[linux-help] Re: Sound on laptop

[Thomas Wallis <wallis@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 25 Apr 2003, Larry Bottorff wrote:

>
>
> > > I've got RH8 on my Dell Latitude CP M233XT but I get an error
> > right as the
> > > desktop comes up:
> > >
> > > "Error while initializing sound driver. device /dev/dsp can't
> > be opened (no
> > > such device). The sound server will continue using the null
> > output device."
> > >
> > > Any ideas how to get sound working again?
> >
>
> > Have you loaded you sound modules?
> How would I do that? How would I know if they were loaded? I plead
> ignorance....

        Dear Larry:

        You really need to find out what kind of audio chipset is inside
of your machine.  There are a couple of ways to do this:

        a.  Run a well-known other OS on this laptop.  The other OS might
tell you, or it might lie.  I have seen it both ways.  Some of what the
other OS reports is so generic, it is useless.  This info (or lack of
info) is usually in the "Control Panel".

        b.  Look at the website of the manufacturer.  They might tell you
there, under the laptop specifications.

        You can try the sndconfig command (I think this works in RH).
Here are a few more hints:

        Take a look at dmesg after the machine boots.  Look for anything
having to do with sound.  Mine says:

es1371: found chip, vendor id 0x1274 device id 0x5880 revision 0x02
es1371: found es1371 rev 2 at io 0xa400 irq 9
es1371: features: joystick 0x0
ac97_codec: AC97 Audio codec, id: <83><84>v9(SigmaTel STAC9721/23)

Also, you can look in /proc/pci for something like Multimedia audio
controller.

ls -l /dev | grep audio  will show you possible raw names for audio
devices.  These are generic names that LINUX uses to access the real audio
devices.

Try booting KNOPPIX (a CD-runnable LINUX) on your laptop.  Knoppix is
pretty good at sniffing out hardware.  If it finds your audio chipset,
make a note of what Knoppix says and somehow convince RedHat to use this
same driver.


                                        Hope this helps,

                                        T W


>
> Lb
>
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Disclaimer: All opinions expressed here are my own and not those of WSU.

EMAIL address:  wallis@xxxxxxxxxxx





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