Has anyone had problems with getting nforce2 audio drivers to work under Slackware 10? I'm using the default 2.4.26 kernel, and I have an nforce2 mobo with integrated audio. Sound does not initialize, and I get an error when I log in to X that it can't open the device because it does not exist.
Alsamixer detects an intel 8x0 chipset. Any suggestions?

As root run alsamixer. Unmute the channels by pressing m. When you've got the sound how you want run alsactl store.

Andrew, may I ask how unmuting channels for a device that "does not exist" (as per the error) is going to help sfmusicman?

sfmusicman might instead better go to the KDE Control Center=>Sound and Multimedia and change the aRTs output device to ALSA or OSS (rather than the default "Autodetect), and/or might also go to KUser and make sure he is a member of the "audio" group (if using KDE, of course; if using GNOME, similar operations for the esd sound server can be performed with the GNOME Control Center and with the User Management tool in the Gnome System Tools package, or with command-line tools if using another WM entirely), run alsaconf to (re-)set and (re-)configure the sound card-- or best of all, run lsmod in a terminal, to see just what sound-related driver modules are in fact loaded (doesn't nVidia provide nforce drivers as well?), before trying to unmute the mixer channels (which will, admittedly, probably be necessary at some point).

Nvidia is the graphics driver. Does a fish need a motorbike? If the soundcard is not detected by the graphics card it is irrelevant. Alsa is the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture. alsamixer detects an intel8x0 chipset.

Don't nforce boards use nforce audio? That would not be the first audio chipset that is not specifically "Intel" that uses the intel8x0 ALSA driver-- iirc, many C-Media chips use that driver as well. A check of the supported soundcards list on the ALSA site confirms this...

From the "Details" page for the nforce audio driver:

Nforce boards, like VIA boards have "extra" drivers for the motherboard, which usually include the IDE controllers, and often the sound chip as well. Most nforce boards don't even come with integrated nVidia video chips onboard (although they can).

That's why I suggested checking the nVidia site to see if such drivers might be there for Linux as well; I feel like I have heard this a couple of times, but don't myself have an nforce board, so I've never checked.

When X initializes, here is the message I get:
Informational - artsmessage
Sound server informational message:
device /dev/dsp can't be opened (no such device)
The sound server will continue, using the null output device.

If I run alsamixer as root, or as my userID, I get the following:
alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: no such device.

I get the same error if I switch from ALSA to OSS in my KDE control center as I do when X initializes.

Hope this helps.

What is the output of lsmod?

Module Size Used by Tainted: P
snd-pcm-oss 37736 0 (autoclean) (unused)
snd-pcm 56072 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss]
snd-timer 13604 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm]
snd-page-alloc 6328 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm]
snd-mixer-oss 12504 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss]
snd 30852 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss snd-pcm snd-timer snd-mixer-oss]
soundcore 3396 0 (autoclean) [snd]
usbcore 59308 1
pcmcia_core 39972 0
ntfs 51424 1 (autoclean)
ide-scsi 9328 0
forcedeth 9164 1
agpgart 43940 0 (unused)

Well, I see a lot of mixer modules, and a generic sound module, but I don't see snd-intel8x0.

Which means that you've got mixers, but they aren't attached to any sound card, so naturally they don't work.

What happens if you modprobe snd-intel8x0 then (if the module loads) log out and back in (or otherwise restart the sound server)?

Here's what I get when I do a modprobe snd-intel8x0 as root:

/lib/modules/2.4.26/kernel/sound/pci/snd-intel8x0.o.gz: init_module: No such device
/lib/modules/2.4.26/kernel/sound/pci/snd-intel8x0.o.gz: Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
/lib/modules/2.4.26/kernel/sound/pci/snd-intel8x0.o.gz: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.26/kernel/sound/pci/snd-intel8x0.o.gz failed
/lib/modules/2.4.26/kernel/sound/pci/snd-intel8x0.o.gz: insmod snd-intel8x0 failed

Sounds like you didn't compile the module when you compiled the kernel, or installed ALSA.

What does dmesg say?

If you installed ALSA yourself, you might want to reinstall following the directions linked to previously on the ALSA site: From the "Details" page for the nforce audio driver

If the 2.4.26 kernel contains integrated ALSA (I use a 2.6 series kernel, and don't really know if the recent 2.4 series backports include ALSA integration), you might want to select the intel8x0 driver as a module or directly compiled, and then recompile the kernel and modules. In both cases, you'll probably want to configure the module to load at startup using the standard Slackware protocols to do so.

And, as previously suggested, you might want to go to the nVidia driver download page and get the Linux drivers for the nforce2 motherboard, which:

Here is the output of dmesg. Sorry it's so long....

lease try using pci=biosirq.
hcd.c: Found HC with no IRQ. Check BIOS/PCI 00:02.2 setup!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:02.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin B of device 00:02.1. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
ohci1394: $Rev: 1045 $ Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org>
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 01:07.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ohci1394: Failed to allocate shared interrupt 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
Nvidia Audio, 23:27:21 Jul 8 2004 version 0274
Nvaudio: in Funcction Nvaudio_init_module
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:06.0 to 64
Nvaudio: NVIDIA nForce2 Audio found at IO 0xd000 and 0xe400, IRQ 0
Nvaudio: unable to allocate irq 0
Nvaudio: ERROR DONE CARD FREED
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin C of device 00:02.2. Please try using pci=biosirq.
hcd.c: Found HC with no IRQ. Check BIOS/PCI 00:02.2 setup!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:02.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin B of device 00:02.1. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
ohci1394: $Rev: 1045 $ Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org>
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 01:07.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ohci1394: Failed to allocate shared interrupt 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
Nvidia Audio, 23:27:21 Jul 8 2004 version 0274
Nvaudio: in Funcction Nvaudio_init_module
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:06.0 to 64
Nvaudio: NVIDIA nForce2 Audio found at IO 0xd000 and 0xe400, IRQ 0
Nvaudio: unable to allocate irq 0
Nvaudio: ERROR DONE CARD FREED
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin C of device 00:02.2. Please try using pci=biosirq.
hcd.c: Found HC with no IRQ. Check BIOS/PCI 00:02.2 setup!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:02.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin B of device 00:02.1. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
ohci1394: $Rev: 1045 $ Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org>
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 01:07.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ohci1394: Failed to allocate shared interrupt 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
Nvidia Audio, 23:27:21 Jul 8 2004 version 0274
Nvaudio: in Funcction Nvaudio_init_module
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:06.0 to 64
Nvaudio: NVIDIA nForce2 Audio found at IO 0xd000 and 0xe400, IRQ 0
Nvaudio: unable to allocate irq 0
Nvaudio: ERROR DONE CARD FREED
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin C of device 00:02.2. Please try using pci=biosirq.
hcd.c: Found HC with no IRQ. Check BIOS/PCI 00:02.2 setup!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:02.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin B of device 00:02.1. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
ohci1394: $Rev: 1045 $ Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org>
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 01:07.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ohci1394: Failed to allocate shared interrupt 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
Nvidia Audio, 23:27:21 Jul 8 2004 version 0274
Nvaudio: in Funcction Nvaudio_init_module
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:06.0 to 64
Nvaudio: NVIDIA nForce2 Audio found at IO 0xd000 and 0xe400, IRQ 0
Nvaudio: unable to allocate irq 0
Nvaudio: ERROR DONE CARD FREED
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin C of device 00:02.2. Please try using pci=biosirq.
hcd.c: Found HC with no IRQ. Check BIOS/PCI 00:02.2 setup!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:02.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin B of device 00:02.1. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
ohci1394: $Rev: 1045 $ Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org>
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 01:07.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ohci1394: Failed to allocate shared interrupt 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
Nvidia Audio, 23:27:21 Jul 8 2004 version 0274
Nvaudio: in Funcction Nvaudio_init_module
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:06.0 to 64
Nvaudio: NVIDIA nForce2 Audio found at IO 0xd000 and 0xe400, IRQ 0
Nvaudio: unable to allocate irq 0
Nvaudio: ERROR DONE CARD FREED
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin C of device 00:02.2. Please try using pci=biosirq.
hcd.c: Found HC with no IRQ. Check BIOS/PCI 00:02.2 setup!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:02.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin B of device 00:02.1. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
ohci1394: $Rev: 1045 $ Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org>
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 01:07.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ohci1394: Failed to allocate shared interrupt 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
Nvidia Audio, 23:27:21 Jul 8 2004 version 0274
Nvaudio: in Funcction Nvaudio_init_module
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:06.0 to 64
Nvaudio: NVIDIA nForce2 Audio found at IO 0xd000 and 0xe400, IRQ 0
Nvaudio: unable to allocate irq 0
Nvaudio: ERROR DONE CARD FREED
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin C of device 00:02.2. Please try using pci=biosirq.
hcd.c: Found HC with no IRQ. Check BIOS/PCI 00:02.2 setup!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:02.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin B of device 00:02.1. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
ohci1394: $Rev: 1045 $ Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org>
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 01:07.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ohci1394: Failed to allocate shared interrupt 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
Nvidia Audio, 23:27:21 Jul 8 2004 version 0274
Nvaudio: in Funcction Nvaudio_init_module
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:06.0 to 64
Nvaudio: NVIDIA nForce2 Audio found at IO 0xd000 and 0xe400, IRQ 0
Nvaudio: unable to allocate irq 0
Nvaudio: ERROR DONE CARD FREED
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin C of device 00:02.2. Please try using pci=biosirq.
hcd.c: Found HC with no IRQ. Check BIOS/PCI 00:02.2 setup!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:02.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin B of device 00:02.1. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
ohci1394: $Rev: 1045 $ Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org>
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 01:07.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ohci1394: Failed to allocate shared interrupt 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
Nvidia Audio, 23:27:21 Jul 8 2004 version 0274
Nvaudio: in Funcction Nvaudio_init_module
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:06.0 to 64
Nvaudio: NVIDIA nForce2 Audio found at IO 0xd000 and 0xe400, IRQ 0
Nvaudio: unable to allocate irq 0
Nvaudio: ERROR DONE CARD FREED
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin C of device 00:02.2. Please try using pci=biosirq.
hcd.c: Found HC with no IRQ. Check BIOS/PCI 00:02.2 setup!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:02.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin B of device 00:02.1. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin C of device 00:02.2. Please try using pci=biosirq.
hcd.c: Found HC with no IRQ. Check BIOS/PCI 00:02.2 setup!
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:02.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin B of device 00:02.1. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
uhci.c: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver v1.1
usb-uhci.c: $Revision: 1.275 $ time 17:55:05 Jun 13 2004
usb-uhci.c: High bandwidth mode enabled
usb-uhci.c: v1.275:USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0

Well, I think you can see the repeated error here as well as I can; it looks like several different errors, but they all say the same thing ultimately:

ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0

Nvaudio: NVIDIA nForce2 Audio found at IO 0xd000 and 0xe400, IRQ 0
Nvaudio: unable to allocate irq 0

After several attempts, the kernel will report

Nvaudio: ERROR DONE CARD FREED

but shortly thereafter, the errors return:

PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:02.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.

PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:06.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
ALSA intel8x0.c:2518: unable to grab IRQ 0

constantly repeated.

So the impression that I'm getting is that the driver module for the sound card itself is known and attempts to load (so the problem is not the kernel being miscompiled or ALSA being misinstalled) but is a "physical" hardware issue that the kernel is unable to access the interupts of the card, therefore is unable to communicate fully with it and cannot load the driver module.

As the error says (several times), I would first add pci=biosirq to my bootloader configuration file (I don't know which bootloader you use, of course, LiLO or GRUB, but see the manuals if you don't know how to append an option).

I am not sure I would expect doing so to solve the problem, however, although it might.... there is likely a good reason (or more than one) that nVidia goes to all of the trouble of making separate proprietary Linux drivers for the nforce motherboards, rather than just relying on the kernel modules, and this might very well be one of those reasons.

It's quite possible that the nVidia drivers are the only ones that can communicate with the special pins on the chips in question, or are necessary to "translate" communications between the specialized chips in question and the kernel.

So again, I would suggest investigating the nforce motherboard drivers on the nVidia site, especially if adding pci=biosirq to your bootloader options does not produce any results.

If pci=biosirq does produce results, I would consider recompiling my kernel at some point to change the PCI IRQ search (Bus Options=>PCI Access Mode) option from "Direct" (which iirc is the default) to "BIOS" or "ANY". This is optional, as you certainly can use bootloader options to override the kernel settings, but I prefer to set my kernel options correctly in the first place, rather than overriding incorrect ones with additional bootloader options.

Hope this helps.

In your bios, try to activate or desactivate ACPI feature, it may help

I've also tried adding the Nvidia drivers with no success. I don't see how disabling ACPI in the bios is going to do any good, because I'm using the kernel without the ACPI support. I used the bare kernel when installing Slack 10. I'm at an impasse here....anyone else have suggestions?

Thanks.