Hi folks.

I'm brand new to linux and have installed RH 9 on my laptop. It is a pavillion zt1170. The only problem I have had is with the sound. Whenever a .wav file is played, the first 2 seconds get played, and then it loops back and keeps repeating those 2 seconds until I reboot. I have searched google for anything specific about this laptop, but could not find anything.

Also of note:
1) sndconfig auto-detects a VIA sound card (VT82C686 AC97), but HP's product description page says that the zt1170 has an ESS maestro 3. From what I can figure, the ESS part is the controller for the modem.

2) somewhere i read that it might be necessary to disable any speaker that exists on the motherboard through the bios. i checked the bios, and i cannot change anything about the sound from there.

Any suggestions on how to get this annoying "feature" of my laptop to stop and play normal?

Thanks in advance !!

first you can determine what chips are in your laptop exactly by typing
'cat /proc/pci' and look through the output for your audio controller. (and chips that handle the modem have also been known to double as your sound card)

next would be to maybe try installing the ALSA drivers fresh and from source.

i checked /proc/pci and the VIA controller was listed as the multimedia audio controller. no other audio controllers were listed.

there were also several VIA bridges, but i assume these are unrelated to the audio controller.

true the VIA bridges are probably controlling things like the ide controller, etc. Next step would be to go to alsa-project.org and install the ALSA drivers. (in the sound card matrix they should have instructions for your specific chipset).

ps. here's a direct link to card specific instructions:
(although the alsa site in general is a good read for information)

http://alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/doc...module=via82xx

thanks for your help. i'll be trying the install when i get home from work. i'll post the outcome. again, i appreciate your help.

no problem best of luck,
jpbarto

ok, here is the deal.

i followed the alsa instructions and when i got to the modprobe commands, i got the following error for the first modprobe file:

/lib/modules/2.4.20-8/kernel/sound/pci/snd-via82xx.o: init_module: No such device
Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
/lib/modules/2.4.20-8/kernel/sound/pci/snd-via82xx.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.20-8/kernel/sound/pci/snd-via82xx.o failed
/lib/modules/2.4.20-8/kernel/sound/pci/snd-via82xx.o: insmod snd-via82xx failed

so, i used locate to see if the xx in via82xx was supposed to be replaced by the actual numbers and i found the following files:

/usr/src/linux-2.4.20-8/drivers/ide/pci/via82cxxx.c
/usr/src/linux-2.4.20-8/drivers/ide/pci/via82cxxx.h
/usr/src/linux-2.4.20-8/drivers/sound/via82cxxx_audio.c
/lib/modules/2.4.20-8/kernel/drivers/sound/via82cxxx_audio.o

so, two questions:
1) the previously installed drivers appear to be "via82cxxx" instead of via82xx. my card is recognized as via82c686. the alsa instructions are all talking about a via82xx. could it be that the via82xx is for a different card?

2) it also appears that the modprobe command is trying to put the new driver in the /kernal/sound/pci directory, but the other via82cxx driver is in /kernel/drivers/sound is modprobe trying to put it in the wrong place?

hmm, any suggestions on what to do here? ignore the error?

thanks in advance !!

guild you unfortunately are modprobing the proper driver. are there other drivers loaded perhaps at boot time that could be blocking the alsa drivers from getting access to the card?

you can find out what modules are loaded after rebooting by executing 'lsmod'. If you see any sound drivers loaded (with the exception of soundcore) then you might try unloading them before continuing with the modprobing.

experts... little advice?

hope that helps guild,
jpbarto

here is the output of lsmod [after i figured out that it was a lowercase L and not a capital i :-) ]

Module Size Used by Not tainted
via82cxxx_audio 24440 0 (autoclean)
uart401 8388 0 (autoclean) [via82cxxx_audio]
ac97_codec 13640 0 (autoclean) [via82cxxx_audio]
sound 74228 0 (autoclean) [via82cxxx_audio uart401]
soundcore 6404 4 (autoclean) [via82cxxx_audio sound]
parport_pc 19076 1 (autoclean)
lp 8996 0 (autoclean)
parport 37056 1 (autoclean) [parport_pc lp]
autofs 13268 0 (autoclean) (unused)
ds 8680 1
yenta_socket 13472 1
pcmcia_core 57216 0 [ds yenta_socket]
8139too 18088 1
mii 3976 0 [8139too]
ipt_REJECT 3928 6 (autoclean)
iptable_filter 2412 1 (autoclean)
ip_tables 15096 2 [ipt_REJECT iptable_filter]
sg 36524 0 (autoclean)
sr_mod 18136 0 (autoclean)
microcode 4668 0 (autoclean)
ide-scsi 12208 0
scsi_mod 107160 3 [sg sr_mod ide-scsi]
ide-cd 35708 0
cdrom 33728 0 [sr_mod ide-cd]
ohci1394 20168 0 (unused)
ieee1394 48780 0 [ohci1394]
keybdev 2944 0 (unused)
mousedev 5492 1
hid 22148 0 (unused)
input 5856 0 [keybdev mousedev hid]
usb-uhci 26348 0 (unused)
usbcore 78784 1 [hid usb-uhci]
ext3 70784 2
jbd 51892 2 [ext3]


i did not see any of the things you were talking about.

*bump* i still need help :-)

thanks in advance.

guild, I'm running around doing some searching at the moment... you're not the only one who's had problems with this chipset by the looks of it.

can you tell me ... back when the wav's were locking up your sound card what kernel module were you using then for sound? was it the ESS module?

in the mean time I'll keep googling.

guild, here's a link to a forum thread .. it looks like it might be a little knoppix specific but it might still be of some help:

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtop...73debeb76fe8bd

no, it's always been the VIA mod. it just repeats over and over.

i have never actually gotten the ESS mod installed because i can't find any mod for the maestro 3. only for the 2, 2E and 1.

wow, i'm amazed you are finding stuff on google. i probably just don't know what to look for. i thought i had search for everything before posting here.

again, thanks so much for the help.