Sound lost after kernel compile

dhbiker · 04-11-2004, 03:12 PM

no luck

alsa is the biggest piece of **** ever

how hard can it be to set up a ******* soundcard!?!

oneandoneis2 Its unlikely that its anything wrong as such with the kernel, most likely you've left out some vital options from the configuration. if you want to give me a list of all your hardware I'll make a .conf for you if you want?

dhbiker · 04-11-2004, 03:46 PM

GET IN!!!

Alsa is working now, turns out that it couldn't handle having my soundcard driver as part of the kernel

, changed it to a module and it works fine

oneandoneis2 · 04-11-2004, 05:04 PM

Well, I'm glad SOMEBODY's gotten sound working as a result of this thread

Any ideas on what option I've removed that needs to go in would be great - I'm using:
MoBo: Asus A7N8X Deluxe WITH BUILT IN SOUND CARD
CPU: Athlon XP2500+ Barton
RAM: Crucial 512MB PC3200
Graphics: MSI MX440 8X AGP
2X IDE CD-ROMS
2x IDE HDs
Built-in ethernet port connected to ADSL router
Oh, and I plug my Palm PDA in from time to time

Everything is working fine other than the sound..

Cheers!

Nichole_knc · 04-11-2004, 07:48 PM

I just went through this today... Nearly the same.
First off when you installed Slack with a generic kernel from the cd it's config file is located in the /boot area. Copy it to a new name i.e. config.orig. DO NOT copy it to the source dir (/usr/src/linux) until AFTER you have 'make mrproper'. Once you have done 'mrproper' # cp /boot/config /usr/src/linux/.config . After 'make oldconfig - make dep - make clean' Then do which ever configure option you wish. Why??? well mrproper wipes the slate clean that includes any 'old' configure files. Now if you have read the HOWTOs, mans and what-nots all this is explained. You should have on hand a dmesg printed output, a lsmod printed output as well as a book or slacks site up... DO NOTE the Slackware website book install a kernel is NOT complete, There are other steps NOT listed at the slack site that ARE REQUIRED..

When you configure the kernel AND if you plan to use alsa drivers you must NOT install your card via the kernel ONLY (y) for sound support AND you should have read the alsa HOWTO so that you know what your cards chip types are so that you can (y) support for them...
What happens when you finish and install the kernel mods 'make module_install' ?? It will wipe the /lib/modules/ <kernel #>/' out completely. Including any third party drivers. Once you have a working kertnel mount the slackware9.1 cd disk 1. cd to the cdrom/slackware/l then installpkg alsa* once done cd /, alsaconf and tada you are noisy again.

Now as far as getting back to a working kernel. IF you followed the above steps all that you need to do is copy the /boot/config file to the source as .config as explained above and 'make dep - make clean - make bzImage - make modules - make modules_install - cp System.map /boot - cp /usr/src/linux/arch/1386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz - edit lilo.conf for correctness - /sbin/lilo - reboot - load correct kernal as you named in the lilo.conf - check out dmesg | less - mount the slack9.1 cd - installpkg /slackware/l/alsa* - alsaconf - alsamixer and away you should go....

Now if all that fails ya there are kernels located on the slack9.1 cd in the kernel directory with instructions on makin yourself a bare.i boot disk that you can use loadlin on a dos disk to boot your system to get it back to a working state. The kernel directories found on the slack disk also contain a config file for each one... But you still have to know your hardware!!!! also you should read the help as you are configuring the kernel """ when in doubt click (YES)"""....

I hope this helps. It is a fast summary of many sites, books and HOWTOs...

NOTE I like the BSD way better... It is a whole lot easier to hack two files and make world - reboot. no gui junk and a whole lot less hassle. I can CUSTOM.kern a bsdbox in about an hour topps. I spent half a day on my slack box and then some....

dhbiker · 04-12-2004, 04:51 AM

f***

I powered up this morning and no sound

re-ran alsaconf and I have sound again, I don't want to have to re-run alsaconf everytime I reboot - what do I need to do!?

Nichole_knc · 04-12-2004, 06:38 AM

Ok....
First; there is http://alsa-project.org/ for the full docs....

Second; Did you compile your kernel with your sound card built in?? The quick and dirty way to check this is to go to your kernel source directory and check the .config file 'sound' section at about line #858. Hre you see what you did when you configed your kernel. The very first line is the ONLY line that should be (y) ie- CONFIG_SOUND=y. Also in the alsa HOWTOs it gives card types and chip set IDs. This should be identified in your kernel as (m) ie- (in my box) CONFIG_SOUND_UART6850=m. That about covers that. why? Because if you have ---- CONFIG_SOUND_* your sound card *=y, CONFIG_SOUND_OSS=y or any other yes answered in the sound section THEN at each boot these load and take over from alsa. NOTE= Rebuild your kernel.

Third; Did you after running alsamixer issue the cmd "alsactl store"? This command writes the /etc/asound.state that loads when you boot to set the alsa drivers default state. How about the /etc/rc.d/rc.alsa??? Is it set to 755 permissions?? Is it there. As you can see it loads the alsa modules to the kernel AND IF your kernel has built in sound cards AND the associated what-nots THEN alsa fails to load AS it will be written in the system log files...

Final; When all else fails "put Slackware 9.1 cd disk one in the cd drive, reboot, follow the instructions to reinstall slack and start your learning process all over again". That should really solve it.... IMO

Linux and the GNU OS is NOT a windows box (think goodness). It will be only as 'smart' as you make it and without all the bloat...

oneandoneis2 · 04-12-2004, 07:14 AM

Nichole, I think I love you!

I have finally compiled a working kernel, and alsa has been sucessfully re-established.

I have sound again!! Woohoo!!!!!!!

Thank you very much!

Nichole_knc · 04-12-2004, 07:47 AM

Glad to have help.... I went through this whole thingy myself and learned a great deal..... My next great adventure in the linux kernel is a full netfilter configure... slash/hack/build....

dhbiker · 04-12-2004, 07:57 AM

Thanks Nichole!

It turns out that in my excitement of getting alsa working last time I forgot to alsactl store

how stupid do I feel

nixel · 05-01-2004, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by nnsg
Hi there

5. Run "modprobe <you_snd_card_module>" to see if it works or not.

6. (if 5. success) Run "alsamixer" and "alsactl store" to store your mixer setting.

That's how I (a newbie) fix my sound problem... (google is your best friend) hope this can help.

finally got the sound working for via82xx sound! thanks to everyone in this forum. i feel so proud.
i have a question on alsactl store.
when i run it..does it automatically tell the linux to boot it up at start up after going multiuser?

Muzzy · 05-01-2004, 05:15 AM

Quote:

i have a question on alsactl store.
when i run it..does it automatically tell the linux to boot it up at start up after going multiuser?

No - it means that when you run alsactl restore, it returns to the same state. If you add alsactl restore to the end of your boot-up script, this should fix it.

nixel · 05-01-2004, 12:01 PM

ok sound works fine but i see errors on boot up and i just cant leave it be..everything needs to be perfect. it happens when i go multi-user...heres the error:

Code:

Loading ALSA mixer settings:  /usr/sbin/alsactl restore
Loading OSS compatibility modules for ALSA
FATAL: Module snd_mixer_oss already in kernel

heres what i did. i put "/sbin/modprobe snd-via82xx" in my rc.modules file. then i put "/sbin/alsactl restore" in my rc.local file.
i recompiled twice looking for this option in both menuconfig and xconfig to look for snd_mixer_oss. how can i keep this error from happening? thanks in advance.

edit: heres my lsmod output.

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
snd_pcm_oss            50052  1 
snd_mixer_oss          18112  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_via82xx            22112  1 
snd_pcm                87680  2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_via82xx
snd_timer              22784  1 snd_pcm
snd_ac97_codec         62020  1 snd_via82xx
snd_page_alloc          9092  2 snd_via82xx,snd_pcm
snd_mpu401_uart         6208  1 snd_via82xx
snd_rawmidi            21376  1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device          6852  1 snd_rawmidi
snd                    48836  9 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_via82xx,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_ac97_codec,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
ide_scsi               14084  0 
agpgart                28744  0

i see snd_mixer_oss in there twice for some reason

Muzzy · 05-01-2004, 03:42 PM

This error means is that modprobe snd_mixer_oss is being called twice during the startup scripts. It seems that the second time is probably because alsactl is calling it. The first time is presumably when your soundcard module is loaded? I don't know for sure the details, but I am pretty sure that this error is safe to ignore. If someone can help you remove the error it would be great, but if not, I wouln't worry too much.

--edit--

Your snd_mixer_oss only appears once in lsmod - the first column is the important one, the last column is just telling you which modules are using each module.

nixel · 05-01-2004, 08:17 PM

so i mustve compiled it into the kernel then? i could never find which option this is. does anyone know the CONFIG line for this?

thanks for all your help muzzy

Nichole_knc · 05-02-2004, 06:13 AM

There is a difference in the 2.4.## to the 2.6.# kernel sound sections.

In the former alsa was not available to configure into the kernel with 2.6 you can, maybe, with limited success.
In the configure file under /usr/src/linux/.config alsa occupies the area between lines 987 and 1003. You can 'less' it and view what you complied in. below this section is oss and sound cards. As with the older kernels you should use either alsa drivers OR oss drivers NOT both as it would cause conflict.
From reading the many post here at the forum it is easy to gather that there is a problem with kernel 2.6.#, alsa and compiling it into the kernel. There is a large number of post where people have problems with this kernel and alsa. There are few successes written.
It would be suggested that using the 2.6.# kernel you continuse to compile alsa and related sound as modules since this seems to pose the least amount of issues...

There are other kernel "tips" related to using modules. The best one is use the (y) option to compile in only what is ab-so-lut-ly needed to make you machine run without the bells and whistles. Then for the bells and whistles make them (m) modules. This way you have a "bare" kernel to make a boot/rescue disk with just to get the box up in case you have issues...

Are configure yourself up a pusedo 'mirrioring raid' with several hard drives and if a box crashes take a drive and build another box.. I have 3 root drives...