Guest vector Posted July 4, 2005 Report Share Posted July 4, 2005 I'm a complete newbie in the Linux world. I've just tossed Windows XP completely out the door and installed Mandrake 2005 LE. I've been looking forward to this, but I have to say, I'm feeling really cheated by the fact that I can't get any sound from my system. I have an eMachine T3265, which means that my audio chipset is nForce 2, built into the motherboard. My boot.log file says this: Jul 4 00:50:44 localhost sound: Loading sound module (snd-intel8x0) succeeded Jul 4 00:50:44 localhost alsactl: alsactl: load_state:1272: No soundcards found ... Jul 4 00:50:44 localhost sound: Setting mixer settings failed And when I try to start the service manually from inside KDE's Mandrakelinux Control Center, I get a dialog box titled “Informational - Artsmessage” that says: Sound server informational message: Error while initializing the sound driver: device /dev/dsp can't be opened (No such file or directory) The sound server will continue, using the null output device. I'm at a total loss. I barely know what I'm doing in this environment, let alone how to fix it. Can someone *please* point me in the right direction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devries Posted July 4, 2005 Report Share Posted July 4, 2005 KDE doesn't load/install the sound module (driver). In the KDE control center you can edit the arts settings (an app that uses sound). The error you get means that sound isn't configured properly and that you can't use arts. :) Now for your problem. Open the Mandrake Control Center, hardware, hardware and click on your soundcard/chip. Make sure all audio apps are closed, including kmix in the systray. Now click configure and play around a little. In the end choose the default module, click ok and go to MCC, system, services. Now stop/start alsa. If you don't get errors sound works. If you get errors, post 'm. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vector Posted July 4, 2005 Report Share Posted July 4, 2005 Ok, I did all that, and nothing seemed to happen. Actually, I didn't have to do anything about KMix, because it wasn't running in the first place. I didn't get any errors while I was doing what you said, but when I opened the sound system dialog then disabled and re-enabled the sound system, I got another error: Informational - artsmessage Sound server informational message: Error while initializing the sound driver: device: default can't be opened for playback (No such file or directory) The sound server will continue, using the null output device. Also, there were two options for "clicking configure": configure module, and run config tool. I had no idea what parameters to drop in the configure module fields (all of which were empty, btw), so I shuffled the driver a couple of times using "run config tool." That's what you meant for me to do? Also, I thought it was weird that after running the config tool, I couldn't run it a second time without closing and re-opening the hardware window... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devries Posted July 4, 2005 Report Share Posted July 4, 2005 Double check if alsa is running: open a console, login as root and type: service alsa status. I'm pretty sure it isn't. :) If it is running, log out as root and type: alsamixer. Post the errors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vector Posted July 4, 2005 Report Share Posted July 4, 2005 [vector@localhost ~]$ su Password: [root@localhost vector]# service alsa status Sound loaded [root@localhost vector]# exit exit [vector@localhost ~]$ alsamixer alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such file or directory [vector@localhost ~]$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted July 4, 2005 Report Share Posted July 4, 2005 Try running alsaconf too from the prompt (su and supply root password first), just in case you need to reconfigure for some reason. I've had to do this before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vector Posted July 4, 2005 Report Share Posted July 4, 2005 Try running alsaconf too from the prompt (su and supply root password first), just in case you need to reconfigure for some reason. I've had to do this before. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'm afraid that didn't help, either. This is quite frustrating, though I appreciate the ongoing assistance. What is the root cause of these errors? Does Linux just not handle audio very well? Is it my card? The fact that it's onboard? Configuration error (machine- or user-created)? Do I need to find a different audio card -- one that's better supported? Some Sound Blaster variant, perhaps? If I go that route, will Mandrake set up the card for me the next time I boot? Buying a new card seems a bit much, but if that's what it takes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vector Posted July 4, 2005 Report Share Posted July 4, 2005 I started following the instructions at http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=TroubleShooting and everything was fine until step 4. Make sure that /proc/asound/cards lists your card, as card number zero. If not, make sure that the appropriate driver module is loaded. [root@localhost vse10]# more < /proc/asound/cards --- no soundcards --- To figure out which modules you need, use the lspci | egrep audio command. This usually will list the name and type of your sound chipset. [root@localhost vse10]# lspci | egrep audio 00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AC97 Audio Controler (MCP) (rev a1) The main ALSA website then contains a list of those chipsets and the required drivers. I eventually wound my way down to this, which might cure my problems, if I understood it / it did a better job of holding my hand. Sadly, I'm not familiar with a lot of what it's talking about. The directions seem to assume a level of knowledge I don't possess. Looking ahead to step 5 in the troubleshooting walk-through, it says to run ls /dev/snd/ and make sure there are several entries there. Here's what I got: [root@localhost vse10]# ls /dev/snd seq timer That doesn't look like any useful audio devices are defined to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devries Posted July 4, 2005 Report Share Posted July 4, 2005 Linux handles audio just fine..... And a nforce 2 is a very common chipset. It should be no problem. What you found is a way of building and installing alsa from scratch. However Mandriva comes with alsa and the modules (drivers) for you card pre-compiled so the only thing you need to pay attention to is the configuration of your soundcard. However that is what you have done and it didn't work so something else must be te problem. Unfortunately I have no idea what. :). Perhaps the hardware, Mandriva..... . I won't tell you to buy another soundcard but perhaps you can try another distro. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonMage Posted July 5, 2005 Report Share Posted July 5, 2005 I second the suggestion of changing to another distro. I find that PCLinuxOS or Mepis is very good Linux beginner distro. Anyway, maybe you can change the sound driver from Alsa to OSS. In a console, type draksound as root. Then select i810_audio. Maybe it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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