I have 2 operating systems on my computer Gentoo linux 2004.1 and Windows Xp home edition, and I have sound problems with my onboard sound card only in linux. I don't know why in linux there is a buzzing sound in my speakers even if I'm not listening to anything. If I listen to something, it doesn't matter what, the buzzing dissapears (in windows I don't have any problems with the sound, it sounds crystal clear), but if I move the sliders form alsamixer higher than 74 the sound is very distorted, but in windows the sound is just fine, it's not distorted even if the sliders from the sound card are at max.

The buzz from the speakers starts when I boot into linux. I can even hear it when I'm in linux in console mode and it persists when I enter kde.

My configuration is:
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
512 mb ram
gf fx 5500
Asus a7n8x deluxe gold/uay with soundstorm api
80 gb hdd
Os:Windows Xp home edition
Gentoo Linux 2004.1 with kernel 2.6.5(from gentoo) compiled with acpi (without apm), and alsa 1.0.5rc1.

Hope someone can help me!
P.S.: Please excuse my english.

i have the same config, but my os is win xp pro and i tried to install fedora. sound card wasnt detected and even the video card wasnt. i installed the nvidia driver but in vain! what should i do?

I've found that often it is a good idea to try different versions of drivers, working back. In otherwords, install the newest drivers, then work back from there.

These are the latest drivers for Nivida's nForce:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_nforce_1.0-0274.html

Another great idea is to keep up to date by subscribing to support lists for your particular hardware. A good one for NVidia is http://www.nvnews.net .

I've tried different versions of alsa drivers but that didn't solve my problem and also I tried different linux distributions (red hat 9, gentoo 1.4, gentoo 2004.0, gentoo 2004.1) and I had the same problems (I even tried kernels 2.4 different versions, and 2.6 differnt versions and it didn't solve the problem). I don't understand why the sound has background noises because in windows the soundcard works fine, I also tried arts, oss and the problem persists.
What is odd is that when I had installed gentoo, i had compiled the kernel(2.6.5) with sound support as a module (i didn't compile it with alsa or oss because I wanted to have the latest alsa drivers) and I could hear the background noise even if the sound module wasn't loaded and i hadn't installed the alsa driver yet, so i figure it must be something with the kernel but i'm not sure. Someone please help me!!!!!!

Oh and I almost forgot I can't install nvidia nforce drivers with kernel 2.6 (i get some errors when I try to compile them) and I've read the readme file and I think they can only be installed on kernels 2.4(at least i think so).

that is correct, unfortunately

*cries*

nvidia needs to get off their butts and make it compatible.

Well, in kernel 2.6 (what I use) the NForce Audio drivers are included in the kernel. It is in the sound options area and stuff. The issue I am having with the driver is that eventhough I have ALSA installed and the soundcard is configured in my modprobe file, it still dosen't work. I am using Windoze right now so I can't list what it does or dosent do exactly but I will write another post for that.

thats acually the intel audio general drivers that are compatible with the nforce2. just not full featured. like multi-channel audio doesnt work with that driver (without modifications). for example, playing mp3s and hearing Windows program sounds at the same time (I use VMWare)

Like the computer knows that the soundcard is there, but XMMS is just too stupid, or ALSA is not cool enuogh to output sound. In the xmms prefrences the alsa plugin knows that my sound card is there but it dosen't use it. I think i might go back to kernel 2.4 for a little but i would like to solve this probelm.

For the fix go here:

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml

This is the Gentoo ALSA sound guide and it will walk you throught the installation process. I got my sound at home to work using this guide. If you are not using Gentoo (God forbid!) instead of installing such things as the ALSA drivers using emerge just goto sourceforge and find the appropriate package. Good Luck.