i have been using linux for going on 6 months now. initially i used mandrake linux 9.1, but recently i switched to redhat 9.0. redhat works great for me except sound doesnt work with my c-media 8738 sound card. i downloaded the c-media drivers but the instructions on how 2 work em dont work. i tried alsa but that wont install either......im very confused by this. can sum1 help possibly

bruce

I have the same sound card as you and It works great for me. Redhat installation configured it for me. This is the module it uses (I dont know if it helps):
cmpci
Here are the installtion instructions for sm drivers on redhat:
http://www.cmedia.com.tw/linux/LinuxCommand.htm
If you have any question, just post

Hi,

I have the same problem for a long time now.
Again, RH9 + cmpci doesn't sing.

RH seems to recognize the card and load cmpci, but something more is missing.

Jatt_thugz:
can you tell what processor you have?
Do you have something like: "localhost modprobe: modprobe: Can't locate module sound-service-0-0" in your /var/log/message file?
What does your /etc/module.conf say?

Thanks in advance,
Yuval.

I've had the same problem with a 9738.

It's a mystery to me. Ironically, sound worked with the first kernel included in the boxed distro, failed through three kernel upgrades and has "reappeared" in the latest incarnation--19.9. I would love to know why, for learning purposes.

That's at least one thought for you, if you haven't done so already--to upgrade the kernel.

I'm using:
bart:root # uname -a
Linux bart 2.4.20-8smp #1 SMP Thu Mar 13 16:43:01 EST 2003 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux

When you say: "latest incarnation--19.9", do you mean kernel 2.4.19-9 ?

ok, about an hour after posting i found the solution. all i did was install the latest version of OSS and sound works perfectly try it

Thanks, but it is still not working.
I downloaded and installed oss397l-linux-v2x.tar.gz
from http://www.opensound.com/download.cgi
The output during installation includes two warnings:

--------------------------------
NOTE! One or more PCI soundcards seem to share their IRQ with another card.
This may in some cases cause problems..
If your PCI soundcard is not functional, please use
BIOS PCI/PnP setup to allocate a private IRQ for the device.
However you don't need to be worried if everything appears to be working OK.
See /usr/lib/oss/docs/README.Irqsharing for more info.

The following IRQ number(s) appear to be shared:
10: (Shared with a non sound device(s))

42: (Shared with a non sound device(s))

----------------------------

and

----------------------------
IMPORTANT!

The following OSS drivers required for your current
hardware configuration: CMEDIA

While these drivers _are_ included in this evaluation version
they don't belong to the base price of OSS software.
Remember to select them while ordering the permanent OSS license.
*** OSS will _NOT_ work in your system without these drivers. ***
----------------------------

Appart from these wornings, the installation repoted success.
I checked it with:

# /usr/lib/oss/play /usr/share/sounds/email.wav

But heared nothing.

Could it be an IRQ problem?
How can I test it?
How can I reconfigure the IRQs?

Lastly, do I really have to BUY oss software ??!!

Will appreciate any help ...

woah urs is worse then mine then. im usiong a c-media 8738 onboard card, im guessin urs is pci. you could try ALSA (http://www.alsa-project.org) but i have no idea how 2 work it. i didnt get that message so i really dont know what its goin on about......maybe sum linux pro does ??? *hint*

Brucedjones, I have the same onboard card as you. do you have an Asus A7M266 motherboard?

Anyway, our card is capable of doing 4 channel output. I've had that working in Windows before, but I'm having trouble getting that working after a reinstall, and I have never had 4 channel audio from in under Linux. Do you know a way to get that working consistently in both OS's or even just one of them?

i dunno....im using an asus A7A266. ive never had 4 channel audio in linux or windows

Which drivers did you install? The ones that came on a CD with the mother board, or did you find some elsewhere? If you installed the mixer for Windows that came on the cd, you can into the config for that and there is one tab that lets you choose between 2 or 4 speakers or headphones. I believe the first time I had 4 channel working was just by checking the 4 channel box. However, I can't get it to work now unless I go to the next tab (I forget what its called) and do the emulation of 4 channel or 5.1 stereo (it changes depending on the version of the mixer installed. Of course, you have to have 4 speakers to make this work, but you could try it with headphones and speakers if you didn't have 4 speakers. Wanna try and let me know how it works out for you?

cheers ill check it out when i can b bothered with windows...........that problem earlier with the oss drivers at install...i get that same message on boot up but my sound still works

No, I meant 2.4.20-19.9. Sorry for the confusion.

Hi there,
Just for the record - what I was missing is the correct jack in the sound card (!?).
As strange as it may sound, switching the speaker jack to the other speaker jack of the sound card, finally produced sounds from the speakers!
It is important to mention that from Windows (same computer) I had sound, of course.

The only annoying thing is the need to command:
soundoff
soundon
every 20min, since the OSS drivers are not free.

BTW,
Don't try
soundoff && soundon
it hangs the computer.

Why is it that cmedia and redhat don't get along too well. Well i finally upgraded from redhat 7.3 to nine...i don't like fedora.
Well i use arts and i installed the drivers from cmedia and it actually worked for my card, but thet i opened tux racer and it has never worked since. I am not familiar with alsa, but cmedia said that the driver is an oss driver. In the control center (i use KDE 3.1) you can select card type opes sound system (oss is what i use.) can some one point me in the right direction to getting this damned thing to work.
Redhat configured my card on install and it wored except i coudn't have to sound progs running at the same time and it didn't work with some progs at all. Well i it late here so i will stop typing but if anyone is interested please do respond. Thank you