No Alsa after kernel upgrade
 

This is a frustrating problem for me. I have a Toshiba Tecra 8000 laptop, with Redhat 9 installed, and have to use Alsa to get sound in linux. I have installed Alsa several times, and have had very good results with it. The biggest problem lies in the fact that every time the kernel is upgraded, it trashes my sound configuration, and I have to reinstall Alsa. This time, however, when the kernel was upgraded, and it (of course) trashed my Alsa configs, I cannot get the sound back. I have reinstalled Alsa 3 times, unsuccessfully. I have used Synaptic to remove the packages and start over. I have tried using Synaptic to install Alsa. All unsuccessfully. I should note that the last time I had to reinstall it, I used Synaptic to uninstall, but it would not work using Synaptic to install - I've had to compile (I guess) each time. Here is the script that I use to install Alsa when needed:

All of the modprobes are failing. Up until that point, however, things appear to be running normally. After install is complete, and I reboot, the AlsaMixer isn't there. If it helps, here is the code in my /etc/modules.conf file:

Thanks for any help that you can provide.

Rich
:newbie:

What kernel did you upgrade to?

If it was a 2.6 series, ALSA can be compiled into the kernel - if you didn't do this, you may not have soundcore, and if you did, it might be confusing things.

s'all I got. :P
--Rounan

Compiled ALSA into 2.6 config - no sound
 

I compiled ALSA into my 2.6 config and I don't get sound. In fact the soundcore module doesn't compile in. I'd appreciate knowing where the soundcore mod is in 2.6 so I can get it installed. I looked for the module in the config file, but I can't find it. I did have the soundcore mod compiled, but it disappeared over several reworks of the config file. Everything else is there. All I have to do is get soundcore back and I can set up the modules.conf and be off-and-running. Oh well!!

BTW - I'm running the 9.1 Slackware distro (has a stock 2.4.22 kernel). I'm using the 2.3 gcc to compile.

I got my problem solved - installed older version of Alsa 0.9.8, and it works fine now.

Couple things to check out:

Kernel 2.6 means changes to modules.
modules.conf has been replaced by modprobe.conf, so you'll need to make sure modprobe.conf is doing what it should.

try just modprobe soundcore.
If that doesn't work, do 'locate soundcore' to find the module, and check the extension. 2.6 has changed it to .ko instead of .o
Just changing my nvidia.o to nvidia.ko fixed that module - maybe it'll work here.

I'm in your boat for now, my man. I don't have sound up and running 100% on my 2.6 machine yet, either. I did some stuff over ssh today that I hope fixed it, but I won't know for sure til I poke it this weekend.

--Rounan

thanks for the info
 

Yeah - I forgot about modprobe. conf .

Actually I had soundcore compiled in at some point, but I did something and "it went away". I'll try copying the mod from my 2.4.22 and see what happens. I might try it with my Via82xx mod, too. I can avoid having to add any OSS stuff if that works.

Well, I've hit a wall...

Couldn't get alsa working after upgrading to 2.6, so I tried to upgrade to the latest version.

In my kernel config I specified ALSA as a module, so to the best of my knowledge upgrading ALSA shouldn't require a kernel recompile... am I wrong?

So I did apt-get remove alsa, which removed alsa-base and alsa-lib, and then compiled and installed ALSA v1.0.1 from source.

During the compile, I got several warnings that were something like this:
Warning: You have stale modules. You messed with SUBDIR - don't complain if something goes wrong.

After installing alsa-driver, alsa-utils, alsa-lib, alsa-oss and alsa-tools, all of which completed successfully, I ran the module-options script in the utils directory as recommended during driver compilation, and was told:
Nothing to be changed

I then ran alsaconf, which detected my soundcard, and set up modprobe.conf(see below), but then failed to start ALSA. this has since stopped working - alsaconf now fails to locate any sound cards.

When I try to modprobe cs46xx (my soundcard driver), I get:

# modprobe cs46xx
WARNING: Error inserting snd_page_alloc (/lib/modules/2.6.1/kernel/sound/acore/snd-page-alloc.ko): Invalid module format
WARNING: Error inserting snd (/lib/modules/2.6.1/kernel/sound/acore/snd.ko): Invalid module format
WARNING: Error inserting snd_timer (/lib/modules/2.6.1/kernel/sound/acore/snd-timer.ko): Invalid module format
WARNING: Error inserting snd_pcm (/lib/modules/2.6.1/kernel/sound/acore/snd-pcm.ko): Invalid module format
WARNING: Error inserting snd_ac97_codec (/lib/modules/2.6.1/kernel/sound/pci/ac97/snd-ac97-codec.ko): Invalid module format
WARNING: Error inserting snd_seq_device (/lib/modules/2.6.1/kernel/sound/acore/seq/snd-seq-device.ko): Invalid module format
WARNING: Error inserting snd_rawmidi (/lib/modules/2.6.1/kernel/sound/acore/snd-rawmidi.ko): Invalid module format
FATAL: Error inserting cs46xx (/lib/modules/2.6.1/kernel/sound/pci/cs46xx/cs46xx.ko): Invalid module format

So, basically, it looks like I've managed to royally confuse my kernel. It has to be just a matter of symlinking or redirecting something, I'm sure, but I don't know what. Here's some relevant info:

Any ideas? Help is much appreciated.
A thought: since compiling the kernel, I've probably upgraded gcc while transitioning to the debian unstable tree... could compiling the kernel and modules using a different version of gcc be producing this?

----------------------
dmesg:
request_module: failed /sbin/modprobe -- char-major-5-2. error = 256
snd_page_alloc: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_timer: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_pcm: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_ac97_codec: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_seq_device: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_rawmidi: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_cs46xx: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_page_alloc: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_timer: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_pcm: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_ac97_codec: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_seq_device: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_rawmidi: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_cs46xx: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_page_alloc: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_timer: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_pcm: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_ac97_codec: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_seq_device: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_rawmidi: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_cs46xx: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_page_alloc: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_timer: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_pcm: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_ac97_codec: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_seq_device: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_rawmidi: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_cs46xx: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_page_alloc: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_timer: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_pcm: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_ac97_codec: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_seq_device: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_rawmidi: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'
snd_cs46xx: version magic '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-3.3' should be '2.6.1 preempt PENTIUM4 gcc-2.95'

--------------------------------------------------------
/etc/modprobe.conf:

include /lib/modules/modprobe.conf

# --- BEGIN: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---
# --- ALSACONF verion 1.0.1 ---
alias snd-card-0 snd-cs46xx
alias sound-slot-0 snd-cs46xx
# --- END: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---

----------------------------------------------------------
relevant section of /lib/modules/modprobe.conf:
### DEBCONF MAGIC
# This file was automatically generated by alsa-base's debconf stuff

alias char-major-116 snd
alias char-major-14 soundcore

options snd major=116 cards_limit=4

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
alias /dev/dsp* snd-pcm-oss

alias snd-card-0 snd-cs46xx

alias snd-slot-0 snd-card-0
alias sound-slot-0 snd-slot-0

### update-modules: end processing alsa ###

I had exactly the same problem - updated the kernel, Alsa not working. Upgraded Alsa to latest - no luck. Following a suggestion on another post, I installed an older version of Alsa - 0.9.8. Problem solved.

Hope this helps

I fixed it.

Had to recompile kernel, this time with my latest gcc, and after patching in ALSA 1.0.1 by copying the directories into kernel source. Worked like a charm. ;)

Now the problem I'm having is no sound when I'm not root - check the post I just put under "Permissions", this forum, for details.

Any help would be appreciated.

--Rounan

check permissions on /dev/dsp
 

cd to /dev and check permission on all dsp devices. ls -l /de/dsp* should do it. chown all them to youruser.yourgroup
ex:
su
cd /dev
ls -l dsp*
chown rowan.users dsp*
ls -l [ to check that the change was made]


Try is again. Rights to dsp devices have usually been my problem when only root can access.

BTW - I got my ALSA working. I took out ALL of the OSS moduels and compiled ONLY ALSA mods. Sound works. Still no luck on the ZiO CF card reader, but then NOBODY can get it to work [even though the mod is compiled into the 2.6 libs]. I cna get the thing to work read-write in 2.4.22 by loading a kludged usb-storage mod that a guy wrote. Go to the US-BAT02 page at Sourceforge.

I have the mod compiled in the /usr/local/modules directory and I can insmod it after rrmod 'ing the regular usb-storage mod. Like I said; a kludge but it works read/write! When I get some time I'll bumble through the code and try to 2.5 patch to see if I can make it work.

I got it fixed:
ALSA 1.0.1 uses the /dev/snd directory, and though I had set it and everything inside it with chmod 666, I hadn't given ENTRY permission. *bonk self*

chmod a+rwx snd

fixed my problem.

OOPS :D

I forgot - I'm running Debian on the Laptop and Slackware on the desktop. Slightly different device names for some things. Oh, well! Sorry 'bout that...