Mandrake 10.1 - modem & sound problems.

[aged.hippy]

Hi all,
I'm a newbie to Linux, and i've recently installed Mandrake 10.1 (more than once ), but i can't get the sound or modem to work, and always get [failed] to bring up eth0:. Also, when booting (via Lilo) there's about an 18 - 20 second delay from when i hit <Return> to the first drive access. Is this long wait normal?

I've tried loading both the <Default> and <Optimised> BIOS settings with no apparent change, but to be honest i don't like to fudge with it too much as i don't really know what i'm doing.

Mandrake is on IDE:0, position 1, as Slave to XP, which is position 0, and there's another (removable) 20Gb drive for common access. The Windows Drives are all FAT 32.

The system is:
Motherboard Properties -
Company Name Elitegroup Computer Systems
Motherboard ID 06/18/2004-SiS-661-6A7I4E1AC-13
Motherboard Name ECS 661FX-M (Deluxe) ECS 661FX-M (Deluxe) (3 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 CNR, 2 DIMM, Audio, Video, LAN)
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4E, 2666 MHz (5 x 533)
Motherboard Chipset SiS 661FX
System Memory 736 MB (DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type Award (06/18/04)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM2)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Front Side Bus Properties:
Bus Type Intel NetBurst
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 133 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock 533 MHz
Bandwidth 4266 MB/s

Chipset Bus Properties:
Bus Type SiS MuTIOL
Bus Width 16-bit

Motherboard Physical Info:
CPU Sockets/Slots 1
Expansion Slots 3 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 CNR
RAM Slots 2 DIMM
Integrated Devices Audio, Video, LAN
Form Factor Micro ATX
Motherboard Size 230 mm x 240 mm
Motherboard Chipset SiS661FX

BIOS Properties:
Company Name Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
BIOS Type Award
Award BIOS Type Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Award BIOS Message Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00P
System BIOS Date 06/18/04
Video BIOS Date 08/14/20

Chipset Properties:
Motherboard Chipset SiS 661FX
CAS Latency 3T
RAS To CAS Delay 4T
RAS Precharge 4T
RAS Active Time 6T

Memory Slots:
DRAM Slot #1 256 MB (DDR SDRAM)
DRAM Slot #2 512 MB (DDR SDRAM)

AGP Properties:
AGP Version 3.05
AGP Status Enabled
AGP Aperture Size 128 MB
Supported AGP Speeds 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x
Current AGP Speed 8x
Fast-Write Not Supported
Side Band Addressing Supported, Enabled

Chipset Manufacturer:
Company Name Silicon Integrated Systems Corporation
SiS 6330 Video Adapter
SiS 6330 3D Accelerator

ESS Technology ES1938/ES1941/ES1946 Solo-1(E) AudioDrive PCI
SiS 7012 Audio Device PCI

Network Adapter Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
Modem Hayes Accura 56K Ext Speakerphone PnP

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter ESS Technology ES1938/ES1941/ES1946 Solo-1(E) AudioDrive
Audio Adapter SiS 7012 Audio Device


Strangely, the sound sometimes works when playing Supertux, and if i boot into Knoppix (3.9) there are no problems with it whatsoever.

Can anyone here help me please, as i really like Mandrake, and if i can sort out these problems i'll probably be using it in preference to XP. It's much friendlier, and more customisable.
And not at all arrogant....



Thanks (hopefully) in advance,

malcolm

[AlexK]

for the sound, try running "alsamixer" as root, a MM under the bar means it is muted, press M to unmute and Up, Down, Left, Right keys to move around.

for the 56K modem, launch MCC, goto Harddrake and see if the modem is detected and remember its name e.g. /dev/modem. Then goto the network settings, select new dialup connection and enter the details.

18 - 20 s sounds a bit long for the 1st drive to be accessed, but I haven't timed my system so I can't say for sure. Though it does take about 40 - 50 s to get into KDE (again untimed)..

For the lan card, goto the network section of the MCC, select new lan connection find the realtek driver. And also make sure that it is not set to start on boot, but rather on "if available".

[aged.hippy]

Thanks for the tips, AlexK,

I'll go and try them out,

Warmest Regards,

malcolm