volfro Posted September 18, 2004 Report Share Posted September 18, 2004 Hiya, I searched, I promise. I installed Mandrake 10 on my pre-existing 15GB Linux partition (I did Redhat 9 before, just trying out different distros and learning). The install went smoothly. However, the sound is goofy. The default drivers load, but when it comes to actually playing sound, it skips severely. The system bell sound takes about a minute to complete. That's how bad it's skipping. Increasing/decreasing the buffer using the tools in KDE doesn't help. I tried switching drivers ala ViaArena's instructions (Avance AC'97 audio controller, according to Windows, but it's an integrated sound card on the VIA motherboard) to no avail. The two drivers that come with the kernel both skip, and I couldn't get the OSS driver working. So my question is this: is there any driver included in the kernel that'll work? Anything generic or something? 2: I'm almost positive I installed the OSS drivers wrong. The FAQ here, though informative, didn't help me very much, and the readme in the VIA drivers section and the OSS driver thing was vague (to me). I think I need somebody to hold my hand and walk me through the install (I'm quite the newbie. Still trying to learn basic commands--for instance, I haven't figured out the proper syntax to the ./configure command. Yes, I'm telling the truth. Don't laugh). Before I installed Mandrake, I used Knoppix, and when my webcam wasn't plugged in, the sound worked perfectly (though the quality wasn't that great). So I know the drivers are there, somewhere. Thanks for any and all help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papaschtroumpf Posted September 19, 2004 Report Share Posted September 19, 2004 Fire up knoppix and see what it's using? (not certain how you do it, dmesg or lsmod I guess). Could be some configuration issue too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdbrooks Posted September 19, 2004 Report Share Posted September 19, 2004 (edited) I have the integrated ac97 sound on my system as well. I have had no problems with it on mandrake 10. My mainboard is a MSI-KM4M-L with KM400 northbridge and 8235 southbridge. Driver in use is ALSA snd-via82xx. System identifies the card as VIA 8233. Have you checked your mainboard manufacturer to see if they have any linux sound drivers? Sometimes the manufacturer will have specific drivers which address construction related issues. The VIA drivers may not be enough. Although a lot of mainboards use the integrated ac97 sound, there may be differences in the way it is patched into the processor. This can cause problems with an operating system's default drivers for the hardware. For that matter, I guess it's possible IRQ settings in your PC's cmos setup (BIOS) could cause such a problem. By the way, I've been trying to figure out how to compile and configure packages for a while, and I can't find my own ass with both hands, so don't feel bad about that. Edited September 19, 2004 by rdbrooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdbrooks Posted September 19, 2004 Report Share Posted September 19, 2004 Another thing you can try if you didn't already is to go into configure your computer, then hardware, then sound drivers, and select one manuallly instead of the two offered. I wouldn't recommend trying drivers for different card models, but there is a generic driver called "audio" which is an OSS driver instead of ALSA. You could try it. It works on my PC just as well as the default snd-via82xx. I just realized that I was talking to the same person with the mouse and keyboard problem. Did you run the checksum (media test) on your installation media before installing? I once had a hardware problem on Redhat 9 that was caused by corrupted data on install disc 3. I tried several times with the install but the problem was always the same. (I don't remember now what the problem was.) I finally ran the media test, which I had skipped on previous installs, and it found errors on disc3, which I found to be due to a small scratch on the cd-rw I had burned it on. After burning the ISO image on a new cd, the problem was solved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volfro Posted September 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2004 I wish I knew more about hardware. Thanks for your suggestions. I'll try that generic driver and see what happens. I formatted and reinstalled and the sound problem still exists--only now, when the sound continues to skip, if too many sounds happen at once, the computer freezes up. No bueno. As for the checksum: how do you do that? I'll check it out, but I'm not sure how. That could very well be it, because i have the same keyboard/mouse issues since I reinstalled. It seems to happen after an improper restart (i.e. just hit the power button--which I'm forced to do, when neither the keyboard nor the mouse reacts) instead of a clean one. Not sure though. Thanks for your help! I think I'm getting it down...I've learned the basics of compiling and installing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdbrooks Posted September 19, 2004 Report Share Posted September 19, 2004 You're welcome. The media test I was talking about is something that the mandrake 10 installation cd asks if you want to do before installing. If you put disc 1 in and reboot, it should be one of the first things it asks. If you didn't download ISOs and burn your own install cds, this may be different. I've only used the ISO images I downloaded to install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdbrooks Posted September 19, 2004 Report Share Posted September 19, 2004 About the media test... I was mistaken. My bad. Red Hat, Fedora, and I believe SUSE all give that option before the graphical interface is started when installing, but Mandrake doesn't. Even if you start the expert installation mode, it asks a question or two before starting the X server, but not that. The md5sums are available where you download the ISOs, but after searching for a while, I haven't found any info on what in the world you're supposed to do with them. If anybody else knows, feel free to enlighten us. Linux is getting more user friendly little by little, especially mandrake, but it still has a long way to go. Most people don't want to use an alternative operating system if it means they're going to have to learn a new language to be able to use it. Linux noobies can't really help, and most developers don't care to fool around with coming up with little applets and such to make things automatic for new users, because they already know how to do the stuff in terminal. It gets frustrating some times. If a distribution of linux ever really becomes as user friendly as windows, I guess it will have a price on it about the same as windows. The source code might be free, but the code for making it user friendly isn't. I guess Linspire from Lindows is a good example. I've heard it's great, but it's not free, so I haven't tried it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinynorman Posted September 19, 2004 Report Share Posted September 19, 2004 The md5sums are available where you download the ISOs, but after searching for a while, I haven't found any info on what in the world you're supposed to do with them. If anybody else knows, feel free to enlighten us. Check out the How do I check if my cd/iso is not corrupted? FAQ. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdbrooks Posted September 19, 2004 Report Share Posted September 19, 2004 Thanks. That was quite helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volfro Posted September 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Okay. I checked out Knoppix's sound drivers. It uses the ALSA driver included in the kernel as well, via82cxxx_audio. However, Mandrake 10 installs with the 10.6.3 kernel, but my distro of Knoppix uses the older 2.4.x (not sure what the last number is). So I'm'a try to upgrade to 2.6.8 and see what happens. Maybe it'll fix my goofy mouse/keyboard issues as well. If I have any Q's about it I'll post again! Thanks folks :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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