Very new to Linux, Soundcard issue

[jokersmild]

I have had my Thinkpad 600e for a few years now and decided that I'd like to try out Mandrake 10.0 on it. Unfortunately I have not been able to get the sound to work on it. I have searched all of the postings that have the same issue that I have and have tried to use the solutions that are posted there. I don't know enough about comands in linux to understand what they want me to do. I have also visited the ALSA project and have downloaded the latest version, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to install the thing. I went through and read all of the documentation that came with the package and I futzed with it for a few hours, but all I can get it to do is run a config script and then I'm stuck.
Anybody out there feel like breaking this down for me so that I can finally get some sound on my machine?

[hard candy]

First we need to know what sound chip the computer uses. This should be available in the system info center in Mandrake Center. Or in a console you can use "mandrakelspci", or "mandrakepci" or something like that. Other distros use "lspci" but Mandrake put their name somewhere in the title.
Then use "modprobe -l | more" to show all your modules avaialble. Look in the sound section and see if the module for your particular sound chip is listed. The Alsa site will show you the name of the module for your sound chip.
Then you can "modprobe themodulename" to load it.
If it is not available you will need to add/download it. It may be present as a rpm on the install disk or you may need to use the Mandrake Control Center to download the rpm/module.
But the first step is to identify the sound chip. And then we can find what module it needs.

[Uranus]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if you out-of-the-box kernel already supplies everything you need. Like hard candy said, find out what kind of soundcard you have. If I want to know what the name is of a module - I generally look up the thing in 'make menuconfig' and go to Help. Mostly it lists the thing there. Then you find out what the modules you have are, and modprobe the ones you need (you need the one for your soundcard and the following:)
<*> Sound card support
<*> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
<*> Sequencer support
<*> OSS Mixer API
<*> OSS PCM (digital audio) API
OSS Sequencer API
I always compile them into the kernel, but if they're compiled as modules just look them up in 'make menuconfig' like I said. After you've loaded all of the modules you need, just run 'alsamixer', if it doesn't exist make sure to install 'alsa-tools' and 'alsa-utils'. When in alsamixer turn up all the levels with the arrows and unmute with M. Esc to get out of the program, run 'alsactl store' (all as root), and test the sound with 'cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp'. Press Ctrl C as soon as you've heard enough.
There's a sound "how-to" on my site (see signature), generally about my laptop - but might be usable for yours (partly).
HTH
Sam

[Rinias]

Damn... Search (http://www.google.com/linux?hl=en&lr=&q=linux+on+a+thinkpad+600e&btnG=Google+Search) took 0.37 seconds... :D

Try THIS (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/answers.php?action=viewarticle&artid=120)

[acid45]

Well yeah of course percise computing took less than a second. How long did it take you to find the post, sometimes it takes me an hour to scour every google page, sometimes 15 minutes, the little snipets add some searching power :D

[jokersmild]

So I looked at the page that Rinias suggested and it looks like it should solve my issue. Unfortunately I can't get any of the things on that page to do anything for me.

I tried loading the modules manually by going to the terminal and typing

"modprobe isa-pnp"
but it tells me that is a bad command or doesn't exst. I don't get it?

Do I have to run it as root or something? Could somebody read the article and digest it a little for me?

[Rinias]

Hey- sorry if I was a little brash. Searching is really important, but I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable because you didn't do it.

I gave you the actual Google search page also so that you could see the words I used.

I noticed you're a beginner, so the document really might not be too clear for you (or I suspect you're just starting out, I don't know it... :D)

You're really gonna need to read up on "Recompiling a kernel". There are a thousand guides for it, and depending on your kernel, you need to search for "Recompile kernel 2.4" or "Recompile kernel 2.6"

In the shell (konsole) you type uname -r to find out what kernel number you are using (unless you already know). Mandrake 10 will most likely be 2.6

The command _must_ be run as root (the modprobe, that is), so try that first. And be ready and open to LEARN! :D

Good luck and repost if necessary!

[jokersmild]

OK, I've logged in as root and tried the directions on the "modprobe" thing.
When I type "modprobe isa-pnp" it says that "module isa-pnp not found"

[Rinias]

Now it's time to do the recompile kernel search

Do your uname -r first, look at the number, and search away!

There is _a lot_ of help for recompiling the kernel

If you want, check out JohnT's signature (serach JL for JohnT)

Good luck!

[jokersmild]

OK, I've read the files in the library about installing a new kernel, but this means bulltoot to me.

Specific questions that I have:

Where can I find a list and explanation of commands that can be used in the terminal? I found one, but all it did was give a list of the commands and no explanation. The first step that was on the faq was to download the patch and copy it to my usr/src directory. So I logged into the terminal as root, but I can't seem to find the copy command and it won't let me do it through Konqueror.

I know what kernel I'm on, its 2.6.3-7mdk. I've read the kernel compiling directions, but they are all for doing it under red hat.

Does anybody out there actually use mandrake? I've noticed that there are a ton of post that have the exact same problem that I have, but there is no reply saying "thanks, now I can hear stuff."

[hard candy]

First, have you tried Mandrake's Drakecontrol center to confiogure your sound?

[jokersmild]

Yes I have tried the Drakecontrol. but it still gives me no joy. I let it pick the module and nothing, although it doesn't give me the "failed" when booting in verbose mode. If I pick the module that is maid for the sound card, it gives me a "failed" when booting and no sound.

What I have tried

1. I downloaded the new version of ALSA
I ran ./configure (this makes it do a bunch of stuff)
Then I run "make" but it gives me some error about leaving the folder that it is in?
That is as far as I've gotten with ALSA.
2. I tried to recompile the kernel.
I did ./configure and it did what it does.
Then I did "make" and it did a whole bunch of stuff and then hung up on "fi". Hell if I know.

[hard candy]

Forget about the kernel compile right now and trying to build alsa. Wait until you get some things running and then go for the education. :)

From an entry on http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/ibm.html :

"I used the cs4232 driver per the IBM webpage, I have not had any problems with it after suspend or hibernate (see more on these later). Here is the sound portion of my /etc/modules.conf:

alias sound-slot-0 cs4232
post-install sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -L >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
pre-remove sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minim al -f /etc/.aumixrc -S >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
options sound dmabuf=1
alias synth0 opl3
options opl3 io=0x388
options cs4232 io=0x530 irq=5 dma=1 dma2=0 mpuio=0x330 mpuirq=9

Once my system boots up, I get garbled sound (this is with the RedHat 2.4.18 kernel). So I added these lines to my /etc/rc.d/rc.local:
rmmod cs4232
modprobe cs4232

Everything with sound (including recording from the internal microphone) works fine. " This was with Redhat 7.3 and a 2.4 kernel. You might try this same technique. There are some more entries with the thinkpad 600e and 600 on that site.
And on the site I quoted from, http://www.geocities.com/netmasta10bt/tp600e.html
, there are some other tidbits.

[jokersmild]

Thanks Hard Candy,

Unfortunately the page that you linked to had only one listing for my model and distro.

The link for the other page was bad.

I will continue looking for info. I know that there must be somebody out there with a 600E that has working sound under Mandrake 10.

Thanks