First, I have to say thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this thanks x2 if you help. I am running a P3 1Ghz with a 10/100 Mb compatible NIC (and yes I'm sure it's 10/100). Also I have a CD-RW drive installed and a basic soundcard, not sure brand, etc.. I just installed Slack 10.Also I'm a system/network Admin and have pretty good computer knowledge. I've worked with windows from 3.1 to XP, and unix. I'm decent with unix but completely new to linux and I've been able to solve a few problems myself but these have me stumped. I've tried to resolve all of these problems by searching open threads with no luck... or I'm just a Putz...

Soundcard problem: I'm sure it's a configuration problem but, I can't seem to put my finger on exactly what is wrong with it. I've followed some of the other threads i.e. run alsaconf, then alsamixer, etc. Alsaconf finds the card and says it installs the drivers, alsamixer shows volume levels and I can change them but when I try to play a test file--no go. If there are any config files I need to post to help diagnose the problem let me know.

CD-ROM problem: I know the drive works because I installed slackware with it. but recently I've been getting a "mount: no medium found" error-- tried different disks --probably something simple but i don't know what it would be.

LAN speed problem: I have three computers on a linksys router with firewall- one AMD XP2200+ XP box, the P3(slack 10) I'm on now, and a P4 XP box. The router has 3 leds,
1 for Link/Act - on for link,flashing for act,
1 for full duplex/collisions - same as above regarding on/flashing
1 for 100 Mb link.
Everything was running 100 Mb before I put this one on the lan so I'm pretty sure the nic is auto negotiating the link down to 10 Mb, but I don't know how to configure the nic. I read a few threads and followed the suggestions but they don't seem to work, or again I'm being a putz. I've tried mii-tool and ethtool both return "operation not supported". I did manage to set a static IP with ifconfig and the router see the link but won't it run 100 mb or FD. I also set the default gateway so I could get to the internet, but I plan on running backups to this box and use it as a server and would like the extra bandwidth. any help would be greatly welcome.. sorry it's so long just trying to get all the details in.

ChaosReigns

Can you show us the results of 'lspci' or 'cat /proc/pci' so we can get a better idea of the hardware?

Sound can be tricky (I'm using OSS driver for my old card at the moment) but normally NIC's aren't too big a problem. Never seen one negatiate down to 10 meg only.

wat kernel r u running?

wats ur sound card??

and just tell wat ur GRUB boot-line says at the end.......hdc=ide-cd or hdc=scsi-cd [or watever equivalent based on ur configuration]?

Here is lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82815 815 Chipset Host Bridge and Memory Controller Hub (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82815 815 Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA/CA/DB/EB/ER Hub interface to PCI Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801BA IDE U100 (rev 02)
00:1f.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM USB (Hub #1) (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM SMBus (rev 02)
00:1f.4 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM USB (Hub #2) (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage Pro AGP 1X/2X (rev 5c)
02:0a.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1371 [AudioPCI-97] (rev 08)
02:0c.0 Ethernet controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] 79c970 [PCnet32 LANCE] (rev 16)

and cat /proc/pci

PCI devices found:
Bus 0, device 0, function 0:
Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82815 815 Chipset Host Bridge and Memory Controller Hub (rev 2).
Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf8000000 [0xfbffffff].
Bus 0, device 1, function 0:
PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82815 815 Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 2).
Master Capable. Latency=64. Min Gnt=8.
Bus 0, device 30, function 0:
PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA/CA/DB/EB PCI Bridge (rev 2).
Master Capable. No bursts. Min Gnt=2.
Bus 0, device 31, function 0:
ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 2).
Bus 0, device 31, function 1:
IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801BA IDE U100 (rev 2).
I/O at 0xffa0 [0xffaf].
Bus 0, device 31, function 2:
USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM USB (Hub #1) (rev 2).
IRQ 10.
I/O at 0xef40 [0xef5f].
Bus 0, device 31, function 3:
SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM SMBus (rev 2).
IRQ 9.
I/O at 0xefa0 [0xefaf].
Bus 0, device 31, function 4:
USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM USB (Hub #2) (rev 2).
IRQ 11.
I/O at 0xef80 [0xef9f].
Bus 1, device 0, function 0:
VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage Pro AGP 1X/2X (rev 92).
Master Capable. Latency=64. Min Gnt=8.
Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf5000000 [0xf5ffffff].
I/O at 0xc800 [0xc8ff].
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xff8ff000 [0xff8fffff].
Bus 2, device 10, function 0:
Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1371 [AudioPCI-97] (rev 8).
IRQ 3.
Master Capable. Latency=64. Min Gnt=12.Max Lat=128.
I/O at 0xdf00 [0xdf3f].
Bus 2, device 12, function 0:
Ethernet controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] 79c970 [PCnet32 LANCE] (rev 22).
IRQ 9.
Master Capable. Latency=64. Min Gnt=6.Max Lat=255.
I/O at 0xdf80 [0xdf9f].
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xff9ffc00 [0xff9ffc1f].

I'll reboot and post what I get from lilo concerning the cdrom.
ChaosReigns

hmm. I must admit I'm using the OSS driver for my sound blaster card, which identifies itself the same as your onboard. I had no luck with alsa... tho I didn't try that hard. I've read that it should work fine I'm guessing your soundcard is a SB64 or SB128 or somesuch.

my box:
Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1371 [AudioPCI-97] (rev 8).
IRQ 9.
Master Capable. Latency=32. Min Gnt=12.Max Lat=128.
I/O at 0xe000 [0xe03f].

The 815 chipset should be no trouble either. I have a box here running on an 815 chipset. But does your 815 have no ethernet onboard? Pity, as the onboard is recognized easy with linux. I don't know the ethernet you have there.

But the driver appears to be PCNET32 and it's included in at least the 2.6.3 (and proably earlier) kernel and should be fine as far as I can tell. Doing

lsmod

should tell us what driver you are using for the sound and ethernet.

Here is what I got from lsmod-- well here is what it said, I don't really "get" any of it. Ha, a pun, get like understand ...oh nevermind.

Module Size Used by Not tainted
snd-pcm-oss 37736 0 (unused)
snd-mixer-oss 12504 0 [snd-pcm-oss]
uhci 24444 0 (unused)
usbcore 59308 1 [uhci]
snd-ens1371 11364 0
gameport 1420 0 [snd-ens1371]
snd-pcm 56072 0 [snd-pcm-oss snd-ens1371]
snd-timer 13604 0 [snd-pcm]
snd-page-alloc 6328 0 [snd-pcm]
snd-rawmidi 12740 0 [snd-ens1371]
snd-seq-device 3888 0 [snd-rawmidi]
snd-ac97-codec 49500 0 [snd-ens1371]
snd 30852 0 [snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-ens1371 snd-pcm snd-timer snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device snd-ac97-codec]
soundcore 3396 6 [snd]
pcnet32 15012 1
mii 2272 0 [pcnet32]
crc32 2880 0 [pcnet32]
pcmcia_core 39972 0
ide-scsi 9328 0
agpgart 43940 0 (unused)

I did fix the problem with the CDROM though, so that's taken care of. I don't know if this helps but my ONBOARD sound isn't working either.

ChaosReigns

Modules look loaded. The only thing I can suggest with the ethernet is to test the speed... Maybe copy a 100meg file across and time how long it takes. Should be about 10 or 20 seconds at 100mbs... and 10 times longer at 10mbs...

As for the sound, I assume you have disabled the onboard sound in the bios when testing the pci sound card? That one has got me a bit, but then as I say I compiled OSS sound in the kernel rather than ALSA...

Glad to hear about the cdrom, how did you fix that?

I would copy a file but, all the other machines are Windows and I don't know how to move files between linux and windows yet... As far as I can tell I can't even get to my windows shares as of yet. I know samba(which i still havent setup) sets up shares on linux comps visible to windows comps but does that go both ways??

As for sound, that was a "my bad" i don't have onboard sound -- just that d@mn pc beep speaker on the motherboard- which works. It's weird because everything sees the soundcard--when i play a test file from the command line it says "playing sound <filemane> blah blah" but still no sound. It will play cd's, i just can't hear anything. I haven't tried compiling anything because I don't even know enough to get my nic or sound working.

sorry it took me so long to post a reply, i was having internet problems<fixed> --just had to add a nameserver to /etc/resolv.conf. If i don't get the NIC problem resolved in the next day or so I'll probably swap it out with a D-link 10/100 in my old P150, might try swapping the soundcard too, but it's the same kind. Thanks for the time and help..

for the cdrom --I'm not sure what exactly was wrong but after I rebooted it worked, so I'm guessing a program was trying to use it and wouldn't let it mount when I put in a diffrent disk. Any hints for setting up samba???

Chaos Reigns

Swapping hardware around isn't a bad idea to try. The Dlink should be good...

But if you have a SB card they are usually the best for linux.

As for copying files you could use smbclient or lineighbourhood...

Swapped Nics and the dlink works at 100 Mbs swapped sound and still no go.. Now I have to setup samba so I can move files to this box for storage while I reload my XP box.
What do I need to do to get samba running and setup shares?? Also do you know how to format a partition??

ChaosReigns

I formatted my partition for samba, and got samba up and running. And just in case some other newbie is reading this, to format a partition just do

mkfs.<filesystem> (i.e. ext2, ext3,etc) /dev/hd??

here is an example of how I formatted /dev/hda6.

"mkfs.ext3 /dev/hda6"

for a complete list of filesystems cd /sbin then "ls |grep mkfs"

thanks for all the help amosf
ChaosReigns

If you are testing the sound with your cdrom make sure the cable is connected from the cdrom to the soundblaster card,then play around with the mixer,I have the same card and it will work.I would use the card and disable the onbard sound in bios like the other poster said the module is snd_esn1371 I think that is it.

Sorry I get busy in the outside world Sambe can be a pain to get up and running, but it's not too bad when you get it right...

Tho to copy stuff to and from the win machine you may just need a smbclient front end like lineighborhood...

Mind you I've had problems dealing with XP machines while 9x boxes were easy...

Glad to hear about the ethernet, sort of. I wonder what it is about the amd card. I'm sure the driver writers would be interested in the problem...

Well, I got everything working (except sound, but it's not a must have for a server). And i really meant the "thanks for all the help amosf" i wasn't tring to be an @$$. I've learned alot from this and i'll keep plugin' away at the sound until it works.

Thanks again
ChaosReigns