I have an intel original 915GLVG motherboard. This has ALC880 onboard sound card. This sound card supports 5.1 surround sound. However it has a total of just 3 jacks for everything including mic, input and the three speaker jacks. So it has to be configured with the realtek drivers in windows.
I am using mandriva 2006( came in three CD's)
2.6.12-12mdk
ALSA driver version 1.0.9b
This recognises my sound card correctly(snd-hda-intel) but sound doesn't work. I downloaded the ALSA config utility. So now the alsaconf works. But the alsamixer command doesn't work. It says:

alsamixer: function snd_mixer_load failed: Invalid argument

I used a knoppix live cd which had ALSA driver version 1.0.9a. and it worked perfectly.
When i gave the alsaconf command, it said:

Loading driver...
ALSA driver (version 1.0.9b) is already running.
Setting default volumes...
Saving the mixer setup used for this in /etc/asound.state.
/usr/sbin/alsactl: get_control:149: Cannot read control info '2,0,0,Front Playback Volume,0': Invalid argument

Help out with this guys. I am a newbie and this is the first time i installed any linux distro.

OK so what do you get with kmix command?
Have you had a look at the other sound configuration areas in Mandrake Control Center MCC and in the kde sound area?

alsamixer command says:

alsamixer: function snd_mixer_load failed: Invalid argument

Note this statement when i run the alsaconf command.I get this even during startup.

get_control:149: Cannot read control info '2,0,0,Front Playback Volume,0': Invalid argument

What part of my question to you didn't you read ??

Sorry buddy. These are the 2 messages i got with the kmix command:

Sound server informational message:
Error while initializing sound drivers:
device:default can't be opened for play back(device or recource busy)
The sound server will continue using the null output device


In the console it read a huge message. This is where it got stuck:

kio_fulltext: TXTExtractor start /root/.kde/share/config/kwinrulesrc
kio_fulltext: TXTExtractor already done
kio_fulltext: using plugin fulltext_text
kio_fulltext: TextExtractor /root/.kde/share/config/libkcal_htmlexportrc
kio_fulltext: TXTExtractor start /root/.kde/share/config/libkcal_htmlexportrc
kio_fulltext: TXTExtractor end
kio_fulltext: TXTExtractor start /root/.kde/share/config/libkcal_htmlexportrc
kio_fulltext: TXTExtractor already done
kio_fulltext: using plugin fulltext_text
kio_fulltext: TextExtractor /root/.kde/share/config/libkleopatrarc
kio_fulltext: TXTExtractor start /root/.kde/share/config/libkleopatrarc
kio_fulltext: TXTExtractor end
kio_fulltext: TXTExtractor start /root/.kde/share/config/libkleopatrarc
kio_fulltext: TXTExtractor already done
kded: KatFullTextJob::~KatFullTextJob()**********************

I didn't get the command prompt in the end which means that it's stuck somewhere.

OK The first part tells me that the device /dev/dsp hasn't been created which I think is done by the audio programs. I had a similar problem and cleaned the dust from around the motherboard sound area and tightened the screws and away it went.

So in the MCC as root you can change /pick the sound driver used. It may be worth trying a change. Config your computer-> hardware-> soundcard-> configure-> run config tool. change here or experiment with other drivers

Have no idea what "kio_fulltext:" is about.Sorry

I'm having a sound problem also, and I think it's similar to this one, but I'm not sure. I've only used Mandrake for about a week. 2005 Limited. The KDE is updated to 3.4. I try to run kscd and it gives me this over and over and over.

ALSA lib pcm.c:2084: (snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM /dev/dsp
open failed: No such file or directory
cdda: setup_soundsystem failed

I've tried both drivers and neither work. They worked before I updated KDE. /dev/dsp is there, so it must be misconfigured. What does unknown PCM mean?

Also, only KDE programs are affected. GNOME's rythmbox works just fine with the occasional crash.