Sound problems in Suse 11.1

[aikipy]

Hello!

I have a problem. By sound driver doesn't work on any Linux distros (I've installed Fedora 10, Ubuntu 8.10, Debian 5, Suse 10, Suse 11.1). From what I saw, the system has the driver installed, it said it's working and it is working, but the volume is very very low (imagine that, to hear just some whispers, I have to connect to my computer the loudspeakers and their volume is maximum!). So, if anyone had this problem, I could really use some help... My computer is a Toshiba Satellite U200-181.

Thanx!

[D-cat]

There are a few things that can do this, almost entirely in the mixer settings. Depends on the card. I don't know what desktop you're using, so I'll work within a terminal window.

Type alsamixer

In the menu, first check the obvious, That your volume levels are up and not muted for both Master and PCM outputs. Next, scroll to the right and see if you have an option for "External Amplifier" and make sure that's not muted.

This is how it looks on mine:

┌──────────────────────[AlsaMixer v1.0.13 (Press Escape to quit)]──────────────────────┐
│ Card: ESS Maestro3 PCI                                                               │
│ Chip: SigmaTel STAC9721,23                                                           │
│ View: [Playback] Capture  All                                                        │
│ Item: External Amplifier                                                             │
│                                                                                      │
│                                                                                      │
│                                                                                      │
│                                                                                      │
│                                                                                      │
│                                                                                      │
│    ┌──┐                       ┌──┐      ┌──┐     ┌──┐     ┌──┐                       │
│    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │  │                       │
│    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │  │                       │
│    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │  │                       │
│    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │  │                       │
│    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │  │                       │
<    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │  │                       >
<    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │  │                       >
<    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │▒▒│                       >
<    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │▒▒│                       >
<    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │▒▒│                       >
<    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │▒▒│                       >
<    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │▒▒│                       >
<    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │▒▒│                       >
<    │  │                       │  │      │  │     │  │     │▒▒│                       >
<    │  │                       │▒▒│      │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                       >
<    │  │                       │▒▒│      │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                       >
│    │  │                       │▒▒│      │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                       │
│    │  │                       │▒▒│      │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                       │
│    │  │                       │▒▒│      │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                       │
│    │▒▒│                       │▒▒│      │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                       │
│    │▒▒│                       │▒▒│      │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│                       │
│    │▒▒│              Mic1     │▒▒│      │▒▒│     │▒▒│     │▒▒│     Mix               │
│    ├──┤     ┌──┐              ├──┤      ├──┤     ├──┤     ├──┤              ┌──┐     │
│    │MM│     │OO│              │MM│      │MM│     │MM│     │OO│              │OO│     │
│    └──┘     └──┘              └──┘      └──┘     └──┘     └──┘              └──┘     │
│     10                       35<>35      35       33     65<>65                      │
│    Mic    Mic Boos Mic Sele  Video     Phone   PC Speak   Aux    Mono Out<External>  │
│                                                                                      │
│                                                                                      │
│                                                                                      │
│                                                                                      │
│                                                                                      │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

There are also some cards that will output in analog OR digital but not both, so check for those settings too.

[scrarfussi]

you can also check your normal mixer window eg if you are using kde check kmix