I have a Dell laptop thats fairly new. Ive got RH9 on and working pretty well. The only problem is my headphone slot. No matter what mixer settings I use, or any other settings I change, nothing works. I know its not a bad slot or speakers becaue it works in XP. Has anyone else had this problem?

What's this headphone slot thing? Is there some other sound output connector which does work, or are you saying you just cannot get sound to work at all.

Is it a USB socket (in which case do you need special headphones)? All the headphones I've used have the usual circular stereo jack.

Thats what I meant, the circular stereo 1/8" headphone jack, like something on a portable CD or MP3 player. It works in windows, but it won't work in linux. I think it's an alsa problem

First of all, are you sure you are running ALSA? I understand RH does not use that by default.

New laptop might be bad news for standard packaged distro. It's hard for the driver writers to keep up with the flood of new hardware. Try to find the exact type of sound chip and google it against 'linux', 'redhat', 'RH9' or 'alsa'. Also check the ALSA web site (www.alsa-project.org).

ALSA seems a good bet with new hardware, but some people seem to have a lot of trouble installing it.

Knoppix live CD is a painless way to try out ALSA, if you can get one.

I know its ALSA because I installed it. The regular OSS drivers wernt cutting the mustard, so I had to switch.

So your sound applications run OK, just don't make sound? Does xmms at least jiggle its fake LEDs?

What happens when you run 'lsmod'. Do you see all the ALSA modules listed, as in

Module Size Used by Not tainted
snd-seq-oss 29472 0 (unused)
snd-seq-midi-event 3016 0 [snd-seq-oss]
snd-seq 37488 2 [snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event]
snd-pcm-oss 39940 0
snd-mixer-oss 13720 1 [snd-pcm-oss]
snd-intel8x0 18244 1
snd-pcm 61120 0 [snd-pcm-oss snd-intel8x0]
snd-timer 14628 0 [snd-seq snd-pcm]
snd-ac97-codec 40264 0 [snd-intel8x0]
snd-page-alloc 5020 0 [snd-intel8x0 snd-pcm]
snd-mpu401-uart 3440 0 [snd-intel8x0]
snd-rawmidi 13376 0 [snd-mpu401-uart]
snd-seq-device 4256 0 [snd-seq-oss snd-seq snd-rawmidi]
snd 29028 0 [snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event snd-seq snd-pcm -oss snd-mixer-oss snd-intel8x0 snd-pcm snd-timer snd-ac97-codec snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device]

I should have said this before but the laptop speakers work like they should. XMMS, Xine, System sounds, etc. work fine. The problem is when I hook in the headphones. My lsmod looks like this (with non sound stuff omitted)

Module Size Used by Tainted: P
snd-pcm-oss 45572 0 (autoclean) (unused)
snd-pcm 85248 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss]
snd-page-alloc 8452 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm]
snd-timer 19588 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm]
snd-mixer-oss 16408 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss]
snd 42916 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss snd-pcm snd-timer snd-mixer-oss]
soundcore 6436 0 (autoclean) [snd]


I dont think I have MIDI set up, but thats no big deal

You SURE you got the right connector? if so , it sounds like some kind of hardware failure...

did you try another headset? yours maybe broke...

I'm 100% positive nothings broken. I use the exact same equipment in windows

Also strange is the fact that there is no actual driver in that lsmod list that I can recognise. Still, if the built-in speakers are working... But didn't you have to choose a driver when you installed ALSA?

I suppose you have tried unmuting and turning up all possible channels in alsamixer, as well as googling for your specific notebook model along with 'linux' and/or 'alsa'?

maroonbaboon..
I did google for my specific laptop (Dell inspiron 8500) and found a site with a custom ACPI kernel and RPM alsa drivers. Also, I have checked the alsamixer, and everything that can be up is up. However, there are some things that can't be turned up anyway.

OK. Sorry I'm out of ideas. It looks like there are some good web pages with linux info for this notebook. Maybe email one of the authors?

Okay. Thanks for your help everyone that tried. This is part of the reason I love Linux. I dont have to call some 20 cents a minute or pay per solution tech support line and get some guy in his house. Thanks again.