?Possible to choose "Update" during Install (Reinstall)? to fix sound file
 

Hi, Back after a year since last post; still using Linspire!(5.0) (two machines, a Dell 2.8 and a recent model GQ preinstalled with Linspire) so lots of success (and luck)so far--credit and appreciation should be acknowledged I think (to Linspire AND help forums...)...

...so a speedbump along the way now, isn't something I necessarily want to make a mountain of, and researching things has turned up a possible answer in the form of a suggestion (a Linspire article and forum readings)to turn to the install CD...
okay great, because I'm chronically inept at things like trying to go somewhere (online)and get separate drivers to try to install; or similar creative solutions.
But the one time I installed Linspire 5 (another machine) from what I recall it took over most of the whole process, powerfully for sure since it even recognized a brand new but balky hard drive--so I'm feeling a little leery of committing to an "Install" or "Reinstall" or, in a way, even popping in the CD in the first place--the install I did once with it did wonders finding the new drive, but seemingly has blocked going back without some doing, to "before" {"before" being, another hard drive with Win XP on it}


so, my question: with my Linspire 5.1 CD
...
1. do I just
a.pop in Linspire 5 (I think approx 5.1)
b.choose what's rumored to be there: an "Update" option
c.and, that will repair the damaged files/drivers?
d. much risk of getting things jammed up worse than in the beginning?

..a little green and in the wilderness here, obviously, so, appreciative of any help...
and also, of Linspire itself, still...since it has probably "has" thus far done well for me think...maybe more than I realise.

Usual speach: Linspire is a commercial distro with commercial support, if you do not want to pay for support, use a free distro. There are plenty and Freespire even has CNR these days IIRC.

That said, it is not really possible to evaluate your options without knowing what problem you hope to fix and where you got the idea from.

You are basically correct that there is an update option on the install Cd and that this will attempt to detect corrupt or missing items in the install and replace those with non-broken versions. There is no way of knowing if this process will give you the functionality you need. If things worked fine on first install, and stopped working later, then this may well be the right thing to do.

thank you Simon: fastest, possibly, that anyone has ever replied to any post of mine, anywhere!

the issue I'm facing, at which I only managed to hint I guess, is that just about the entire sound on the machine "this" time is very VERY dead, not just casually or momentarily or shallowly "dead" --"that" latter level of "dead" I usually revive by tweaking and resetting any sound , volume, etc control haphazardly until things start working again (which, as some various forum posts I've read have suggested, often "works" to fix sound, somehow). The sound that's so "dead" this time, is that part for playing music and sound files; I think there is still a bit of "something" left working, some system signal sounds or something, but not much.

I may have been trying to avoid saying "too much", over the possibility of sounding too strong a note or "general" warning: Sound seems to me just to important, to start reporting my perhaps major problems too hurriedly... Subsequent to having had this major sound problem, in reading I've ended up doing about sound servers and such in Linspire as well as somewhat in Linux generally, my eyes became I think, at least a little opened to what I (admittedly still amazingly if reluctantly newbie) think I begin to sense, if not comprehend, is what an amazing, complicated challenging thing that crafting the functioning of music and other sound function, into an operating system, must be!...even just in general, I mean, and overall (Linux or probably others) at least to the level of music and such.
I didn't want to seem to be complaining too much!
Also, Linspire company, in the Linspire (co) article I mentioned reading, spoke (amazingly openly, to its probable credit) about Linspire's sound system or server admittedly having tendencies to spontaneously just stop working. Due, as I recall, most likely to corrupted soundserver files or drivers, which might be available for finding (or buying improved versions of I think they said) online, or easy if not permanent "way out" of the problem, just go to the install CD. They even, yet more amazingly, sort of just abruptly came out and asked, as to the bigger problem of the soundserver files or system or its components , being inadequate and unreliable. What do you think we (Linspire Company)should do?...surprising, very candid admission.
I haven't the link to the article handy unfortunately, but if anyone wants, I can plan to try to find the it (well maybe multiple articles overall, as to the reading I did, if not just the Linspire Company part which briefly spelled out interim options toward coping with sound crashing); I may have branched out from the Linspire article, on to more reading about same at other places);, which I found fascinating reading--gets into lots of the ins and outs, twists and turns of everything, how a lot of the whole sound server strategies, plans, began and evolved, some quite technical but still readable. I've forgotten details, but sort of it may have been that something like (maybe QUITE vaguely) that a logical plan was started upon, but maybe it was commercial, and then another one joined in or on, and it was open source, but the two didn't much cooperate, --more that they--sometimes quite casually, or almost kiddingly or at least non chalantly, sort of SEEMED to end up sabotaging , undercutting, tricking, etc each other's efforts and intentions, and in effect the well being of course of the net results (some at least, going both ways in some of these things), and problems just compounded. Though maybe not really intentionally at all on the part of either party, who each may have just been responding instinctively and "naturally" at most of the key controversial points, most of the problems matters possibly of things inadvertent or oblivious.. And now the commercial version-jacksoundserver if I remember, may end up looking like the more noble player, even though to some extent jack's inventor may in part still be commercial, or trying to be commercial. Simultaneously with all that, the end sound result itself--IF and when it can be gotten to work,End result, anyway: apparently they now, or recently,feel they're in rather a quandary, or did, anyway, this was pre Linspire 6.0, and I don't know what's in that for sound serving, other than to wonder if it's something out of sort of Ubuntu-basing in some sense, which I think a lot of 6.0 in its basing, in some significant portion said to be is it not. Makes for a lot of wondering, additionally to the Linspire situation, about just how other distros are ending up handling the situation, how they are doing with it all, etc.
That Linspire article, anyway, and and some other online sources,, are where my info and ideas came from.

Freespire, yes, as well as Ubuntu; am studying Freespire all I can, preparing to soon give it a try, along with, Ubuntu assuming its current version seems one my current self might be ready to give a try. Trying to improve that current self! ...which I guess explains my being here on Linux forums, and looking around for training options or suggestions , and coursing here and there among books,online etc.
Thanks for any responses to my posts.

OK - no sound in linspire ("just about"???) Did the sound ever go?

The reference may help.

Your "current" self??? Perhaps we should wait until your personality stabilizes? :)

Note: major distros seem to be adopting pulse-audio.

...just to continue (hard to believe 4 weeks have gone by) for what it's worth...

...there seemed "possibly" (after the severe sound crash)
just one or two instances of a "system" sound or two, or maybe that was imagined or something, since going and trying to test system bells, alerts etc found none of them working.
...probably the entire sound WAS by then, dead dead dead...
not sure if I mentioned that upon bootup, lInspire would post a notice that the sound server could not be accessed, and (something or other about) that some kind of reversion to some other files or protocols if those are the right words, would happen (without saying whether any sound would then work or not{Edit: once again,apparently "not.).

About the link to the very candid Linspire co article admitting and explaining problems with Linspire sound: to my surprise, after a bunch of looking around for it, I draw a big blank as to finding it. Maybe Linspire if they put the article in some obscure place only,is a little less willing than had seemed.

so, wanting sound back by whatever means, I proceeded to my Linspire cds, but "update" was only partly successful (got back sound, but lost in some sense, web access--couldn't get the built in browser to connect/open the web even though the machine itself WAS successfully online {reported a good dsl connection, which did work , it proved, with a live Knoppix (4.0.2) cd to go right online...).

So, it was then Linspire 5 clean install time , and it's that , that I type from now. all the sound seems fine, for now anyway, and i've got most of "my" apps and firefox tweaks up and going, although by accident I put them on Administrator instead of the separate User account I meant to put them on. Between that and a bunch of crashes and stubbornness the last couple days, it has, yes, seemed more and more like time to try freespire or Ubuntu, though maybe on a second drive or external drive so as to not yet necessarily abandon Linspire at this time.. :)