Greetings all,

This is my first post and my first true Linux install and I'm having an issue that I have yet to find the solution for.

I have a Panasonic CF-50 laptop with an integrated sound card. While installing Suse 10.1 GM it autodetected the card as "82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller" and assigned it as sound card 0 (zero). Everything seemed to be happy as I don't see anything suspiscious in /var/log/messages or /var/log/boot.msg that would tell me otherwise. Uname -r returns 2.6.16.13-4-default for the kernel release.

Hwinfo returns the audio controller as using the "Intel ICH" driver and the module "snd_intel8x0" active and the module "i810_audio" not active. I have used alsaconf and gone through it with no errors and have gone into alsamixer and tried about every combination of volume and mutes imaginable without success. I have also stored the config as well using alsactl. I do see an entry for "Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)" for the Multimedia audio controller when issuing the lspci command.

I can launch an audio CD, DVD or MP3 file and it does play without error, it's just there's no sound coming out of the speakers or the headphone jack.

This is my first "native" Linux install. I have been playing around with Linux on an XP box using VMWare (the same laptop) for about 6 months and sound has worked in every virtual machine just fine on multiple distributions to include Suse. I have found many articles and posts that talk about making sure Alsa isn't muted, turning the external amplifier off, muting the line jack and headphone jack sensing (which I don't see in any mixer), having root privelages, etc. but nothing has worked.

It seems to me that the driver and software are working just fine, but there is a setting missing to connect the audio stream to the speakers or headphone jack on the motherboard. There are some configurable options in the soundcard settings in YaST (ac97_clock, ac97_quirk, buggy_irq and buggy_semaphore) and I have tried to play with those, but with no success either.

If there is any output from any commands or files (modprobe.conf, /etc/modprobe.d/sound, etc.) that would assist in troubleshooting, please let me know and I will post them.

If I am unable to find a solution, is there a good PCMCIA or USB external sound card that comes recommended for Linux? Nothing fancy, I just want to listen to some music and movies in stereo. I don't need 5.1 surround, etc.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Chad

Check to make sure your PCM value isnt' all the way down.

PCM is set to 85 and is not muted.

On your SuSE-10.1, do you get any sound with the "test" under YaST > HARDWARE > SOUND > other > volume. Move the slider bars to the right.

Tried that, no dice. All the settings are at misc. levels and the top two sliders are at 90 and 85.

Click "other options" while Suse is booting up. Worked for me. I use APM. I think "Other Options" is F1??? Check it out

Another idea:

Try going to /etc/modprobe.d and rename any file with "sound" in the file name. Then go to YaST > HARDWARE > SOUND and get YaST to recognise your sound card, and try the TEST of the sound again.

Tried all above and still no good. I have a USB external sound card on the way, so we'll give that a shot and see if ti works any better. Thanks for the input.

Have you tried alsaconf? This has worked for many huh's? in the sound arena. Just a thought.

Well, I received a Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro USB sound card. I plugged it in, and went through YAST to add a new sound card. I added it as a generic USB sound card for grins and tried the test button and got sound right away. It is playing MP3 audio, system sounds, movies, etc.

Needless to say, this was an easy fix after playing around with the configs for endless hours. Must be something goofy with the onboard sound card compatability. Oh well, I have sound so I'm a happy camper.

Thanks for all of the input!