No Sound on Toshiba S3154 after update

PastorRonP53 · Post by **PastorRonP53** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:19 pm

Good evening, everyone:

This is my first post, and my question may have already been answered somewhere else. There's so many forums to choose from, it's difficult to know where to post.

I have installed Linux Mint 2.2-KDE (the CD version) on my daughter's Toshiba Satellite M115-S3154 laptop. Everything works from sound to wireless. Great job! At first I was shocked by the limited software and package manager, but after lots of reading, it's becoming more apparent why this version is set up the way it is.

The sound card in my daughter's laptop is the Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02). Sound worked perfectly before I did the ol' upgrade shortly after the install. After that, no more sound. Having spent the last several days trying to get sound working in my favorite distro, I thought I would give this one a try; I'm basically pleased.

Rather than wading through hours of posts and reading, I opted to reinstall, which is really no big deal. It only took a short while, and yielded sound again. Installing SuperKaramba and OOo from the repos didn't happen, as Synaptic refused. A quick trip to the OOo site for a download, using apt-get to install alien, and then the rpms took longer than the whole system install.

Is there a common fix for the sound problem? Are there others with this same problem. I don't have her computer in front of me now, so I can't answer a lot of questions until tomorrow. Do you think I just shouldn't upgrade ALSA? Thanks.

Pastor Ron

blogger · Post by **blogger** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 6:14 am

Welcome to the Minties' group, pastor Ron,
I am not a Linux guru, but I would suggest that you try booting into the older kernel 2.6.20-15.
The first automatic update installs the new kernel also (2.6.20-16), which is known to have some problems with sound card drivers and other issues.

If at boot up you have both kernels, then the above applies to your sound card problem, in my opinion.

Greetings,
Blogger

PastorRonP53 · Post by **PastorRonP53** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 8:51 am

Thanks for the welcome and information, blogger. What you suggest sounds reasonable. I was unaware you could choose which kernel to use (didn't look closely when rebooting) after the update.

My daughter has basic needs for her computer. She's taking on-line classes, so the net is essential, and Bianca took care of that right away. She likes what she refers to as music, and that's taken care of. She also enjoys watching DVDs, but I haven't attempted to install any codecs. That's usually an easy fix.

If my reading is correct, I would like to thank Clem for this wonderful distribution.

Pastor Ron

blogger · Post by **blogger** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 10:44 am

Glad to have helped, Pastor Ron.
There are two kernels in Mint Bianca KDE: 2.6.17-10 and 2.6.17-11.
The ones I mentioned before are used in Cassandra, Mint 3.0 (GNOME version).
Sorry but I had Cassandra in mind, since that's what I'm running at this moment.
The Cassandra kernels are 2.6.20-15 and 2.6.20-16..
In any case, one can remove the 'annoying' kernel with the Synaptic Package Manager. Note: the system always boots into the newer kernel by default.

In either case, the newer kernel has been found to have some issues with sound card drivers and maybe with Video cards.
The problem does not appear to affect most older- type computers.

As for Multimedia codecs, they are installed by default in Bianca KDE (DVD version).
It appears that you have the Bianca KDE light Edition. So in that case you can
add the codecs from the Mint Software Portal: http://www.linuxmint.com/software/?sec=item&id=50

Good luck,
Blogger

PastorRonP53 · Post by **PastorRonP53** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 10:06 pm

How does the software portal work? I tried downloading what you suggested, but nothing seems to happen.

BTW, after the second install and with the information you provided in hand, I proceeded to take care of the updates through Adept. I did not allow the new kernel to install. After a reboot, sound is still working, and that's very good. My daughter is happy.

Pastor Ron

blogger · Post by **blogger** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 5:56 am

Hello Pastor Ron,
This particular Portal program, seems to be slow-acting. ( Must report this to the developer ). But I tried it and it works.
You just have to wait a little longer in this case.
Here is the procedure:
1) Click on 'Download Now'
2) You get the Firefox popup window: What should Firefox do with this file?. Select 'Open with mintstall' , then you are asked to enter your password.
3) Another popup window (mintistall) appears) You may have to wait for a few seconds for it. Click on 'Install' or 'Upgrade'.
You may click the 'Details' and 'Progress' arrows to see the progress of the download and installation processes.
Note: here is the part that seems to be very slow, and in the case of this package (162 MB), it may take some time.

In general, most Portal packages are downloaded faster, depending on their size.

Good luck,
Respectfully,
Blogger

PastorRonP53 · Post by **PastorRonP53** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 8:11 am

Thanks, Blogger. I'll try that out the next time I get my hands on that computer. This seems to be easier than using Synaptic/apt-get because it's pretty much done for you. I've been with Linux long enough to know how to grab the codecs and other things, but this seems like it's a snap.

Pastor Ron

PastorRonP53 · Post by **PastorRonP53** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 8:13 pm

Blogger, that didn't work. Firefox didn't offer the choice you mentioned. It's not a really big thing, though, because I've already used Synaptic to install what was needed, anyway.

Pastor Ron