Hello to all,

I have been searching a long time now in various forums but I still haven't found the answer to my problem. I'm a linux newbie and I just can't get my tv tuner to work. I don't know what to do!

First of all the tv tuner is Mtek Linx. It has a bt878 tuner and a radio tuner (I don't know which type)

I have tried 3 solutions but without any result:
1) found in a magazine:
edit /etc/rc.d/rc.local adding the following lines
/sbin/modprobe bttv
/sbin/modprobe btaudio

and then edit /etc/modules.conf adding
options bttv card=42 radio=1 buffers=4

2) found in a forum (http://www.spinics.net/lists/vfl/msg08505.html)
options bttv card=78 radio=1 bttv_verbose=2 tuner=-1
options i2c-core i2c_debug=1
options i2c-algo-bit bit_test=1

3) the combination
options bttv card=78 radio=1 buffers=4

None of these worked (at least I'm opening TVtime and get a blue screen with the message: "cannot open capture device /dev/video0"

And another thing that might be relevant is that the first time I'm trying to edit the /etc/modules.conf the file isn't there so I'm creating and the only entry there is mine. Using slocate /etc/modules.conf (before having created the modules.conf file I'm only getting the following files:
/etc/gnome-vfs-2.0/modules/default-modules.conf
/etc/gnome-vfs-2.0/modules/default-modules.conf.with-menu-editing
/etc/gnome-vfs-2.0/modules/ssl-modules.conf
/etc/gnome-vfs-2.0/modules/mapping-modules.conf

So maybe it is one of those that I have to edit and not the modules.conf?

I am using Fedora Core 3, kernel 2.6.10-1.741_FC3

/sbin/lspci output:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 746 Host (rev 10)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SG86C202
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS963 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 25)
00:02.1 SMBus: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS961/2 SMBus Controller
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE]
00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet (rev 91)
00:09.0 RAID bus controller: Silicon Image, Inc. (formerly CMD Technology Inc) SiI 3112 [SATALink/SATARaid] Serial ATA Controller (rev 02)
00:0a.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy (rev 03)
00:0a.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy MIDI/Game port (rev 03)00:0a.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Creative Labs SB Audigy FireWire Port
00:0b.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
00:0b.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200] (rev a1)

Any help would be appreciated

For 2.6.x kernels, it uses /etc/modprobe.conf instead of /etc/modules.conf. The 2.4.x kernels use /etc/modules.conf.

You do not need to place
/sbin/modprobe bttv
/sbin/modprobe btaudio
in /etc/rc.local if you know the alias line.

Add
alias char-major-81 videodev
alias char-major-81-0 bttv
in /etc/modprobe.conf

No its niether
/etc/gnome-vfs-2.0/modules/default-modules.conf
/etc/gnome-vfs-2.0/modules/default-modules.conf.with-menu-editing
/etc/gnome-vfs-2.0/modules/ssl-modules.conf
/etc/gnome-vfs-2.0/modules/mapping-modules.conf

If you type modprobe bttv as root or su, it will then work.

By checking if /proc/video is there will indicate that V4L is loaded and under it your video capture card will be listed there too.

Hello Electro,

Thank you for your help. I did follow your advice editing etc/rc.local and etc/modprobe.conf. Then logging in as su and giving the command modprobe bttv I get the message modprobe:command not found.
And I there is no file or directory video under /proc.
I restarted the computer and tried tvtime but I still get no signal. What should I do?

It looks like Fedora search path for root is not set properly. Type /sbin/modprobe bttv as root or as su. If modprobe is still not found, type whereis modprobe.

To fix the search path variable, type "export PATH=$PATH:/sbin".

I did what you said and then rebooted, tried tvtime but I still get the blue screen. Here is what I get in my terminal:
[root@fedoras petros]# modprobe bttv
bash: modprobe: command not found
[root@fedoras petros]# whereis modprobe
modprobe: /sbin/modprobe /etc/modprobe.conf~ /etc/modprobe.conf /usr/share/man/man8/modprobe.8.gz
[root@fedoras petros]# export PATH=$PATH:/sbin
[root@fedoras petros]#

Is there anything else I could try to get it working?

What do you get when you type ' /sbin/modprobe bttv ' as root.
Any errors or info?

By the way if you su then it still uses the users path enviroment. typing ' su - ' forces it to use root's enviroment variables.

After that what device blocks for video do you have under /dev.

Brian1
" Google the Linux way @ http://www.google.com/linux "

Hello Brian1,

When I login as su and type /sbin/modprobe bttv I get no message at all:
[root@fedoras petros]# /sbin/modprobe bttv
[root@fedoras petros]#

Now I didn't understand the second part of your reply. Does that mean that I have to do
export PATH=$PATH:/sbin logged in as a normal user?

I'm trying it right now and I'll tell you what happens after I reboot

Nothing, blue screen on tvtime and "cannot open capture device /dev/video0" message.
Hmmmm

If you want the use of commands in /sbin then you will need to add it to your path. The only issue is that most of the commands are root use only.

Do a ' lsmod ' to see if the bttv module is loaded. I would leave out anything related in modules.conf and rc.local and only do a manual modprobe bttv and see if the app you are running is working to see it. To remove a module do ' rmmod bttv ' may not work unless some attach modules are interacting with it. Then modprobe bttv only. Now see the output of lsmod.

Or if everything is removed reboot and do maaually modprobe bbtv only. Lets see whats lsmod shows.

For the second part if it loaded and it created the block devices they would be listed under /dev as video*. What is there after modprobe. It could have loaded but not created the block devices. FC3 and udev combination is terrible at this.

Have you tried knoppix and see if the software installed with the live cd shows it?

Brian1
" Google the Linux way @ http://www.google.com/linux "

Under tvtime have you made sure it selects the capture card as the source?

Brian1
" Google the Linux way @ http://www.google.com/linux "

Ok, first of all,
1) lsmod: I get an error message both as user and as root:
[root@fedoras petros]# lsmod
bash: lsmod: command not found

2) In tv time I can't change the source. I go to input configuration and click on change video source but that doesn't do anything

3) modrobe command still doesn't work. I get the same message:
[root@fedoras petros]# modprobe bttv
bash: modprobe: command not found

4) But now I have two videos (video0 and video1) in /dev/
HMMM!!! Seems like something's going on here!

5) I'll try knoppix right away

Apparently root's path is different than standard. Try the commands as ' /sbin/modprobe bttv ' and ' /sbin/lsmod '. Add the /sbin/ on the command line. Or goto /sbin and run those commands there.

Brian1
" Google the Linux way @ http://www.google.com/linux "

You don't have a soft link for /dev/video to /dev/video0?

Brian1
" Google the Linux way @ http://www.google.com/linux "

[root@fedoras petros]# /sbin/modprobe bttv
[root@fedoras petros]# /sbin/lsmod
Module Size Used by
appletalk 32297 2
ipx 29545 2
ppp_deflate 5825 0
zlib_deflate 20697 1 ppp_deflate
ppp_async 11969 1
ppp_generic 34389 6 ppp_deflate,ppp_async
slhc 6849 1 ppp_generic
udf 74437 1
nvidia 3462812 12
bttv 148497 0
video_buf 21573 1 bttv
i2c_algo_bit 8393 1 bttv
v4l2_common 5825 1 bttv
btcx_risc 4681 1 bttv
md5 4033 1
ipv6 230273 10
parport_pc 26501 1
lp 12077 0
parport 36617 2 parport_pc,lp
autofs4 22981 0
i2c_dev 10305 0
i2c_core 20801 3 bttv,i2c_algo_bit,i2c_dev
sunrpc 154149 1
cdc_acm 12513 3
dm_mod 55509 0
ov511 69473 0
videodev 9537 2 bttv,ov511
stir4200 13637 0
irda 121469 1 stir4200
crc_ccitt 2112 2 ppp_async,irda
video 15813 0
button 6609 0
battery 9285 0
ac 4805 0
joydev 9217 0
ohci1394 34521 0
ieee1394 299929 1 ohci1394
ohci_hcd 23381 0
ehci_hcd 34761 0
snd_emu10k1 91845 2
snd_rawmidi 25441 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_seq_device 8525 2 snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi
snd_ac97_codec 67105 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_pcm_oss 47861 0
snd_mixer_oss 17089 2 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 92233 3 snd_emu10k1,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 28357 1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 9541 2 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
snd_util_mem 4801 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_hwdep 8901 1 snd_emu10k1
snd 52261 11 snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,sn d_hwdep
soundcore 9889 2 snd
sis900 19013 0
floppy 57329 0
ext3 116041 7
jbd 68185 1 ext3
sata_sil 8261 2
libata 41157 1 sata_sil
sd_mod 17088 3
scsi_mod 120897 2 libata,sd_mod
[root@fedoras petros]#


So I can see a bttv there but what does it do?
I'm currently downloading knoppix but it's gonna take a lot because of my slow internet connection.

I don't think I have a softlink to /dev/video, how do I do it?

As root ' ln -s /dev/video0 /dev/video ' Being FC3 system it may not restore that link after reboot. You will need to copy the dev/video to /etc/udev/devices. use ' cp -rf --reply=yes /dev/vide* /etc/udev/devices '. Out of options at this time till I see what you get with Knoppix.

Another brainstorm go back to the orginal FC3 kernel and see what happens. Many bugs with 2.6.10****FC3 kernel release. Try one of the 2.6.9 or compile your own. Read a post on that here.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...36#post1401136

Brian1
" Google the Linux way @ http://www.google.com/linux "