Sound stopped working (ALSA monolithic kernel)
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Sound stopped working (ALSA monolithic kernel)
Due to previous problems and module headaches, I ended up compiling a sound-monolithic kernel with ALSA. (Kernel ver: 2.6.12.5). My sound was working for a time, but now things have gone silent. I don't use this system very often as a desktop, so not much has changed. The only thing that I think might be messing with things is the fact that a new alsa-utils got merged at my last update. I know for sure that the alsamixer settings are correct, so that's not an issue. I also know the speakers still work. XMMS and aplay appear to be playing a file properly, but no sound comes out. The alsasound initscript appears to have no issues, but I don't even know if that script matters when alsa is non-modular. So far I have tried things such as deleting /etc/asound.state and restarting alsasound, messing with alsamixer, and even deleting /etc/modules.d/alsa and /etc/init.d/alsasound and remerging alsa-utils (with a small reconfig of /etc/modules.d/alsa to have my snd-ens1371 enabled). Again, I don't know if that is of any consequence when my sound is compiled in-kernel and not as modules.
i bet what has happened is that alsa-lib has been updated, and is too far out of sync with the version in the kernel source. there has recently a binary interface change, and if the two packages get out of sync alsa stops working. i just switched my 2.4 machine over to 2.6, and had this problem. i solved it by using the alsa-driver ebuild and not using the alsa drivers that are in the kernel source. this solution is really easy and more reliable that using the alsa drivers in the kernel source tree - it shouldn't present any headaches!
Ugh. I personally prefer the alsa-driver ebuild myself, but I had some problems with it on the system in question which made me switch to the in-kernel version. Note the issues listed in this post which is referenced by someone with a similar problem in this one. Finally, there is my original "solved" post on this card here.
Next time I have a chance (the computer is at a different location), I'll see about removing the kernel options and going back to alsa-driver, though I doubt it will help.
Next time I have a chance (the computer is at a different location), I'll see about removing the kernel options and going back to alsa-driver, though I doubt it will help.