Hardware Talk :: How to detect onboard (asus board) sound?



I recently got a second-hand asus motherboard with an athlon XP 2000+ processor and 1gb ram attached.  It has an onboard sound card that DSL doesn't recognize. I tried adding the soundblaster pci card I had previously used, which DSL detects, but the system freezes whenever audio is required, so I pulled the soundblaster out.  I assume there is a conflict between the two cards. I can't find anything in the bios to disable the onboard audio as I did on my previous board.

Is there an app I can install in DSL that will let me discover what the onboard sound is so maybe I can load the appropriate driver?  I didn't get any manual with the board of course, so I don't know anything about it other than the brand.  I don't see anything in sysstats.lua that gives me a clue, but I'm guessing it may be via?

Thanks for any help.
Quote (mikshaw @ May 24 2008,21:37)
I recently got a second-hand asus motherboard with an athlon XP 2000+ processor and 1gb ram attached.  It has an onboard sound card that DSL doesn't recognize. I tried adding the soundblaster pci card I had previously used, which DSL detects, but the system freezes whenever audio is required, so I pulled the soundblaster out.  I assume there is a conflict between the two cards. I can't find anything in the bios to disable the onboard audio as I did on my previous board.

Is there an app I can install in DSL that will let me discover what the onboard sound is so maybe I can load the appropriate driver?  I didn't get any manual with the board of course, so I don't know anything about it other than the brand.  I don't see anything in sysstats.lua that gives me a clue, but I'm guessing it may be via?

Thanks for any help.

Wouldn't that require a bit of a catch 22?

Anyway, I assume you already tried google and the motherboard model number right? Can you find a model number, so I can give it a shot.

Edit: If no model number, is the south or north bridge uncovered on the board? Can you remove the bridge heatsink to see, if it is covered? Or what does sysstats say for the bridge?
I'm surprised a motherboard this new still has an ISA sound chip..
Looking at the board now, it's Asus A7V333, which apparently uses (according to a quick google) VIA 8233A sound (AC97?)
EDIT: another search came up with this:
C-Media 8738 6-channel PCI audio controller

Maybe I should update the BIOS in hopes of having the ability to disable this controller?

In any case, DSL forums may already have an answer here, now that I have a better idea of what to search for (didn't find much just searching for asus and sound).
Code Sample
dsl@bungle:~$ dmesg|grep 8233
<6>VP_IDE: VIA vt8233a (rev 00) IDE UDMA133 controller on pci00:11.1
dsl@bungle:~$ dmesg|grep 00:11.1
<4>PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:11.1
<6>VP_IDE: IDE controller at PCI slot 00:11.1
<4>PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:11.1
<6>VP_IDE: VIA vt8233a (rev 00) IDE UDMA133 controller on pci00:11.1
dsl@bungle:~$

I have no idea if this is the audio, but it's the nearest I've come so far to finding anything with dmesg. Also no idea what that "interrupt pin A" message means.

Code Sample
dsl@bungle:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8366/A/7 [Apollo KT266/A/333]
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8366/A/7 [Apollo KT266/A/333 AGP]
00:09.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 50)
00:09.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 50)
00:09.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 51)
00:0e.0 Communication controller: Agere Systems LT WinModem (rev 02)
00:0f.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233A ISA Bridge
00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:11.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 23)
00:11.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 23)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV25 [GeForce4 Ti 4400] (rev a3)
dsl@bungle:~$

On an unrelated note, the lucent winmodem I had been using on the other board wouldn't work on this board, so I swapped it for an older(?) model.
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