No sound using Simply Mepis 6.5 Final live CD for ATI Radeon Xpress 200 chipset

Funny thing...I have a Toshiba Satellite A135-2266 with the same specs as you listed (Xpress 200M, ATI SB450) and can't figure out how to get sound working. I've tried reinstalling alsa from synaptic to no avail. I also attempted to compile alsa from source without any luck. The sound chipset is actually from ReakTek. Seems like a rookie error (bug?) on such an awesome distro. Any ideas? Anybody?

Well i dont have a fix but i can point you to some reading where some headway has been made. This chip seems to be a problem child and if its any consolation you are not alone with this problem i did a search a while back because of another post & came up with more questions than answers.

My search was done with "linux ati sb450 sound" and this url i found was interesting, but there are several and which might work i have no clue , i dont have one to play with. But for what its worth here it is.

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Acer_Aspire_5102WLMi

Good luck!

jim

what are the symptoms: is the speaker icon crossed out in the taskbar, or does the speaker show correctly?

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

It seemed as though my card wasn't detected at all. KMix only has control for caller-id and off-hook. lspci showed "14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SB450 HDA Audio (rev 01)". As I said earlier, I tried to install ALSA from source as indicated on their website:
(http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/doc-php/template.php?company=ATI&card=ATI-IXP+southbridge+HD-audio+and+modem.&chip=SB450&module=hda-intel)

FYI, though, I had the same problems on SAMLinux 2007 and Sabayon; but everything works on OpenSuSe. Unfortunately, I had to remove Mepis because of this. It's definitely a great and fast distro that I'm going to keep looking at.

did you also do this:

Note to debian users: You need to save this information into a file in the /etc/modutils/ directory (Eg. /etc/modutils/alsa) and run update-modules

# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
# module options should go here

# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

# 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

??

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

carlops,
As a matter of fact, I did exactly that and no luck...

Thanks for all the responses from everyone. Got
back in from work so I am just now reading
the posts. I am glad I am
not alone with this problem. In my case,
The speaker is crossed out and the KMix is blank.

janthree

please do 'lsmod | grep snd' in the console and paste the output

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

Here is the 'lsmod | grep snd' output...

snd_hda_intel 15768 0
snd_hda_codec 195760 1 snd_hda_intel
snd_pcm_oss 37408 0
snd_mixer_oss 14336 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 62856 3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 18308 1 snd_pcm
snd 45928 6 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 7008 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 7560 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

janthree

mmm, well, the right module IS loaded, as far as I can tell, so I have no idea why kmix is not active then... sorry...

One thing though: the alsa modules version with MEPIS is the latest version, so you should not need to do an install from other sources. Maybe there is an IRQ conflict going on. Try booting the PC with acp_irq_balance....

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

How do I boot the Live CD with acp_irq_balance?

janthree

When grub screen after boot just type it in caption box at bottom at end of vga=798 or similar. Just leave a space between last entry. The cursor should be there when grub comes up.

jim

sorry, typo: make that acpi_irq_balance

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

Thanks carlops and Jim for the input. I booted the live CD with the acpi_irq_balance option. Unfortunately, the speaker icon is still crossed out and I have no sound. I guess I will try putting in a sound card and disabling the onboard audio to see if that works. If not, then I will wait for SimplyMepis 7.0 to come out...

janthree

Hi janthree,

Just to let you know that this seems to be (in my view) a generic "break" in this latest 6.5 release for the hda_intel chipset. I've been messing with both of the "Feisty" releases of ubuntu and kubuntu during the last week and hda_intel works straight out of the box with both. Since mepis draws from both sets of those libraries, it makes it all the more strange that somehow the sound got broke??

It's a great disappointment to be honest as mepis seems to embody the best of all the debian based packages. Pity they can't get it ALL right ALL of the time! An OS without sound these days is worse than useless IMNSHO... I was so pleasantly surprised when both my 1280x800 resolution (915resolution pre-installed) and wireless network connection just worked straight off but then deflated when I realised that the sound wasn't working.

Since I hack around with IOS and unix in my day job, I just want to "switch off" and play "stupid" when I get to my laptop to mess around on the net etc... I thought, here was a distro that would allow me to do that but I'm not prepared to start rolling up my sleeves and start hacking into the setup just to get the darn sound working... sheesh... Why can't Linux developers understand that?

I just want a linux distro that "just works" and will drop onto my laptop and enable everything correctly and I can get on and play... seems that is far too much to ask... sigh...

Colin

Hi Colin,

Thanks for the reply. I am a real newbie (about a week now of actually trying Linux, but I have been reading the forums for a month or so) and, as you said, I wanted to start out with a distro in which everything works, so I could be productive while I learned to tweak the OS and, in turn, learn more about Linux. SimplyMepis seems to have a good reputation for newbies and I am very happy with everything...my video works great, the network card works great...in fact, everything seems to work except the sound. Unfortunately, as you said, no sound is a show stopper.

If I can't be a sound card working, then I plan to try PCLinuxOS when the 2007 final release is out. In the meantime, it's back to MS and XP.

janthree

It is NOT a generic snd_hda_intel issue. I have two machines, both with a snd_hda_intel module, and both work.

This sound chip comes in 1000 different flavours, so it may well be that one distro is good with some, and another with, well, others.....

In general, Linux is hardly to blame for hardware that does not work properly. It is a matter of proper drivers and especially cooperation from the manufacturer.

I am pretty sure your sound can be made to work, but I understand it is a hassle.

If you really want to use MEPIS, of course a cheap sound card can do wonders.

Did you install to harddisk BTW? Sometimes things work from HD that do not work from CD....

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

Hi carlops,

I haven't installed to the HD yet because I want to make sure everything works before I take that step. I don't want to try and reverse the partitioning if I need to take Linux off.

I plan to try a new (low cost) sound card before I abandon SimplyMepis. Everything else seems to be working well.

janthree

Fair enough, although we could walk you through the steps if you decided to abandon it. But any cheapo soundblaster compatible thing will surely do nicely.

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

Fair enough. You got lucky...

Point taken but for me, that just isn't good enough. Given the way that the Linux community works, once a particular distro achieves a "fix" in a particular branch, it'd be a good idea to propogate that "fix" outwards to ALL related distros don't you think?

Ah, drivers... drivers... the "Achilles heel" of Linux.... I _will_ blame Linux when a particular root (in this case Debian) and then specific branches (ubuntu & kubuntu) that MEPIS is built on, already have a fix but MEPIS doesn't and rightly so, IMO. I accept that manufacturers are less than helpful but the Linux community can't keep on blaming them for ever; especially when a fix has been shown to work and is on other distros of similar streams...

Oh, I agree with you. I'm pretty sure to but as I explained before, I'm too old and long in the tooth to be bothered with digging in; especially when I'm looking for a more relaxing experience than my day job can sometimes be...

I'm sure it can but I'd have a problem fitting it in this cheap Acer 5602 laptop!

Yes, way ahead of you there; borne of experience of previous LiveCD distros... Having said that, if you think about it, they _shouldn't_ behave differently though now should they? After all, it is supposed to be a "try all my features first" kind of CD isn't it?

Sorry if I sound a bit critical but I guess you could label me as a "grumpy old man"....

Thanks for the response,

Colin

If every individual and every group in the world learned from each other's mistakes and history this would be a much better place.

I kindly disagree with your point of view that whats has been fixed once should be fixed forever. Hardware interaction is an intricate thing, and you cannot always take for granted that things work the same throughout every piece of equipment. And yes, I still do blame hardware suppliers for that. Since they work according to MS specifications, and create their hardware and drivers accordingly. So if a reverse engineered driver suddenly needs to work in an unforeseen situation, that may cause trouble.

Considering the way MS are leaving people in the cold if they want to use their existing hardware in the new Vista, I think Linux developers are doing a darn good job. And distros that need to stitch those pieces together are doing the best they can. But there is no 'one distro to rule them all' and my guess is there wil never be. The reasons for that are pretty clear and inherent to so many factors that it would be silly to even think there could be such thing as an encompassing Linux. Or any encompassing OS, for that matter.

Sorry the sound issue is a showstopper on your laptop. Bad luck with MEPIS. But there may surely be another distro that allows you to get Linux on your machine. However, considering the tone of your posts, I very much doubt if that is what you really want...

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

Well, I'm back and have reinstalled Mepis on my laptop harddrive again. I'd like to help find a solution to this sound issue. Besides, I really like this OS. Granted, no sound is, in fact, a show stopper, but it's not like it can't be fixed. Anyway, here's also my lspci output:

snd_hda_intel 15768 1
snd_hda_codec 195760 1 snd_hda_intel
snd_pcm_oss 37408 0
snd_mixer_oss 14336 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 62856 3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 18308 1 snd_pcm
snd 45928 8 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 7008 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 7560 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

Hmmm...same as above?

hero2zer0, when you right click the speaker icon, you can select a master channel. The most obvious would be PCM, but you can try others. Sometimes it is headphone or something else....

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

Nope, the only choices I have are "Caller ID" and "Off-hook". The bottom of the window says "HDA ATI SB". When I select "Select Master Channel", the popup window is blank.

I am beginnning to suspect the audio chip also functions as a winmodem, and the sound output is directed to the modem rather than the soundcard.

Please open a console and do aplay -l, then post the output

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

aplay -l:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 6: Si3054 Modem [Si3054 Modem]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

right, well, a bit of what I expected. Sound output is directed to the modem. Now, what I don't understand is why there is no other sound card present. Could you please do lspci and post output as well?

And while your at it. Is there a way to disable the modem in the BIOS? So as not to make it conflict?

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

I checked the BIOS and there's no way to control the modem. But, here's the output of lspci:

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5a31 (rev 01)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
0000:00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
0000:00:12.0 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc ATI 4379 Serial ATA Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller (rev 80)
0000:00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 82)
0000:00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller ATI (
rev 80)
0000:00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SB450 HDA Audio (rev 01)
0000:00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge (rev 80)
0000:00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge (rev 80)
0000:01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RC410 [Radeon Xpress 200M]
0000:02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc.: Unknown device 001c (rev 01)
0000:09:04.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB1410 Cardbus Controller (rev 01)
0000:09:06.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10
)

Hard one... a possible fix I dug up:

add one of the following two lines to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

options snd-hda-intel model=3stack
OR
options snd-hda-intel model=auto

After changing the file, open a console:
- su
- rmmod snd_hda_intel
- modprobe snd_hda_intel

If you cannot do the rmmod, you'll need to reboot.

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

I made the changes, but you're right, I cannot do the rmmod. It fires off an error (ERROR: Module snd_hda_intel is in use). Is there a way to kill the module? Rebooting didn't help.

UPDATE: Tried init 3 and was able to run the command. I tried both options, but got the same error for both:

ALSA: ... si3054: cannot initialize...

I forgot the rest of the error message, but do you suppose that I should go ahead and slick my laptop and do a fresh install again? Earlier, I had removed alsa via Synaptic and compiled it from source. That's where I am right now...