Ok...as I said in the subject line, I run Mandrake 9.1 and have an onboard SiS7012 soundcard.

One problem I had since the beginning was that everything would play at an insanely loud volume that physically hurt my ears. Nothing would change it...not KMix, not alsamixergui, not the XMMS sound controls. I had to resort to wearing headphones around my neck

So I did a Google search for Linux sound drivers, and found a link to ALSA's website. I downloaded their latest drivers, but I (unknowingly at the time) didn't install them properly. But I wouldn't notice the results of my incredibly stupid error until I would reboot (later, much later).

So, for now, the sound worked as it had before--too loud. I soon discovered a program in my K-menu: the aRts Control Tool, which fixed my problem. Things worked fine for the next day or two...I used artscontrol to keep my volume at a reasonable level and all was fine.

Then I accidentally hit the reset button on my machine (bloody sensitive thing). I let the computer reboot, I log in, and the first thing I notice is that the KMix icon in my panel is blank...I open KMix, and there's nothing in the window. I then launch XMMS, and try to play an MP3. I get no sound whatsoever. Then it comes to me: the ALSA installation that didn't take. Somehow, the bad install didn't set in until I restarted.

Now, I'm cursing myself for being such a bloody moron. If only I had known about artscontrol before I tried to install those drivers... Anyway, I head over to the ALSA website, re-read the install instructions, and try reinstalling step-by-step as said in the instructions. I did so. Then, it came time to use the modprobe commands to activate the drivers. They didn't take. Here's exactly the error messages I got:

[root@localhost /home/quattro]$ modprobe snd-intel8x0;modprobe snd-pcm-oss;modprobe snd-mixer-oss;modprobe snd-seq-oss
/lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/kernel/sound/acore/snd.o: unresolved symbol snd_verbose_printk
modprobe: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/kernel/sound/acore/snd.o failed
modprobe: insmod snd-intel8x0 failed
/lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/kernel/sound/acore/snd.o: unresolved symbol snd_verbose_printk
modprobe: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/kernel/sound/acore/snd.o failed
modprobe: insmod snd-pcm-oss failed
/lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/kernel/sound/acore/snd.o: unresolved symbol snd_verbose_printk
modprobe: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/kernel/sound/acore/snd.o failed
modprobe: insmod snd-mixer-oss failed
/lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/kernel/sound/acore/snd.o: unresolved symbol snd_verbose_printk
modprobe: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/kernel/sound/acore/snd.o failed
modprobe: insmod snd-seq-oss failed

Now, I'm panicking even more. After some more searching, I discover OSS drivers. I install them, but being commercial products, they expire after 3 hours. And while the audio worked, I had the problem that the sound was too loud (not as loud as before, but still too loud) and nothing I could find would lower it...XMMS wouldn't lower it, KMix still displayed a blank, and I tried an OSS mixer called Ermixer. Nothing worked. And, of course, in 3 hours, the sound stopped working.

Now, I have no idea what to do. I'm kicking myself for being such a bloody moron, and scared. My only thought is to backup my home directory to Zip disks (stupid me forgot to put it on a separate partition), erase my Linux partition, and reinstall. I'd do that, except that my CD drives seem to be acting funny...not sure if it's my messed-up system or if something is physically wrong with my drives...I'll have try booting off something or running a CD in windoze to see what the case is.

Anyway...if anyone can help me, you have my gratitude.

Well, best thing is a re-install. Good luck

Various sondcards, internal modems, cameras, printers and scanners which are running without problems no many wnitel machines are not supported under linux and the easy/only answer may be new devices or stick with Win98 or later on that machine. When next buying machine or devices, ensure it is supported by your preferred Linux distribution eg Mandrake 9.1 before purchase.

I have had little luck with my winmodem (internal modem) in spite of installing Linuxant "driver", although it dials but does not connect.

With my vortex/aureal/turtle soundcard I am trying alsa drivers but have an unresolved problem with: unresolved symbol snd_verbose_printk and judging by the results of a google search so do many others.

Good luck, have fun.
Cheers
Paul

Just found this thread because I had the same problems. Turns out the thing to do is to use the switch
--disable-verbose-printk
when running ./configure for alsa-drivers. Nowhere in the documentation - just a wild guess that worked.

Assuming you are going to persist with alsa:
The answer to your problem re the unresolved symbol snd_verbose_printk is that you need to do your ./configure statement with a special switch:
--disable-verbose-printk

As to the alsa not taking, you need to ensure the modules all load after a reboot.

While it is not your card, many of these issues are discussed in the pages linked to:
http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=au88x0

You should have a look at the pages:
http://alsa.opensrc.org/
http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=AlsaDrivers
and see if your card/chip is listed as there may be more information for your card/chip.

You can identify your card using: lspci as root from the command line in a console/terminal.

Cheers
Paul