ALSA troubles with SB Audigy LS on MSI NEO4

rockingabe

Hi. I have been trying for hours to get this working. I have an MSI Neo4 SLI with an Athlon 64 3000. I am trying to get the onboard SB Audigy ls working.

Now, i have tried compiling the kernel's drivers as modules. I have run alsaconf and verified /etc/modules.d/alsa and its correct. Whenver i run /etc/init.d/alsasound, i get this:

* Loading ALSA modules ...
* Loading: snd-seq-oss ... [ ok ]
* Loading: snd-pcm-oss ... [ ok ]
* Restoring Mixer Levels ...
/usr/sbin/alsactl: set_controls:1088: snd_ctl_open error: No such file or directory

Now, i also dont have any /dev/sound /dev/dsp, nothing, nada
its as if the modules arent being loaded, but they are!

I have also tried emergin alsa-drivers and using those, same problem

When i compile the ca0106 driver into the kernel, sound works, but its not very good, i dont have a master mixer, programs cant control volume, no mixing.

Here is some info:

cat /proc/asound/cards:

0 [CA0106 ]: CA0106 - CA0106
MSI K8N Diamond MB [SB0438] at 0xde00 irq 58

I found this odd that it has the name of the motherboard, not the sound chip
lspci | grep audio:

0000:01:0d.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy LS

I have checked EVRYTHING i could think of. dmesg mentions nothing about the card.

Robert S · Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 10:40 pm Post subject:

I had same problem. Easily fixed by installing OSS (http://www.opensound.com/linux.html). Its freely available with the restrictions that it takes a few seconds to load up and must be updated every 6 (I think) months. I use the following to start it up. For some reason the symlink needs to be done this way otherwise certain programs (eg kde programs) complain:

leighgiles · Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 1:28 am Post subject:

Is the user trying to run alsa in the audio group?

Is there a /etc/asound.state?
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Sm1 · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:49 pm Post subject:

I just bought one of these cards. There are no master or PCM mixers. Instead there is an analog front, center/lfe, analog rear, and analog side mixer.

If your applications allow you to choose a default mixer to choose, then you can choose Analog Front. If they are hardcoded to use PCM or master, your SOL.

My problem was mythtv requires you to have a PCM mixer. My solution ended up being that I found good audio levels that worked well with this card and my reciever.
I used Front: 80
Center/LFE: 90
Surrounds: 90

I then set up my IR blaster to just modify the volumes on the receiver instead for all apps in use (xine, zsnes, mythtv, mplayer, mupen64). I chose these mixer values based upon the only place that I didn't saturate when playing stuff back.

friedmud · Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:31 am Post subject:

Sound works fine for me... either using kernel alsa (kernel 2.6.13-gentoo) or alsa-driver module (alsa-driver-1.0.9b).

I personally like the 2.6.13-gentoo kernel driver better... I just compile it (The Sound Blaster Live 24bit/LS driver) directly in (not as a module) and then I don't have to have alsasound in my startup (it just works). Plus it has a few more options, and better sound quality (imho).

My one remaining snag is that for some reason Doom3's sound is still kinda messed up.... I had it working at one point... but I don't remember what I did... sigh.

Friedmud

EDIT: BTW... I suggest using kmix (KDE's mixer) to control the volume... for one thing you have to deselect "SPDIF Out" in the "Switches" tab before any analog sound will come out (it is on by default for me). Plus Kmix lets you control which line (line in or mic) is the Capture line (only with the kernel driver). I haven't seen that in any other mixer progs.

AssociateX · Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 8:57 pm Post subject:

friedmud,
I'm pretty sure that Doom3 sounds terrible usless you play it with oss or aoss. Since you are using alsa you would probably like to try "aoss doom3" .
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friedmud · Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:19 am Post subject:

Yeah... it still doesn't work quite right. I'm pretty certain that this sound card just kinda blows... it gives me weird sound when EAX is turned on in Windows as well.... I currently have an Audigy2 card on my christmas wishlist... hopefully it comes through.

I keep hoping that each new kernel release or alsa release will fix my issues.... but it hasn't happened yet. I'm currently using alsa out of the newest kernel and everything seems to be working ok (Cedega and KDE type sounds).... except of course Doom3.... sigh

Friedmud