dsl is great, but i have some problems

Forum: User Feedback
Topic: dsl is great, but i have some problems
started by: okango

Posted by okango on Aug. 26 2007,16:14

Hi, i have installed dsl 3 or 4 times, in change with ubuntu (x,flux,etc), but now i have again dsl v. 3.3 RC1, because its much faster on my old laptop than any other linux i tried.

My System is Compaq Armada 4210T, 233 MHz, 48 MB, 6 GB HD, with Win98 on 2GB Part. and dsl on the rest.

The system of dsl with unc and uci ist very fast and the windowmanagers fluxbox and jwm are great too.

But now i have some problems with the sound and the wlan.

My soundchip is an es1878, that should work with the sb-driver, but both threads, where the problem is described, couldn't help me.

I tried modprobe with some sb-options and i tried sndconfig with all available options and the default-values, what are the same as in windows. (in windows the sound is ok, so that i am shure, that it's not a hardwaredefekt).

With xmms (startet in a root-terminal) i always get the error-popup (with oss, esound and alsa)
"Couldn't open audio - Please check that 1. ...2. ...3. ..."

When the output-plugin is set to OSS the terminal says

"** Warning **: oss_open(): Failed to open audio device /dev/dsp: No such..."

lsmod says
sb 0 (unused)
sb_lib 0 sb
uart401 0 sb_lib
sound 0 sb_lib uart401
soundcore 4 (autoclean) sb_lib sound

dmesg says: SB 3.01 detected OK (220)
ESSchip ES1878 detected
sb: interrupt test on IRQ5 failed - propable IRQ conflict

cat /proc/interrupts says
5: 2 XT-PIC soundblaster
NMI: 0
LOC: 0
ERR: 5
MIS: 0

Please help me, i don't know, what i could try.

okango

PS: About the problem with wlan i will ask in Network

Posted by curaga on Aug. 26 2007,17:30

You have two irq's set as 5, when pc's can only usually have one device/irq. Check the BIOS what irq does the soundcard have there, and if it's 5 there too, check which are free and try to give them as irq= parameter when modprobing sb..

Posted by okango on Aug. 27 2007,10:59

Hi, the mistake was in the bios, there was the irq for the soundcard set to 10. After i had it set back to 5, i had no irq-conflikt.
Then i have made the /dev/sound new with MAKEDEV, because i had no /dev/dsp, only /dev/dsp0 to dsp5. Now i have dsp too, and not yet the Error "Failed to open audio device (/dev/dsp) ...".
But if i start xmms (from terminal), and click on play, then i can see, that the music is played, but i can't hear anything.
Whats that.
The output-plugin is oss.
okango

PS: If i set the volume to 100% i hear a whistle. Could that be a tip, that the output is set to the microphone?

Posted by lucky13 on Aug. 27 2007,14:06

You didn't say what you're trying to listen to with xmms. Are you not getting sound when playing CDs, MP3s, or streams?

Posted by okango on Aug. 27 2007,14:58

Oh, i tried mp3s and windows wavs, no cd, because my laptop has no cd-drive.
okango

Posted by jpeters on Aug. 28 2007,01:17

Quote (okango @ Aug. 27 2007,06:59)

PS: If i set the volume to 100% i hear a whistle. Could that be a tip, that the output is set to the microphone?

It does sounds like your speakers are acting like microphones, but you would have to be in record mode for that to happen, and your speakers would have to be plugged into the microphone jack (unless you have an internal microphone, in which case you're in record mode. Did you turn off the microphone in the mixer and make sure monitor is not in mute mode? ).

Posted by okango on Aug. 28 2007,10:41

Hi jpeters, i think, you are right.
When i have the mixer and go to microphone, then i can see, that "rec" is on, but i can't turn it off.
Mute is at every part off.
okango
PS: when i start xmms (by terminal), i get the following error:
libmikmod.so.2: cannot open shared object file: no such file or directory
What means that?

Posted by curaga on Aug. 28 2007,12:06

Try using umix instead of the graphical mixer..

Posted by okango on Aug. 28 2007,15:15

Hi, i tried umix, but found nothing where to put the microphone off, only to adjust, and adjusting can be done with dmix also.
But at dmix, when i go to microphone, then i see the yellow lamp at "rec" lighting. When i click it, nothing happens.
Must the "Record Mode" at initializing the driver be put off, or where or when can i do that?
thanks, okango

Posted by jpeters on Aug. 28 2007,16:03

Quote (okango @ Aug. 28 2007,06:41)

When i have the mixer and go to microphone, then i can see, that "rec" is on, but i can't turn it off.
Mute is at every part off.

PS: when i start xmms (by terminal), i get the following error:
libmikmod.so.2: cannot open shared object file: no such file or directory
What means that?

Neither of those conditions is related to the problem; I get the same xmms error and dmix record setting. I'd be curious what happens if you try running audacity.uci. If there is a conflict with your sound card, it will tell you when you attempt to load it.

Posted by okango on Aug. 28 2007,16:59

Hi, i've tried audacity, it loads an mp3 (the mp3 is ok, i tested it with windows on the same laptop), then i kan click it to play, and i see at the oszillator, that it is played, but i can hear nothing.
In the settings i see, that play and record are both to /dev/dsp.
okango

Posted by jpeters on Aug. 28 2007,17:52

Quote (okango @ Aug. 28 2007,12:59)

I'm assuming that there is no hardware issue, and that you get sound from your speaker/headphone with Win 98 loaded. I'd be surprised if audacity would work if there were any soundcard/driver conflicts.

Posted by curaga on Aug. 29 2007,15:19

Play around with the sound settings, there may still be something weird. "External" or "amplifier" need to be muted if you use normal speakers...

Posted by okango on Sep. 16 2007,19:35

Hi, i installed for a short time ubuntu, because i hoped, that i could get an answer about my problem in a german ubuntu-forum and much more people have ubuntu and could help me. In a forum i read an answer about this problem and then i could play midi files with playmidi.
Now i am back to dsl, because ubuntu is too slow for my old laptop, but i found not playmidi at mydsl.
Has anyone an idea, which program i need to play midi-files?
This is not the ultimate solution, because now i get the error:
"Sound: DMA (output) timed out - IRQ/DRQ config error"
when i try to play mp3 with xmms, and for that problem i have till now found no answer, too in the ubuntu forums.

The DMAs are "dma=1 dma16=5"

With cat /proc/dma i get
1. Soundblaster8
4. cascade

Dmesg says
SB 3.01 detected OK (220)
ESS chip ES1878 detected

Posted by Ploppy on Nov. 14 2007,19:38

I had 3 compaq armadas ,and on everyone the ess soundcard could only be run by typing "sudo modprobe sb io=0x220 irq=5 dma=1"
If some foreowner mixed up the irqs it often causes the described problems.To get into the bios you have to mess around with those
bios diskettes by compaq/hp.The often easier way is to remove the knob battery found under the keyboard , together with the accu and the power supply for a while.After repowering it, all irqs are set to default values, wich are mostly the best choice for the armada , the sound will allways be found at irq 5 ,windows will detect new values automatically.Not to forget :every Armada has a built in microphone ,
just set the volume to 0 to prevent feedback noise.