Hi

Debian Unstable, VAIO VGN-A217M, soundcard - unknown, kernel 2.6.8

My VAIO laptop's sound worked ok, but I installed the alsa packages to try and improve it. Now I don't have any sound whatsoever!!

I un-installed the ALSA drivers, but still no sound. I noticed that after I uninstalled the ALSA drivers that there was still an alsa script in /etc/init.d.

I assume that before I was just using the kernel drivers. Any body know how to reset to how things were before?

Thanks
Steve

Sorry, forgot to mention...

I used apt to install alsa and it installed 'alsa-base', 'alsa-utils' & 'lsof' and it also removed 'discover1'

I have since removed with apt the three packages and reinstalled discover1, but there seems to be a lot of traces of alsa all over the place...

Helps appreciated
Steve

have a look at http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/ for your soundcard.
basically you have to uninstall any alsa package you have, then download and install the latest stable version of alsa-driver, alsa-libs e alsa-utils with the "classic method" (./configure;make;make install). this part is well explained in that site.

after installing alsa, don't edit /etc/modules.conf manually, do the following (it's the just an easier way):
run alsaconf to configure your card and /etc/modules.conf; then alsamixer to unmute and fix the volumes; finally alsactl store to "save" your settings.

beware that alsa must not be statically compiled in the kernel. if while installing alsa-driver you get such an error you have to recompile the kernel loading alsa as a module, or even not loading it at all. then you'll be able to install the alsa-driver you downloaded without any problem!

Hi
Sorry for the long time to respond, and thanks for the tips...

It seems that the ALSA driver isn't compatible with all Intel chips? Mine seems to be one of those. I followed your instruction and everything went well without errors. I rebooted to make sure, but no sound from ALSA, so I decided to remove it.

I did a 'apt-get remove alsa', which removed alsa-base and alsa-utils. I followed the instructions from ALSAa site about removing certain binaries from various places. When I rebooted, there was still no sound!! I thought that it should default back to the OSS drivers?

So, I recompiled my kernel (2.6.9), excluded the ALSA drivers and compiled OSS as modules. Still no joy! If it helps here are some output lines from various commands;

lsmod

Module Size Used by
soundcore 10176 0
ipv6 264096 8
sonypi 24580 1
ds 18628 2
appletalk 36660 18
parport_pc 37188 0
lp 11080 0
parport 41704 2 parport_pc,lp
thermal 13000 0
fan 3812 0
button 6448 0
processor 17256 1 thermal
ac 4644 0
battery 9188 0
af_packet 22504 2
arc4 1696 1
ieee80211_crypt_wep 5188 1
crc32 4192 1 ieee80211_crypt_wep
eth1394 22024 0
ohci1394 35396 0
ieee1394 114456 2 eth1394,ohci1394
yenta_socket 21664 0
pcmcia_core 70484 2 ds,yenta_socket
shpchp 101924 0
pciehp 98916 0
pci_hotplug 34448 2 shpchp,pciehp
intel_agp 22592 1
agpgart 34600 1 intel_agp
pcspkr 3464 0
psmouse 21960 0
hci_usb 13760 0
bluetooth 49476 1 hci_usb
tsdev 7648 0
mousedev 11576 1
evdev 9504 0
usbhid 32576 0
ohci_hcd 21412 0
ehci_hcd 32068 0
uhci_hcd 32944 0
usbcore 119396 7 hci_usb,usbhid,ohci_hcd,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
e1000 87300 0
ipw2200 125164 0
firmware_class 10112 1 ipw2200
ieee80211 36260 1 ipw2200
ieee80211_crypt 5928 2 ieee80211_crypt_wep,ieee80211
nls_iso8859_1 3904 1
nls_cp437 5568 1
vfat 14528 1
fat 46624 1 vfat
ide_cd 42592 0
cdrom 40956 1 ide_cd
rtc 12664 0
ext3 126184 2
jbd 64056 1 ext3
mbcache 9220 1 ext3
ide_generic 1280 0
piix 13216 1
ide_disk 20480 4
ide_core 143024 4 ide_cd,ide_generic,piix,ide_disk
unix 28564 542

modprobe snd_intel8x0 (which according to dmesg, is what XMMS tries to execute when given a sound file, I thought this was the uninstalled ALSA module?)
FATAL: Module snd_intel8x0 not found.
FATAL: Error running install command for snd_intel8x0

Any help please...

Steve

Now sorted. I re-installed the ALSA stuff, this time from source which worked fine :-)

Thanks
Steve

but did the sound work after running alsaconf, alsamixer and alsactl? if you did get sound, then uninstall any alsa and oss package you have; recompile your kernel installing alsa as a module; then install again alsa as i described above.
if the sound didn't work then i guess you'll have to use OSS. you should recompile the kernel installing snd_intel8x0 as a module, and then edit your modules.conf telling to load that module.

oops... didn't read the previous post...
anyway, good job!

ps: if something doesn't work with precompiled packages, always try source first