problems with alsa, and maybe arts

sboy · n00b Joined: 18 May 2005 Posts: 8 Location: Billings, MT

So I'm having some trouble with alsa. It all started with a mistake on my part.. unjudicious use of etc-update. Changed some setting in one of the alsa config files, and lost sound. Messsed with it a bit, to no avail.. Couple days ago, compiled a 2.6.14 kernel, and updated the system again.. which solved some of the problems. Bu a strange one remains... when I compiled the kernel I had the dummy sound driver option checked, as well as my soundcard (ensoniq, using ens1317 driver). Didn't work.. so I went back, browsed the forums, re-read the alsa guide in the document pages, realized my mistake, and corrected it, following the procedure in guide, remerging some of alsa apps. Now, here's where the system stands right now. alsamixer goes to the dummy soundcard by default, even though its no longer configured into the kernel. I can use alsamixer -c 1 to access the ensoniq card, and change settings in it just fine, but I still don't get any sound. Well, almost none, I can watch flash movies in firefox and get sound, but that's it. No other program works. I thought this might mean a problem with arts trying to output to the dummy device, but I can't figure out what changes to make. Any suggestions? I can post the relevant parts of any config files if it would help.
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I need a cp real.life real.life.old command

apberzerk · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:45 am Post subject:

Which version of alsa do you have? The latest, 1.0.10_rc3, has been screwy for me, so I downgraded.

sboy · n00b Joined: 18 May 2005 Posts: 8 Location: Billings, MT

I've got the latest, 1.0.10_rc3. Do you use the release just prior to the current? I had similar trouble with that as well, but one of the first things I tried was to make sure I had the latest releases for all the alsa stuff, (which I didn't), so it's entirely possible that there's some compound problem being caused by that. I'm willing to give it a shot.
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I need a cp real.life real.life.old command

apberzerk · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:37 pm Post subject:

I had to downgrade to 1.0.9.

sboy · n00b Joined: 18 May 2005 Posts: 8 Location: Billings, MT

Okay, update: I tried downgrading, that didn't solve the problem. I ended up ditching alsa-driver and working off the kernel enabled modules. Granted it's not neccessarily the most updated drivers, but my card isn't exactly new. Now, that didn't solve the problem either. But, I think I've managed to figure it out. It is some problem with arts. I can go into xmms, tell it to use the alsa output plugin, then configure that use the actual sound card instead of the dummy, and I actually get music out of it. I can live with this solution.. if you've got any suggestions on how I can tell arts to output to the soundcard instead of the dummy, I'd appreciate it, but what I've got now will serve. I'm still a little confused as to why that dummy driver is still hanging around... shouldn't disabling it in the kernel deny alsa access to it? How come recompiling the kernel without it left it around? Thanks for your suggestions up to this point.
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I need a cp real.life real.life.old command