No sound on Gericom laptop (SiS7012)

[pure_ascii]

Hi folks,

my first try with gentoo linux 1.4rc1 was on my new Gericom Webgine XL Force laptop.

The problem is, that i can't hear any sound. I tried alsa with the snd-intel8x0 module, the OSS kernel module i810_audio and the SiS driver sis7012.
Everything seems fine, I can access /dev/dsp and aplay etc. seems to play the wav test file, but I can hear no sound.
(Only thing I can hear is a silent *click* if the wav playback starts.)
The problem is not gentoo specific, SuSE 8.0 (uses alsa) fails to play any sound, too.

And yes, i did use the mixer to unmute and turn the volume to the max.

Under Windows XP the sound works fine, so it can't be a hardware problem.

Any ideas what else I can try?

Thx in advance,
pure_ascii.

[px]

maybe you need the via codec or some others modules.

Try to compile the kernel with every sound related thing in modules and then in your /lib/modules/xxx/kernel/drivers/sound do:

for foo in *; do modprobe `basename $foo .o`; done;

this will modprobe every module.

After that you can try playing your wav again and if it worked use lsmod to show you every modules that are loaded.

And finally you can check every modules to be sure the ones you must load and put them in your modules.autoload.
_________________
Nous autres, mordus d'informatique, préférons par-dessus tout passer notre temps à bidouiller nos ordinateurs, plutôt que les utiliser pour faire quelque chose de productif. [Dave Barry]

[pure_ascii]

Thx px,
I gave it a try, but all modules together seem to conflict, and they are just too much to try every combination.
Searching the web it looks as if other notebooks with this Chipset don't have this problem. Strange.
I tried alsa another time, following exactly the Gentoo Linux ALSA Guide, but it wasn't successful, either.

Any other suggestions?

Going mad, pure_ascii.

PS: I'm just trying to get another windows OS running with this laptop to see, if this will work with sound.

[px]

are you sure that your sound chip is a sis or i810? with your gentoo install cd you got the lspci command that told you every card or chip you had on your system. I also surf on gericom website and I see that's a via chipset... I ask myself if it's not a via sound chip... what's your network cart? if it's a via-rhine integrated, I think it would be a via chipset.

You can modify my script with this one:

for foo in *; do echo $foo; modprobe `basename $foo .o`; play /bidule.wav; modprobe -r `basename $foo .o`; done;

this one willdisplay the module name, lload the module, play a wavefile and then unload the module.
_________________
Nous autres, mordus d'informatique, préférons par-dessus tout passer notre temps à bidouiller nos ordinateurs, plutôt que les utiliser pour faire quelque chose de productif. [Dave Barry]

[pure_ascii]

I'm pretty sure that it is a SiS7012. The whole chipset is SiS (SiS 900 ethernet, SiS 7001 usb, SiS IDE, etc.).
Also Win XP shows SiS7012 and /proc/pci, too.

I installed Win98SE to test if it's a special driver installed with the delivered WinXP, but the sound worked within Win98SE with the gericom driver as well as with the original SiS driver.

And another point is, that the GF4 go 420 32MB isn't as fast as I expected. The fps rate in UT2003 is going down to 7 with all details on (12 in WinXP).
I wanted to have a laptop which is suitable for games, too.

I'm thinking about bringing the laptop back.

Hopeless, pure_ascii.

[pure_ascii]

Today I tried the commercial OSS version, and it detected the SiS7012 correct and the sound was working.
"lsmod" is showing the following OSS modules:

[pure_ascii]

Another thing I discovered:
When I stop the commercial OSS (the modules are unloaded) and load the OSS/Free module (i810_audio) it works, too.
So there must be something the commercial OSS sets to get the sound working.

Strange.

Ciao, pure_ascii.

[px]

stange thing...

what says the lsmod before oss commercial, while it's working, after unloading, after loading free version?

maybe it's just a mixer problem. Is pcm volume set to 100% and other output (I am sure you've done this already).
_________________
Nous autres, mordus d'informatique, préférons par-dessus tout passer notre temps à bidouiller nos ordinateurs, plutôt que les utiliser pour faire quelque chose de productif. [Dave Barry]

[eGore911]

i suggest using ALSA ... it works for me perfectly

i have the same chipset (SiS 7012), which need corresponing to the ALSA website the snd-intel8x0 (as far as i remeber). if oss won't work, you may give ALSA a try.

[Hibbelharry]

some time ago i tried to get the sound running on the machine of a friend. it was also somekind of gericom webgine with a sis chipset and the problem was pretty the same. we were only able to listen to music from cd. after giving up and retiring i searched the web just for interest again. here is what i found out:

- the issue you encounter is known. i found some reference in the alsa-dev
mailing list. newest alsa drivers should fix the problem. didn't have the
ability to test ist until now.

- gericom has a precompiled kernel rpm file at their ftp server. it's compiled
with commercial oss in it. there is no documentation for it and i don't know
the exact location of the files on the ftp. i remember the folder is called
linux. maybe it's worth giving it a try.

good luck
Hibbelharry