suse 10.1 sound issue (i'm going crazy)

[antimoine]

Hi, I just reinstalled suse 10.1 yesterday and I've been working on the sound card since then.
It's a ensoniq (creative 128 pci) which is correctly installed with the right drivers.
The trouble is that there is no sound playing....

I unmuted everything in alsamixer, I reinstalled, changed slot, rechecked everything but I still had no luck.

Help

[naked dave]

Hey,

I had similar problems when I used to use a PCI sound card as opposed to onboard. I would recommend the creation of a file called ~/.asoundrc in your home directory to ensure that your PCI card is been picked up as the default device over your onboard sound.

I cant remember the exact content of the file, as mine was long since deleted. However- its easy enough to come by on google.

Cheers

[antimoine]

Thanks for the reply

Yes I tried it, but got nothing...
I noticed that other people had the same issue as me on the forums but they too are searching for an answer...

I get some very low noise with headphones and when I do the config with the console alsa I do hear a loud click from the speakers but nothing else....

[naked dave]

I will admit that I have found the only real thing that seems to cause major problems to new comers to SuSE is sound. For some reason it messes up sometimes without any obvious solution, and as I said earlier, I fell foul to it when I first started using the OS.

It is promising that you are hearing something though, have you checked other mixer programs.... Kmix for example, to ensure that they are working. Also when you go into YaST and configure your sound card, does it do this successfully with the correct driver/soundcard name listed? one final question, on the YaST page which lists your sound card, if you go to Other> Volume can you hear the test sound there at all?

[antimoine]

Well, I tried with all of the available mixers... and got nothing.
As for the test in the Yast control center, it plays no sound too...
I maxed out all the volumes, tried different combinations but the only thing I hear is the click (twice) when I save the settings....

It's driving me mad... (I wanted to use this pc to play music in the living room)
time for a smoke now...

[naked dave]

might be time to be Mr Obvious now - dont take this as patronising:

-checked all connections, made sure they are in right, try pulling the speaker lead out a little (you'd be suprised)
-make sure the speakers work on another PC if possible
- check everything is connected to the mains
- make sure the PCI card is seated right

i know all of these are insultingly obvious but sometimes they get overlooked when something appears to be much more technical

[antimoine]

That's all right, I usually forget the obvious....
But no, everything is ok and those speakers are the ones I used on my windows machine(and they worked)

[oldcpu]

As for the test in the Yast control center, it plays no sound too...

Typically this means a driver problem. ie. either the driver:
a. is configured wrong, or
b. is the wrong driver.
Try going to /etc/modprobe.d and with root permission rename any file in that directory with the ascii sequence "sound" in the file name, to some other file name. (I say "rename" the file, so you can always put it back).

Then go to YAST > HARDWARE > SOUND and try to add your sound card again. Try the test.

Failing that, I recommend you surf the web, looking for a different linux driver for your sound card.

Edit: I've read some linux users run "alsaconf" and that seems to work for them. I've never tried it myself.

[gogalthorp]

Typically this means a driver problem. ie. either the driver:
a. is configured wrong, or
b. is the wrong driver.
Try going to /etc/modprobe.d and with root permission rename any file in that directory with the ascii sequence "sound" in the file name, to some other file name. (I say "rename" the file, so you can always put it back).

Then go to YAST > HARDWARE > SOUND and try to add your sound card again. Try the test.

Failing that, I recommend you surf the web, looking for a different linux driver for your sound card.

Edit: I've read some linux users run "alsaconf" and that seems to work for them. I've never tried it myself.

alsastart got at least some sound working for me after I reinstaslled. Still no sound in Firefox, Skype or realplayer. But KDE, amorak, kaffine,games, etc are working.

[oldcpu]

alsastart got at least some sound working for me after I reinstaslled. Still no sound in Firefox, Skype or realplayer. But KDE, amorak, kaffine,games, etc are working.

You probably need a plugin for firefox to work. I use mplayerplug-in (which also means I need mplayer setup and working, which I have - its easy to do with a 3rd party software package manager).

Re:RealPlayer, typically that works right out of the box. Possibly you have changed a KDE sound setting, which has caused RealPlayer to stop working.

I don't know the first thing about Skype, so apologies, but I have no suggestions there.