Installing Creative SB Live sound card on Slackware

kwikness · 04-24-2006, 11:10 AM

Hi i'm not getting any sound on linux. When I start up KDE, I get an error message:

Error while initializing the sound driver:
device/dsp can't be opened (No such device)
The sound server will continue, using the nulloutput device.

I've got a Sound Blaster Live card.

Is there any more information I could post that would be more helpful in getting this to work?

paulsiu · 04-24-2006, 11:29 AM

1. Does the device work if you're login as root?

2. Have you try running alsaconf as root?

Paul

elyk · 04-24-2006, 11:31 AM

Here's a quick tutorial:

As root, run "alsaconf" and follow along. It should find and set up your soundcard.

Next, run "alsamixer" and set the volume levels. Try playing any sound clip to check that everything works.

Finally, run "alsactl store" to save the volume levels for next time you boot.

kwikness · 04-24-2006, 12:11 PM

When I run "alsaconf", It says:
No Supported PnP or PCI Card found.
Would you like to probe Legacy ISA Sound cards/chips?
I selected yes, and it told me "No legacy drivers are available." and exited.

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulsiu

1. Does the device work if you're login as root?

2. Have you try running alsaconf as root?

Paul

Yes, at this point I haven't logged in as anything other than root.

paulsiu · 04-24-2006, 12:58 PM

When you do a lspci, does the sound card appear?

If you have a MB with onboard sound, make sure you disable it in the bios.

Paul

kwikness · 04-24-2006, 01:22 PM

Did an lspci and it looks like it detected my sound card. Here's the line..

02:0c.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! Emu10k1 (rev07)

What is a MB and how do I know if it has onboard sound? Sorry, but i'm new to this stuff. Thanks for your help.

elyk · 04-24-2006, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulsiu

When you do a lspci, does the sound card appear?

If you have a MB with onboard sound, make sure you disable it in the bios.

Paul

I don't think disabling the onboard sound in the BIOS has any effect. I've got both onboard and an SB Live enabled; both appear when running alsaconf.

What version of slackware are you running? You may need to upgrade Alsa to a version that will detect the card.

kwikness · 04-24-2006, 04:15 PM

slackware 10.1, thats the newest version isn't it? where can i get an update for alsa?

ioerror · 04-24-2006, 05:45 PM

The most recent version of Slackware is 10.2. I doubt you need a new version of alsa, the SB Live is an old card, and mine works fine with 10.1 and 10.2. What happens when you try to load the module manually? (as root 'modprobe snd-emu10k1' (or is it snd_emu10k1)). Also, onboard sound is not the problem, Linux supports multiple sound cards, my onboard sound is active (though unused) and doesn't cause any problems.

paulsiu · 04-24-2006, 09:47 PM

I am currently using slackware 10.2 and I have SB Live card.

Try ioerror advice and use modprobe. I got mines working once by doing the following:

lspci

This list the cards on the PCI bus. It was then I realize the card was emu10k. I did modprobe -l and locate the closest match and did:

modprobe <device>

kwikness · 04-24-2006, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ioerror

What happens when you try to load the module manually? (as root 'modprobe snd-emu10k1' (or is it snd_emu10k1))

I get a Can't locate module error for both those.

I did modprobe -l, there isn't anything there that resembles emu10k1.
There are 2 drivers named sb.o, and sb_lib.o, but when tring to modprobe these drivers, a bunch of "unresolved symbol" errors scrawls accross my screen.

yuchai · 04-24-2006, 11:26 PM

Did you compile your own kernel? If so, did you enable the appropriate module for your SB Live soundcard? ie your config should have CONFIG_SND_EMU10K1=m

kwikness · 04-24-2006, 11:38 PM

Well I recompiled it trying to fix this problem. I didn't really know what I was doing so I guess I could have screwed something up. How can I check?

P.S. A couple days ago, I didn't know wtf a kernel was. As a matter of fact, I still don't. Heh.

This is getting aggrivating, I might just say F*ck linux..

paulsiu · 04-24-2006, 11:46 PM

Can you display the result from lspci?

Paul

yuchai · 04-24-2006, 11:56 PM

When you compile your kernel, make sure you select ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) under Device Drivers > Sound. Also make sure you select the appropriate OSS compatibility options as well as the SB Live modules under the PCI devices section. In fact, if in doubt, you can select to build all the modules under ALSA without any problems i believe.