No sound from card... Pls Help!!! [solved]

Despect · n00b Joined: 17 Nov 2006 Posts: 19

K. This is the problem.

Trying to get audio working in console. Then I'll tackle KDE.

I currently have everything enabled in my kernel as built-in, not modules.
Maybe I have too much here, but I'm not certain myself what is necessary.

Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
Sequencer Support
Sequencer dummy client
OSS Mixer API
OSS PCM (digital audio) API
OSS PCM (digital audio) API - Include plugin system
OSS Sequencer API
RTC Timer support
Use RTC as default sequencer timer
Support old ALSA API
Verbose procfs contents
-----PCI devices
Intel/SiS/nVidia/AMD/ALi AC97 Controller

Using a sis card, and have the correct driver for it. (sis drivers)

sasuke linux # lspci -v
00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AC'97 Sound Controller (rev a0)
Subsystem: Dell Unknown device 0195
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 173, IRQ 17
I/O ports at 1400 [size=256]
I/O ports at 2480 [size=128]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2

Starting the daemon works fine:

sasuke dev # /etc/init.d/alsasound start
* Loading ALSA modules ... [ ok ]
* Restoring Mixer Levels ... [ ok ]
sasuke dev #

However, still can't get anything to come outta my speakers. When I try to play an mp3 I get an error like this:

sasuke dev # madplay ~/Desktop/wal.mp3
MPEG Audio Decoder 0.15.2 (beta) - Copyright (C) 2000-2004 Robert Leslie et al.
Title: White & Nerdy
Artist: Weird Al Yankovic
Album: Straight Outta Lynwood
Track: 1
Year: 2006
Genre: Comedy
Comment: h8me..retail as alwayz
output: ioctl(SNDCTL_DSP_SYNC): Inappropriate ioctl for device

Finally got my system away from the /dev/* error, and this is where it's at now. Can't find any resources online about this part... Anyone have any ideas?
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RUN\DOS\RUN

Despect · n00b Joined: 17 Nov 2006 Posts: 19

KK... Back to the same old problem now.

Just rebooted and I'm getting a diff. error now. (had this one a little earlier, thought it was fixed...)

Everything is the same as above except when I try to play a file this is the error I get...

sasuke ~ # madplay -v ~/Desktop/wal.mp3
MPEG Audio Decoder 0.15.2 (beta) - Copyright (C) 2000-2004 Robert Leslie et al.
audio: /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
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C:\DOS\
C:\DOS\RUN

RUN\DOS\RUN

hulmeman · Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:10 am Post subject:

Despect · n00b Joined: 17 Nov 2006 Posts: 19

O.K. No real explanation above, if I was to type in the code you wrote, I did that. And nothing changed...
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Despect · n00b Joined: 17 Nov 2006 Posts: 19

Anyone else have an idea here...? Still no sound... :-P

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C:\
C:\DOS\
C:\DOS\RUN

RUN\DOS\RUN

sonicbhoc · Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 3:24 am Post subject:

If I were you, I'd compile all the sound support out of your kernel and follow [url="http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_ALSA_Complete_(includes_dmix)"]this tutorial[/url].

I think you should go the alsa-driver approach because the alsa drivers in the alsa-driver package are usually newer than the ones in the kernel releases. Also, it seems easier to keep alsa stuff working using a separate package... at least it seemed so for me.

you should have at least alsa-driver, alsa-lib and alsa-utils installed.

Headrush · Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 3:35 am Post subject:

Despect · n00b Joined: 17 Nov 2006 Posts: 19

KK. This is where I'm at now.

I want to use compiled in options. No modules, no alsa-drivers. :-P

Had it working before, but after an install had a lot of problems that basically were unfixable.

So I started from scratch. Now I'm using the latest kernel version --> 2.6.18-r3

Have all the options compiled in that I had before. At least I'm 99% sure.

Now I can get it to play the file but can not hear it through the speakers. When I open madplay with a file it shows all the info of the file, and even starts a counter that shows that it's playing. However for some reason I can't hear a thing... Odd since I had this working before...

Anyway, been trying a few things from the forums here and can't seem to get anything to work...

So, it's playing the file (an mp3), and it shows that it's playing, however I cannot hear the sound.

I've unmuted all the channels using alsamixer and I've turned all channels up to 77x77 which should be plenty high to hear. (tried them at full volume too... didn't matter...)

One thing that may be worth mentioning... when I loaded alsamixer before my re-install it showed green bars which gave me an idea how high the volume is... Now it does not show any green bars at all... I dunno if this is a problem or not... (again, my channels are not muted...)

Well, while waiting for a response, I'm gonna browse for an answer.

Thanks in advance.
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Despect · n00b Joined: 17 Nov 2006 Posts: 19

KK. Lemme just say to all you other nubs (myself included), TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS!!!

Unmuting everything apparently is NOT the way to eliminate errors. lol

Fidgeting with alsamixer I muted all channels that were shown except those that I knew I needed.

Imagine my surprise when I played the file once again and it ran through perfectly... :-P

Full sound!

Here's what happened. There are two options called "MHeadphone Jack Sense" and "MLine Jack Sense". I assumed this was what told my laptop when not to play through the speakers because a headset was plugged in... WRONG!

After disabling these two options I was able to play sound no prob, and hear it.

So, in conclusion IF YOUR FILE IS PLAYING AND YOU CANNOT HEAR THE SOUND LISTEN TO COMMON SENSE AND TOY AROUND WITH ALSAMIXER!!! It may save you a lot of time... seeing as how it wasted plenty of mine...

I'm sure I'll be posting in here again guys. Thx. for the help. ^_~
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C:\
C:\DOS\
C:\DOS\RUN

RUN\DOS\RUN