Is it just me, or does there seem to be a lot of people who have probs with getting sound to work in almost every incarnation of Linux?

I have a dual boot system using GRUB with RedHat 9 / Windows 98 (I also have another HDD that I am trying to access, but that is for another post). The auto-detection of my SoundBlaster Live! card worked great and I get a sample sound when I use the Soundcard Detection utility in GNOME. However, I cannot get any other sounds. No CD, no games, no system event sounds...nada.

I have read through most of the posts here, but still have not found anything to help resolve this annoying problem.

Any help/suggestions (in plain newbie language) would be greatly appreciated.

RedHat 9 (2.4.20-20.9)

$ /sbin/lspci :

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8366/A/7 [Apollo KT266/A/333]
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8366/A/7 [Apollo KT266/A/333 AGP]
00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Winbond Electronics Corp W89C940
00:0a.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 07)
00:0a.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Live! MIDI/Game Port (rev 07)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233 PCI to ISA Bridge
00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586/B/686A/B PIPC Bus Master
IDE (rev 06)
00:11.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 18)
00:11.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 18)
00:11.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 18)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV25 [GeForce4 Ti 4200] (rev a3)

*hope that helps!

Type lsmod (as root) and see if there is a line that says emu10k1. If not, then type modprobe emu10k1 and try to play some sound. If that works then add the line emu10k1 to your /etc/modules file.

If the above doesn't work then repost here.

Unfortunately, I could not get either command to work. Probably I am not executing it from the right location. Suggestions?

You have to execute the commands as root. At the prompt, type:

su
<your root password>

then type the commands.

I did do that

They should be in /sbin. Have a look there for the files modprobe and lsmod. those simply HAVE to be there. They are integral to the system. They're in the same directory as the lspci command you used above.

what mobo do you have? are you using a dell by any chance?

also, in a terminal navigate to /sbin

then, type ./lsmod

this should work for you. let me know

I am using a Kudoz 7 motherboard. It is a system that I built from scratch.

I was able to navigate to the /sbin dir and did find the lsmod and modprobe. This is the result of typing "./lsmod". After doing this I tried to play a CD, but it was a no-go. Ideas?

[root@h24-108-236-215 sbin]# ./lsmod |more
Module Size Used by Not tainted
emu10k1 68360 1 (autoclean)
ac97_codec 14536 0 (autoclean) [emu10k1]
sound 73492 0 (autoclean) [emu10k1]
soundcore 6468 7 (autoclean) [emu10k1 sound]
parport_pc 18788 1 (autoclean)
lp 8804 0 (autoclean)
parport 36800 1 (autoclean) [parport_pc lp]
autofs 13108 0 (autoclean) (unused)
ne2k-pci 7136 1
8390 8268 0 [ne2k-pci]
ipt_REJECT 3992 2 (autoclean)
iptable_filter 2412 1 (autoclean)
ip_tables 14648 2 [ipt_REJECT iptable_filter]
sg 35852 0 (autoclean)
sr_mod 17720 0 (autoclean)
ide-scsi 11984 0
scsi_mod 106520 3 [sg sr_mod ide-scsi]
ide-cd 35424 0
cdrom 33216 0 [sr_mod ide-cd]
keybdev 2912 0 (unused)
mousedev 5428 1
--More--

* In the past I had installed RedHat 7.3 on this system, which I was able to get sound from (CD and system sounds).

**Thanks for everyones help. This message board has really been invaluable for troubleshooting.

Well the correct modules seem to be loaded... Although I've never seen the "sound" module before. I've never had it on my system. You may try removing it with modprobe -r <module> or rmmod <module>. Are you sure the volume levels are OK? If you haven't done this already get yourself a mixer app and set ALL the volume levels to max. Do this before the module removal thing.

The other thing is try to test with something other than a CD. Like a wav or mp3. If none of the above work, then you'll have to get the alsa drivers because I'm out of ideas. The alsa drivers are available from www.alsa-project.org.

I am pretty hesitant to remove any modules at this point. I have definitely checked and rechecked the volume and mixer settings. I have also tried playing .wav, .mp3, and CD. SO far it's a no-go.

Thanks for your help adz. I will look into getting the alsa drivers if no one else has any suggestions.

By removing the module all I mean for you to do is remove it from the kernel. If you decide you want it back you just type modprobe sound (ie remove the "-r") and you have it back. You wont actually delete it from the hard disk.