Intermittent sound problem !

[ke4nu]

Hi and tia for reading this. I have a Gateway mx7118 laptop with conexant ac audio sound. I installed mint 7 with it the existing version of windoz and everthing seemed to go fine. I had sound after installing it. After rebooting no sound. The next time I had sound again and so on and so forth. Windoz sound works all the time so I'd say its not hardware problem. I tried different settings using control center sounds and it didn't change. So now comes question! What do I try next? any ideas? Alan
ps. I had the same problem in mint 6, just was hoping it would be corrected in 7

[Husse]

You have to tell us more facts.
The minimum is exactly which Mint you have - which version and which edition (main or any of the CEs)
We also need to know a bit about all your hardware.
Run " lspci " in a terminal and post here (to avoid misunderstanding - the first character is a minor L and you copy by marking with the mouse and then right click)
Some wifi and possibly built in sound can be connected to USB even if they are internal - if you suspect you have one of these run " lsusb " in a terminal.
Also tell us if this is using mint4win or not, quite important
This is a standard answer so it may not be fully applicable to your situation
It'll take a week before I can look at this again.... (vacation)

[ke4nu]

Ok, tns for reading...I'm running main edition Mint 7. Here is the info you requested, I don't know much about linux o/s other than I think its a great o/s, its just when things don't work correctly I"m kinda lost. I've worked with Windows for years and understand it pretty well...thanks for any help on this issue..Alan
00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host Bridge (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 11)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 IDE Controller
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge
00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:14.6 Modem: ATI Technologies Inc SB400 AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon XPRESS 200M 5955 (PCIE)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (rev 10)
08:05.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB1410 Cardbus Controller (rev 01)
08:07.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
08:0e.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6306 Fire II IEEE 1394 OHCI Link Layer Controller (rev 80)

[Husse]

Ah - its AC'97 Audio
The only thing I can pull out of my sleeve quickly is that the modem must be turned on and working
I'm gone for a week now (vacation)

[ke4nu]

yes modem turned on...thanks, Alan

[Husse]

You have sound and after the next reboot you don't and the after the next reboot you have and so on
Is that how it is?
Must say I have not heard of it but I'm not surprised if it happens
Does this happen
only if you boot into Windows in between?
only if you just use Mint?
or in both cases?
Windows can mess with hardware - change settings in firmware that Linux is unaware of
At worst it is some register that is reset at some time during boot

[ke4nu]

I booted into mint one time after another without sound sucess. Then about the time I'm ready to throw it across the room it will work. Last week it worked several times in a row and I thought it had finally fixed itself but now it's not working at all after several attempts...I just don't know what to try next...thanks for any input...Alan

[Husse]

Windows can be the villain - it can reset firmware in a way Linux cannot handle
Is there a pattern in this respect?
Does it disappear or appear after you have booted into Windows?
The sound and modem are "Win sound" and "Win modem" - crappy hardware that needs support from software to work - particularly Windows .... They are known to be reset by Windows so that the only way to get sound is to first boot into Windows and then reboot into Linux
As soon as the computer is turned off this has to be repeated - and the opposite can be true for some hardware

[ke4nu]

Thanks for your help..I'll try that and see if it works then...I wonder how an outboard usb audio card would work any suggestions? Alan

[Husse]

USB audio can be just fine - mine does not work due to some glitch in my motherboard I think