[gentoo-dev] Broken Sound in KDE3

[gentoo-dev] Broken Sound in KDE3

[Rob W]

I posted this message to the Hardware section of the Gentoo forums, and 
it got 10 reads and 0 responses in about 15 hours.  I thought the 
message might be more appropriate for the gentoo-dev because of its 
detailed content--hopefully detailed enough for one of you devs to help 
me out.  My apologies if I am mis-posting this.

Here goes...

My ISAPNP SB16 card is not working in Gentoo 2.4.19-gentoo in KDE3, with 
newly emerged ALSA driver, utils, tools, you name it. I remembered to 
'rc-update add alsa boot' (note: boot, not default, as per a recent post 
here[on Gentoo forum-Hardware], although default does not work either 
and gives the same errors). Also, I did depmod -a, which yields 5 
'unresolved symbols'errors in 
/lib/modules/2.4.19-gentoo/kernel/sound/pci/cs46xx/snd-cs46xx.o,
~/sound/pci/snd-cs4281.o
~snd-es1938.o,
~snd-sonicvibes.o
~/pci/trident/snd-trident-o.

The card is recognized at boot, the alsa module (snd-sb16) and oss 
modules (snd-mixer-oss and snd-pcm-oss) load, but the ALSA module then 
generates errors complaining of 'hooks failed' and such. Below is the 
text, hand-typed into this message because cut-and-paste does not work 
across these apps:[sorry, relative newbie here, I'm sure there's a way 
to pipe the output into a text editor]

ALSA lib conf.c:1520:(snd_config_load1) _toplevel_:6:8:Unexpected char
ALSA lib conf.c:2616:(snd_config_hook_load) /etc/asound.conf may be old 
or corrupted: consider to remove or fix it
ALSA lib conf.c:2463:(snd_config_hooks_call) function 
snd_config_hook_load returned error: Unknown error
ALSA lib conf.c:2859:(snd_config_update_r) hooks failed, removing 
configuration

This same error is generated if I type 'amixer' at the CLI. So I renamed 
/etc/asound.conf and sure enough, the error message went away, and all I 
got was an 'asound.conf missing' error.

Oddly, after I unmuted amixer (only possible with /etc/asound.conf 
renamed, i.e., absent) I was able to play the pop.wav sound from the 
CLI. No other sound works, though: nothing in KDE Control Center, and 
nothing from xmms. KDE is set to use the ALSA sound system in Control 
Center, although it does not work if I select OSS either.

I did a google search for unresolved symbol errors in sound, and got 
nothing useful.

Was the ALSA system in Gentoo just updated so that my asound.conf is now 
broken? How can I fix it? This sound card used to work perfectly in Gentoo!

Sorry this is so verbose, but I hope the detail helps.

TIA,
Rob W

Re: [gentoo-dev] Broken Sound in KDE3

[Paul de Vrieze]

On Saturday 25 May 2002 22:11, Rob W wrote:
>
> My ISAPNP SB16 card is not working in Gentoo 2.4.19-gentoo in KDE3, with
> newly emerged ALSA driver, utils, tools, you name it. I remembered to
> 'rc-update add alsa boot' (note: boot, not default, as per a recent post
> here[on Gentoo forum-Hardware], although default does not work either
> and gives the same errors). Also, I did depmod -a, which yields 5
> 'unresolved symbols'errors in
> /lib/modules/2.4.19-gentoo/kernel/sound/pci/cs46xx/snd-cs46xx.o,
> ~/sound/pci/snd-cs4281.o
> ~snd-es1938.o,
> ~snd-sonicvibes.o
> ~/pci/trident/snd-trident-o.
>
> The card is recognized at boot, the alsa module (snd-sb16) and oss
> modules (snd-mixer-oss and snd-pcm-oss) load, but the ALSA module then
> generates errors complaining of 'hooks failed' and such. Below is the
> text, hand-typed into this message because cut-and-paste does not work
> across these apps:[sorry, relative newbie here, I'm sure there's a way
> to pipe the output into a text editor]
>
> ALSA lib conf.c:1520:(snd_config_load1) _toplevel_:6:8:Unexpected char
> ALSA lib conf.c:2616:(snd_config_hook_load) /etc/asound.conf may be old
> or corrupted: consider to remove or fix it
> ALSA lib conf.c:2463:(snd_config_hooks_call) function
> snd_config_hook_load returned error: Unknown error
> ALSA lib conf.c:2859:(snd_config_update_r) hooks failed, removing
> configuration
>
> This same error is generated if I type 'amixer' at the CLI. So I renamed
> /etc/asound.conf and sure enough, the error message went away, and all I
> got was an 'asound.conf missing' error.
>
> Oddly, after I unmuted amixer (only possible with /etc/asound.conf
> renamed, i.e., absent) I was able to play the pop.wav sound from the
> CLI. No other sound works, though: nothing in KDE Control Center, and
> nothing from xmms. KDE is set to use the ALSA sound system in Control
> Center, although it does not work if I select OSS either.
>
> I did a google search for unresolved symbol errors in sound, and got
> nothing useful.
>
> Was the ALSA system in Gentoo just updated so that my asound.conf is now
> broken? How can I fix it? This sound card used to work perfectly in Gentoo!
>
> Sorry this is so verbose, but I hope the detail helps.

The alsa version has been upgraded to a really new version. This has a number 
of consequences. For one the module names do not longer have a card part in 
them. Also the initscript has been renamed. The unresolved symbols are 
probably the result of lingering old alsa modules, so first start with 
removing the old versions of alsa-driver.

Good luck,
Paul

-- 
Paul de Vrieze
Junior Researcher
Mail: pauldv@cs.kun.nl
Homepage: http://www.devrieze.net

Re: [gentoo-dev] Broken Sound in KDE3

[Rowboat]

On Saturday 25 May 2002 05:13 pm, Paul de Vrieze wrote:
Paul,
	I think this is the right direction.  Earlier today I did 'emerge --clean 
rsync' which should have removed all the old versions of everything laying 
around AND gotten the lastest portage listing.  Unfortunately, after reboot, 
still no luck with either ALSA, or OSS, in KDE3 with or without aRts server 
enabled.
	Should I unmerge alsa completely and start over?  As a side note, I ensured 
that I had alsa and oss in my USE string, in the make.globals file.

Since OSS does not seem to complain when booting, I rem'd the snd-sb16 (alsa) 
driver from modules.autoload.  No errors on boot, but the OSS sound doesn't 
work either, for unknown reasons.
	On another angle, I was already aware that the names of the alsa modules has 
changed recently, usually dropping the '-card-' portion of the name, so now 
my module is 'snd-sb16'. 
	Let's get this thing!
	Rob W.

> The alsa version has been upgraded to a really new version. This has a
> number of consequences. For one the module names do not longer have a card
> part in them. Also the initscript has been renamed. The unresolved symbols
> are probably the result of lingering old alsa modules, so first start with
> removing the old versions of alsa-driver.
>
> Good luck,
> Paul

Re: [gentoo-dev] Broken Sound in KDE3

[Michael R. Gayeski]

> 	On another angle, I was already aware that the names of the alsa modules
> has changed recently, usually dropping the '-card-' portion of the name

Unfortunately, simply dropping the name will not work if you use the 
/etc/init.d/alsasound init script, since it searches your /etc/modules.conf 
file for the string 'snd-card-[:[number]:]', and loads the drivers it finds 
that way.. I find that adding the line: 'alias snd-card-0 snd-xxxxx' (where 
xxxx is the name of your sound card) to your /etc/modules.d/alsa file will 
fix the init script. 

>Since OSS does not seem to complain when booting, I rem'd the snd-sb16 (alsa) 
>driver from modules.autoload.  No errors on boot, but the OSS sound doesn't 

I don't think loading the snd-sb16 module is enough for alsa support in the 
0.9x drivers. There may be some drivers that are not getting properly loaded.   
Check out the alsasound script and the  /etc/modules.d/alsa file to try and 
figure out what gets loaded.

Good luck, 

--mrg

Re: [gentoo-dev] Broken Sound in KDE3

[hanez]

> My ISAPNP SB16 card is not working in Gentoo 2.4.19-gentoo in KDE3, with
> newly emerged ALSA driver, utils, tools, you name it. I remembered to
> 'rc-update add alsa boot' (note: boot, not default, as per a recent post
> here[on Gentoo forum-Hardware], although default does not work either
> and gives the same errors).

hello,

it's maybe not the solution but note, that your init script for alsa now is 
called "alsasound". do it this way:

#rc-update del alsa
#rc-update add alsasound boot

regards
hanez... ;-)

Re: [gentoo-dev] Broken Sound in KDE3

[Rowboat]

Hanez,
Thanks for this important suggestion.  I made sure alsa was removed from all 
runlevels using rc-update, then added alsasound to the boot runlevel.  I 
rebooted and still get the same errors.  I DID find a module in 
/etc/modules.d called 'alsa.old' that was getting loaded during boot.  (I 
found its entry in modules.conf, and traced it back to modules.d) I removed 
that file completely to a different location, but still get the exact same 
errors on boot or 'modprobe -a'.

If an old version of ALSA is still on my system, where would it be?  I would 
like to delete it, or else 'emerge unmerge alsa' as a last resort.

Thanks again,
Rob W.

On Sunday 26 May 2002 07:26 am, hanez wrote:

> hello,
>
> it's maybe not the solution but note, that your init script for alsa now is
> called "alsasound". do it this way:
>
> #rc-update del alsa
> #rc-update add alsasound boot
>
> regards
> hanez... ;-)
>
> _______________________________________________
> gentoo-dev mailing list
> gentoo-dev@gentoo.org
> http://lists.gentoo.org/mailman/listinfo/gentoo-dev

Re: [gentoo-dev] Broken Sound in KDE3

[Christian Hergl]

Hi Rowboat,

dunno if it was tried here already, but did you, after starting alsa in 
the boot runlevel, have the modules snd-pcm-oss and snd-mixer-oss loaded?

If not, put those in your modules.autoload (for the next boot, or 
modprobe then now), and select the open sound system in the Soundserver 
of kde. Unmute manually with alsamixer, and test the sound, it works 
here that way.

Greetings,
Christian

Rowboat wrote:
> Hanez,
> Thanks for this important suggestion.  I made sure alsa was removed from all 
> runlevels using rc-update, then added alsasound to the boot runlevel.  I 
> rebooted and still get the same errors.  I DID find a module in 
> /etc/modules.d called 'alsa.old' that was getting loaded during boot.  (I 
> found its entry in modules.conf, and traced it back to modules.d) I removed 
> that file completely to a different location, but still get the exact same 
> errors on boot or 'modprobe -a'.
> 
> If an old version of ALSA is still on my system, where would it be?  I would 
> like to delete it, or else 'emerge unmerge alsa' as a last resort.
> 
> Thanks again,
> Rob W.
> 
> On Sunday 26 May 2002 07:26 am, hanez wrote:
> 
> 
>>hello,
>>
>>it's maybe not the solution but note, that your init script for alsa now is
>>called "alsasound". do it this way:
>>
>>#rc-update del alsa
>>#rc-update add alsasound boot
>>
>>regards
>>hanez... ;-)
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>gentoo-dev mailing list
>>gentoo-dev@gentoo.org
>>http://lists.gentoo.org/mailman/listinfo/gentoo-dev
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> gentoo-dev mailing list
> gentoo-dev@gentoo.org
> http://lists.gentoo.org/mailman/listinfo/gentoo-dev
> 

Re: [gentoo-dev] Broken Sound in KDE3

[Rob W]

Yes, both those modules are in modules.autoload, and they load without
complaint at boot.  Even when I click on OSS sound in KDE control center, I
still get nothing.
    I have abandoned ALSA for now.  It has been removed from the boot
runlevel, and the module snd-sb16 has been commented out in my
modules.autoload.  I give up.
    Now I have to get OSS working.
    I may have to just dump the old ISA PNP SB16 (even though it worked fine
in Gentoo previously) and get a SB Live! Value card for $50 or so.  It would
probably make life simpler, and I'd be getting to bed before 3:00 am.
    Anyway, I appreciate your help.
    Rob W.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Christian Hergl" <weehawk@weehawk.de>
To: <gentoo-dev@gentoo.org>
Cc: <rowboat@wi.rr.com>
Sent: Monday, May 27, 2002 12:25 AM
Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] Broken Sound in KDE3


> Hi Rowboat,
>
> dunno if it was tried here already, but did you, after starting alsa in
> the boot runlevel, have the modules snd-pcm-oss and snd-mixer-oss loaded?
>
> If not, put those in your modules.autoload (for the next boot, or
> modprobe then now), and select the open sound system in the Soundserver
> of kde. Unmute manually with alsamixer, and test the sound, it works
> here that way.
>
> Greetings,
> Christian
>
> Rowboat wrote:
> > Hanez,
> > Thanks for this important suggestion.  I made sure alsa was removed from
all
> > runlevels using rc-update, then added alsasound to the boot runlevel.  I
> > rebooted and still get the same errors.  I DID find a module in
> > /etc/modules.d called 'alsa.old' that was getting loaded during boot.
(I
> > found its entry in modules.conf, and traced it back to modules.d) I
removed
> > that file completely to a different location, but still get the exact
same
> > errors on boot or 'modprobe -a'.
> >
> > If an old version of ALSA is still on my system, where would it be?  I
would
> > like to delete it, or else 'emerge unmerge alsa' as a last resort.
> >
> > Thanks again,
> > Rob W.
> >
> > On Sunday 26 May 2002 07:26 am, hanez wrote:
> >
> >
> >>hello,
> >>
> >>it's maybe not the solution but note, that your init script for alsa now
is
> >>called "alsasound". do it this way:
> >>
> >>#rc-update del alsa
> >>#rc-update add alsasound boot
> >>
> >>regards
> >>hanez... ;-)
> >>
> >>_______________________________________________
> >>gentoo-dev mailing list
> >>gentoo-dev@gentoo.org
> >>http://lists.gentoo.org/mailman/listinfo/gentoo-dev
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > gentoo-dev mailing list
> > gentoo-dev@gentoo.org
> > http://lists.gentoo.org/mailman/listinfo/gentoo-dev
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> gentoo-dev mailing list
> gentoo-dev@gentoo.org
> http://lists.gentoo.org/mailman/listinfo/gentoo-dev

Re: [gentoo-dev] Broken Sound in KDE3

[Paul de Vrieze]

On Sunday 26 May 2002 22:59, Rowboat wrote:
> Hanez,
> Thanks for this important suggestion.  I made sure alsa was removed from
> all runlevels using rc-update, then added alsasound to the boot runlevel. 
> I rebooted and still get the same errors.  I DID find a module in
> /etc/modules.d called 'alsa.old' that was getting loaded during boot.  (I
> found its entry in modules.conf, and traced it back to modules.d) I removed
> that file completely to a different location, but still get the exact same
> errors on boot or 'modprobe -a'.
>
> If an old version of ALSA is still on my system, where would it be?  I
> would like to delete it, or else 'emerge unmerge alsa' as a last resort.
>

Your alsa modules are somewhere in the /lib/modules/2.4.18/ tree. Probably in 
/lib/modules/2.4.18/kernel/sound/

The easiest thing to do is to remove the whole 2.4.18 tree and do a new 
make modules_install in your linux source tree again. That ensures there are 
no modules lingering around (taken you didn't clean your build tree, in which 
case you of course first need to make the modules again).

After that you need to do a depmod -a

BTW. modprobe and depmod only look to modules.conf (which is generated by 
modules-update) so check that file wheter it is up to date, if not check the 
modules.d dir.

Paul

-- 
Paul de Vrieze
Junior Researcher
Mail: pauldv@cs.kun.nl
Homepage: http://www.devrieze.net

[gentoo-dev] Broken Sound in KDE3

[Rob W]

Paul,
Thanks for this suggestion, and all the suggestions of the others.  I have
stored your messages in a special file in case this comes up again.  It is
good to know where to find the actual modules, rather than in just .conf
files, and I appreciate the effort all of you have put into your messages.

As it is, I could not take it any more, and yesterday I erased my Gentoo
installation (mke2fs -j hda4 will do that!) and re-installed from an .iso
image based on the 2.4.19-gentoo kernel.  It was not just the sound that was
wrong:  my purchased copy of Crossover did not work for plugins; samba
printing from a Win2K client to the linux box did not work (multiple hours
lost combing through the smb.conf file), and of course sound did not work.
It seemed that functionality was terminally screwed up, and it was getting
worse.  Finally, X and my video drivers became unusable.

Everything started deteriorating after I did a 'emerge world update'.  That
process hung at the end, so it did not have a chance to completely update
the system, hence I believe the machine was left as a sort of hybrid,
partially 2.4.18 and partially 2.4.19-gentoo.  Also, the 'emerge world
update' loaded a new (default) 'make menuconfig' file, that included kernel
support for at least one sound card that I did not have.  Normally this
should not cause depmod -a to generate errors, but that's what I was
getting.  The errors all involved drivers in the ~/sound/pci directory,
which was weird, because I don't have a pci sound card.  Anyway, it was a
mess.

When I recompiled my kernel, I left oss sound, as well as the support for
the SB-16 ISAPNP, compiled as a module.  On the samba front, I said 'no' to
smb file system support.  In the previous kernel, I had compiled it (smb fs
support) into the kernel.  I think this interfered with samba, and prevented
printing with 'access denied' errors on the Windows client.  The help file
for that kernel option said that Samba works fine without smb fs support.
We shall see if that fixes the samba printing problem.

Right now the system boots without error via grub to the CLI.  I still need
to emerge X and KDE 3.0, ALSA, and all the other packages.  This is my
second install of Gentoo, and I think I'm going to get it right this time.
Just hope I don't need more 'practice.'

Cheers,
Rob W.