No sound output on VIA mini-itx board


Forum: Multimedia
Topic: No sound output on VIA mini-itx board
started by: doobit

Posted by doobit on Mar. 20 2006,21:57
I've been using DSL on a pendrive with this for a while. The onboard AC97 sound is recognized and the sound drivers load up. I see the visuals on xmms when I play a radio station. All the functions of dmix seem to be working. There just is no sound out of the audio line out port. Anyone else using a mini-itx board?

I also tried the alsadebs package and it also loaded up fine and appeared to be working, but no sound out. Is it possible I have a hardware problem?

Posted by humpty on Mar. 21 2006,01:12
this might 'sound' daft, but did you turn up the volumes?
Posted by doobit on Mar. 21 2006,01:32
Yes. First thing I thought of. When I lsmod after starting xmms I can see that the soundcore drivers are in use and the via82cxxx_audio driver is also in use. Dmix and xmms both show activity, stereo or mono, however the broadcast is being transmitted and the xmms visuals are animated, but nosound output.
Posted by doobit on Mar. 28 2006,17:39
I still have not solved this. Anyone else have a mini-itx with VIA ac97 sound?
Posted by doobit on Mar. 29 2006,16:17
Looks like it's probably a hardware problem, sorry to say. I wish I had a cheap way to get it fixed. I don't want to buy another motherboard right away.
Posted by fisher on Mar. 29 2006,19:09
I had to turn off external amplifier in alsamixer to get sound to work.  Hope this will help
Posted by doobit on Mar. 29 2006,21:03
By turn off, do you mean set to 0 ? I see on the alsa page the volume options, but I don't see an on/off option.
Posted by fisher on Mar. 29 2006,21:28
In alsamixer use the arrow keys to get to external amplifier and press the m key on your keyboard. The m key will toggle off and on for the amplifier.  Above the word external it will show MM in the boxed off area when it is off.  It will show  00 when external amp is on.
Posted by dtf on Mar. 29 2006,23:03
doobit - I also had some difficulty with sound with a via 5000 mini-itx board.  I could get some sound but it was weak and poor quality.  I assumed it was the hardware as this was the least expensive board sold.  My solution (not taking away from the previous suggestion) was to get an inexpensive sound card since I was not using the PCI slot for anything.  I believe you have to configure the bios to let it know you are not using on board sound.  Another solution that works if you don't mind headphones its to get a set that plugs into a usb port.
Posted by doobit on Mar. 30 2006,03:19
I tried playing with the alsamixer and aumix. I muted and unmuted the external amp, and messed with the volumes and muting of allthe other settings too. Still no sound out. Sound input seems to work, and xmms is obviously playing, but no sound out the out jack. I ordered one of those little USB sound cards to see if it will work. Thanks for your input! At least I learned a little more about alsa.
Posted by doobit on April 06 2006,18:54
I may have found the problem. There are some jumpers that need to be shorted unless they are connected to the front panel sound jacks. I don't have front panel jacks and there are no shorts for the jumpers. I don't have any spare jumpers here either, so I may have to rob my main computer to test this theory.
Posted by doobit on April 07 2006,22:58
Quote (doobit @ April 06 2006,14:54)
I may have found the problem. There are some jumpers that need to be shorted unless they are connected to the front panel sound jacks. I don't have front panel jacks and there are no shorts for the jumpers. I don't have any spare jumpers here either, so I may have to rob my main computer to test this theory.

Well, that was it. I could kick myself. I spent money on extra hardware that I don't need. The upside is that I discoverd that those little USB sound cards work pretty well with DSL.
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