Arch Linux

iandrum

Member

Registered: 2007-06-26

Posts: 2

es18xx module

Hi,

I've just installed Arch on an old 300MHz computer, and I'm trying to get the onboard sound working.

Loading the module manually using "modprobe snd-es18xx isapnp=0"  seems to work, and I can play music through xmms and hear it.

However, I can't seem to get sound to work automatically when the computer boots up. Including the module in the MODULES line of rc.conf seems to load it with no problems, however sound doesn't work. In order to get sound I have to remove it and add it manually.

The rc.conf line looks like this:
MODULES=("snd-es18xx isapnp=0")

Although I have also tried removing the isapnp bit and putting that in modprobe.conf, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

lsmod | grep snd gives:

snd_es18xx             30000  0
snd_pcm                68484  1 snd_es18xx
snd_page_alloc          7816  1 snd_pcm
snd_opl3_lib            8832  1 snd_es18xx
snd_hwdep               7172  1 snd_opl3_lib
snd_mpu401_uart         7040  1 snd_es18xx
snd_rawmidi            19232  1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_oss            29056  0
snd_seq_midi_event      6528  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                46800  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              19076  3 snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib,snd_seq
snd_seq_device          6796  4 snd_opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd                    44388  10 snd_es18xx,snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib,snd_hwdep,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore               6496  1 snd

Any ideas?

Thanks

iandrum

Member

Registered: 2007-06-26

Posts: 2

Re: es18xx module

Well I've made a suitable hack by manually putting the modprobe line in rc.sysinit.

It now loads the module and works straight away on boot. However obviously this isn't the ideal solution, so if anything has any ideas which might help they're still greatly appreciated.

grzehot

Member

Registered: 2007-08-21

Posts: 2

Re: es18xx module

Hi iandrum,

I've got a similar problem with my onboard ESS-1879 Audiodrive (Compaq Armada 7800). While the command "modprobe snd-es18xx isapnp=0" does indeed work, it's still a manual solution.

What exactly did you include in rc.sysinit? I wish we were offered ANY help from other Arch-ers...

G.

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: es18xx module

Use /etc/modprobe.conf - it's there for exactly that purpose. There's a man page with all the details.

I wish we were offered ANY help from other Arch-ers...

That was your first post here, right?

grzehot

Member

Registered: 2007-08-21

Posts: 2

Re: es18xx module

Yes, it happened to be my first post here Though I'm not new to Linux, I certainly am new to Arch...

No offence intended (yes, I know, "Google is your friend" and "RTFM" ), the reason I prompted for help was that iandrum's post hasn't been answered. The thing about my card is, I only encountered two distributions capable of detecting my card via alsaconf, SuSE and Puppy.

I finally managed to get the sound to work at boot in Arch - first of all, I read on a KateOS forum about checking the BIOS's settings for the card. The BIOS's IRQ for the card was 7, which conflicted with the printer port. Strangely, when I tried changing it to the unused IRQ 5, the BIOS would always reset it to 7.

As I don't use the printer port anyway, I decided to turn it off in BIOS, which actually helped alsaconf detect the card (I thought Linux was capable of overriding BIOS settings...) . Alsaconf itself made an appropriate entry in modprobe.conf, but I still had to add "snd-es18xx" to the MODULES line in rc.conf.

I'm not sure if it is a kernel-dependent issue, but I wonder why only the two distributions I mentioned succeed in detecting and configuring my card without any problems? I mean, even without turning off the printer port in BIOS?