Well I seem to be struggling with getting my sound to work in a Thinkpad 600E 2645-4AA. I've read multiple how-tos for this exact hardware, but the drivers refuse to find the sound chip.

I have compiled and used tpctl, as recommended by many.. but that fails to show me anything useful. That just shows me basic BIOS settings and config info for my floppy, parallel and serial ports, nothing related to sound configuration.

I am using the ALSA OSS/Free drivers which does support my chip. No matter what I specify for config params, it refuses to find it. My assumption here is that I need to preset this PnP (PCI) before running these drivers with modprobe. My kernel is configured for PnP, but the OS doesn't appear to be setup for it. There is no setpnp command and the lspnp commnd reports back that there is no /proc/bus/pnp available.

Help anyone!

Press F1 to get into the BIOS setup.
Go to PCI.
Set all the IRQs to [auto-configure]
Try again.

(What I mean by try again is recompile the module)

Also make sure the BIOS speaker is set to loud (usually there's a blue speaker icon which will increase or decrease speaker volume)

By default all the IRQs are set to 11 which is really daft but that's life.

There is no such options in the BIOS. IBM Thinkpads are not like normal desktop PCs.

I have a ThinkPad 1800 iSeries.

To install linux from the bootable CD you probably went into the BIOS to change the bootable drive setup to CD ?

You should always be able to configure things like IRQs - especially in ThinkPads which are meant to be 'linux friendly'.

Did you explore the setup utility (usually F1 just after poweron)?

Trust me, I've been doing this for 15 years, there is no such options on this Thinkpad. Never has been in Thinkpads, unless they are putting it in the newer models, which I haven't seen yet. Typcailly you have to use the PS2 command (or tpctl) to change the BIOS configuration of these options, but I'm not getting any such available options.

And no, I didn't have to change my boot order to install Linux.

try this:

add the following to your /etc/modules.conf file,

alias sound cs4232
alias midi opl3
options opl3 io=0x388
options cs4232 io=0x530 irq=5 dma=1 dma2=0 mpuio=0x330 mpuirq=5 synthirq=-1
synthio=-1

next, type as su

modprobe cs4232

Yea - tried many variations of that .. no luck.. I've tried ASLA drivers, OSS/Free and Paid drivers, you name it. Each driver is unable to find the sound chip. It's like when I boot into linux, it disappears.

I booted up to DOS and checked everything with the PS2 utility, and all seems well. I have the correct settings for IRQ, IO, DMA and all of that (the same as you stated above).

If I load the tpctrl utility into linux and view the config, it doesn't see the sound at all as a device on the Thinkpad (which is reallly weird). Any ideas?

You are not alone in your Thinkpad 600E and sound woes. I too have the same problem.

I have tried Mandrake 8.1 and RH 7.2. I have recompiled the kernel to see if that would help. I tried the ALSA sound drivers and they don't work either.

There are about a dozen websites that list how to get sound to work on a 600E and Linux, but their recipes just don't work for me. (I notice they are a bit dated -- mostly kernel 2.2.x. Not 2.4.x.)

It's really odd. If you figure out this mystery, post back here!

MJ
suchindryn@mailexpire.com

P.S. Yes, the 600E F1 BIOS options are scant. There is not much there. Also, my settings are all still the defaults except I disabled (thru PS2.EXE) the PCIBUSPower option.

Yep - I've been messing with it for a week straight now and finally gave up. I think it has something to do with the way IBM handles it's wonderful BIOS and having to use the PS2 utility to access them.

I think we are out of luck until IBM decides to write some code for Linux or somebody else does (besides a hack). I have also ran into the same problem with the MWAV modem. Supposedly the 2.4.17 kernel supports MWAV, but I have had no luck with the 600E with it. IBM's development site had MWAV drivers for Linux, but they bomb out each time I try to compile. Soooooo..... I'm outta of ideas for now. Guess I'll just have to wait for a while.

Have you checked this page?

http://www.pc.ibm.com/qtechinfo/MIGR...user1004106089

I know it is for RedHat 6, but maybe it will help a little.

Yep - old information. None of those work. I've followed all of IBM's recommendations, don't work for me.

http://www.linux-thinkpad.org/links.html

did u see this one?

http://csc.parkland.cc.il.us/sdb/en/...kpad-600e.html

another that says it works fine, adds a few lines

Yep - tried that site too.. No go...

I HAVE FOUND THE ANSWER! WOO HOO!

Luckily I work for IBM, and found some internal resources, that are not available to the public about this issue. This is for the 600E Thinkpad series. As a note, my Thinkpad is a 600E-4AA.

You must use the DOS PS2 utility and disable PCIBUSPOWER in the power management setup. This is a MUST or it will not work, and this is the key.

Once you have done this, reboot back into Linux. Compile your Kernel (Mine is 2.4.17) with sound support and the CS4232 (PnP) OSS drivers only, nothing else.

Then add the following to your /etc/modules.conf

alias sound-slot-0 cs4232
alias char-major-14 cs4232
alias synth opl3
post-install cs4232 /sbin/modprobe "-k" "adlib_card" "ad1848" "uart401"
options -k cs4232 io=0x530 irq=5 dma=1 dma2=0
options adlib_card io=0x388

Once these are added; type ' modprobe cs4232 ' and you should be returned to the command prompt. It will report nothing.

That should be it, I then load X and loaded up the XMMS and played an MP3 file.

Hope this helps everyone!