I'm having some problems with my soundcard (AzTech PCI 338-A3D), it's based on the au8820 chip. au8820 is only supported in alsa-drivers and NOT the kernel. I've tried alot of kernel configs but just can't get it to work, modules are loaded.
It's works perfectly with the 2.2.44 kernel, so why oh why won't it work with 2.6?

hmmm, any idea?

1. give me a quick, but full config guide, kernel and alsa drivers.
2. find/make a kernel patch for au8820.

i'm a little newbish so spare the complexity

Slackware 9.1 (what else?)
Kernel 2.6.0
Soundcard: AzTech PCI 338-A3D
Chipset: au8820
alsa-xxx: 1.0.0 RC2

Here is what I did to get my au8830 working
compiled kernel 2.6.0 only with built-in sound support, but no alsa or oss support
in alsa-driver , ./configure --with-cards=au8830
also installed alsa-lib alsa-utils and alsa-oss

*I think running alsaconf (as root) will configure your system but here are the steps I did if you preffer*

in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules added
/sbin/modprobe snd_au8830
then set volume with alsamixer, do alsactl store (as root)
and added alsactl restore to /etc/rc.d/rc.local

and that should do it, just replace 8830 with 8820

hope that helped

It did not work for me,,,, silence is all I hear

It seems to be a mixer problem...?, I don't know sh* about this!
Any soundgeeks here?


Hiper: What version of alsa did you use?

root:~ # aumix -v:+100
aumix: error opening mixer
root:~ # alsamixer

alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such device
root:~ # lsmod
Module Size Used by
snd_pcm_oss 48932 0
snd_mixer_oss 16960 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_au8820 39072 0
snd_pcm 87904 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_au8820
snd_page_alloc 9060 1 snd_pcm
snd_timer 22016 1 snd_pcm
snd_ac97_codec 60580 1 snd_au8820
snd_mpu401_uart 6240 1 snd_au8820
snd_rawmidi 20672 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 6660 1 snd_rawmidi
snd 45764 9 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_au8820,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_ac97_codec,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,sn d_seq_device

root:~ alsactl store
alsactl: save_state:1061: No soundcards found...

any clues, anyone?

I used 1.0.0rc2 (the latest)
Are you sure you compiled sound support in the kernel? (it's the very first option in the sound section)
try modprobe soundcore if you compiled as a module

have you altered something in /dev ?
I also had to do some chmods on /dev to get sound without root, but that should not the case
also check out the instructions for your sound card in the ALSA site.

i was having the same probs, messing around a bit i kinda got it to work.
you can try the following and hopefully u get lucky like i did .

After you've gotten done w/ everything prior to this post
i.e install driver, libs, utils, ./snddevices, modprobe etc.


check if theres a "sound" directory under /dev
if theres none, make one
and in it
make a soft link, mixer pointing to /dev/amixer0
using (gnome)
in the control panel right click on the little speaker, uncheck "mute", turn the volume up.
and that works.
however the error with amixer / alsamixer doesnt go away :/

edit: u'll need to also
chmod 755 /dev/amixer0 /dev/mixer0
ps: if using other GUIs (fluxbox, etc) you can use the Mixer a mixer from DockApp Warehouse to adjust your sound

Tnx for the little guide, ill go throuh it tonight i hope.

just figured out how to not get the (snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid ctl error

create a link to /usr/local/share/alsa in /usr/share

that is:

or you can also use
[CODE]
./configure --prefix=/usr
[/CODE
for libs utils etc (nb: not driver)
but that would mix up user compiled/installed apps with pre-packaged apps.

either ways works and allow you to use the Alsa driver/plugins with apps like xmms etc. instead of OSS


--alex