Linux compatibility with Sony Vaio VGN-N350N?

tferero · 04-10-2008, 08:12 PM

***NOTE!!****
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN AND READ MY POST DATED 6/29 -- I NOW HAVE THIS LAPTOP BUT I AM EXPERIENCING SOUND PROBLEMS
*****************************

Hi everyone,

My son is planning on giving me a Sony Vaio VGN-N350N, and I am wondering if anyone has any information on whether Linux will run well on this Sony?

I have tried doing a google search and I have looked at some compatibility lists, but I do not see this laptop listed.

Any comment would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Peacedog · 04-10-2008, 08:46 PM

Hi tferero, With so little information available online, you might try a live cd to test for compatibility issues. Be sure to post a "How to" once it's up and running. ;-)
Good luck. ;-)

tferero · 04-10-2008, 09:02 PM

Hi Peacedog,

Good advice! My current laptop is so old, using a live distro wasn't an option when I installed Kubuntu.

It may be a while before I get this laptop, but I will be sure to post my experience if it goes well (or not). I'm a newbie, so if I run into trouble, I might have problems. But since my son is in the IT field, if it doesn't work, he is likely to find me another laptop along the way

Too bad he hasn't been converted to Linux! Looks like mom will have to work on that

T.

Peacedog · 04-10-2008, 09:43 PM

If you run into trouble, your problems will be our problems.

Just post back with any troubles, someone here will be able to help.
Good luck. ;-)

tferero · 06-29-2008, 08:40 AM

I am pushing this old post of mine back up, because I now have this Sony laptop, and have installed Kubuntu 8.04 via WUBI.

When I first installed the distro via WUBI, everything worked great - wireless, sound, resolution, all the basic stuff so for. After I ran updates, I lost all sound. I am at a loss as to what happened, or where to go from here for troubleshooting. Here is a rundown of what I have done:

-Install Kubuntu 8.04 via wubi installer
-Install Firefox 3 via adept
-Test the basics, including sound and video (worked great)
-Installed compiz settings manager, and enabled compiz (could this be a problem?)
-Ran adept updates
-Loaded Amarok, no sound.
-tweaked the engine settings in amarok by changing 'autodetect' to alsa, no change
- reset the software back to autodetect
-test sound in Firefox, and find there no sound at all
- Suspect updated kernel; log back in using previous kernel in boot menu; still no sound.
-try the live cd I used to install wubi, sound works great

Here are some specs:
Sound driver: 3.8.1a-980706(ALSA v.1.0.16 emulation code)
Kernel: 2.6.24-16-generic (old) 2.6.24-19-generic (new)
audio device: ALC262 analog (duplex)

aplay --list-devices confirms the above audio device
*********

If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly welcome them. I have no idea what else in the adept updates might have broken the sound. I have confirmed that the installed sound driver is the same before and after updates.

Tell me if you need any other information, and how to get it, and I will post it here.

Otherwise, kubuntu 8.04 works flawlessly on this laptop.

Theresa
-

Peacedog · 06-29-2008, 09:52 AM

Have you tried

Code:

alsamixer?

Could you post the output from the following please?

Code:

sudo lsmod
cat /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

Good luck. ;-)

tferero · 06-29-2008, 10:07 AM

The alsamixer shows the master sound at 100%. Should I be looking for something else here?

Here is the code you requested:

Code:

tferero@ubuntu:~$ sudo lsmod
[sudo] password for tferero:
Module                  Size  Used by
ipv6                  267780  10
af_packet              23812  4
rfcomm                 41744  2
l2cap                  25728  13 rfcomm
bluetooth              61156  4 rfcomm,l2cap
i915                   32512  3
drm                    82580  4 i915
sonypi                 23192  0
ppdev                  10372  0
acpi_cpufreq           10796  0
cpufreq_stats           7104  0
cpufreq_ondemand        9740  0
freq_table              5536  3 acpi_cpufreq,cpufreq_stats,cpufreq_ondemand
cpufreq_powersave       2688  0
cpufreq_userspace       5284  0
cpufreq_conservative     8712  2
container               5632  0
dock                   11280  0
sbs                    15112  0
sbshc                   7680  1 sbs
iptable_filter          3840  0
ip_tables              14820  1 iptable_filter
x_tables               16132  1 ip_tables
aes_i586               33536  0
dm_crypt               15364  0
dm_mod                 62660  1 dm_crypt
sbp2                   24072  0
parport_pc             36260  0
lp                     12324  0
parport                37832  3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
joydev                 13120  0
arc4                    2944  2
ecb                     4480  2
blkcipher               8324  1 ecb
pcmcia                 40876  0
evdev                  13056  9
psmouse                40336  0
serio_raw               7940  0
snd_hda_intel         344728  2
sony_laptop            35292  0
snd_pcm_oss            42144  0
snd_mixer_oss          17920  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                78596  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_page_alloc         11400  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_hwdep              10500  1 snd_hda_intel
video                  19856  0
tifm_7xx1               8576  0
output                  4736  1 video
tifm_core              11012  1 tifm_7xx1
iwl3945                89844  0
yenta_socket           27276  1
rsrc_nonstatic         13696  1 yenta_socket
iwlwifi_mac80211      219108  1 iwl3945
pcmcia_core            40596  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
snd_seq_dummy           4868  0
cfg80211               15112  1 iwlwifi_mac80211
sky2                   47492  0
ac                      6916  0
battery                14212  0
button                  9232  0
pcspkr                  4224  0
snd_seq_oss            35584  0
iTCO_wdt               13092  0
iTCO_vendor_support     4868  1 iTCO_wdt
snd_seq_midi            9376  0
intel_agp              25492  1
agpgart                34760  3 drm,intel_agp
snd_rawmidi            25760  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event      8320  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                54224  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              24836  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device          9612  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
shpchp                 34452  0
pci_hotplug            30880  1 shpchp
snd                    56996  15 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_hwdep,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore               8800  1 snd
ext3                  136712  1
jbd                    48404  1 ext3
mbcache                 9600  1 ext3
loop                   18948  2
sg                     36880  0
sr_mod                 17956  0
cdrom                  37408  1 sr_mod
sd_mod                 30720  2
pata_acpi               8320  0
ata_generic             8324  0
ata_piix               19588  1
ohci1394               33584  0
libata                159344  3 pata_acpi,ata_generic,ata_piix
scsi_mod              151436  5 sbp2,sg,sr_mod,sd_mod,libata
ieee1394               93752  2 sbp2,ohci1394
ehci_hcd               37900  0
uhci_hcd               27024  0
usbcore               146028  3 ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
thermal                16796  0
processor              36872  4 acpi_cpufreq,thermal
fan                     5636  0
fbcon                  42912  0
tileblit                3456  1 fbcon
font                    9472  1 fbcon
bitblit                 6784  1 fbcon
softcursor              3072  1 bitblit
fuse                   50580  3
tferero@ubuntu:~$ 

tferero@ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base
# autoloader aliases
install sound-slot-0 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-0
install sound-slot-1 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-1
install sound-slot-2 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-2
install sound-slot-3 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-3
install sound-slot-4 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-4
install sound-slot-5 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-5
install sound-slot-6 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-6
install sound-slot-7 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-7

# Cause optional modules to be loaded above generic modules
install snd /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-ioctl32 ; : ; }
install snd-pcm /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-pcm && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-pcm-oss ; : ; }
install snd-mixer /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-mixer && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-mixer-oss ; : ; }
install snd-seq /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-seq && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-seq-midi ; /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-seq-oss ; : ; }
install snd-rawmidi /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-rawmidi && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-seq-midi ; : ; }
# Cause optional modules to be loaded above sound card driver modules
install snd-emu10k1 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-emu10k1 $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe -Qb snd-emu10k1-synth ; }
install snd-via82xx /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-via82xx $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe -Qb snd-seq ; }

# Load saa7134-alsa instead of saa7134 (which gets dragged in by it anyway)
install saa7134 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install saa7134 $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe -Qb saa7134-alsa ; : ; }

# Load snd-seq for devices that don't have hardware midi;
#   Ubuntu #26283, #43682, #56005; works around Ubuntu #34831 for
#   non-Creative Labs PCI hardware
install snd /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd && { /sbin/modprobe -Qb snd-seq ; }
# Prevent abnormal drivers from grabbing index 0
options bt87x index=-2
options cx88_alsa index=-2
options saa7134-alsa index=-2
options snd-atiixp-modem index=-2
options snd-intel8x0m index=-2
options snd-via82xx-modem index=-2
options snd-usb-audio index=-2
options snd-usb-usx2y index=-2
options snd-usb-caiaq index=-2
# Ubuntu #62691, enable MPU for snd-cmipci
options snd-cmipci mpu_port=0x330 fm_port=0x388
tferero@ubuntu:~$

Peacedog · 06-29-2008, 10:47 AM

Try adding this to the end of etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.

Code:

options snd-hda-intel model=sony-assamd

Good luck. ;-)

tferero · 06-29-2008, 11:11 AM

OK, I tried this, rebooted for good measure and still no sound.

Very puzzling.

T.

Peacedog · 06-29-2008, 12:12 PM

Some options here that may help.
Good luck. ;-)

tferero · 06-29-2008, 06:59 PM

Well, I seem to have found the problem. I decided to reinstall kubunti via wubi, and had sound until I ran adept updates. Same problem. Then I just started playing with the mixer settings, and I found that the 'pcm' and 'front' controls in kmix were at zero. So I turned them up to 100%, and then there was sound. I don't know what these controls are for exactly, but it seems that booting back into kubuntu after shutdown reset these controls to zero. Maybe this is related to the wubi install somehow.

At any rate, I now have sound, and probably always did. Sometimes it is the simple things in life.

Peacedog · 06-29-2008, 08:39 PM

Glad you got that worked out. Try setting the channels with alsamixer then permanently with the following.

Code:

sudo alsactl store 0

Good luck. ;-)

HarshReality · 07-25-2009, 09:57 AM

Im using a NS325J and the internal mic is DOA OOB.. going to have to see what I can do about htis as Skype picks up the video but not the mic

quanta · 07-25-2010, 08:34 AM

Hi all,

I got the same problem with Gentoo on Vaio VGN-N230E. I've tried all of the options in HD-Audio-Models.txt such as: auto, sony-assamd, hippo... but it didn't work. A little hope when I attempt with toshiba-s06: I can hear the fingers knock near microphone hole, but no voice (test with arecord & aplay or Skype call testing service).

The results from amixer command:

Code:

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 25 [81%] [-9.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone',0
  Capabilities: pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback [on]
  Front Right: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 26 [84%] [-7.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 26 [84%] [-7.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 255
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 30 [97%] [10.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 30 [97%] [10.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Default PCM',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Beep',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 31
  Front Left: Capture 31 [100%] [34.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 31 [100%] [34.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Digital',0
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 120
  Front Left: Capture 120 [100%] [30.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 120 [100%] [30.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Int DMic' 'Mic'
  Item0: 'Int DMic'

Anybody has any suggestions for me?

Peacedog · 07-26-2010, 08:47 PM

Hi quanta, Welcome to LQ. You may get more and better replies from your own thread on the subject. That said, post some specifics and we'll try to help. Please post the output from the follwing.

Code:

$ /sbin/lspci -v
$ cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#* | grep Codec
$ /sbin/lsmod

Let's see what we're dealing with.

Good luck. ;-)