I feel like I've gone loony, as this shouldn't have happened ... but it has.

Slackware 9.1 install only two weeks old. Laptop running up time less than 5 hours total.

The kernel/system automatically included the proper modules for my sound card. (worked since install, never bothered looking into why it worked). I did have to tweak permissions on /dev/dsp and /dev/snd/*, but it's been fine since. When it stopped working - I started to look into it. Here's what I found...

/lib/modules/2.4.22/ (lots of stuff here... but no sub-dir called "sound")

I do use the 2.4.22 kernel, and will probably upgrade to 2.4 23 soon, but have not done so yet. So I was very surprized to find this...

/lib/modules/2.4.23/sound/ (a few items here, nothing else but sound under the 2.4.23 dir)

O.K. I use "swaret" to update my system, and I'll admit that I'm not really strict about watching it do it's work. However my sound card worked, now it doesn't. Maybe swaret did something.

# swaret --list

So I'm looking at everything there and I can't find anything to indicate that sound and/or module files for the new kernel would have been loaded.

So, does anybody know what may have happened?

Thanks!
.

not sure. but in my slackware 9.1 w/ the binary packages for 2.4.23
i have a dir BUT: /lib/modules/2.4.23/kernel/sound/

Wait but I should have said sound modules directory within the kernel module tree for the same version as the kernel I'm running though... right?

I guess it will all be more clear once I upgrade the kernel and kernel-modules packages to 2.4.23 anyway. Hopefully my sound will come back - otherwise I might have to change dists again.

So far, I really like the tight no-nonsense layout of Slack, but I'm so used to the RPM package system that it's really hard to get used to doing things any other way. Hmph.

I can't say much. when I upgraded to 2.4.23 [w/ slackware binaries] I had to upgradepkg also the kernel-headers-2.4.23 in order to have the sound working..
that's all

so GET THE HEADERS TOO!

http://www.slackware.com/security/vi...ecurity.718266

The new alsa-driver package is compiled for kernel 2.4.23 and that's why your not getting sound. Just follow the directions here and run alsaconf again. Everything should be okay after that.

same link. heheh

Oopps!
Well, now I guess you know it's doubly important.

O.K. - Thanks for the info - I didn't notice "alsa" package updates, but that certainly makes sense. I guess it makes no sense to go backwards, so time to upgrade.

I'm thankful to you all for pointing out the reason why, it helps me sleep better.

That's what I love about this fourm, somebody's usually reading my mind and posting answer's to questions before I even ask.......

I _just_ upgraded to the next kernel build (2.4.23) and everything seemed to go smoothly........untils I started KDE. Then I got an err msg about not finding /dev/dsp for the sound, etc, etc. So I tried to reinstall alsa-drivers, but no luck.

So I'll take this excellent advice and get the kernel headers, too

yes. I found it a bit silly that the kernel heards.tgz were in the bottom of the text in slackware's site.
glad I helped you. have a nice sound. :P