Just wait it out? Sound card module issue

[Agent-X]

Hmm. It seems like the newer kernel in Debian Lenny and Ubuntu 8.04 are giving me troubles in the sound department. I remember when I first came to Linux. It gave me problems like this. It gave me problems with hardware, and I found each and everyone of those problems to be annoying, for I didn't know enough about every nook and cranny to fix a problem.

So, seeing as it's a big problem, and these things typically get improved every six months, do you think it will pass if I wait it out?

Don't a lot of these issues pass if you just wait for a better kernel? That's always been my philosophy, even though it seems like a crummy one.

[gruven]

Well, without knowing the sound card or chipset of the card it is hard to help.

You could always compile your own kernel, or use the official drivers from alsa, or just wait.

If it were me though, I would try the official alsa drivers first, then compile my own kernel, and then, just go back to the old kernel if it didn't work the first couple times. You can always do that and then when a newer kernel comes out, try it out to see if it works. If it doesn't, you have one that you know works and can use it.

[Freston]

It highly depends. I myself need alsa 1.0.16 to get my soundcard to work. Most distro's still ship with 1.0.15. Even Ubuntu 8.04.

You might try compiling the alsa-driver and alsa-lib of a more current version. Currently alsa is at level 1.0.17, so that is two version higher as that Ubuntu ships with.

Having no sound to me would be a show-stopper. You say it used to work? You might also consider downgrading and waiting it out as you say. IMHO I would first try to upgrade alsa and if that don't work downgrade the distro to a version that worked.

And you might concider filing a bug raport.