Hello,

I know this question has been asked many times before, I've been searching forums and websites and HOWTO's for a week now....but.... I still can't get sound working on Linux.

I'm using Mandrake 8.2, K7s5A mobo with the SiS 7012 on board sound. I've seen a couple of solutions involving rebuilding the Kernel... and had I known how to go about doing that I would glady try.

I've tried the latest drivers from SiS and ALSA, and now I'm just getting a 'can't start soundserver' message upon starting GNOME or KDE (can't decide which to stick with yet )

thanks in advance for answering a question you must've answered about a couple of billion times already.

I recommend first to run it from console (use mp3 console players to test). After it works on console it's nearly done. Maybe change your default runlevel to 3 for some time...
Get the right driver from ALSA and use
insmod drivername
After this your sound should be OK in the console.

I've had success running sndconfig (as root). It should be on one of your MDK CDs, or you can get it from rpmfind. It will show a selection list of sound cards/compatibles and ask a few questions. Then make sure that permissions/group access rights are set correctly for /dev/dsp,/dec/mixer*, etc.

Have a look in the directory /lib/modules/2.4.18-6mdk/drivers/sound (or something very similar to that). If you see any docs, read them. If you see and files with filenames similar to your soundcard, then try typing [b]modprobe xxxx[/i], where xxxx is the filename.

thanks for all your help.

it was a combined effort that worked... i installed the correct drivers, aquired and used sndconfig, and then tweaked it in the console until it worked.

as for the runlevel thing, whats up with that?

Runlevels are the 'mode' in which you boot.

Runlevel 0 = Halt machine
Runlevel 1 = Single User (used for repairing broken stuff, sometimes).
Runlevel 2 = Multiuser without networking
Runlevel 3 = Multi-user with networking, no GUI
Runlevel 4 = Not normally used, but often same as 3
Runlevel 5 = Multiuser with networking and startx (GUI).
Runlevel 6 = Reboot machine.

If you look at the beginning of the file /etc/inittab you should see a line like

id:5:something

To boot into runlevel 3 by default, change the 5 to a three.

oh god!...
i have the smae sound chipset, the SiS 7012. It is hell. I searched thoroughly under every rock, in every hole, everywhere on the internet, I finally found somewhere that told me that there is NO drivers for the SiS 7012, but the OSS (Open Sound Something) Driver would work with my SiS7012, i installed the OSS Driver with its handy GUI installer, but my sound still doesnt work.
How in hell did you get yours to work???

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why would you want to start in runlevel 3???

Starting in runlevel 3 is quite a common practice. I do it. It's a matter of personal preference, for me. I prefer to have a text login prompt and type startx if I want to run GUI stuff. Also, it can be the only way to do things. Take, for instance, installing the NVidia drivers. The documentation states that you should kill X. This is normally done with <CTRL><ALT><Backspace>. If you're booting to rl5 and using KDM/GDM, then pressing the above keys is likely to simply restart X and give you another GUI login. Opening a term and dropping to rl3, however, has the desired effect.

As for this specific incidence, it is possible that defaulting to rl3 could solve some temporary problems with sound. If you default to rl5, and go straight into KDE (no login, just straight in), and you have problems with sound (arts, etc), then dropping to rl3 for booting, and compiling/running any sound programs/drivers from there could solve problems. Please note, however, that I've never used this s/c so I can't comment on anything specific.