LinuxQuestions.org - alsamixer wont work

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alsamixer wont work

darkstar% alsamixer
No mixer elems found

I have a Dell Inspirin 8600 Laptop, how can I fix this? I have no idea what kind of soundcard it uses.......how can I find that out?

Do you have /dev/dsp?

Depending on your distro, you could run lspci for hints as to which soundcard you have, but the more obvious solution would be to use google or visit Dell's website...

Quote:

Originally posted by SoulSe
Do you have /dev/dsp?

Depending on your distro, you could run lspci for hints as to which soundcard you have, but the more obvious solution would be to use google or visit Dell's website...

This is the computer I have, its fairly new
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...=i8600F2&s=dhs

This is what lspci gives me:

Quote:

bash-2.05b# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82855PM Processor to I/O Controller (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82855PM Processor to AGP Controller (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) USB UHCI #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) USB UHCI #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) USB UHCI #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BAM/CAM PCI Bridge (rev 81)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801DBM LPC Interface Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801DBM (ICH4) Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0324 (rev a1)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401 100Base-T (rev 01)
02:01.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI4510 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 02)
02:01.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCI4510 IEEE-1394 Controller

I think /dev/dsp exists because I tried to 'cd' into it and it said '/dev/dsp is not a directory'

Did you try running alsaconf to see if it could automagically configure your setup.

Quote:

Originally posted by ringwraith
Did you try running alsaconf to see if it could automagically configure your setup.

hmm, ok I ran it and it detected this, Intel Corp. 82801DB (ICH4) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 01)

configuring snd-intel8x0
Do you want to modify /etc/modules.conf < YES

but I ran 'alsamixer' and it still wouldnt work?

What Slack version? What kernel? Did you do a full install?

Also post your lsmod output.

Quote:

Originally posted by ringwraith
What Slack version? What kernel? Did you do a full install?

Also post your lsmod output.

Slackware 10 with 2.4.26, yes I did a full install

I have everything related to alsa?

Quote:

bash-2.05b# swaret --install alsa
swaret 1.6.2-1

Listing available Packages matching Keyword: alsa...
alsa-driver-1.0.5a-i486-2 (1484 kB)
alsa-lib-1.0.5-i486-1 (353 kB)
alsa-oss-1.0.5-i486-1 (32 kB)
alsa-utils-1.0.5-i486-1 (130 kB)

Package alsa-driver-1.0.5a-i486-2 is already installed!
Package alsa-lib-1.0.5-i486-1 is already installed!
Package alsa-oss-1.0.5-i486-1 is already installed!
Package alsa-utils-1.0.5-i486-1 is already installed!

lsmod output

Quote:

bash-2.05b# lsmod
Module Size Used by Not tainted
ppp_synctty 5856 0 (unused)
ppp_async 7392 1
ppp_generic 19492 3 [ppp_synctty ppp_async]
slhc 4976 0 [ppp_generic]
snd-pcm-oss 37736 0 (unused)
snd-mixer-oss 12504 2 [snd-pcm-oss]
keybdev 2052 0 (unused)
mousedev 4212 1
hid 21220 0 (unused)
usbmouse 2040 0 (unused)
input 3200 0 [keybdev mousedev hid usbmouse]
uhci 24444 0 (unused)
ehci-hcd 17580 0 (unused)
usbcore 59308 1 [hid usbmouse uhci ehci-hcd]
i810_rng 2528 0 (unused)
snd-intel8x0 18924 2
gameport 1420 0 [snd-intel8x0]
snd-mpu401-uart 3200 0 [snd-intel8x0]
snd-rawmidi 12740 0 [snd-mpu401-uart]
snd-seq-device 3888 0 [snd-rawmidi]
snd-intel8x0m 9544 4
snd-pcm 56072 0 [snd-pcm-oss snd-intel8x0 snd-intel8x0m]
snd-timer 13604 0 [snd-pcm]
snd-page-alloc 6328 0 [snd-intel8x0 snd-intel8x0m snd-pcm]
snd-ac97-codec 49500 0 [snd-intel8x0 snd-intel8x0m]
snd 30852 4 [snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-intel8x0 snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device snd-intel8x0m snd-pcm snd-timer snd-ac97-codec]
soundcore 3396 7 [snd]
b44 13708 1
yenta_socket 10336 0
pcmcia_core 39972 0 [yenta_socket]
ohci1394 24112 0 (unused)
ieee1394 42276 0 [ohci1394]
ntfs 51424 1 (autoclean)
ide-scsi 9328 0
agpgart 43940 0 (unused)

Hi, i just had this same kind of problem with my inspirion 8200 and what you wanna do is open the blacklist file it's under /etc/hotplug/ and add "snd-intel8x0m" under the word sound without quotes.....reboot and then try alsamixer again

Quote:

Originally posted by Quickdraw
Hi, i just had this same kind of problem with my inspirion 8200 and what you wanna do is open the blacklist file it's under /etc/hotplug/ and add "snd-intel8x0m" under the word sound without quotes.....reboot and then try alsamixer again

that worked! Thanks alot.....but now I have one problem, I can't do a 'alsactl store'

It says

smokey@bear:~% alsactl store
zsh: command not found: alsactl

so then I did '/usr/bin/alsactl store'

smokey@bear:~% /usr/sbin/alsactl store
/usr/sbin/alsactl: save_state:1088: Cannot open /etc/asound.state for writing

have you tried running alsaconf after you blacklisted the old module ?

If not try re-running it to configure the new module and then alsamixer, then alsactl store

Notice how alsactl is in /usr/sbin? *sbin/ is not normally in the path of users, it is a priveleged command.
Run it as root :-D

--Shade

Quote:

Originally posted by Quickdraw
have you tried running alsaconf after you blacklisted the old module ?

If not try re-running it to configure the new module and then alsamixer, then alsactl store

thanks that worked. :)