# sound configuration in Red Hat 8



## genelake (Feb 25, 2003)

I have Red Hat 8 up and running but I can't get sound configured right. 

My sound card is aan Intel 82801BA/BAM AC'97 Audio..Module i810_Audio.

When I go to RED HAT-SYSTEM SETTINGS-PASSWORD...and do the "test sound" thingy I have to turn my speaker volume control way up to hear anything...but the sound does come out of each speaker properly.

I have gone to RED HAT-SOUND AND VIDEO-VOLUME CONTROL and gotten graphic of various sound slider settings...changing these makes no difference at all.

When I play an audio CD...it plays but with no sound.

I've read the Red Hat documentation , but I can't find an answer.

HELP! I'm stuck! (KHAYMAN ...are you there?) Thanks all!


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## lynch (Aug 3, 2002)

Open a mixer like kmix and check the volume controls there.The fact that you can hear any sound means it's probably configured right.
lynch


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## genelake (Feb 25, 2003)

Lynch...thanks for your reply.

I ran KMix and all the slide controls are about 3/4 way up. Nothing I do seems to have any effect. 

I read a suggestion on another forum this morning. It said to go into KSCD and change the /dev/cdrom to /dev/scd0. I did that...but no difference.  

Must be some internal setting that needs to be changed.  

I've got a "help" message into Red Hat support. Maybe they have the answer.  

Also, I've got to figure out how to get the fonts to look better. Awful hard on these old tired eyes. 

Thanks for your help. -Gene-


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## lynch (Aug 3, 2002)

Try the kscd thing.If RH gives you an answer that works,let us know. 
Did you check if all the modules are loaded?
Try typing:
*/sbin/lsmod *
and look for these 3 modules:
*i810_audio 23008 0 (autoclean)
ac97_codec 11904 0 (autoclean) [i810_audio]
soundcore 6692 2 (autoclean) [i810_audio]*
They should be loaded.
When KDE or Gnome loads at startup,can you hear the sysnotification sound without turning up the volume?
You dont have to reboot or restart X to find out:go to preferences>sound>system notifications>open KDE system notifications and open "KDE is starting"and highlight "Play sound".Hit the left-pointing arrow to test the sound.
Then of course there is always the checking of the speaker wires,jacks etc 
HTH
lynch


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## genelake (Feb 25, 2003)

Lynch...thanks for your reply!

We're making progress. I got the following entries when I typed in that command:
i810-audio 25224 1
ac97_codec 13384 0 (autoclean) [i810_audio]
soundcore 6532 2 (autoclean) [i810_audio]

I went to KDE notification graphic...I highlited the 'sound' (I can't remember whether the box was checked or not...it is now) I clicked on the left arrow...no sound. I clicked on the box on the right on the next line down...got sound! Great! Also, am now getting all kinds of sounds when I do different things. Still have to have speaker volume control proctically all the way up. Another thing...there was a box in that same KDE graphic that said 'disable all sounds...I clicked on it ...now says 'enable all sounds...however when I clicked back to 'disable all sounds' I still got the 'notification' type sounds.

I tried to play a CD by going to SOUNDS-Play a audio CD'. Plays but no sound.

Thanks for your help...we're getting there!


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## genelake (Feb 25, 2003)

Got an answer from Red Hat Support concerning my sound problem. They don't support my sound card. They gave me a link that looks interesting but its way over my head...www.alsa-project.org.

So can someone give me some advice on buying a good soundcard...not the best...but not the worst.

Ahhh...LINUX...you gotta love it!

Thanks all! -Gene-


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## lynch (Aug 3, 2002)

What a drag  
I use the SB 16 pci or the SB 128 pci.These are priced decently and I've use one or the other without probs.
HTH
lynch


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## genelake (Feb 25, 2003)

Got an answer back from Red Hat Support. They said my CD-ROM is connected to the IDE controller on the Motherboard and not to my soundcard. That does appear to be the case. They gave me an URL to go to: www.linuxgazette.com/issue80/tag/4.html. I tried cdda2wav -D /dev/cdrom -t 1 -eN That didn't work...gave me a rolling screen of error messages. 

I next went to ftp://mud.stack.nl/pub/OuterSpace/willem and downloaded xmms-cdread-0.14a.tar.gz I got it in my home directory...left-clicked on but didn't seem to do anything...CD still won't play. 

I am really not too good with this LINUX thing! 

All suggestions welcomed! Thanks!

-Gene-


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## lynch (Aug 3, 2002)

Your cdrom is connected to the ide controller on the motherboard;it's the sound cable that connects to your sound card.
The file you downloaded needs to be unpacked.
At a terminal,type:
*tar -xzvf xmms-cdread-0.14a.tar.gz*
After it unpacks look for a readme or an install.doc .
lynch


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## genelake (Feb 25, 2003)

LYNCH...thanks for your reponse. . 

I found that very same 'command' while searching on the internet. I tried it and couldn't get it to work. Came back with a half page of error messages...something about a secondary header missing or something. Also said 'xmms-cdread-0.14a/Makefile.in'

Am I making this harder than it should be?  Would I be better off buying a Linux-compatible sound card? 

Sorry for being such a pain in the butt. Thanks for your answers and your patience.  

-Gene-


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## lynch (Aug 3, 2002)

Could just be a bad download.I'm pretty sure that xmms-cdread is on your Linuc CDs.I checked /usr/share/doc/packages on my SuSE system and there was a sub-directory in /xmms for xmms-cdread. Check your RH CDs or package manager to see if it's available.
You have to compile this from source to get it to work.
Remove the 1st file you downloaded and see if it's on your CDs or try downloading it again from a different site.
If you get it unpacked properly there should appear an xmms-cdread folder that has a install doc that explains how to configure and compile the program.
I dont see where this(a software solution) will solve problems with an unsupported snd card but it's up to you 
I'd just get a good SB 16 pci that I know has good stable support.
HTH
lynch


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## genelake (Feb 25, 2003)

LYNCH...thanks for your answer.

I think you are right about getting a proper soundcard to fix my problem.  

I will do that next.

Thanks for all your patience and help! 

-Gene-


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## linuxphile (Mar 6, 2003)

Per an article in the latest Linux Journal support for this card in the 2.6 kernel is supposed to have been improved. Check it out.


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## lynch (Aug 3, 2002)

A couple things to try:
Un-plug the sound cable from whatever end is easiest to get at and plug it back in the other way around.Sometimes this is necessary but most times it doesnt matter which way you plug it in.Could'nt hurt to try.
Pull the speaker plugs and clean and re-seat them.
What are you trying to play CDs in? Have you tried kscd?
lynch


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## genelake (Feb 25, 2003)

LINUXPHILE...thanks for the reply. I'll check it out. 

LYNCH...thanks for your answer. The more I work on this the less I understand about this problem. The cables from my speakers that are plugged in on the back of my case go into a small silver box. Can't see any cables going to that silver box. 

I have been under the impression that I had a PCI soundcard. This is not the case. I have 4 PCI slots...a modem card in one, a graphic card in one and a Cisco Wireless card in the other. One PCI slot left.

I am using KsCD to play the CD. 

I am going to get a Sound Blaster PCI soundcard and go from there.

Thanks everyone for your help!

-Gene-


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## genelake (Feb 25, 2003)

I have installed the Sound Blaster 16 PCI sound card. WinXP detected it and configured properly...CD's play OK and all other sounds are OK. 

Linux produces no sound at all. The sound detection routine detects the sound card as a Creative/Ensoniq 5880 Audio PCI Module es1371. I think this is right. The speaker cables are plugged into the sound card...the cable is plugged into the CD_ROM and runs to the sound card. I'm sure the card is installed correctly. 

I have worn out Google looking for answers. The answers I do find are usually over my head...can't understand the answer. The one recurring theme in all answers is to run "sndconfig". 

I can't get "sndconfig" to run. I am apparently doing it wrong. Here's what I am typing in a terminal: sndconfig comes back with "command not found".

Tried: su (typed password) sndconfig comes back with "command not found".

I am doing something wrong...what is it?

Thanks! A very frustrated -Gene-


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## lynch (Aug 3, 2002)

Try it as root and type*/usr/sbin/sndconfig*
That sounds like the correct driver and if it plays CDs in windows and there are no other problems there, it must have been installed correctly 
Did you see this web site?
http://www.linuxheadquarters.com/howto/basic/sndconfig.shtml
HTH
lynch


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## genelake (Feb 25, 2003)

LYNCH...thanks for your reply.

I typed:
su
(my password)
/usr/sbin/sndconfig

Came back and said: no such file or directory 

Is it possible that I don't have "sndconfig" utility on my machine? When Red Hat was loading packages during the installation the only thing I clicked on was to include KDE. Red Hat selected everything else for me. 

I went to your link and that is exactley what I need to run. 

Am I typing in properly? I go to Red Hat menu-system tools-terminal. 

Thanks! -Gene-


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## lynch (Aug 3, 2002)

Yes ,it looks like you're typing the command correctly.It looks like maybe it isnt installed,which is strange being that it's a useful tool. 
Try looking for it with a *whereis sndconfig*. They may have changed the location for it.
If it just returns the name with no path it's not installed.I believe the link I posted provides a download link for it.
lynch


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## genelake (Feb 25, 2003)

LYNCH...thanks for your answer!

I did have to download the "sndconfig" utility. I then ran "/usr/sbin/sndconfig --noprobe" and was able to get my card configured. 

I now have sound from my CD player (using KsCD). However, the sound is real low. I have to manually turn the speakers up to hear the music. I have all the "play sound" boxes checked in the System Notification graphic. But I have no System Notification sounds at all. I did at one time but something has changed (soundcard).  

So I am making progress but still have two problems...low sound and no sound.

Thanks for your help.

-Gene-


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## lynch (Aug 3, 2002)

I'd play around with the mixer apps:you're bound to hit on the right combination 
What .wav sound files are in your system notification? Eg.,My" KDE is starting" is kdestart.wav .The name of the .wav file should appear in the dialog box below the list of notification types.
lynch


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## genelake (Feb 25, 2003)

I have finally gotten my sound to work! 

After doing all the things Red Hat told me do and still no sound I started playing a CD with KsCD (no sound being produced) and then started looking at all the sound mixers and volume control graphics I could find.

I eventually got in Aumix and started clicking on different things. I clicked on 'load' (left side of graphic) and there was the sound! CD sound worked as well as all the KDE notification sounds. Great! 

The only problem with clicking on 'load' ...the change isn't made permanent. I have to click on 'load' every time i log on. I have a request into Red Hat to tell me how to make this change permament. 

So, thanks to all who helped me with this problem!  

-Gene-


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## lynch (Aug 3, 2002)




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