[SOLVED] Sound doesn't work on Slackware 12.0 laptop

slackyo · 05-06-2012, 10:16 PM

Hi! I am a Slackware rookie, and am running it on an ancient laptop that my mom bought in 1998. It is a Toshiba Sattelite 320cds series laptop, with the following specs:
RAM: 96 mb
HDD: 9.5 gb (6 gb allocated for /)
Opt. Drives: CD-R compatible drive
Floppy Drives: 3.5" 1.44 mb
OS: Slackware 12.0 (system unchanged)
Processor: 233-mhz Pentium Pro

I am using Slackware for gaming, as Windows 95/98 wasn't too good with newer games (plus cheat codes weren't too reliable

.) The installation was adequate, and with my dad's help I got X working. However, my built-in speakers (which are Soundblaster compatible) don't work. Any suggestions?
TIA, and thanks for putting up with me

allend · 05-07-2012, 08:17 AM

Welcome to LQ!

My googling suggests that the sound on your laptop is provided by the OPL3-SA2 chip. http://genericnerd.blogspot.com.au/2...satellite.html
This chip is supported by the snd-opl3sa2 kernel module. You can see a list of possible parameters here. http://www.alsa-project.org/main/ind...or_snd-opl3sa2
You will need to check the contents of the /etc/rc.d/rc.modules file. It may be there is a line in there that can be uncommented and appropriate values entered.
I have not been able to find any specific information on your laptop, but this information taken from a guide for the Toshiba 4015CDS may be useful. http://grundrisse.org/etc/4015CDS.html#sound

Quote:

The audio chipset is a Yamaha OPL-SA3 which is supported by the kernel's opl3sa2 driver; the IRQ, DMA, and I/O settings are available via the BIOS which is accessible by holding down the 'Esc' key during boot. Recording these settings prior to installation will ease configuration.

It is important to note that different models of the 4015CDS have different resource settings for the audio chipset. Most documentation of the OPL-SAx series of chipsets provide the following settings:

irq=5 dma=1 dma2=0 io=0x370 mss_io=0x530 mpu_io=0x330

Indeed, these are the settings that Derek used during his Red Hat 5.2 installation. However, my machine reported different I/O settings:

irq=5 dma=1 dma2=0 io=0x530 io=0x220 mss_io=0x530 mpu_io=0x330

slackyo · 05-07-2012, 08:53 PM

Thanks for the reply! I learned most of what I know about Linux from running top-level (or bottom level) utilities. How do you add kernel modules?

TIA and thanks for putting up with me!
-slackyo

TommyC7 · 05-07-2012, 09:13 PM

Well, if the kernel itself does not have the module you require, you will have to rebuild the kernel. If it does contain the module you need, then a simple "modprobe <module>" will suffice (and you can add this in certain scripts to auto-load it on every restart).

slackyo · 05-07-2012, 11:01 PM

Thanks to both of you! I have found the original creators and am going to download it. I'm going to try it ASAP.

solarfields · 05-08-2012, 01:53 AM

slackyo

did you run alsaconf after the install?

allend · 05-08-2012, 09:36 AM

The snd-opl3sa2 kernel module was included with Slackware 12.0. You should only need to have an active line in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules to have the kernel module loaded at boot time.

slackyo · 05-12-2012, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allend

The snd-opl3sa2 kernel module was included with Slackware 12.0. You should only need to have an active line in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules to have the kernel module loaded at boot time.

I looked inside /etc/rc.d/rc.modules and found it didn't have an opl3-sa2 driver!

I made a mistake on the original thread: my laptop speakers are Soundblaster Pro compatible

. I'm currently trying to see if the soundblaster pro/16 driver in rc.modules will work.

allend · 05-12-2012, 11:24 AM

I found this, which is for a Toshiba, but not your model, at http://www.gossamer-threads.com/list.../kernel/331734

Code:

/sbin/modprobe snd-opl3sa2 isapnp=0 port=0x538 wss_port=0x530 sb_port=0x220 fm_port=0x388 midi_port=0x330 irq=5 dma1=0 dma2=1

Try adding the above line in /etc/rc.d/rc,modules and rebooting. Then post the output of 'aplay -l'.

PS - You may need to adjust the values in the code above based on values in your BIOS. Also, do you have a BIOS setting for PCIC/16 bit cardbus? There is a post reporting that was required here. http://justlinux.com/forum/archive/i.../t-106803.html

slackyo · 05-13-2012, 12:28 PM

Thanks to everyone! I ran alsaconf like solarfields said, and it found the opl3-sa2 driver. Thanks again to everyone who posted replies to my thread. Linux rocks, and so do you!
THANK YOU