Linux Mint Forums

Posted: **Fri Jan 23, 2009 7:56 am**

Welcome All,

First I would like to say how impressed I am with Linux Mint. I have never seen a Linux so user friendly before. I installed it on 3 computers (2 desktops and 1 laptop) and everything works out of the box. Even Radeon graphics and Intel graphics magically works after first boot. My GeForce card required a driver install, but Mint helped with it - now it is so easy, that even a small child could do it.

I do have one problem with sound however on one of the desktops.
I noticed lots of posts with sound problems, but they didn't help me, so I decided to start a new topic.

This is my situation:

Software: Linux Mint 6 32-bit with all updates (together with Windows XP - dual boot)

Hardware:
Integrated C-Media sound chip - which became damaged long time ago, it gets detected even if I disable it in BIOS. In win xp I had to disable this device
SB Live 5.1 - my second sound card, which I currently use

After installing Mint I had the following symptoms:
Linux itself did not produce sound.
No programs, games, music players, video players produced any sound.

Now the weird thing: Only one application produced sound out of the box: Rhythmbox

I have spent hours trying to configure the sound correctly. In control panel these are the options I can choose:

After trial an error I noticed that only one option produces a Test sound. I hold mouse over this option in the image above.

This is my current configuration:

With this configuration it was possible to hear a bit more sound, but it gets even more weird.
Now I managed to get Audacious to produce sound.

Audacious works only if:
Current Output Plugin: ALSA Output Plugin
Audio Device: hw:1,0
Mixer Card: SB Live 5.1 Dell OEM

So far so good. Maybe MPlayer will also work with the same settings. But no... it does not.
It does however work with other settings:
Audio Driver: OSS
Device: /dev/dsp1
Mixer: /dev/mixer
Mixer Channel: vol

Other applictions still do not work and they usually do not have sound configuration as extensive as MPlayer or Audacious, so I don't know what to do with them.
The weirdest thing of all for me is that with this configuration I can run Multiple MPlayers together with Audacious and all play sound correctly. I thought if something is using OSS, then nothing else can use the sound.

I would be very grateful if someone could explain the strange Linux behaviour and maybe post a possible solution if you have one.

Posted: **Sun Jan 25, 2009 2:25 pm**

Let's see if we can get rid of that Cmedia card
Run lsmod in a terminal and post it here (right click to copy)
If we can identify a module specifically for cmedia we can blacklist it. I don't know if it solves anything, but it will certainly help

Posted: **Sun Jan 25, 2009 8:34 pm**

Code: Select all

Module                  Size  Used by
af_packet              25728  2 
binfmt_misc            16904  1 
bridge                 56980  0 
stp                    10628  1 bridge
rfcomm                 44432  0 
bnep                   20480  2 
sco                    18308  2 
l2cap                  30464  6 rfcomm,bnep
bluetooth              61924  6 rfcomm,bnep,sco,l2cap
ppdev                  15620  0 
cpufreq_powersave       9856  0 
cpufreq_stats          13188  0 
cpufreq_userspace      11396  0 
cpufreq_conservative    14600  0 
cpufreq_ondemand       14988  0 
freq_table             12672  2 cpufreq_stats,cpufreq_ondemand
sbs                    19464  0 
pci_slot               12552  0 
sbshc                  13440  1 sbs
wmi                    14504  0 
video                  25104  0 
output                 11008  1 video
container              11520  0 
battery                18436  0 
iptable_filter         10752  0 
ip_tables              19600  1 iptable_filter
x_tables               22916  1 ip_tables
ac                     12292  0 
lp                     17156  0 
joydev                 18368  0 
evdev                  17696  11 
snd_emu10k1_synth      14464  0 
snd_emux_synth         41344  1 snd_emu10k1_synth
snd_seq_virmidi        13568  1 snd_emux_synth
snd_seq_midi_emul      14592  1 snd_emux_synth
snd_cmipci             42400  3 
snd_opl3_lib           18560  1 snd_cmipci
snd_emu10k1           146208  3 snd_emu10k1_synth
snd_mpu401_uart        15360  1 snd_cmipci
snd_ac97_codec        111652  1 snd_emu10k1
snd_seq_dummy          10884  0 
serio_raw              13444  0 
ac97_bus                9856  1 snd_ac97_codec
psmouse                45200  0 
snd_pcm_oss            46848  0 
snd_mixer_oss          22784  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                83204  4 snd_cmipci,snd_emu10k1,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_page_alloc         16136  2 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
snd_util_mem           12416  2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1
snd_hwdep              15236  3 snd_emux_synth,snd_opl3_lib,snd_emu10k1
snd_seq_oss            38528  0 
parport_pc             39204  1 
parport                42604  3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
snd_seq_midi           14336  0 
snd_rawmidi            29824  4 snd_seq_virmidi,snd_emu10k1,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_seq_midi
nvidia               6909268  36 
snd_seq_midi_event     15232  3 snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
i2c_viapro             15764  0 
snd_seq                57776  9 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
pcspkr                 10624  0 
i2c_core               31892  2 nvidia,i2c_viapro
via_ircc               32020  0 
snd_timer              29960  4 snd_opl3_lib,snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device         15116  9 snd_emu10k1_synth,snd_emux_synth,snd_opl3_lib,snd_emu10k1,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd                    63268  26 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_cmipci,snd_opl3_lib,snd_emu10k1,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_hwdep,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
button                 14224  0 
emu10k1_gp             10880  0 
irda                  199612  1 via_ircc
via_agp                16256  1 
crc_ccitt              10112  1 irda
gameport               19468  3 snd_cmipci,emu10k1_gp
soundcore              15328  1 snd
agpgart                42184  2 nvidia,via_agp
shpchp                 37908  0 
pci_hotplug            35236  1 shpchp
ext3                  133384  1 
jbd                    55444  1 ext3
mbcache                16004  1 ext3
sr_mod                 22212  0 
cdrom                  43168  1 sr_mod
sd_mod                 42264  3 
crc_t10dif              9984  1 sd_mod
sg                     39732  0 
usbhid                 35840  0 
hid                    50560  1 usbhid
pata_via               16132  2 
pata_acpi              12160  0 
ata_generic            12932  0 
libata                177312  3 pata_via,pata_acpi,ata_generic
via_rhine              30216  0 
mii                    13440  1 via_rhine
uhci_hcd               30736  0 
ehci_hcd               43276  0 
scsi_mod              155212  4 sr_mod,sd_mod,sg,libata
dock                   16656  1 libata
usbcore               148848  4 usbhid,uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd
r8169                  35972  0 
thermal                23708  0 
processor              42156  2 thermal
fan                    12548  0 
fbcon                  47648  0 
tileblit               10880  1 fbcon
font                   16512  1 fbcon
bitblit                13824  1 fbcon
softcursor              9984  1 bitblit
fuse                   60828  3

Thanks for your help. I cannot locate the module, which is responsible for cmedia, but maybe you can spot it.

Posted: **Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:28 am**

snd_ac97_codec
that's a module that is exclusively used by the Cmedia card - it is AC97
You could try to blacklist it
As you can see it's used by snd_emu10k1 which is used by snd_emu10k1_synth - modules I also recognise as AC97
Try this and see if it makes any difference

Code: Select all

echo "blacklist snd_ac97_codec | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

If it's a sound disaster you can edit the blacklist file and remove or better comment out the line
If it gets better

Code: Select all

gksu gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

and add the two other modules
I can't experiment with this as I don't have any AC97 sound

Posted: **Tue Jan 27, 2009 9:51 am**

I blacklisted snd_ac97_codec, but the module was loaded anyway after restart and nothing changed.
After that I also blacklisted snd_emu10k1 and snd_emu10k1_synth. After reboot none of these modules were loaded, but it just got worse.
All c-media options in control panel were still there. On the other hand sound blaster options were gone except one (SB Alsa [not connected]). After that it was impossible to produce any sound.

Posted: **Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:13 am**

Hmm... Have you tried reflashing your BIOS? That issue with C-Media being impossible to be disabled seems more like a BIOS problem than anything else.

Posted: **Tue Jan 27, 2009 11:46 am**

I have been using this bios for about 3 years and everything was ok. Suddenly under xp I started to have random crashes, sometimes after 15 s and sometimes after 15 min. After long analysis I discovered it was that c-media card. After turning it off everything was ok again. That c-media was working ok for quite a long time with the bios I have and the drivers I have.

Anyway leaving alone this c-media. Why Mint cannot use my Sound Blaster as default? In control panel I choose SB and I test it with the test button. And it works. The only problem is that Mint and majority of programs choose not to use it as default.

Posted: **Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:36 pm**

OK, I've re-read your problem all over again and I think you blacklisted the wrong module. You should have blacklisted snd_cmipci instead of snd_ac97_codec.

I have SB Live 5.1 DE on one of my computers (on-board sound is disabled in BIOS and never gets detected by Mint) and I see snd_ac97_codec loaded there as well. And based on this page, we can see that snd_cmipci is the module needed by your CMI8738 (Model 55) card. Further, as per information on another page, we now know that you should also remove snd_emu10k1 and snd_emu10k1_synth from your /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.

Posted: **Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:18 pm**

SOLVED

Solution:
Add the following line to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist :

Code: Select all

blacklist snd_cmipci

This disabled the c-media module. After reboot everything magically works. I finally have sound in every application and can also hear Mint sounds, like the login sound, etc. C-media entries in control panel are gone; only Sound Blaster entries remain.

I would like to thank everyone who tried to help me.
Special thanks to you garda for posting the correct solution.

Posted: **Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:53 pm**

Great!

It was Husse who pointed you in the right direction and he would have come up with the same clue himself--I only did it earlier.

Linux Mint Forums

[SOLVED] Corrupt C-Media together with Sound Blaster

[SOLVED] Corrupt C-Media together with Sound Blaster

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Re: Corrupt C-Media together with Sound Blaster

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Re: Corrupt C-Media together with Sound Blaster

Re: Corrupt C-Media together with Sound Blaster

Re: Corrupt C-Media together with Sound Blaster

Re: Corrupt C-Media together with Sound Blaster

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Re: Corrupt C-Media together with Sound Blaster