No sound in 2007.1 Free [solved]

[dude67]

But didn't alsaconf show you what the name of the module was? What name did you use (or see delivered on the screen) when you successfully got the sound hw working on a one-time basis? Whatever, it should be the same name for use with the startup loader. Good luck.

Yes, I guess it showed this name in the alsaconf, but I'm not really sure I know where it shows the module name...

 

If your sound works correctly once, you should try running alsamixer (maybe as root, too) from terminal mode after running alsaconf. From my experience, sound level settings are not stored correctly in some cases.

I ran alsaconf in terminal as root. I believe it did run alsamixer itself, but I'll check that also.

[dude67]

I don't know what the actual name of the module is - this is what it now reads in /etc/modprobe.preload:

intel-agp
hw_random
snd-intel8x0
intel8x0

Still nothing... I always have to run alsaconf...

I've had some weird problems after upgrading to 2007.1

[AussieJohn]

Have you tried opening MCC going to System then selecting Enable or disable the system services and putting a tick in the Alsa box.

From then on everytime you reboot then Alsa wil automatically be restarted.

Cheers. John.

[dude67]

Thanks for the tip John, but as I already said, it's up&running (Runnig... On boot: ticked).

[scarecrow]

Do you really have to run the "hw_random" module? It's known to cause problems...

Which kernel are you running?

 

Anyway, run as root:

 

amixer set Master 90% unmute
amixer set PCM 90% unmute

 

If you get something like "amixer: command not found" install alsa-utils first.

After unmuting, run (as root again):

alsactl store

to make the mixer settings restored at startup.

[dude67]

Do you really have to run the "hw_random" module? It's known to cause problems...

Which kernel are you running?

Hmmm.... I have no idea... I don't even know what it's doing. Should I comment it out?

My kernel is 2.6.17-13mdv.

 

Anyway, run as root:

 

amixer set Master 90% unmute
amixer set PCM 90% unmute

 

If you get something like "amixer: command not found" install alsa-utils first.

After unmuting, run (as root again):

alsactl store

to make the mixer settings restored at startup.

OK, everything seems to be fine still... I'll reboot and let you know.

[dude67]

Whenever I boot my system, it seems to reset the volume to zero... If I do what scarecrow suggested (setting the volume levels), it will work. I just can't make the choice to stick. Even if I do "alsactl store". Seems very much like what Terry described.

 

P.S. What does the "hw_random" do?

[scarecrow]

hw_random is used by RNG hardware (mainly Intel). Since Intel has stopped using RNG since quite some time ago, and both systems in your sig do not seem to use such hardware, I think it's quite safe to disable (even better, blacklist) the module "hw_random".

I had more or less the same problem with that module, but this was quite some time ago ( maybe 2004, with an i865 mainboard and i810 onboard soundchip, and an old 2.6.9 kernel from Arch Linux pre-0.6 version). Of course I'm not sure this module is the source of your problem, but I'm almost sure that blacklisting it should be harmless, if not anything else.

Blacklisting a module so it never loads is quite easy, do a search here.

[dude67]

Blacklisting a module so it never loads is quite easy, do a search here.

Thanks for the tip, I've blacklisted it. And removed it from the /etc/modprobe.preload file.

 

Still no help.

 

Is there any way I can make the alsaconf - or the volume set up - run automatically when I start KDE?

[terry-s]

Is there any way I can make the alsaconf - or the volume set up - run automatically when I start KDE?

I suggest storing the good sound settings (when you have fiddled enough to get them) into a private file of your own, using # /usr/sbin/alsactl store -f /etc/asound.state1 . (The normal file is asound.state, but in my case something is overwriting that with a pesky zero soundlevel.)

 

Then, get these settings back to work at the end of each startup by adding the following line:

/usr/sbin/alsactl restore -f /etc/asound.state1

into the users' startup script /etc/rc.d/rc.local. Make sure rc.local is executable if necessary with a chmod +x command. I assume your basic hw driver is after all getting loaded automatically with /etc/modprobe.preload , if not the alsactl stuff won't work.

 

Good luck,

Terry

[dude67]

OK, thanks Terry. I'll try that when I get back home end of next week. I had to go on a business trip, so I'm not at home before Thursday.

[dude67]

Thanks Terry, for the work-around. It's working!

[terry-s]

Thanks Terry, for the work-around. It's working!

Glad it worked for you! T :D

[scarecrow]

Really curious about what the hell overwrote the alsamixer settings every time, but since a solution was found this is of minor importance...

[dude67]

Really cannot say, but it works now. :D

 

If it works, don't mess with it. I'm just greatful it works.