alsa with soundblaster card not working

Message

joshight1 · Post by **joshight1** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 7:30 am

I'm having a problem getting sound to work for the first time on my system. I've configured alsa
correctly I believe, however when I attempt to play sounds it fails.

One area of concern for me is a cat of /proc/asound/cards gives me:

Card config:
Sound Blaster Live! (rev.6, serial:0x80271102) at 0xb800, irq 11

Audio devices:
0: ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback (DUPLEX)

I think it shouuld appear like what's listed below:

Card config:
Sound Blaster Live! (rev.6, serial:0x80271102) at 0xb800, irq 11

Audio devices:
0: EMU10K1

Any thought on how to troubleshoot this issue or what the problem might be?

Thank you kindly.

durandal · Post by **durandal** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 8:36 am

Hi,

How does it fail? Did you remember to unmute the card using alsamixer?

M.

PaulBredbury · Post by **PaulBredbury** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 8:56 am

Have you configured as per the guide? Run "update-modules" after editing /etc/modules.d/alsa

olger901 · Post by **olger901** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 9:47 am

Is alsaconf giving you an error after you chose your card?
If so you might have the same problem as I do, what I would reccomend is compiling alsa statically in the kernel and unmering the alsa-driver package and removing the alsa downloaded modules manually (see the ALSA howto for more info). Just ignore (and don't rung) alsaconf afterwards and run alsamixer and see if it finds your soundcard properly. If it does unmute the required channels and try playing a song using madplay or something similair.

joshight1 · Post by **joshight1** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 2:57 pm

In /etc/modules.d/alsa - Under the Section generated by alsaconf I see a couple of questionable lines:

alias snd-card-0 snd-*** err [lib/liblow.c(329)]:
alias sound-slot-0 snd*** err [lib/liblow.c(329)]:

This looks like some kind of error to me and is probably the reason I'm having problems. Can anyone provide insight for these lines.

Thanks.

Headrush · Post by **Headrush** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 10:24 pm

Try:

Code: Select all

cat /proc/asound/oss/sndstat

/etc/modules.d/alsa for a soundblaster Live

Code: Select all

# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd

# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore

##  ALSA portion
alias snd-card-0 snd-emu10k1
##  OSS/Free portion
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

# OSS/Free portion - card #1
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss

alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss
alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss
alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss

z10n · Post by **z10n** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 3:31 pm

Hi joshight1,
i dont know maybe i'm wrong, but if you say you have configured alsa correctly and you have all modules load, it's smell me like UDEV 073, cause i had same problem yesterday with sound and after downgrade UDEV to version 071 everything works fine. And error err [lib/liblow.c(329)]: sound me so familiar.. What version of udev you have?

cheers z

joshight1 · Post by **joshight1** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 5:46 am

after modifying the alsa conf file according to what headrush posted above I'm not getting any errors upon boot.
However, when I stop the service /etc/init.d/alsasound stop i get a error when trying to unload the alsa modules. Is it possible that the modules aren't loading at all, but i'm not getting an error message at boot time? Where and how can I check on this? Thanks.

One more thing in proc/asound/cards i still have

Audio devices:
0: ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback (DUPLEX)

but the config guide http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml shows i should have something like

Audio devices:
0: EMU10K1

What could this indicate? Thanks.

joshight1 · Post by **joshight1** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 5:54 am

One more thing... In /var/log/messages i see this output:

kobject_register failded for snd_seq (-17). Could this be related to the issue?

Thanks

-valheru- · Post by **-valheru-** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 12:44 pm

I have a soundblaster card as well, Audigy 2zs, and if I run alsaconf from outside of X I get the exact same error as you do.

Just log into X and run alsaconf from the terminal window, it will work fine then. Worked fine that way for me over 3 installs.

joshight1 · Post by **joshight1** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 5:58 am

ok, i think i might have combined using alsa-drivers and compiling the modules into the kernel the first time, so I started over, but am getting the same errors. I'm starting to pull my hair out now so any help is greatly appreciated.

Here are the exact steps I just completed:

1) Go into kernel config -- select all sound card support to be compiled as modules<M>
2) recompile the thing and copy it over to /boot
3) emerge alsa-utils
4) run alsaconfig
5) add alsa rc-update
6) run alsamixer - make sure nothing is muted
7) cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp ---------nothing - no sound, static

cat /proc/asound/cards0 gives: [Live ]: EMU10K1 - SBLive! Value [CT4871]
SBLive! Value [CT4871] (rev.8, serial:0x80321102) at 0xdf80, irq 19

cat /proc/asound/version
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.9b (Thu Jul 28 12:20:13 2005 UTC).
# cat /proc/asound/oss/sndstat
Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.9b emulation code)
Kernel: Linux albs 2.6.13-gentoo-r3 #1 SMP Thu Oct 20 21:16:38 Local time zone must be set--see zic i686
Config options: 0

Installed drivers:
Type 10: ALSA emulation

Card config:
SBLive! Value [CT4871] (rev.8, serial:0x80321102) at 0xdf80, irq 19

Audio devices:
0: ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback (DUPLEX)

This seems wrong should be EMU10k1

Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Midi devices:
0: EMU10K1 MPU-401 (UART)

Timers:
7: system timer

Mixers:
0: Cirrus Logic CS4297A rev 4

Now when I try to stop alsasound /etc/init.d/alsasound stop
* Storing ALSA Mixer Levels ... [ ok ] *
Unloading ALSA ... [ ok ] *
Unloading ALSA modules ... [ !! ] - ALSA Modules won't stop

When I restart - warning alsa sound already started

Log messages: In /var/log/messages:
Nov 18 21:22:12 albs kobject_register failed for snd_pcm (-17)

Anyone have any idea what to try next or what's going on? I had no idea it was this complicated to get sound working.
Thanks/

joshight1 · Post by **joshight1** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 7:50 pm

anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on this issue?

thanks.

Headrush · Post by **Headrush** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 8:00 pm

joshight1 wrote:Here are the exact steps I just completed:

1) Go into kernel config -- select all sound card support to be compiled as modules<M>
2) recompile the thing and copy it over to /boot
3) emerge alsa-utils
4) run alsaconfig
5) add alsa rc-update
6) run alsamixer - make sure nothing is muted
7) cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp ---------nothing - no sound, static

Did you remove the kernel modules directory? (/lib/modules/...)
If you have used both alsa-driver and in-kernel, you'll have to remove this directory.

joshight1 wrote: Audio devices:
0: ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback (DUPLEX) This seems wrong should be EMU10k1

Mine says the same thing and works 100%

PaulBredbury · Post by **PaulBredbury** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 8:02 pm

joshight1 wrote:Audio devices:
0: ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback (DUPLEX) This seems wrong should be EMU10k1

No, it's OK. I have the same "ADC" entry, with a SB Live 5.1.

Log messages: In /var/log/messages:
Nov 18 21:22:12 albs kobject_register failed for snd_pcm (-17)

There's the problem. Are you using a stable kernel and safe CFLAGS? Other things to try.

joshight1 · Post by **joshight1** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 8:39 pm

For compile flags I'm using pretty much the default for a P4:

CFLAGS="-O2 -march=pentium4"
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

I'm pretty new to this so i didn't want to try anything too custom.

Also, I'm using the 2.6.13-gentoo-r3 kernel, so that shouldn't be the problem either.

Like I mentioned before I compiled the support into the kernel and used the alsa-driver as well, which I now know i'm not supposed to do. A post above mentioned I should remove my /lib/modules dir, but I'm not exactly sure what to remove in there.

The path is /lib/modules/2.6.13-gentoo-r3 and it contains :

build modules.ccwmap modules.inputmap modules.symbols video
kernel modules.dep modules.isapnpmap modules.usbmap
modules.alias modules.ieee1394map modules.pcimap source

What specifically should i remove? After I remove it do i need to recompile the kernel, restart the service, etc. ?

Thank you very much.

PaulBredbury · Post by **PaulBredbury** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 8:55 pm

Here's some steps for a cleanup:

cd /usr/src/linux
make menuconfig
Go to "Device Drivers - Sound" and press "n" on "sound card support" - that will clear out the support from the kernel. Now press "m" so that the minimum required support will be in the kernel, as required by the ebuilds.
Exit "make menuconfig", saving your changes.
make clean
make && make modules_install
Copy the kernel files (e.g. arch/i386/boot/bzImage, System.map, .config) to /boot/ as usual.
emerge alsa-utils alsa-headers alsa-driver alsa-oss alsa-lib
Reboot
Check /var/log/messages and whether /etc/init.d/alsasound starts

Headrush · Post by **Headrush** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 9:22 pm

joshight1 wrote:Like I mentioned before I compiled the support into the kernel and used the alsa-driver as well, which I now know i'm not supposed to do. A post above mentioned I should remove my /lib/modules dir, but I'm not exactly sure what to remove in there.

The path is /lib/modules/2.6.13-gentoo-r3 and it contains :

build modules.ccwmap modules.inputmap modules.symbols video
kernel modules.dep modules.isapnpmap modules.usbmap
modules.alias modules.ieee1394map modules.pcimap source

What specifically should i remove? After I remove it do i need to recompile the kernel, restart the service, etc. ?

Thank you very much.

Remove the entire directory and then rebuild your kernel and any third party modules you need. (aka nvidia, vmware)

The in-kernel ALSA drivers for SB Live should be sufficient.

joshight1 · Post by **joshight1** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 3:48 am

Ok, I removed the /lib/modules dir, recompiled the kernel with sound card support, ran alsaconf again and my sound card was detected fine...

Everything seemed in order, but still no sound

I'm still getting the same error though and I cannot figure out what is causing this:

Nov 20 19:34:39 albs kobject_register failed for snd_seq (-17)

Any ideas what this means? Is this something using the alsa_drivers would fix? Thanks.

Headrush · Post by **Headrush** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 3:50 am

joshight1 wrote:Ok, I removed the /lib/modules dir, recompiled the kernel with sound card support, ran alsaconf again and my sound card was detected fine...

Everything seemed in order, but still no sound I'm still getting the same error though and I cannot figure out what is causing this:

Nov 20 19:34:39 albs kobject_register failed for snd_seq (-17)

Any ideas what this means? Is this something using the alsa_drivers would fix? Thanks.

I thought you were using the alsa-driver package already?

joshight1 · Post by **joshight1** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:08 am

No I'm not - I wanted you compile the support into the kernel as you mentioned before. It just seemed easier. That's why I removed the /lib/modules and recompiled the kernel. I had done both before at the same time and it wasn't working, so I wanted to try without the driver first. Thanks.

PaulBredbury · Post by **PaulBredbury** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:10 am

joshight1 wrote:Nov 20 19:34:39 albs kobject_register failed for snd_seq (-17)

Hmm... what's in your /etc/modules.d/alsa?

joshight1 · Post by **joshight1** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:16 am

/etc/modules.d/alsa - thanks

# Alsa 0.9.X kernel modules' configuration file.
# $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/media-sound/alsa-utils/files/alsa-modules.conf-rc,v 1.4 2004/11/16 01:31:22 eradicator Exp $

# ALSA portion
# OSS/Free portion

##
## IMPORTANT:
## You need to customise this section for your specific sound card(s)
## and then run `update-modules' command.
## Read alsa-driver's INSTALL file in /usr/share/doc for more info.
##
## ALSA portion
## OSS/Free portion

# OSS/Free portion - card #1

alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-osset
alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss
alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss
# Set this to the correct number of cards.

# --- BEGIN: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---
# --- ALSACONF version 1.0.9a ---
alias snd-card-0 snd-emu10k1
alias sound-slot-0 snd-emu10k1
# --- END: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---

Headrush · Post by **Headrush** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:16 am

Would you please post your lsmod now.

Never heard of this module: alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-osset

joshight1 · Post by **joshight1** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:23 am

albs ~ # lsmod
Module Size Used by
snd_mixer_oss 16904 -
snd_emu10k1 116676 -
snd_rawmidi 20160 -
snd_seq_device 6740 -
snd_page_alloc 8240 -
snd_util_mem 3240 -
snd_hwdep 6784 -
e100 34792 -

Thanks.

PaulBredbury · Post by **PaulBredbury** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:27 am

joshight1 wrote:/etc/modules.d/alsa - thanks

Your file is incomplete - here's mine:

Code: Select all

# Alsa 0.9.X kernel modules' configuration file.
# $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/media-sound/alsa-utils/files/alsa-modules.conf-rc,v 1.4 2004/11/16 01:31:22 eradicator Exp $

# See http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/doc-php/template.php?module=emu10k1

# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore

## IMPORTANT:
## You need to customise this section for your specific sound card(s)
## and then run `update-modules' command.
## Read alsa-driver's INSTALL file in /usr/share/doc for more info.

#  ALSA portion
alias snd-card-0 snd-emu10k1
#  OSS/Free portion
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

# OSS/Free portion - card #1
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss

alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss
alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss
alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss

# Set this to the correct number of cards.
options snd cards_limit=1