No sound with nforce2 A7N8X-X alsa, Slack10/kernel 2.6.7
 

I've been jumping through hoops trying to get my sound working. I have an ASUS A7N8X-X mobo, with a nForce2 chipset. First off, here are my devices and cards from /proc/asound:

/proc/asound/cards:

0 [nForce2 ]: NFORCE - NVidia nForce2
NVidia nForce2 at 0xeb001000, irq 5

/proc/asound/devices:

0: [0- 0]: ctl
8: [0- 0]: raw midi
18: [0- 2]: digital audio playback
25: [0- 1]: digital audio capture
16: [0- 0]: digital audio playback
24: [0- 0]: digital audio capture
33: : timer


Here is the output of lsmod | grep snd

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

snd_pcm_oss 58792 0
snd_mixer_oss 19456 3 snd_pcm_oss
snd_intel8x0 32648 3
snd_ac97_codec 70788 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm 97416 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0
snd_timer 24580 1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 9992 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
snd_mpu401_uart 7040 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_rawmidi 22820 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 7048 1 snd_rawmidi
snd 55556 12 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi, snd_seq_device
soundcore 7648 3 snd

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

My /etc/modules.conf

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

# --- BEGIN: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---
# --- ALSACONF verion 1.0.5 ---
# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
alias snd-card-0 snd-intel8x0
# module options should go here
# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-0
# card #1
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
options snd-intel8x0 mpu_port=0x330
# --- END: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---
------------------------

My ~/.asoundrc
------------------------

### /etc/asound.conf for nforce2 apu (analog out, from http://www.wlug.org.nz/NForce2Notes)

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "nforce"
}

pcm.nforce {
type dmix
ipc_key 1024
slave {
pcm "hw:0,0"
period_time 0
period_size 1024
buffer_size 4096
rate 48000
}
}


Yes, I'm running as root, so permissions aren't a problem.

The only indication that my soundcard is working at all is a very low static/whine coming through my two speakers (I only want analog, everybody online seems to asking about this thing called SP/DIF or digital out), and whenever I try to play an MP3 with XMMS, the static changes pitch.

I have a hunch that there is a simple trick to this, maybe the sound card is routing all my sound data to digital, or something, and maybe I have to switch from digital mode to analog...

Please, please help!

I've tried to be as thorough as I could, if you need any more tidbits of information, just ask, I'll probably respond in 30 seconds!

Thanks,
Cipher3D

...or, can somebody who has a working nforce2 audio (analog, no digital) post their .asoundrc and modprobe.conf's, plus any other special configs? Thanks!

*bump*

Is the hardware ok? Onboard sound can get pretty lousy (if you have the cash, get an SB Live for $20 USD :D). The speakers are plugged in correctly and everything? Can you print the output of amixer? Maybe you should check out the soundcard matrix at:
http://alsa-project.org
Just select the manufacterer, then card, then you have some installation instructions and a mini-forum where people might have the same problem.

Yup, done that. I guess I'll cave in and buy a sound card, maybe this isn't one of the battles I fight.

But I'm still keepin an eye out for any solutions ;)

Can you print the output of amixer? Yeah, soundcards can be pretty stubborn (I caved in from an onboard C-Media 8738 when I wanted ALL of the 5.1 speakers to work, and they do now :D), but a little advice: Do NOT go over to OSS. It is open-source, but it costs money, it's becoming obsolete, it has less support for devices, and it has a noticeable amount of latency.

I have a A7N8X-E Mobo, it has the same Soundcard as the -X so my settings should be similar to yours though I am running SuSE9.1 which might make a few differences.

/proc/asound/cards:

0 [nForce2 ]: NFORCE - NVidia nForce2
NVidia nForce2 at 0xe1080000, irq 9

/proc/asound/devices:

0: [0- 0]: ctl
18: [0- 2]: digital audio playback
25: [0- 1]: digital audio capture
16: [0- 0]: digital audio playback
24: [0- 0]: digital audio capture
1: : sequencer
33: : timer

Here is the output of lsmod | grep snd

snd_seq_oss 31232 0
snd_seq_midi_event 7680 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 54928 5 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_pcm_oss 57512 0
snd_mixer_oss 18944 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_intel8x0 33708 4
snd_ac97_codec 62468 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm 97032 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0
snd_timer 25860 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 11528 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
gameport 4736 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_mpu401_uart 8064 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_rawmidi 25508 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 8456 3 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi
snd 61444 21 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm ,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore 9056 1 snd


My /etc/modules.conf is empty and I'm unable to find ~/.asoundrc but I hope this will help you out, outside of a few issues with getting sound from programs running in wine I have had no problems with this sound card/chipset.

If you want a print out of any other files let me know I'll post them.

Thanks a lot guys. Did I say /etc/modules.conf? I meant /etc/modprobe.conf, although it may vary from distro to distro.

Here is the output of amixer: (it's freaking long)

Thanks. I turned off a lot of options, now the static is gone, so I guess I'm a step closer (I hope). However, every time I make changes to the volume settings, I have to restart the computer in order for it to make any effect....how do I make the volume settings take effect without restarting the computer?

modprobe.conf definitely seems to be different between distros.

this is all mine has in it that has to do with sound (at least that I'm aware of):

########################################################################
#
# Aliases for OSS
#
# These aliases will be changed by YaST2 sound configurator.
# If you would like to configure OSS drivers by yourself, please
# take a look at the files on /usr/src/linux/Documentation/sound.
#
########################################################################

install char-major-14 /bin/true
install sound /bin/true
install midi /bin/true



# remove this if sound is configured
install char-major-116 /bin/true


# nVidia nforce chipset (network + audio)
#alias eth0 nvnet
#alias sound-slot-1 nvaudio
#alias usb-interface usb-ohc


_____________________________________________________________________________________________


Here is a print out of my amixer:

Simple mixer control 'Master',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 21 [68%] [on]
Front Right: Playback 21 [68%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Master Mono',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [on]
Simple mixer control '3D Control - Center',0
Capabilities: volume volume-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: 0 - 15
Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control '3D Control - Depth',0
Capabilities: volume volume-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: 0 - 15
Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control '3D Control - Switch',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 21 [68%] [on]
Front Right: Playback 21 [68%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Surround',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [on]
Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Surround Down Mix',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Center',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Center/LFE Down Mix',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'LFE',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [on] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Line-In As Surround',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'CD',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [on] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [on]
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic As Center/LFE',0
Capabilities: volume volume-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: 0 - 0
Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Select',0
Capabilities:
Mono:
Simple mixer control 'Video',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [on] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Phone',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [on]
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Capture channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Input Monitor',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Playback AC97-SPSA',0
Capabilities: volume volume-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: 0 - 3
Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'PC Speaker',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 15
Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Aux',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [on] Capture [off]
Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [on] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mono Output Select',0
Capabilities:
Mono:
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
Capabilities: cvolume cswitch cswitch-joined
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 15
Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [on]
Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mix',0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [off]
Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mix Mono',0
Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-joined cswitch-exclusive
Capture exclusive group: 0
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Front Left: Capture [on]
Front Right: Capture [on]
Simple mixer control 'Analog to IEC958 Output',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Duplicate Front',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Exchange Center/LFE',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'External Amplifier',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Swap Surround Slot',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]


most of the differences seem to be that I have a lot of things tuned "on" where just about evrything is turned "off" on yours.