Alsa boot option doesn't work

Forum: Multimedia
Topic: Alsa boot option doesn't work
started by: Juanito

Posted by Juanito on Jan. 27 2007,10:56

Now I've got my frugal hd installation up and running, I tried the alsa boot option.

The sound card is a Soundblaster 128 [Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1370 [AudioPCI] (rev 01)]

During boot, I get a message that alsa is autoconfiguring my sound card - after startup, I found the modules were not loaded.

I tried the following:

~$ sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-autoconfig
Preparing modules for alsa...
Building card database..
Configuring ens1370...
Running update-modules...
Creating snddevices...
Setting default volumes...
aumix: MIXER_WRITE

But the modules were still not loaded. Finally I tried this and things worked:

~$ sudo rmmod audio
~$ sudo rmmod soundcore
~$ sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-autoconfig
Preparing modules for alsa...
Building card database..
Configuring ens1370...
Running update-modules...
Creating snddevices...
Setting default volumes...
dsl@box:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by Not tainted
snd-mixer-oss 11280 0 (autoclean)
snd-ens1370 7904 0 (autoclean)
gameport 1388 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370]
snd-pcm 57504 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370]
snd-timer 15044 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm]
snd-page-alloc 5584 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370 snd-pcm]
snd-rawmidi 12512 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370]
snd-seq-device 3716 0 (autoclean) [snd-rawmidi]
snd-ak4531-codec 5160 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370]
snd 29988 0 (autoclean) [snd-mixer-oss snd-ens1370 snd-pcm snd-timer snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device snd-ak4531-codec]
soundcore 3428 3 (autoclean) [snd]
smbfs 39408 1 (autoclean)

It appears the problem is that the alsa boot option stops the es1370 module being loaded but it is also required that the audio and soundcore modules should not be loaded?

Posted by roberts on Jan. 27 2007,14:59

The purpose of the alsa boot code is to call /etc/init.d/alsa-config
It does work on the half dozen cards that were tested.

But your's doesn't. Ok. A couple of things to try:

1. Try adding driver to boot option, e.g.,

alsa=es1370

2. Try booting with the nosound option, then after boot up

from a root shell or the equivalent /opt/bootlocal.sh

/etc/init.d/alsa-config

Let me know your results.

Posted by Juanito on Feb. 03 2007,10:12

I tried your suggestions:

1. Boot option "alsa" or "alsa=es1370"

In both cases, after boot the alsa modules had not loaded, but I could get them loaded as follows:

~$ lsmod
...
audio 42140 0
soundcore 3428 5 [audio]

~$ sudo rmmod audio
~$ sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-autoconfig
Preparing modules for alsa...
Building card database..
Configuring ens1370...
Running update-modules...
Creating snddevices...
Setting default volumes...
dsl@box:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by Not tainted
snd-mixer-oss 11280 0 (autoclean)
snd-ens1370 7904 0 (autoclean)
gameport 1388 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370]
snd-pcm 57504 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370]
snd-timer 15044 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm]
snd-page-alloc 5584 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370 snd-pcm]
snd-rawmidi 12512 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370]
snd-seq-device 3716 0 (autoclean) [snd-rawmidi]
snd-ak4531-codec 5160 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370]
snd 29988 0 (autoclean) [snd-mixer-oss snd-ens1370 snd-pcm snd-timer snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device snd-ak4531-codec]
...
soundcore 3428 3 [snd]

2. Boot option "nosound"

Strangely, this did not stop the sound modules loading, but I could get them loaded as follows:

~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by Not tainted
...
es1370 30348 0
audio 42140 0
soundcore 3428 9 [es1370 audio]

~$ sudo rmmod es1370
~$ sudo rmmod audio
~$ sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-autoconfig
Preparing modules for alsa...
Building card database..
Configuring ens1370...
Running update-modules...
Creating snddevices...
Setting default volumes...
dsl@box:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by Not tainted
snd-mixer-oss 11280 0 (autoclean)
snd-ens1370 7904 0 (autoclean)
snd-pcm 57504 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370]
snd-timer 15044 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm]
snd-page-alloc 5584 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370 snd-pcm]
snd-rawmidi 12512 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370]
snd-seq-device 3716 0 (autoclean) [snd-rawmidi]
snd-ak4531-codec 5160 0 (autoclean) [snd-ens1370]
snd 29988 0 (autoclean) [snd-mixer-oss snd-ens1370 snd-pcm snd-timer snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device snd-ak4531-codec]
soundcore 3428 3 [snd]

On my system at least, it would appear that the boot option "alsa" stops the es1370 module being loaded but it needs to stop the audio module being loaded in order for the autoconfig to work. In addition, it appears the boot option "nosound" does not have any effect.

Anyway, thanks for the help - at least I know how to get alsa working - which is good since the es1370 module does not produce any sound...

Posted by roberts on Feb. 03 2007,16:05

Perhaps, I just need to test for audio module being loaded and if so rmmod before I call /etc/init.d/alsa-config?

From your posts only the audio needed to be rmmod'ed?

I will try this in v3.3RC1 to try to improve the auto alsa setup.

Thanks for this feedback. I hope you will test your setup when v3.3RC1 becomes available for testing.