Re: I think I need a sound/ALSA guru.

[Bill Case]

Hi;

I have posted here a couple of times with sound problems and received no
reply.  I may be wrong but I think my sound problems are basically
installation problems and I also think they are 2 or 3 different
problems intermixed.  I have been working on this problem for over 6
weeks and don't seem to be any closer to a solution than when I started.

My problems are:
1) My event sounds all have scratchy or hissy backgrounds
2) My /dev/*(sound) permissions seem all screwed up
3) All the modules seem to be there (except one for synthesizer?? --
which is required in WindowsXP)
4) Most but not all of my sound programs can't find my sound card.
5) tvtime switches to 'line-in' even though it is set for PCM.
6) system-config-soundcard plays the test sample but has the worst
distortion of all.
7) and more and more .....

I have googled, checked the ALSA site, checked all the Fedora (including
bugzilla) and Linux sites I can find.  I have noticed several posted
ALSA problems similar to mine but seldom any posted solutions.

I have reams of data from lsmode, /dev/*, /proc/, PAM, /boot/config-2.6
etc. that I will share if anyone thinks they can help.

I am using P4 on a Intel 82850 motherboard, Ensoniq 5889 AudioPCI sound
card using the snd_ens1371 driver and an ATI TV Wonder tuner. Also
listed is Brooktree Bt878 video capture and Bt878 audio capture. My
Linux is Fedora Core 4.

I have sound -- sorta -- but my frustration level is climbing daily.

I can't figure out if I am doing something so stupid that no one can
bother replying, or because no one else knows what I am talking about or
because I am asking in the wrong place?  A reply to this last question
alone would be a big help

Regards Bill

I think I need a sound/ALSA guru.

[Alexander Dalloz]

Am Mo, den 01.08.2005 schrieb William Case um 16:09:

>  I have posted here a couple of times with sound problems and received
> no
>  reply.  I may be wrong but I think my sound problems are basically 
That isn't really true - Bob Chiodini answered you on 22th July.

>  installation problems and I also think they are 2 or 3 different
>  problems intermixed.  I have been working on this problem for over 6
>  weeks and don't seem to be any closer to a solution than when I started. 
To repeat information from fist posting: we are talking about an Fedora
Core 4 system.

>  My problems are:
>  1) My event sounds all have scratchy or hissy backgrounds
>  2) My /dev/*(sound) permissions seem all screwed up 
You have to be specific about this. List the permissions.

ls -al /dev/dsp* /dev/audio* /dev/mixer*

>  3) All the modules seem to be there (except one for synthesizer?? --
>  which is required in WindowsXP) 
Please show us the list of loaded modules.

>  4) Most but not all of my sound programs can't find my sound
> card. 
Which programs are that? Do they work with ALSA or do they need OSS
emulation by ALSA?

>  5) tvtime switches to 'line-in' even though it is set for
> PCM. 
I don't use tvtime. How do you face the switch?

>  6) system-config-soundcard plays the test sample but has the worst
>  distortion of all.
>  7) and more and more ..... 
and more questions ...

>  I have googled, checked the ALSA site, checked all the Fedora
> (including
>  bugzilla) and Linux sites I can find.  I have noticed several posted
>  ALSA problems similar to mine but seldom any posted solutions.
>  
>  I have reams of data from lsmode, /dev/*, /proc/, PAM, /boot/config-2.6
>  etc. that I will share if anyone thinks they can help. 
As long as you use Fedora Core 4 and no custom kernel or anything else
not shipped with Fedora we don't need a kernel configuration file or PAM
data.
You have a fully up to date FC4 with all updates installed?

>  I am using P4 on a Intel 82850 motherboard, Ensoniq 5889 AudioPCI
> sound
>  card using the snd_ens1371 driver and an ATI TV Wonder tuner. Also
>  listed is Brooktree Bt878 video capture and Bt878 audio capture. My
>  Linux is Fedora Core 4. 
/sbin/lspci and /sbin/lsmod output would be good to see.

>  Regards Bill 
Alexander


-- 
Alexander Dalloz | Enger, Germany | GPG http://pgp.mit.edu 0xB366A773
legal statement: http://www.uni-x.org/legal.html
Fedora Core 2 GNU/Linux on Athlon with kernel 2.6.11-1.35_FC2smp 
Serendipity 16:35:51 up 16 days, 21:08, load average: 0.05, 0.11, 0.09

I think I need a sound/ALSA guru.

[Bob Chiodini]

On Mon, 2005-08-01 at 16:52 +0200, Alexander Dalloz wrote:
>  Am Mo, den 01.08.2005 schrieb William Case um 16:09:
>  
>  > I have posted here a couple of times with sound problems and received no
>  > reply.  I may be wrong but I think my sound problems are basically
>  
>  That isn't really true - Bob Chiodini answered you on 22th July.
>  
>  > installation problems and I also think they are 2 or 3 different
>  > problems intermixed.  I have been working on this problem for over 6
>  > weeks and don't seem to be any closer to a solution than when I started.
>  
>  To repeat information from fist posting: we are talking about an Fedora
>  Core 4 system.
>  
>  > My problems are:
>  > 1) My event sounds all have scratchy or hissy backgrounds
>  > 2) My /dev/*(sound) permissions seem all screwed up
>  
>  You have to be specific about this. List the permissions.
>  
>  ls -al /dev/dsp* /dev/audio* /dev/mixer*
>  
>  > 3) All the modules seem to be there (except one for synthesizer?? --
>  > which is required in WindowsXP)
>  
>  Please show us the list of loaded modules.
>  
>  > 4) Most but not all of my sound programs can't find my sound card.
>  
>  Which programs are that? Do they work with ALSA or do they need OSS
>  emulation by ALSA?
>  
>  > 5) tvtime switches to 'line-in' even though it is set for PCM.
>  
>  I don't use tvtime. How do you face the switch?
>  
>  > 6) system-config-soundcard plays the test sample but has the worst
>  > distortion of all.
>  > 7) and more and more .....
>  
>  and more questions ...
>  
>  > I have googled, checked the ALSA site, checked all the Fedora (including
>  > bugzilla) and Linux sites I can find.  I have noticed several posted
>  > ALSA problems similar to mine but seldom any posted solutions.
>  > 
>  > I have reams of data from lsmode, /dev/*, /proc/, PAM, /boot/config-2.6
>  > etc. that I will share if anyone thinks they can help.
>  
>  As long as you use Fedora Core 4 and no custom kernel or anything else
>  not shipped with Fedora we don't need a kernel configuration file or PAM
>  data.
>  You have a fully up to date FC4 with all updates installed?
>  
>  > I am using P4 on a Intel 82850 motherboard, Ensoniq 5889 AudioPCI sound
>  > card using the snd_ens1371 driver and an ATI TV Wonder tuner. Also
>  > listed is Brooktree Bt878 video capture and Bt878 audio capture. My
>  > Linux is Fedora Core 4.
>  
>  /sbin/lspci and /sbin/lsmod output would be good to see.
>  
>  > Regards Bill
>  
>  Alexander 
Bill,

I went back and reread your previous posts on your sound problems.  Even
though I'm currently running FC3, I've seen an issue where my TV card,
which has a mixer, seems to interfere with the configuration of ALSA for
the motherboard sound devices.  The edits to asound.conf fixed this
problem for me.  You stated that the your edits to asound.conf keep
reverting back to the old values.  As a data point, it would be good to
know what the old and new values were/are.  In my case the zeroes
changed to ones and I manually changed them back.  The result of the
zeroes changing to ones was evident in alsamixer.  The only control I
saw was the TV card's volume (IIRC).  What do you see when you run
alsamixer?

For the record:  Please post your /etc/modprobe.conf, and tell us which
applications generate sounds and which don't and any error messages they
produce.

Also from one of the previous posts, your permissions look okay
for /dev/audio /dev/dsp /dev/mixer.

I am running FC3 as opposed to FC4, so some things may have been
updated.  Here are a couple of things to try:

1.  Run /usr/bin/gst-register.  This fixed a problem for me where all of
the mixer(s) disappeared.

2.  Remove the TV Card, reboot and let kudzu correct modprobe.conf.

Save your modprobe.conf, if step 2 fixes anything, before reinstalling
your TV card.

These are the pertinent entries in my modprobe.conf (an Intel sound
device):

alias snd-card-0 snd-intel8x0
options snd-card-0 index=0
install snd-intel8x0 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-intel8x0 &&
/usr/sbin/alsactl restore >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
remove snd-intel8x0 { /usr/sbin/alsactl store >/dev/null 2>&1 || : ; };
/sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove snd-intel8x0

I can't really say anything to your distortion issues, but possibly
getting the mixer issues under control may help.

Bob...

I think I need a sound/ALSA guru.

[Timothy Murphy]

William Case wrote:

>  I can't figure out if I am doing something so stupid that no one
> can
>  bother replying, or because no one else knows what I am talking about or
>  because I am asking in the wrong place?  A reply to this last question
>  alone would be a big help 
I think you are asking in the right place.
But I have great sympathy with you;
ALSA is a complete mystery to me.
Some days sound works on my laptop;
some days - today for example - it does not.

As will be obvious, I am no sound expert -
but what sound settings do you have in /etc/modprobe.conf ,
and what sound modules are in use as shown in lsmod ?
Have you googled to see what module people with your sound card use?

-- 
Timothy Murphy  
e-mail (<80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: [phone]
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland