weeks old).

I recently bought a new set of 2.1 speakers, so i thought of re-running alsaconf and then alsamixer.

Thats when i got this strange error:

Code:

No supported PnP or PCI card found.

These are the contents of my /etc/modprobe.d/sound.conf

Code:

# --- BEGIN: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---
# --- ALSACONF version 1.0.23 ---
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel
# --- END: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---

Here is the output of lspci and dmesg:

lspci:

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DMI (rev 11)
00:03.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 11)
00:08.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor System Management Registers (rev 11)
00:08.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor Semaphore and Scratchpad Registers (rev 11)
00:08.2 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor System Control and Status Registers (rev 11)
00:08.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor Miscellaneous Registers (rev 11)
00:10.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link (rev 11)
00:10.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Routing and Protocol Registers (rev 11)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 06)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 06)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 06)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G94 [GeForce 9600 GT] (rev a1)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)
04:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6315 Series Firewire Controller
05:00.0 SATA controller: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB362/JMB363 Serial ATA Controller (rev 03)
05:00.1 IDE interface: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB362/JMB363 Serial ATA Controller (rev 03)

dmesg:

Code:

[   12.132874] HDA Intel 0000:00:1b.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 22
[   12.143350] HDA Intel 0000:00:1b.0: irq 48 for MSI/MSI-X
[   12.143371] HDA Intel 0000:00:1b.0: setting latency timer to 64
[   12.246004] hda_codec: ALC889: BIOS auto-probing.
[   12.261431] input: HDA Intel Headphone as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input4
[  364.430482] hda-intel: IRQ timing workaround is activated for card #0. Suggest a bigger bdl_pos_adj.

Ok...The funny thing is, the sound still works! (Alsamixer shows all the 6 channels of my previous 5.1 speaker system).

Additional Info:

*Am using a customized kernel - version 2.6.39-rc5.
**It does not work in the default Kernel 2.6.37.6, not even in 2.6.38.
*** It works in kernel version 2.6.35.x and 2.6.36.x. (I checked!)

Please Help me out.

Sam.

Mark Pettit · 05-04-2011, 07:07 AM

I also noticed that on my laptop. But I'm still busy with the install - I bought a new drive for 13.37, and then swap between 13.1 and 13.37 until I'm satisfied that all is well. A few weeks back I tried this on one of the RC's (1 or 2 - can't remember) and it was fine (I think). To be honest, I've never been totally satisfied with the default ALSA anyway - I find that a build from scratch seems to work the best. And I like to play Quake2, so I compile the old OSS interface as well, which I don't think the default supplies you with.

I expect to be trying out the rebuild of ALSA from scratch only in about 3/4 days time. If you do it first, please report back on your findings.

croxen · 05-04-2011, 09:30 AM

I've had trouble with this type of card from time to time in Slack 12.2 and 13.1

The problem seems to be that the hda-intel card needs to have modprobe options passed at boot by means of the composing an alsa-base.conf file placed under /etc/modprobe.d

This alsa-base.conf would have a single line in it:

options snd-hda-intel model=MODEL

where MODEL is replaced by the model of your actual card as discovered here: http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentat...dio-Models.txt

In mine, which is an old Intel BTX board with a STAC92XX soundboard of some sort, my alsa-base.conf is as follows:

options snd-hda-intel model=ref index=0

I suspect yours will probably use one of the ALC880 model options from the above-linked list: "model=3stack" or similar.

enorbet · 05-04-2011, 12:45 PM

Greetz
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain....." this isn't gonna be a blue streak just an observation and opinion. People complain about wifi support but there is only a little that Linux developers can do about that w/o support from the manufacturers. However, sound is so fundamental to Desktop/SOHO PCs that it is a crime that Alsa is so tacky that even OSS v4 is gaining on it if all you want is great sound. IMHO, while I applaud "too many choices" in most areas, sound is the single most important weak link in Linux, and none of them, not OpenAl, SDL, esd, pulseaudio, OSS, etc etc let alone Alsa, has a complete solid solution.

My sympathies and apologies for being no more specific than asking you to check what options are configured in the respective kernels (you did oldconfig?) and are there competing modules that may apply (or think they do) that need to be blacklisted? Oh, and good luck = ^ )

Mark Pettit · 05-04-2011, 11:18 PM

Ok - this is just weird. I managed to get a few hours last night to continue my installation - and while I thought ALSA wasn't working because it doesn't detect the soundcard, it appears that I still get sound. I can play mp3's (mpg123) and movies (vlc). So I'm also in the exact same position as the OP. It works, but it says it doesn't. Hmmmmm .....

santaslilslacker · 05-05-2011, 01:54 AM

ALSA... First letter stands for Agony, not audio. Upgraded my current to 13.37 few days ago and now, as always, I'm having problems with mic in teamspeak, mic in skype, multiple sound streams and similar things that make me pull my hair. I think I'll wait for new OSS release so I can ditch forever this pathetic "agony system" excuse.

slackd · 05-05-2011, 02:00 AM

Hey,

I am sorry i could not report back earlier.

I tried everything to fix this problem...nothing seems to work!!

1. Tried compiling the (2.6.39-rc5) kernel with Pat's configs from the testing tree.
2. Tried rebuild alsa from source.
3. Tried alsa-base.conf.

This is really pissing me off!

** Am going to try the New Dev kernel (2.6.39-rc6) next.

Mark Pettit · 05-05-2011, 02:30 AM

In the past, when I've battled with things of this nature, I've often tried running the Ubuntu live-cd, with a kernel that approximately matches my Slack one, to see what they're doing. One has to respect that Ubuntu (and Debian) have a far bigger install-base than Slack, so learning a few tricks from them is never a bad idea. I'll try and download the latest Ubuntu desktop CD over the weekend and see what that does.

I have huge respect for the ALSA developers - and as long as OSS is not open (really open) I'll never use it. We must stick with ALSA and get it right. Also, I have suspicion that this migth not really be an ALSA issue - it worked fine before on this very laptop. Perhaps something in the kernel itself, or udev ? I don't know - it's all new.