Re: Can't get sound to work!
It seems that my card is recognized. Everything looks normal except for the
output of my /dev/sndstat. I can use apps to control tracks of audio cd's
and things like that. I just can't use any mixer apps or play any audio
except for cd audio. I can't figure out what's wrong. Using redhat and
mandrake I was able to just do sndconfig and pick soundblaster and everything
worked. I only seem to be having this problem with debian.
The results of cat /proc/interrupts has the following entry:
7: 4 soundblaster
The output of /proc/ioports has this entry:
0220-022f : soundblaster
lsmod contains these entries:
sb,uart401,sound,soundlow,soundcore
cat /dev/sndstat lists the following:
OSS/Free:3.8s2++-971130
Load type: Driver loaded as a module
Kernel: Linux neuro 2.2.18pre21 #1 Sat Nov 18 18:47:15 EST 2000 i686
Config options: 0
Installed Drivers:
Card config:
Audio devices:
0: ESS ES1879 AudioDrive (rev 11) (3.01)
Synth devices:
Midi devices:
0: ESS ES1688
Timers:
0: System clock
Mixers:
0: Sound Blaster
Kent West wrote:
> Rev. Ferret wrote:
>
> > Hi, I'm having problems getting my sound blaster 16 working. I used
> > modconf to select the sb module, which in turn selected a bunch of the
> > oss modules. After doing this, I can play audio cd's, but whenever I
> > try to run gmix it tells me that I do not have a mixer installed or my
> > kernel doesn't support sound. When I run XMMS, it tells me my kernel
> > either doesn't support sound or my card is not configured correctly. I
> > figured my kernel supports sound because I can load sound modules and
> > play audio cd's, so something else must be wrong. What else do I have
> > to do to get sound to work under debian?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Steve
> >
> >
>
> I'm no expert, so if you have any further questions, reply to all, not
> just to me, so that the list members can throw in their two cents.
>
> (1) You need to have support in your kernel for your sound card. There
> are two methods of doing this; one is to compile it in; the other is to
> plug it in as a module. Your description indicates that you're using the
> module method.
>
> (2) Playing an audio CD doesn't really depend on the software sound
> support; most CD drives will start spinning as soon as you put in a CD,
> and the sound from an audio CD is piped through the audio cable directly
> to the sound card. What a broken software setup will do is prevent you
> from using apps to control tracks, volume, etc. About the only thing
> playing an audio CD proves is that the hardware is functional (which is
> a good thing to know); it also points strongly to a lack of IRQ conflict
> (although not necessarily).
>
> (3) When you boot up, you should see some info scroll by concerning your
> sound card. But generally it goes by too fast to see, and you can see it
> after the fact by running "dmesg|more".
>
> (4) You should be able to see if you card is recognized, and on which
> IRQ, by running "cat /proc/interrupts" (my card is on IRQ 5 and 9).
>
> (5) Ditto for IO by running "cat /proc/ioports" (my card's on 220-2FF
> and 330-3FF).
>
> (6) You can see what modules are loaded by running "lsmod" (I've got
> "soundcore", "sound", "uart401", and "sb").
>
> (7) I'm not sure what "cat /proc/devices" indicates, but it lists my
> sound card, so it might be relevant.
>
> (8) Perhaps the most informative command is "cat /dev/sndstat", which on
> my machine reports:
>
> OSS/Free:3.8s2++-971130
> Load type: Driver loaded as a module
> Kernel: Linux westk03 2.2.18 #2 Thu Jan 18 22:52:14 CST 2001 i586
> Config options: 0
>
> Installed drivers:
>
> Card config:
>
> Audio devices:
> 0: Sound Blaster Pro (8 BIT ONLY) (3.02)
>
> Synth devices:
>
> Midi devices:
> 0: MPU-401 (UART) MIDI
> 1: Sound Blaster
>
> Timers:
> 0: System clock
>
> Mixers:
> 0: Sound Blaster
>
> Perhaps this info will get you a bit further on your quest to get your
> card working. Good luck!
>
> Kent
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