Re: switching to kernel 2.6 - splay "Failed to open sound device" /dev/dsp

[Mark Fletcher <mark27q1@yahoo.com>]

Daniel B. wrote:

> In trying to switch to kernel 2.6(.8) and udev on Sarge, I found that
> splay/xsplay fails, saying "Failed to open sound device".  Using
> strace, I see that opening /dev/dsp is failing:
>
>    open("/dev/dsp" ... ) = -1 EBUSY (Device or resource busy).
>
> I'm not knowingly running any sound daemons, so why would the device
> be busy?
>
> Does this sound like a change because of udev or just because of 2.6?
>
> (Is "/dev/dsp" a device from the old sound drivers?  If so, why
> is it "device busy" instead of something like "no such device"?)
>
>
> Thanks.
>
> Daniel
Are you using ALSA or OSS drivers? What sound hardware do you have and 
what drivers are you using? Are the drivers compiled into the kernel or 
as modules? Did this start happening after a kernel upgrade to 2.6 -- 
kinda sounds like it from what you say above...

I am running sound with no problems using ALSA on 2.6.12.2 kernel built 
from kernel.org. I saw errors like what you describe when I first 
upgraded as I was using the wrong driver, and memory fades a bit but I 
think I was also missing some underlying / other drivers initially too.

So here's what I suggest you do:

1) Answer the above questions
2) post the output of lsmod here (may need to run as root)
3) post the output of lspci here (again may possibly need to run as root)

Once I can see all that I'll see if I can be more help.

Mark