Via 686 - No Sound :(
 

Im using slackware whith my VIA 686 soundcard in the mainboard.
When im in knoppix the sound works fine, but not in slackware.
Im total noob, can someone tell me what i could do to fix it?

Welcome to LQ!

Did you issue "alsamixer" from a terminal as a normal user and unmute and turn up your volumes?

If you did and there's still no sound, post the output of
"/sbin/lspci"
"lsmod"
and please tell us what version of Slackware and which kernel you're running ...

I don't know slack but is there some place in Slack to configure sound? E.g. some kind of control centre?

A check so often needed for sound is to open up a mixer -- not just a single-control volume thingy -- and turn up all the channels -- there will be lots of them. Sound might be coming through a channel called something like "PCM" rather than "Master" or "CD" etc.

Also if you want some good help on this you would need to post the output of the command lsmod -- at least the lines that start with "snd" -- i.e. the sound modules.
If there are no such lines you have no sound modules running and need to install and configure some sound drivers.


For further configuration: What worked for me: go to the Alsa website, www.alsa-project.org, and look for the driver for your card. Look at the documentation about the driver. Do what it says.
(Alternatively you might be using the OSS sound system--in whch case check out their site.)
Also, I am not an expert, but I have got different cards working after searching linux questions for sound-related answers. Seems that sound frewuently does not work right away without users adding some settings, configuration etc.
Good luck.

Thanks :D
Im using ver 10.1
alsamixer tells me:

No mixer elems found

When i type /sbin/lspci i get:

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133] (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133 AGP]
00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] (rev 22)
00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C/VT8235 PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 10)
00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6202 [USB 2.0 controller] (rev 10)
00:07.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6202 [USB 2.0 controller] (rev 10)
00:07.4 SMBus: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] (rev 30)
00:07.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 20)
00:07.6 Communication controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. Intel 537 [AC97 Modem] (rev 20)
00:0f.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev a1)


When i type lsmod i ger this

Module Size Used by Not tainted
snd-seq-oss 23552 0 (unused)
snd-seq-midi-event 3264 0 [snd-seq-oss]
snd-seq 35024 2 [snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event]
snd-pcm-oss 36704 0
snd-mixer-oss 12152 1 [snd-pcm-oss]
audio 41784 0 (unused)
snd-usb-audio 40352 0
snd-usb-lib 7844 0 [snd-usb-audio]
keybdev 1892 0 (unused)
mousedev 4020 1
hid 20804 0 (unused)
usbmouse 1880 0 (unused)
input 3200 0 [keybdev mousedev hid usbmouse]
parport_pc 15044 0
parport 22824 0 [parport_pc]
uhci 24284 0 (unused)
usbcore 58860 1 [audio snd-usb-audio snd-usb-lib hid usbmouse uhci]
snd-via82xx 12928 0
gameport 1420 0 [snd-via82xx]
snd-mpu401-uart 3200 0 [snd-via82xx]
snd-rawmidi 12320 0 [snd-usb-lib snd-mpu401-uart]
snd-seq-device 3812 0 [snd-seq-oss snd-seq snd-rawmidi]
snd-via82xx-modem 6212 2
snd-ac97-codec 52472 0 [snd-via82xx snd-via82xx-modem]
snd-pcm 54504 0 [snd-pcm-oss snd-usb-audio snd-via82xx snd-via82xx-modem snd-ac97-codec]
snd-timer 13412 0 [snd-seq snd-pcm]
snd 31268 1 [snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event snd-seq snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-usb-audio snd-usb-lib snd-via82xx snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device snd-via82xx-modem snd-ac97-codec snd-pcm snd-timer]
soundcore 3396 11 [audio snd]
snd-page-alloc 4712 0 [snd-seq-oss snd-seq snd-mixer-oss snd-usb-audio snd-via82xx snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device snd-via82xx-modem snd-pcm snd-timer snd]
8139too 13928 1
mii 2272 0 [8139too]
crc32 2880 0 [8139too]
ntfs 51232 2 (autoclean)
ide-scsi 9392 0
agpgart 45092 0 (unused)

How do i find out what kernel im running?

I believe the problem is this module > snd-via82xx-modem

It is for your modem, but sometimes conflicts with your soundchip.

The easiest thing you can do at this point is to add it to /etc/hotplug/blacklist by opening an editor and adding the line snd-via82xx-modem under this sectionYou can make that file look just like that.

Then reboot your computer and hotplug will not load that module. Issue "alsamixer" as a normal user again and it should work.

To find out which kernel you are running, in a terminal issue "uname -r" for just the kernel, or "uname -a" for the kernel and more information.

:D ok, that helped a bit, I can now run alsamixer and setup the volym, but still the sound desnt work :( :)

btw my kernel is: 2.4.29 #6 Thu Jan 20 16:30:37 PST 2005 i686 unknown unknown GNU/Linux

What are you trying that indicates sound doesn't work?

Open a terminal and issue as a normal user "cat /dev/urandom >/dev/dsp" without the quotes, and tell us what happens. NB: Don't have your speaker volume up loud when you do this, and if you hear sound, hit Ctrl+C as soon as you want it to stop. ;)

And what window manager / desktop environment are you using? Fluxbox, Blackbox, KDE, XFCE, Gnome, etc.

Nope didnt work no sound.
Im using gnome.

Sometimes ALSA wants some aliases set in /etc/modules.conf. I think it's to smooth the way when some applications use Oss and some use Alsa.

Here is my modules.conf:
Setting this got my old via82xx driver working.
__________________
# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
alias snd-card-0 snd-[YOUR SOUND DRIVER E.G.] snd-via82xx

# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0


# card #1
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
_________________________________

You have to add more lines if you use more cards:
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1

I'll bet the problem is a Gnome problem. Why not try this: shut down the X server, and at the prompt type "xwmconfig" and choose Fluxbox. Then type "startx" and when it loads (about 2 seconds) open xterm by right-clicking on the desktop and choosing Terminals > xterm and then issue that "cat /dev/urandom >/dev/dsp" again and see what happens. If you have sound, you know the problem is Gnome. If you don't, well then...

NB: I have no modules.conf file, and I can play sound in as many apps as I want at one time. Slackware doesn't have a problem with this, but some of these goofy Desktop Environments such as KDE and Gnome have problems. On my wife's PC, using KDE, I have to hack some stuff to get it to work ... just basically disabling some poor choices that are the default options setup in KDE. I don't know but I suspect that Gnome has some of those same problems, since it is more problematic than even KDE in the first place.

yay sonds working :D :D

but still somethings wrong whith the sound but maybe i can fix that myself. Thanks alot! =)

Well, what's wrong with it? That output is just random data, so don't think it was supposed to sound good. While you're in Fluxbox, give it a test run. Stick a CD in your drive and open XMMS and see if it plays and sounds okay in there. If it doesn't play, right-click on the XMMS app and choose
Options > Preferences > CD Audio Player > Configure > Check drive...
and see what it says.
And I always use Digital audio extraction under Play mode: on that Device window.

If you have problems search here in LQ really good ... and with Google <Linux>

And, btw, Slackware-10.2 will be out in a few weeks, and it will no longer have Gnome. Pat V. does suggest some places to get 3rd-party Gnome apps, but it will no longer be in the Slackware distribution.