Kernel 2.6.test11, alsa & sblive. Sound isn't working
 

Ok, I don't seem to be able to get my sound going, any ideas? SHould I have sound built into or as a mod, should I have alsa built into or a mod, should I have sblive built into or as a mod,???


Code:
# grep audio /proc/pci
Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 7).


On my volume control I get:

"Couldn't open mixer device /dev/sound/mixer"

As a normal user and root.

Anything I should add to /etc/modules.conf or another file.

thx

Firstly,

What is the output of 'lsmod' at the command line? Does it show any modules loaded? I'm using Linux 2.6-test11 with an SB Live! Value and I had to 'tweak' the init scripts a bit to get it to load the modules on boot up. Previously I had it working perfectly fine built into the kernel, but I wanted to reduce the size of my kernel. Here's what lsmod shows for me (sound related modules only):

snd_pcm_oss 48452 0
snd_mixer_oss 17024 3 snd_pcm_oss
snd_emu10k1 90436 2
snd_rawmidi 20736 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_pcm 86784 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_emu10k1
snd_timer 21568 1 snd_pcm
snd_seq_device 6468 2 snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi
snd_ac97_codec 52420 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_page_alloc 9028 2 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
snd_util_mem 3264 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_hwdep 7488 1 snd_emu10k1
snd 42564 10 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_seq_device,snd_ac97_codec,sn d_util_mem,snd_hwdep
soundcore 7040 3 snd

If you built the ALSA modules properly, as root at the command line you should be able to type "modprobe snd-emu10k1" and have it load all of those modules except for the "oss" ones. For those, just type "modprobe snd-mixer-oss". You must have selected the proper choices when building a kernel for OSS compatibility (which I recommend) in order for the second modprobe command to execute properly.

You could just build it directly into your kernel (which will work fine too) if you don't mind the increased kernel size. That's the easiest thing to do. Otherwise you'll have to do a bit of mucking in either the /etc/rc.d/rc.modules or the /etc/rc.d/rc.alsa scripts. And I'm guessing you probably won't want to be doing that. ;)

And if you're curious, my /etc/modules.conf looks like the one recommended by the ALSA webstite:
#-----
alias char-major-116 snd
alias char-major-14 soundcore

# ALSA portion
alias snd-card-0 snd-emu10k1

# OSS/Free portion
alias sound-slot-0 emu10k1

# OSS/Free portion - card #0
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
#-----

But like I said, it's probably going to be easier for you to build the ALSA support directly into the kernel.

I have the sb live value and would greatly appreciate some info on what scripts you load and if you expierienced a problem with the /etc/modules.conf not loading the sound drivers. and even after OSSmods are loaded via modprobe it doesn't work.

Here are the modules I get to load (sound only) after modprobe of snd-emu10k1 & snd-pcm-oss.

snd_pcm_oss 52260 0
snd_mixer_oss 18816 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_emu10k1 96068 0
snd_rawmidi 24416 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_pcm 97188 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_emu10k1
snd_timer 24708 1 snd_pcm
snd_seq_device 8392 2 snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi
snd_ac97_codec 62020 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_page_alloc 11908 2 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
snd_util_mem 4480 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_hwdep 9440 1 snd_emu10k1
snd 53796 11 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_seq_device,snd_ac97_codec,sn d_util_mem,snd_hwdep
soundcore 7616 1 snd

To me they look the same as yours. what do you have for your init scripts? I have no rc.alsa or rc.modules it is a fedora core base.

Any help is greatly appreciated,
Michael C. Richman

Sorry I didn't realize I was in a slackware forum. I got here from google.

Sorry,
any insight is still appreciatd! :-)
Michael C. Richman

in slack 9,1 with kernel 2.6?
i have such machine and alsa and multithreaded sound.
question is ,that you not only need right conf for soundblaster ,but put em to modprobe.conf
2.6 behaves different and do not need modules.conf.both are still on /etc/
and if allready 2.6 ,compile soundcard driver directly to kernel.