A new laptop sound problem - Page 7

Eino · posted: 2014-04-23 10:55

I would like to see the following.

inxi -M -S

I want to compare the bios date, to the kernel. This is something I should have looked at long ago.

Silent Observer · posted: 2014-04-25 23:41

Eino wrote:I would like to see the following.
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inxi -M -S 
I want to compare the bios date, to the kernel. This is something I should have looked at long ago.

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# inxi -M -S
System:    Host: Little-Luddite Kernel: 3.12.3-antix.2-486-smp i686 (32 bit) 
           Desktop: Fluxbox 1.3.5 Distro: antiX-13.2_386-full Luddite 4 November 2013
Machine:   System: Gateway product: Solo2500 version: Rev 1 serial: 0013773623 
           Mobo: Gateway model: Solo2500 version: Rev 1.0 Bios: Gateway version: 10.09 date: 04/23/99

I don't remember doing so, but I must have flashed the BIOS with an updated version after I bought this machine; I've had it since late summer of 1998, most of a year before that BIOS date. The kernel I'm using is the newest one I've found that will boot on this machine, at least with the same boot commands I got with the 3.10.7 that came with antiX 13.2.

Eino · posted: 2014-04-26 15:39

It's time to try an older kernel that can be had via smxi.
I what to get it back where alsa was loading the on board sound, with the wrong driver.
That's when the usb sound was working.

Silent Observer · posted: 2014-05-01 00:28

Eino wrote:It's time to try an older kernel that can be had via smxi.
I what to get it back where alsa was loading the on board sound, with the wrong driver.
That's when the usb sound was working.

I still have the 3.10.7 kernel that was original to antiX 13.2 set up as a GRUB boot option; I can be back in that one in two minutes and set it as default boot in five. However, the USB sound was working after I installed the 3.11.5 kernel, at least, and I'm pretty sure I had the 3.12.3 as default after the power failure (when the USB sound worked for almost twenty-four hours. I'll set the 3.10.7 back to default boot, tell me what you want to test on that kernel.

Eino · posted: 2014-05-01 17:48

Silent Observer wrote:
Eino wrote:It's time to try an older kernel that can be had via smxi.
I what to get it back where alsa was loading the on board sound, with the wrong driver.
That's when the usb sound was working.
I still have the 3.10.7 kernel that was original to antiX 13.2 set up as a GRUB boot option; I can be back in that one in two minutes and set it as default boot in five. However, the USB sound was working after I installed the 3.11.5 kernel, at least, and I'm pretty sure I had the 3.12.3 as default after the power failure (when the USB sound worked for almost twenty-four hours. I'll set the 3.10.7 back to default boot, tell me what you want to test on that kernel.

Use kernel 3.11.5 then do.

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modprobe snd-usb-audio

Reboot then look at the results of.

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cat /dev/sndstat

Silent Observer · posted: 2014-05-04 14:40

Okay, I've set 3.11.5 as the default kernel, to prevent confusion from missing selection during restarts. After the modprobe and reboot, here's the result of [bold]cat /dev/sndstat[/bold].

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Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA emulation code)
Kernel: Linux Little-Luddite 3.11.5-antix.1-486-smp #1 SMP Tue Oct 15 19:01:31 EEST 2013 i686
Config options: 0

Installed drivers: 
Type 10: ALSA emulation

Card config: 
C-Media Electronics Inc. USB PnP Sound Device at usb-0000:00:07.2-2, full speed

Audio devices:
1: USB Audio (DUPLEX)

Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Midi devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Timers:
31: system timer

Mixers:
1: USB Mixer

Eino · posted: 2014-05-04 16:08

Do you have sound working without, a synthesizer and midi at this point?
I'm out of ideas, other than kernels
It's crazy to try, to solve a problem using the same formula looking for different results.

Silent Observer · posted: 2014-05-04 20:23

The volumeicon isn't loading, and I get a bunch of error messages when I attempt spkr-test:

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$ speaker-test -t sine -f 440

speaker-test 1.0.27.2

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels
Sine wave rate is 440.0000Hz
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4248:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4248:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4248:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4727:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
Playback open error: -2,No such file or directory

Attempting to start volumeicon from a terminal gives the same error as before:

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$ volumeicon &
[1] 3829
dqualls@Little-Luddite:~
$ volumeicon: alsa_backend.c:86: asound_get_volume: Assertion `m_elem != ((void *)0)' failed.

[1]+  Aborted                 volumeicon

Silent Observer · posted: 2014-05-04 22:55

Eino, if it would be easier, in the interest of starting from a known condition, I could reinstall antiX again. Now I know what not to do, I could probably get it done in an hour or so, plus four or five hours for this old rattletrap to install the updates from stable to testing -- or we could just get the sound working on the default stable repos, then trust that updating to testing won't break it. There aren't any real unknowns other than the sound, and I probably (it seems) won't be able to put a newer version on this machine in the future, because the kernels now building won't boot on a Pentium II (so much for"Linux is great for older machines").

Eino · posted: 2014-05-05 12:52

Silent Observer wrote:Eino, if it would be easier, in the interest of starting from a known condition, I could reinstall antiX again. Now I know what not to do, I could probably get it done in an hour or so, plus four or five hours for this old rattletrap to install the updates from stable to testing -- or we could just get the sound working on the default stable repos, then trust that updating to testing won't break it. There aren't any real unknowns other than the sound, and I probably (it seems) won't be able to put a newer version on this machine in the future, because the kernels now building won't boot on a Pentium II (so much for"Linux is great for older machines").

If everything works with the stable repositories, I would just stick with it. Unless you want to experiment a little risking getting back to the same issues. I know that the stable repositories, can be boring, with not much new stuff.
When it came to kernels, I was thinking of old ones, made about the same time period that you computer was built. If they are still available..

jdmeaux1952 · posted: 2014-05-05 20:00

Silent Observer wrote:... this old rattletrap to install the updates from stable to testing

Stable repositories are just that; STABLE. The testing repositories are TESTING programs, most of which are ready for Stable but have not been released. Until the Developer is sure that the program is truly ready, it will stay as Testing. __{{emoticon}}__

I would make sure to stay with the STABLE repositories to get everything running properly before adventuring into unknown territories. __{{emoticon}}__

Silent Observer · posted: 2014-05-06 00:52

My main reason for wanting to run on testing is the rolling nature of the testing repos -- I'm already dreading when MEPIS 11 becomes too obsolete to do what I need (it's already happening; I can't run Chrome, hence can't get an up to date Flash Player, even on a Core2Quad system). If I run a testing repo antiX, it'll never get that far out of date.

In the grand scheme of things, it's not that important for my Pentium II laptop to have sound, but I'd really rather it did. It's more important, to me, to have rolling updates so the OS doesn't get as obsolescent as the Win98 on the other partitions. So, if I can get sound working and then update to testing, or if I can get sound working after updating to testing, I'll eventually update to testing -- I've seen what running stable means in Debian, and it means"too old to do up to date things".

rokytnji · posted: 2014-05-06 01:41

Just so you know. I have had to fix sound myself by hand when upgrading

I had this working before in AntiX 8.5 debian squeeze when I was using skype but my old notes did not apply on this install.

eeepc-900-microphone-debian-wheezy-fix-antix-11-t3433.html

Figured that out all in my lonesome. __{{emoticon}}__

Silent Observer · posted: 2014-05-11 02:36

Well, for the moment, I'm going to ignore the sound (unless someone comes up with some new idea) and hold out hope for antiX 14 -- assuming anyone ever gets a kernel newer than 3.12.3 to boot on a Pentium II. I'm still willing to test new kernels on this laptop, either in live spins or installed directly in 13.2 (as I've done with kernels as high as 14.1 on my Athlon XP and Core2Quad systems).

Silent Observer · posted: 2014-05-19 13:49

Well, it's good news, but it's a little embarrassing -- the sound on my laptop is working again. I was going back over everything from the OS reinstall up to the end of the thread, and found that the change in etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf that would have allowed the USB sound device to load as the first sound card (normally prohibited to prevent a USB device from usurping primary position from an on-board or slot-mounted sound chipset) hadn't in fact been set immediately after installation as I thought it had. The only thing I can figure is that I accidentally clicked the file icon from rox instead of right clicking and selecting"edit as root" -- and didn't notice that the file didn't save back. In any case, correcting that (commenting out the prohibition line) immediately restored full sound operation, even on the 3.13-1 wheezy backports kernel I'm currently running on that machine. So, of course, streamtuner2 is now misbehaving; I'll post separately about that.