problems with sound

desolate · 09-15-2003, 03:31 PM

Hi, I have a problem getting sound to work in Arch Linux. I have onboard AC'97 and in Slackware all I had to do was to use "modprobe i810_audio" at startup...so I tried that in Arch Linux and the module loads fine but I have no sound. The only thing that wants to work right is the sound in gAIM...nothing else works. Any suggestions?

Mork · 09-15-2003, 04:33 PM

The normal way to load modules at boot in Arch is adding them to the modules array in /etc/rc.conf. Like this:

Code:

MODULES=(sis900 i810_audio !usbserial !ide-scsi)

The modules get loaded in the order they are listed. If there is a ! in front of the module name that module will not get loaded.

Since you obviously have sound output, you should try goofing around with aumix to see if you have any channels muted.

desolate · 09-15-2003, 07:50 PM

I already have rc.conf edited with i810_audio and i've tryed with the sounds settings (mixer) and still no sound.

Mork · 09-16-2003, 05:05 AM

This is more than a little bit strange. If you have sound in gaim you should have permissions to use sound.

I don't have time to figure this out right now so I will cut and paste the standard answer sound related stuff in Arch (I use the same module so we can hope it works for you too):

Make sure you have proper permissions to use sound in /etc/devfsd.conf:

Code:

# Allow access to sound devices for group "audio"
REGISTER sound/.* PERMISSIONS root.users 0660
REGISTER snd/.* PERMISSIONS root.users 0660

You can also try adding this to your /etc/modules.conf, the first line is important, the other two are just mixer settings:

Code:

# OSD sound
alias sound-slot-0 i810_audio
post-install sound-slot-0 /usr/bin/aumix -f /etc/aumixrc -L >/dev/null 2&1 || :
pre-remove sound-slot-0 /usr/bin/aumix -f /etc/aumixrc -S >/dev/null 2&1 || :

If you don't want to reboot you can issue the alias as root, it should work just as well as long as you machine is on.

If you prefer alsa you should do the following:
1. Install alsa (this also installs alsa-driver and alsa-lib, less typing though).

Code:

# pacman -S alsa-utils alsa-oss

2. Load alsa in rc.conf (comment the oss module)

Code:

MODULES=(snd-intel8x0)

3. Add the following to /etc/modules.conf (comment or remove the OSS stuff from above if you tried it)

Code:

# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
alias snd-card-0 snd-intel8x0
# 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

# Sound lookup entries for devfs support
alias /dev/dsp sound-service-0-3
alias /dev/sequencer sound-service-0-1
alias /dev/mixer sound-service-0-0

4. Reboot or, if you take pride in uptime, modprobe all those modules.
5. Try playing sound.
6. Change volume settings with aumix or alsamixer
7. Add the following to rc.local to reset volume at reboot (not needed if you run KDE or Gnome):

Code:

aumix -w 50 -v 85 -c 50

There are several threads on the Arch forums related to this, some of them might have useful info.

//Edit: It's possible that your card doesn't use the same alsa-module as mine. Check here to find out.

desolate · 09-17-2003, 09:37 PM

I got the sound to work on all of my programs...but I can't get sound playing audio cds. I've tinkered with the mixer again and still no sound with audio cds.

simplico · 09-18-2003, 04:27 PM

to adjust your audio settings type: aumix -I

that is "aumix " plus a minus capital i [eye] (for interactive)

shadowhunter · 09-24-2003, 02:23 PM

strange, it worked for me, are you sure you have the module in your kernel?