no sound on acer aspire 1640

[El Fluffo]

I'm running Mandriva 2006 on an acer aspire 1640 laptop and have no sound.
lspci gives
00:1b.0 Class 0403: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)

But the specs say it's got a realtek audio thing. I'm clueless as to what to do and have tried so many 'solutions' on google that I ended up being an unwitting member of the linux ham radio community for a while! But without sound, obviously! :o

Anyone know what to do?

[El Fluffo]

oh...and lsmod gives
snd_seq_dummy 2532 0
snd_seq_oss 31136 0
snd_seq_midi_event 5696 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 46960 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 6828 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss 48960 0
snd_mixer_oss 16896 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_hda_intel 13280 3
snd_hda_codec 82688 1 snd_hda_intel
snd_pcm 79784 4 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_timer 20548 3 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 8392 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd 46116 13 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd _mixer_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm,snd _timer
soundcore 7008 1 snd

[El Fluffo]

anybody out there???

[je_fro]

have you tried to unmute your speakers with "alsamixer" in a terminal?
that's part of alsa-utils, and pretty much required....
m to unmute, Esc to exit.

[El Fluffo]

at last...a response! Thanx but that was the first thing I did. Please keep the ideas coming!

[je_fro]

If alsamixer worked, you should have sound. Sorry, but we need lots more info...what you're using to try and get sound, details of what you've done, output from those operations, etc....

[El Fluffo]

thanx for your answer.
I first installed and checked alsa-utils and checked to make sure that the speakers weren't muted by using alsamixer. I downloaded the linux drivers from realtek, but still no luck.

Then I went through the troubleshooting routine on mcc.
lspcidrake -v | fgrep Audio returns
snd-hda-intel : Intel Corp.|I/O Controller Hub Audio (vendor:8086 device:2668 subv:1025 subd:008f)

/sbin/lsmod returns
snd_seq_dummy 2532 0
snd_seq_oss 31136 0
snd_seq_midi_event 5696 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 46960 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 6828 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss 48960 0
snd_mixer_oss 16896 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_hda_intel 13280 3
snd_hda_codec 82688 1 snd_hda_intel
snd_pcm 79784 4 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_timer 20548 3 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 8392 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd 46116 13 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd _mixer_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm,snd _timer
soundcore 7008 1 snd

/sbin/chkconfig --list sound returns
sound 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off

/sbin/chkconfig --list alsa returns
alsa 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off

aumix -q returns
vol 80, 80
speaker 100, 100
line 80, 80, P
mic 0, 0, R
cd 80, 80, P
pcm2 80, 80
igain 80, 80

but /sbin/fuser -v /dev/dsp returns nothing and I couldn't do "grep sound-slot /etc/modules.conf" as I couldn't locate a modules.conf file.

I'm using the snd-hda-intel ALSA driver (well, it's selected - I'm hardly 'using' it) and have tried others including OSS ones. Still no luck. Googling has so far returned a load of people who have had trouble with audio on the aspire 1640, but no solutions for Mandriva. I've got sound on the Backtrack live CD but none on anonym.os or Auditor. I'll be trying more later - I'll let you know the results.

Thanx for your help

[whk]

check out here (http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/dlac97-2.aspx?lineid=5&famid=12&series=8&Software=True) .
You may need a Realtek driver in addition to the ALSA
read inst. on modules.conf.

Also, double check on permissions here (http://home.earthlink.net/~maddocksfamily/data/Installing%20ALSA%20from%20scratch.pdf) .
hope this helps and
good luck

BTW, there's a RTL8139 driver here (http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloads1-3.aspx?lineid=1&famid=3&series=16&Software=True)
for anyone else who needs it.

[je_fro]

http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/index.php?vendor=vendor-Intel#matrix

Try "modprobe intel8x0" and see if you get sound....

[El Fluffo]

>> Try "modprobe intel8x0" and see if you get sound....

did modprobe snd-intel8x0 and selected it under the sound driver section in mcc.
One thing I forgot to mention is that I get error messages with all but the snd-hda-intel, as if the system were recognising it, but I'm still without sound.

whk --- just about to try your suggestions...........back soon

[El Fluffo]

I'd already downloaded and installed the realtek driver but, even so, went ahead and downloaded it again and installed it. Still didn't work but now I think I've gone and done something I shouldn't and am getting

modprobe snd-intel8x0
WARNING: Could not open '/lib/modules/2.6.12-12mdk/kernel/sound/pci/ac97/snd-ac97-codec.ko.gz': No such file or directory
FATAL: Could not open '/lib/modules/2.6.12-12mdk/kernel/sound/pci/snd-intel8x0.ko.gz': No such file or directory


errrr.......oops! It's a bit late over here! :o

I installed modinfo as I was missing a /etc/modules.conf file. What am I supposed to put in it? I've seen a good half dozen suggestions on google in the last half hour alone but don't know which one to choose.

I'm gonna call it a night ........ thanx for all the help. Keep it coming!

[El Fluffo]

sod it..........I've really buggered this up! now I'm being told that I have no soundcards, and that it can't find snd-hda-intel or snd-intel8x0!!!
Anyone know of a distro that works with the Aspire 1640?

[je_fro]

It doesn't matter which distro you use, only the kernel version. Find a distro that has the latest 2.6 kernel (2.6.16 would be nice) and install that. Also make sure "Plug and Play OS" is disabled in BIOS.

[El Fluffo]

actually, I'm too stubborn. I'm gonna get sound on this thing if it kills me!
Keep the ideas coming please!

[El Fluffo]

ok ... I gave up! Did a network install of Suse 10.1 and it's working fine. I do prefer urpmi to yast, but what the heck!
Thanx for all your help