Emu10k1 Alsamixer quandry [solved]

ElGuido · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 74

Given the below, has anyone got any ideas as to why my SB card won't work? As a check it used to work in linux and still works in windows. The non-functioning has also followed across an alsa-driver upgrade and a kernel upgrade.

The other 2 devices both work.

I have also tried killing udev and reloading it as well as removing /etc/asound.state

All without success.

As such, help appreciated.

K Rgds,

G

Indech · n00b Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 22

Gentoo has a guide for configuring alsa: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml#alsa-utilities

You didn't add support into your kernel for your card along with the alsa-driver, did you? And since it is the preferred method anymore, I'd suggest unmerging alsa-driver, emerging alsa-utils, and adding alsa support directly through your kernel.

Hopefully this helps

ElGuido · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 74

Apologies I should have mentioned that I did follow the guide

In case it isn't clear I should also note that sound works fine through both my USB headset and from the onboard sound chip (I only just enabled this having got problems with the SB)

As such it's only the emu10k1 that is broken and I'd really like to know why and how to fix it.

Here's some further info in case anyone has an epiphany relating to the aforementioned.

rlittle · Apprentice Joined: 17 Dec 2003 Posts: 200

I had a weekend of trouble where I got very familiar with my soundcard. For trouble-shooting I would work on one card at a time, so I suggest going into your BIOS setting and turning the on-board soundcard off until you have the SB working. Then go after the joy of two soundcards.

Then I suggest:
check your /usr/src/linux/.config by running the following:

#
grep SOUND /usr/src/linux/.config

CONFIG_SOUND=m
# CONFIG_SOUND_PRIME is not set

...and:

grep SND /usr/src/linux/.config

# CONFIG_SND is not set
#

There shouldn't be any other entries that show up from the above "grep" commands. If they are any, you should disable that option in the kernel.

I'm not *certain*, but if you're using alsa-driver (instead of using the kernel-version to replace it), then you should configure sound support as a module. I switched over to alsa-driver as part of my ugly weekend and it's better if you like staying current, and there's no particular reason for sticking it all in the kernel. (except that you have to remember to re-emerge alsa-driver after every kernel upgrade.

)

After that, I learned that you should get rid of anything that looks like OSS support. ALSA contains all the OSS emulation/support you want INSIDE of it. The point of this is that here is the only uncommented section of my /etc/modules.d/alsa :

# --- BEGIN: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---
# --- ALSACONF version 1.0.10 ---
alias snd-card-0 snd-emu10k1
alias sound-slot-0 snd-emu10k1
# --- END: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---

Everything regarding OSS/Free support is commented out. And, if I run the following I see ->

#
ls -l /dev | grep dsp

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Dec 3 13:07 adsp -> sound/adsp
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Dec 3 13:07 dsp -> sound/dsp
crw------- 1 root audio 14, 19 Nov 28 2004 dsp1
crw------- 1 root audio 14, 35 Nov 28 2004 dsp2
crw------- 1 root audio 14, 51 Nov 28 2004 dsp3
#

...even though I don't know what "adsp" is yet.

I'll add that I play a lot of Unreal Tournament 2004 and it needs /dev/dsp to play sound. (as far as I know, having OSS emulation in ALSA means you get a /dev/dsp device).

Note: I do NOT have the alsa-oss package installed.
#
equery list -i alsa

[ Searching for package 'alsa' in all categories among: ]
* installed packages
[I--] [ ] media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.10 (0)
[I--] [ ] media-sound/alsa-utils-1.0.10 (0.9)
[I--] [ ] media-sound/alsa-headers-1.0.10 (0)
[I--] [ ] media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.10 (0)
#
(equery is part of app-portage/gentoolkit)

One more thing, to get the OSS support (/dev/dsp), I have "oss" added in my /etc/portage/package.use for alsa-driver. Make sure your emerge looks like this :

#
emerge -pv alsa-driver

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

Calculating dependencies ...done!
[ebuild R ] media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.10 -doc +oss 0 kB

Total size of downloads: 0 kB
#

(it doesn't really matter what you have for "doc")

And I couldn't tell (despite all the good info you posted) if you have your card set in /etc/make.conf. Mine looks like this:

#
grep ALSA /etc/make.conf

#ALSA_CARDS="via82xx"
ALSA_CARDS="emu10k1"
#
(I also have a on-board sound chip that I've turned off)

...And if you're STILL hosed after a reboot, I read about a lot of people burning by having their new "alsa-driver" modules colliding with their "left-over" kernel-version ALSA drivers. That means it's easy to do even if you think you're not doing it.

My current kernel lib directory (now that I'm using alsa-driver properly) looks like this:

#
ls -l /lib/modules/<kernel version>/kernel/sound

total 16
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13451 Nov 26 16:36 soundcore.ko
#

which is *correct*. My older kernel-version kernel lib directory looked like this:

#
ls -l /lib/modules/<kernel version>/kernel/sound

total 0
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 208 Sep 8 22:52 core
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 72 Sep 8 22:52 drivers
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 104 Sep 8 22:52 pci
#

which is *wrong*. If you see anything like the 2nd example, you should delete that whole directory and re-compile the kernel (cd /usr/src/linux; make && make modules_install), and emerge alsa-drivers. That should make everything clean and bullet-proof.

(remember, when you try this on your machine, you need to replace <kernel version> with YOUR kernel version. Just look in /lib/modules to make sure you have the right spelling.)

The only other last-minute burn I can think of is make sure that the user name you run your GUI under is part of the "audio" group:

#
grep audio /etc/group

audio:x:18:rlittle
#

One last little tidbit. My sound was never as clear in Gentoo as in my Windoze system. This drove me crazy(!!!!) until i realized that my Windoze session was always quieter. After 4 hours of research I found a rumor that the SB Live actually amplifies your digital signal if you set your PCM level to 100%. Because you are amplifying a digital signal, you get "digital clipping" in your audio output. I fix this by never setting my PCM volume over 81% (ok, maybe 84%, the other posts I read said no more that ~70%. Take your pick). The WAV volume control seems to work properly, so you should set it to 100%. Anything less and the card "dithers" your pure digital signal. Do any other volume control with MASTER or your speakers/external amp)

I know what I'm talking about, my sound is working, and I've proof-read what I wrote, but feel free to correct whatever huge errors I made.

Good luck ElGuido. Gentoo rules.
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Headrush · Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2005 12:38 am Post subject:

The biggest problem with people and ALSA is people flip flopping between the kernel modules and the alsa-driver modules.

People throughout these forums will explain how much better the alsa-driver packages is and how they fixed everything.
More often then not, it was something else that got fixed in the process. The differences are usually minor; the ALSA in kernel right now is 1.0.10rc1, while the alsa-driver package is 1.0.10. Unless you have an extremely new sound card, they probably won't be much difference. (If you have the SB Live like someone above, you're not gaining anything by using the alsa-driver package, this card is well supported for a while now)

Bottomline, whatever alsa driver you pick, stick with it and get it working. Don't switch, its not the problem. It seems like every day there is a new thread with ALSA problems and its related to changing between the two.

ElGuido · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 74

Well thanks for all the replies.

I can tell you I last had an alsa issues a year ago, nearly exactly, and it was then my sound setup changed from kernel to drivers
cf https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-261782-highlight-.html and since then it's been fine since then until about 2 weeks ago.

Guess this is a ponderer...

Harumph!

K Rgds,

G

rlittle · Apprentice Joined: 17 Dec 2003 Posts: 200

Oh... Hmmm. I guess I should have read your email a *little* more closely...

<ponder, ponder, ponder>.

When I can't think of a way to fix something in Gentoo, I just "emerge --emptytree --deep world" and go away for a few days. Well, it worked once anyway....

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nephila · n00b Joined: 20 Aug 2002 Posts: 22

I'm having exactly the same problem as ElGuido. Up until a few days ago (the last time I looked) sound was working fine and then today *poof* gone.

My first thought was that it was the gentoo-sources-2.6.14-r4 so I rebooted into an older kernel (-r3) and sound was working, but now my display was broken, nvidia-[glx|kernel]-1.0.8174 was installed yesterday, so I recompiled and rebooted and my sound was broken again.

I thought it might be those drivers, so I downgraded to the previous version 7676 and tried again (no reboot) and no joy. However I probably should have rebooter.

Either way I also downgraded module-init-tools to 3.2_pre7 to see what effect that might have, but nothing.

Hopefully this'll help someone figure out the problem, but for me its late and I'm running a fever as it is.

rlittle · Apprentice Joined: 17 Dec 2003 Posts: 200

If you use alsa-driver instead of the kernel-version, you *did* emerge alsa-driver again after the kernel upgrade, right?

I upgraded the the new nvidia-kernel also (my OpelGL has died

), so I emerged and re-built the lastest kernel,(didn't fix anything), at which point I noticed that my sound was dead. Re-emerging alsa-driver (and rebooting) fixed that.
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nephila · n00b Joined: 20 Aug 2002 Posts: 22

rlittle, I'm using the kernel internal alsa drivers. I'm going to try your advice and compile the alsa-driver instead.

I'll let you know how I get on.

nephila · n00b Joined: 20 Aug 2002 Posts: 22

The results with alsa-driver are no different than before.

The modules load, but the device nodes aren't created. There are no /dev/snd and /dev/sound directories created

When the alsasound service starts I see the message

erik258 · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 2:59 pm Post subject:

I have had similar problems as well. Once i spent a really long time trying to get in-kernel drivers working and to no avail. I finally got standalone drivers working ok.

If I were you I would use the standalone drivers. BUt i realize some people say in-kernel drivers are better ... then again i seem to also remember people saying no, the inkernel drivers suck , use the standalones. so i just stick with whatever i get working .... until i have to set up a new computer! : )

Now here's someting else ... i think it's especially easy to confuse the alsa system, what with the two possible setups. See, it looks like the alsa system itself is working, but it's not picking up on the fact that you have more than one soundcard for some reason.

I have a sblive soundcard (which by the way sounds soooo much better than the circa-98 vortex 1 it replaced ; - > I have to review and then make another post but i think you're missing one of your drivers. I will edit or something in a few....

but before i finish (god im a rambler) i also wanted to mention the ALSA_CARDS or whatever in /etc/make.conf. Do you have all cards listed? I know, i know, you did in fact follow the directions .. . but i sadly make many mistakes when following even the simplest of directions and i don't think the also howto is exactly perfectly clear, so, it may help a lot to review and double maybe triple check each step is completed properly.

rlittle · Apprentice Joined: 17 Dec 2003 Posts: 200

Dang! I didn't mention it, but I had the same problem a little while ago. I thought it was just the version I was running, so I started blindly emerging things and upgrading the kernel. Nothing worked. I read that people were have troubles with the kernel-version so started reading up on how to switch over to the alsa-driver version. I had problems, but I think it was when I went to a new kernel version (i.e. I finally didn't have any left over modules in my "lib" dir) and re-emerged alsa-driver that it all started working.

All I really learned is that one missed piece of the puzzle can ruin your whole day.All I can suggest is that you shouldn't have to waste your time looking at udev, (all your other devices are there....), it's should be all about the modules and compile options for ALSA.

If you have nothing better to try, I would double check my kernel options so soundcard support is compiled as a module (CONFIG_SOUND=m and everything else in "not set") and then make clean, then make, then make modules_install. Update your bzImage, reboot, emerge -Dv alsa-driver and reboot to see if it worked. It sounds like overkill, but I thought I did the above about 3 times before I got it all happening at the same time. I'm not to proud to admit that the problem was attached to the keyboard. :wink:

Oh yes, make sure those two lines are in /etc/modules.d/alsa and then run modules-update. You need that too.
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TNorthover · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 5:32 pm Post subject:

I've just had this problem (device nodes not existing and sound card not found errors) caused by udev-077. I downgraded to 072 (a number I picked randomly, not because it's an especially good vintage) and things are back to normal now.

calr0x · Apprentice Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 244

Try "udevstart" guys...

I think a few days ago a new udev was released for ~x86. I upgraded to this version yesterday.

When I booted today all looked fine, but I got the same error. Checking the forums found me this thread.

It is my feeling theres a problem w/ this new udev in some way, and for me, running "udevstart" fixed the problem. Check and see if your /dev/sound/* is not being created after booting, and notice that after running "udevstart" they are created properly...

Hope this helps gents...

nephila · n00b Joined: 20 Aug 2002 Posts: 22

calr0x, your solution worked perfectly for me. Thanks.

From what TNorthover has said, it looks like something in udev-077 was broken, and the new version doesn't start properly on boot.

calr0x · Apprentice Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 244

Woohoo!

rlittle · Apprentice Joined: 17 Dec 2003 Posts: 200

Sorry guys. I'm running udev-0.68. Last time I upgraded I couldn't boot my system. Didn't realize that the ~amd64 version was so far ahead.
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ElGuido · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 74

In the end I've migrated over to my on board sound and switch the cable over when using linux and not windows.

I did try undoing the unboard sound and readding just the emu10k1, but got exactly the same error.

As a side note all the dev nodes were appearing correctly

Leaving this as a DFKDFC pain of a problem

kuschelkriterium · n00b Joined: 16 Nov 2004 Posts: 33

@ElGuido: I had the same problem as you when changing from ALSA 1.09 to ALSA 1.10. Today, I found the solution here: https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view.php?id=1681

If the reason is the same, your card is working flawlessly, although you don't hear anything, as it is muted (which happened when you deleted your /etc/asound.state), and which you cannot change unless you get your amixer to work. This is not your fault; it is a bug in the ALSA drivers which has now been changed in CVS. There is a workaround, which unfortunately requires changing the sources and recompiling.

You have to fetch and unpack your sources and edit the file alsa-kernel/pci/emu10k1/emumixer.c in the work-directory. Search for the lines

ElGuido · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 74

Aha!!!!

Fantastic work

alsamixer -c 2 (which is what my sb has been delegated to)

now doesn't gives errors!

"Happy happy, joy joy" x 10

ElGuido · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 74

Bug filed https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=120217