No sound onboard VT8233 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)

[dimir]

I am new to Linux and ran into a problem with no sound after a fresh install of Debian 6.0. Here is what I get from my I/Os. (yes speakers are on, plugged in and all volume controls have been toggled and tweaked in every which way.)

cat/proc/asound/cards

 0 [V8235          ]: VIA8233 - VIA 8235

                      VIA 8235 with ALC655 at 0xe000, irq 5

cat /proc/asound/devices

  2:        : timer

  3:        : sequencer

  4: [ 0- 1]: digital audio playback

  5: [ 0- 1]: digital audio capture

  6: [ 0- 0]: digital audio playback

  7: [ 0- 0]: digital audio capture

  8: [ 0]   : control

cat /proc/asound/modules
 0 snd_via82xx

cat /proc/asound/version
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.

cat /proc/asound/pcm
00-00: VIA 8235 : VIA 8235 : playback 4 : capture 1

00-01: VIA 8235 : VIA 8235 : playback 1 : capture 1

cat /proc/asound/pcm
G0: system timer : 4000.000us (10000000 ticks)

P0-0-0: PCM playback 0-0-0 : SLAVE

P0-0-1: PCM capture 0-0-1 : SLAVE

P0-0-2: PCM playback 0-0-2 : SLAVE

P0-0-4: PCM playback 0-0-4 : SLAVE

P0-0-6: PCM playback 0-0-6 : SLAVE

P0-1-0: PCM playback 0-1-0 : SLAVE

P0-1-1: PCM capture 0-1-1 : SLAVE

cat /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
# autoloader aliases

install sound-slot-0 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-0

install sound-slot-1 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-1

install sound-slot-2 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-2

install sound-slot-3 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-3

install sound-slot-4 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-4

install sound-slot-5 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-5

install sound-slot-6 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-6

install sound-slot-7 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-7

# Cause optional modules to be loaded above generic modules

install snd /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-ioctl32 ; /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-seq ; }

install snd-rawmidi /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-rawmidi && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-seq-midi ; : ; }

install snd-emu10k1 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-emu10k1 && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-emu10k1-synth ; : ; }



# Prevent abnormal drivers from grabbing index 0

options bt87x index=-2

options cx88_alsa index=-2

options snd-atiixp-modem index=-2

options snd-intel8x0m index=-2

options snd-via82xx-modem index=-2

# Keep snd-pcsp from beeing loaded as first soundcard

options snd-pcsp index=-2

# Keep snd-usb-audio from beeing loaded as first soundcard

options snd-usb-audio index=-2

grep ALSA /var/log/boot
Thu Feb 17 17:21:19 2011: Setting up ALSA...warning: 'alsactl restore' failed with error message 'Unknown hardware: "VIA8233" "Realtek ALC655 rev 0" "AC97a:414c4760" "0x16f3" "0x4765"

lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
snd_seq_dummy            987  0 
aes_i586                6816  3 
aes_generic            25738  1 aes_i586
speedstep_lib           2468  0 
cpufreq_stats           1940  0 
cpufreq_powersave        602  0 
cpufreq_conservative     4018  0 
cpufreq_userspace       1480  0 
ppdev                   4058  0 
lp                      5570  0 
sco                     5857  2 
bridge                 33019  0 
stp                      996  1 bridge
bnep                    7444  2 
rfcomm                 25171  0 
l2cap                  21705  6 bnep,rfcomm
crc16                   1027  1 l2cap
bluetooth              36319  6 sco,bnep,rfcomm,l2cap
binfmt_misc             4907  1 
fuse                   44033  1 
loop                    9765  0 
arc4                     974  2 
snd_via82xx            15256  2 
ecb                     1405  2 
snd_ac97_codec         79148  1 snd_via82xx
ac97_bus                 710  1 snd_ac97_codec
rt2500pci              11303  0 
snd_pcm                47226  2 snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec
rt2x00pci               3773  1 rt2500pci
nouveau               314892  2 
snd_page_alloc          5045  2 snd_via82xx,snd_pcm
rt2x00lib              19101  2 rt2500pci,rt2x00pci
snd_mpu401_uart         4067  1 snd_via82xx
ttm                    33386  1 nouveau
led_class               1757  1 rt2x00lib
snd_seq_midi            3576  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      3684  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_rawmidi            12513  2 snd_mpu401_uart,snd_seq_midi
drm_kms_helper         18309  1 nouveau
i2c_viapro              4419  0 
mac80211              123574  2 rt2x00pci,rt2x00lib
snd_seq                35463  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
drm                   112088  4 nouveau,ttm,drm_kms_helper
snd_timer              12258  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
i2c_algo_bit            3497  1 nouveau
snd_seq_device          3673  4 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
via_ircc               13311  0 
cfg80211               87661  2 rt2x00lib,mac80211
snd                    34375  12 snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
irda                   75956  1 via_ircc
i2c_core               12696  5 nouveau,drm_kms_helper,i2c_viapro,drm,i2c_algo_bit
pcspkr                  1207  0 
parport_pc             15799  1 
rfkill                 10264  4 bluetooth,cfg80211
ns558                   1599  0 
evdev                   5609  10 
gameport                6061  3 snd_via82xx,ns558
soundcore               3450  1 snd
shpchp                 21220  0 
parport                22554  3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
crc_ccitt               1039  1 irda
eeprom_93cx6             963  1 rt2500pci
pci_hotplug            18065  1 shpchp
button                  3598  1 nouveau
processor              26327  0 
ext3                   94212  1 
jbd                    32169  1 ext3
mbcache                 3762  1 ext3
usbhid                 28008  0 
hid                    50893  1 usbhid
sg                     15968  0 
sr_mod                 10770  0 
cdrom                  26487  1 sr_mod
sd_mod                 25977  3 
crc_t10dif              1012  1 sd_mod
ata_generic             2067  0 
pata_via                5701  2 
uhci_hcd               16057  0 
fan                     2586  0 
libata                115753  2 ata_generic,pata_via
via_rhine              14627  0 
ehci_hcd               27851  0 
mii                     2714  1 via_rhine
scsi_mod              101429  4 sg,sr_mod,sd_mod,libata
usbcore                98453  4 usbhid,uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd
nls_base                4541  1 usbcore
thermal                 9206  0 
thermal_sys             9378  3 processor,fan,thermal
floppy                 40923  0

lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M266 Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8633 [Apollo Pro266 AGP]
00:0a.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2500 802.11g (rev 01)
00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 82)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge
00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 74)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200] (rev a1)

Another note, when booting from a live cd of Knoppix or Ubuntu the sound works flawlessly.
Any feedback on this issue would be greatly appreciated. And let me know if there's anymore info output that may help with this problem.

[MikeTbob]

Hello and Welcome.
My trick when dealing with situations like this is to get the sound working on another distro and see what modules it is loading and try to duplicate that on the faulty distro.