I have searched for many hours now to find an actual solution to the following problem. I have found my people with similar problems, but no solutions posted (at least ones that I can follow).

I am running SuSE 9.2 Pro on an Asus A7N8X Deluxe board. I am running the 2.6.8 kernel with the nVIDIA drivers (ethernet, sound and graphics). The graphics and ethernet work great. However, I can only get ANALOG sound (I have read the nVIDIA faq that comes with the drivers and adjusted my "sound" file in the modprobe.d directory. I also changed the hardware setting to "Threaded Open Sound System").

I am running a coaxial cable out of the onboard SoundStorm chipset into a Cambridge Soundworks Dolby Digital decoder. The nV Mixer loads fine, and recognizes my sound system:
Under "Information Tab":
Product Name : nForce APU / SoundStorm
Hardware Model: nForce2 MCP-T
Hardware Revision: a2
Audio Driver Version: 1.0-1
Linux Kernel Version: 2.6.8
Codec Manufacturer: Realtek
Codec Model: ALC650
Codec Capabilities: 1 Codec, 6 Channels

However, the "Speaker Wizard" is greyed out. Also, there is no area in the mixer that I can find to enable digital output. I thought it was supposed to be under the "Advanced" tab. My advanced tab only has the nV Swap utilities (MIC TO CENTERLFE, LINE TO SURROUND LR, and CENTER AND LFE).
Under the "Speaker" tab, I can select 5.1 Speakers, and adjust the volumes, but when I go to Surround settings everything is greyed out except the "Ecoding Options where I can only select "None" or "Clone".
The "Volume" tab appears to be normal. It is almost as if I am missing sections of the nV Mixer for some reason.

The most intertesting part is that the digital light on my decoder is illuminated as if it is receiving a digital singal, but no sound will come out of the digital speakers. In fact, when I adjust the volume on the nV Mixer it affects only the analog sound output. I have blacklisted all oss and alsa modules, and when I "lsmod" the only sound driver running is nvsound.
Here is a list from lsmod:

nvsound 1531496 1
soundcore 9056 2 nvsound
nvidia 4815052 12
usbserial 26856 0
parport_pc 37824 1
lp 10536 0
parport 37960 2 parport_pc,lp
nvram 8328 0
speedstep_lib 4228 0
freq_table 4356 0
thermal 17928 0
processor 25640 1 thermal
fan 5380 0
button 8464 0
battery 11396 0
ac 6404 0
ipt_TOS 2560 14
ip6t_LOG 6656 22
ip6t_limit 2432 22
ipt_LOG 6912 35
ipt_limit 2432 35
ipt_pkttype 1792 4
edd 10012 0
af_packet 20872 2
ip6t_state 2048 22
ip6_conntrack 38404 1 ip6t_state
ipt_state 2176 28
ip6t_REJECT 7552 3
ipt_REJECT 6784 3
iptable_mangle 2944 1
iptable_filter 3072 1
ip6table_mangle 2688 0
ip_nat_ftp 5232 0
iptable_nat 23980 1 ip_nat_ftp
ip_conntrack_ftp 72752 1 ip_nat_ftp
ip_conntrack 43512 4 ipt_state,ip_nat_ftp,iptable_nat,ip_conntrack_ftp
ip_tables 17664 9 ipt_TOS,ipt_LOG,ipt_limit,ipt_pkttype,ipt_state,ip t_REJECT,iptable_mangle,iptable_filter,iptable_nat
ip6table_filter 2816 1
ip6_tables 18816 6 ip6t_LOG,ip6t_limit,ip6t_state,ip6t_REJECT,ip6tabl e_mangle,ip6table_filter
ipv6 237312 20 ip6_conntrack,ip6t_REJECT
3c59x 37544 0
usblp 12032 1
ds 17796 0
joydev 9664 0
yenta_socket 19840 0
pcmcia_core 66100 2 ds,yenta_socket
sg 35872 0
st 37404 0
sr_mod 16292 0
ide_cd 38176 0
cdrom 36508 2 sr_mod,ide_cd
ohci_hcd 20228 0
ehci_hcd 29188 0
nvidia_agp 7580 1
agpgart 32168 2 nvidia_agp
ohci1394 31748 0
ieee1394 106168 1 ohci1394
binfmt_misc 11272 1
evdev 8960 0
subfs 7552 2
nls_utf8 2176 2
ntfs 91888 2
dm_mod 54524 0
usbcore 106724 7 usbserial,usblp,ohci_hcd,ehci_hcd
reiserfs 242000 1
sata_sil 8196 1
libata 41860 1 sata_sil
sd_mod 16912 2
scsi_mod 111052 5 sg,st,sr_mod,libata,sd_mod

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have searched many forums and have yet to find a way to use the nVIDIA drivers, I am not interested in alsa or oss. (Unless of course you can show me a step-by-step way to get digital and analog output at the same time using those modules). Even an html link would be great. Thanks for your valuable time.

PS - I am relatively new to the whole Linux world, so detailed responses are greatly appreciated.
__________________
Chris Spinelli

Home built rig:
Asus A7N8X Deluxe (nForce2)
nVIDIA GeForce 5200 (256 MB)
WD Raptor 74 GB
2.25 GB Corsair XMS
SuSE 9.2 / XP Pro

Some cursory steps. Upgrade you motherboard bios if you haven't.

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/downl...eluxe&Type=All

Disable APIC and PNP in the BIOS.

Make sure your kernel-source package is installed and UPDATED. Do this via yast.

Install as ROOT at init 3 this:

http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/n...-0292-pkg1.run

You should be at init 3 or init 1 when doing this. It's not a fun-loving as the nvidia video drivers.

/sbin/ldconfig

Reboot.

Check your settings options again.

1) Bios up-to-date 1008 (PCB Rev 1.6)
2) disabled APIC and PnP in bios
3) Re-installed 0292 audio drivers as root in init 3
4) ran /sbin/ldconfig
5) re-booted

NvMixer did not change. Still missing the digital output selection under the NvMixer and no "Speaker Wizard".

Still only getting analog sound from KsCD. Is there another program I can use to check the digital output? The digital light is still on my digital decoder, but I don't hear digital sound out of the speakers with KsCD. Please let me know if there is another program that I can use to check for the digital audio. Also, the NvMixer still does not look like it is working exactly right. Any other thoughts?

Perhaps the digital output is muted. Digital1 is muted on mine by default. I installed aumix to adjust it.

I have 2.8 of aumix, but there is no "Digital1" selection. The only options are:

Vol
Spkr
Line
Mic
CD
IGain
Line1
PhoneIn
PhoneOut
Video

None in the list is muted. Thanks again, sorry it did not work.

This is a driver configuration problem, unless it's disabled in the BIOS. I have the same motherboard and am listening to your chipset right now.

I am not sure I understand what you meant by " . . . am listening to your chipset right now."

1) Are you also running SuSE 9.2?
2) Are you running digital audio out of your computer on an Asus A7N8X Deluxe board?
3) If so, are you using the nVIDIA drivers?
4) Are you using the NvMIXER?
5) Are you using a coaxial cable, or some other means to get the digital audio?
6) What decoder are you using to decode the digital signal?
7) What program are you using to listen to the digital audio?
8) Is there some other BIOS setting I am missing?

Thanks for all of your help, if I can get this working I will owe you one.

Ok, I am writing this for the edification of every noooooooobie out there like myself who has spent hours trying to get audio up and running. It can be done.

First let me start by saying that the support and nVIDIA was ABSOLUTELY TOP NOTCH!! I had one gentleman working with me who was knowledgeable, patient and very helpful. I know, I know, you are saying "Yeah right" , but it is true. Regardless of what others say nVIDIA does care about Linux and getting their drivers to work. I personally know of at least two people who tossed their ATI cards in favor of nVIDIA ones due to the solid Linux support. Anyway, enough of that on the the real stuff.

Also, it turns out that I did not need to change any BIOS settings to get it to work. So don't bother looking there. Sorry, Thoreau, but thanks for the try.

I have a home built rig with an Asus A7N8X Deluxe mother board (nForce2, SoundStorm or Sound Storm audio chip) and an nVIDIA FX 5200 (256 MB). I am running SuSE 9.2 Pro, an awesome distribution, very easy to learn and use. I have never had any experience with Linux before now, and I am never going back to Windows, unless I have to. I never had any problems with video, worked great right from the start, I used YaST Online Update (YOU) to get the newest video drivers. (I highly recommend that route for anyone who does not know where to get started in SuSE to upgrade, it is very slick, especially once you get it setup with pacman's website.) I then downloaded the audio/network drivers from their website (0292). I used their install function, which worked fine. Here is where the problems began. I could not get any sound and the nvmixer was not working. I AM USING ONLY THE NVIDIA AUDIO DRIVERS, NOTHING ELSE. IF YOU WANT TO GO THIS ROUTE CONTINUE, OTHERWISE YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN (I am getting both digital and analog sound at once). I am using a coaxial cable out of my SoundStorm chipset into a Cambridge SoundWorks DTT3500 Digital decoder to get my 5.1 digital sound.

1. Disable the "Sound System" in the Control Center: Start -> Control Center -> Sound & Multimedia -> Sound System -> make sure "Enable the sound system" is unchecked.
2. Open YaST: Start -> System -> YaST (enter your root password)
3. Select "System" in left hand area then select "Runlevel Editor".
4. A new window will pop-up (Runlevel Editor: Services / Simple Mode). Scroll down until you see "alsasound" and click on it. Select the "Disable" button. Now alsa will not load when you start your machine, you won't need it.
Note: This is also where you can start things like ptal for printing, the firewall, etc.
5. Click "Finish"
Those with DMA DVD players only!
5a. Since we are here, select "Hardware" from the left panel.
5a1. Selected "IDE DMA Mode" from right panel
5a2. Find your DVD drive and click on it.
5a3. In the bottom panel there is a drop down menu "DMA Mode", pull down the menu and select "DMA On" . Now you will not need to do the whole hdparm command as root every time you log in
5a4. Click finish
Note **Do NOT try to use YaST to setup the sound!** (i.e. do not select "Sound" under the hardware menu, it will not work)
6. Download and install the latest nVIDIA sound/network drivers (currently 0292 as of 11 Feb 05). Follow the instructions on the website at: http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux.html. (PLEASE read the HTML instruction at the bottom of the webpage!!!!) (i.e. there are changes that must be made to the "etc/modprobe.d/sound" file) Here is a copy of mine:
alias snd-card-0 nvsound
alias sound-slot-0 nvsound
alias eth0 nvnet
(Note: if you use the "alias eth0 nvnet" line you must setup your network adapter to use the nvnet driver. Do not follow the instructions in the HTML if you already have your network installed and working. Just do the following: YaST -> Network Devices -> Network Card -> Select your current network card and select "Change" -> Edit -> Advanced... -> Hardware Details -> Module Name -> make sure it says "nvnet" not forcedeth or something else. Sorry about the side trip there.)
7. Download your favorite media player, I recommend Xine for the nVIDIA drivers in SuSE 9.2, MPlayer also works for me, but I have issues with DVDs that have the DTS sound track, I only get a load buzz, more on that later . . .
7a. You can download the .rpm's for Xine and MPlayer at (http://packman.links2linux.org/index.php4?action=cat) (Use the search option at the top of the page) Also, note the extra .rpm's needed at the bottom of each page for your particular package.
8. Use YaST to install your packages. I know there are many advanced users out there who detest the rpm thing. Honestly, it is easy and most beginners will be happy with the default settings. Besides most of the settings can be changed if needed using the "wench" icon on both MPlayer and Xine (I know some things can not be changed without a recompile, so please don't berate me).
9. Since the audio/network drivers recompiled the kernel and you disabled the sound system, you should restart just to get everything up and running correctly.

DURING REBOOT PRESS ESC AND WATCH THE BOOT SEQUENCE FOR ANYTHING ABNORMAL. (You should see your DVD drive get set to DMA)

10. After you login open a terminal window (i.e. Konsole) and type "nvmixer &"
If everything goes well you, the NvMixer should pop up and be good to go. If you get errors, it most likely means that either the sound drivers did not get installed correctly, nvsound module is not loaded (use lsmod to check), or some other sound server is running, like als or arts, etc.
Some side notes on the NvMixer by tabs (Note: for now you always have to open NvMixer every time you reboot into Linux. The mixer does not save changes. nVIDIA is going to fix this in later driver versions):
Volume: No surprises here. Again if you get errors here same problems as before.
Speaker: Select your speaker arrangement, I use 5.1. Under Surround Settings there is only one section and options available: Encoding Options and <None> or <Clone>. Again nVIDIA is going to fix this in later versions of the drivers.
Advanced: Three self explanatory options. Note: the digital and analog selections have been removed. They are both on by default. If you want to get them back, let me know, and I will tell you how.
Information: Should show you all of your info. (Note: see my first post in this thread for an example)

I take a a brief moment here to let you know about some problems I was having with Xine. When I opened it and tried to run a DVD it work fine until I tried to skip chapters. It would then lock-up on me. the great support team from nVIDIA sent me their unreleased latest drivers 0299 and they fixed this problem, so now Xine plays great. No problems with audio or video. I am able to navigate the DVDs just fine. I will not give these drivers out so don't ask please. Mplayer is your other option. MPlayer will navigate through DVDs just fine, but it will not play any with the DTS audio sound track (all I get from the audio is a load buzz/squeal/static). Any other sound tracks play just fine in MPlayer. I have read other treads that point out the need for the libdts or now libdca package. Unfortunately, this package is not currently available (see the following site http://www.videolan.org/libdca.html). I was able to get the tar ball from a debian site. I manually installed it (i.e. ./configure, make, make install), but YaST does not recognize that I installed it!!! Does anyone know how to get YaST to recognize that I install the package?

When you first open Xine select the "wrench" for the setup menu. Under the "gui" tab select "Advanced" from the "experience_level". Then go to the "media" tab and enter your CD and DVD audio devices into the appropriate spots. Xine sets up standard one that are usually not right for SuSE 9.2. You can find out what your devices are named by press the little blue house in the bottom left of the desktop. Under the devices tab you will see all of your harddrive and CD drives. something like (/dev/dvdrecorder) etc. will be there. Use those names in the device spots. You can do the same thing in MPlayer. This will prevent you from having to use the "ln -s /dev/dvdrecorder /dev/dvd" command. Search around through the configuration options and set them up for your particular computer.

Then press the DVD or CD button in Xine and you should be off and running! I hope this helps. It took me long enough to write it, but I thought I might save some other poor sap the same time it took me to get things working. I guess that is what every noobie goes through. Cheers!

Chris Spinelli

One last note for Xine:

If you are having problems with which channel the sound is coming out of:
1. Stop playing any media in Xine
2. Go into the Xine setup under the "audio" tab and select oss, under "audio driver to use"
3. Select "Passthrough" under "speaker arrangement"
4. Press Apply and Close
5. Shut down Xine and restart

That should do the trick!

__________________
Chris Spinelli

Home built rig:
Asus A7N8X Deluxe (nForce2)
nVIDIA GeForce 5200 (256 MB)
WD Raptor 74 GB
2.25 GB Corsair XMS
SuSE 9.2 Pro / XP Pro

Wow Really helpful! When I'm going back to linux I will give this a try

Another note, when you follow step 1., and disable the sound system, you also loose the system sounds. I belive there is a work around for this by going Start -> Control Center -> Sound & Multimedia -> System Notifications -> Player Settings . . . -> check "Use external player". I saw a post where someone used "play", but I was not able to get it to work (of course, I am not sure I was using the same program either). Don't know if there is another player that will work, but if you find one that works let me know. Right now I am just doing without the system sounds.

And the posts continue . . . One of the problems I had when trying to test the digital sound was using a program that did not have any digital output associated with it. KsCD for instance only has analog sound, so you will never hear digital sound out of it. That is why I recommend using Xine or MPlayer. They will spit out both analog and digital at the same time. I did some further testing with MPlayer and found that if I selected "oss" as the audio driver under the "Audio" tab and then used "AC/DTS pass-through SP/DIF" under the "Codecs & demuxer" tab, that I could get the 5.1 sound out of MPlayer on the correct channels. I still got he annoying "no filter for ao/format" error, but the sound played fine on DVDs without DTS sound tracks. The ones with DTS sound tracks did not make the buzz/squeal/static anymore, they just did not play sound at all. The draw back to using the audio setup described is that MPlayer now locks-up if I try to navigate through the DVD using the chapter select button. I can still navigate through DVDs in MPlayer using the "sdl" sound driver and "AC3 decoding with liba52", but the sound comes out the wrong channels, and you get the buzz/squeal/static with DTS audio tracks. I have not tried every option in MPlayer, so there may be a combination of different options that works properly. If someone has some ideas let me know, or has cracked the code let me know.

Great Job on this. Very helpful and well written (besides the side notes and rambles )