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Nathan

Member

Registered: 2008-12-27

Posts: 34

Built-in NVIDIA sound chip doesn't play with ALSA

I have a motherboard that has a built-in sound card. It's made by NVIDIA, the lspci line for it is below.

00:07.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] High Definition Audio (rev a1)

When I run alsaconf, it finds the card and it thinks everything works. When it ends, I don't even get an error message. If I try to run alsamixer, it spits this out:

alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such file or directory

However, all the sound modules are loaded! lsmod | grep snd shows this:

snd_hda_intel         370736  0 
snd_seq_oss            31872  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      8192  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                49968  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          8332  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_hwdep               8964  1 snd_hda_intel
snd_pcm_oss            40192  0 
snd_pcm                69636  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              21384  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc          9224  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_mixer_oss          16512  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd                    50724  9 snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mixer_oss
soundcore               8160  1 snd

The *weirdest* part about this is on my first boot, it didn't work at all and I didn't even try to get it to work yet. I installed X it worked, I rebooted for something completely unrelated. I booted and sound magically worked! Not complaining, I was listening to music but then I rebooted for another non-sound-related issue, and now the sound is broken again. I can't figure this out at all! Anyone have any ideas?

.:B:.

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,819

Website

Re: Built-in NVIDIA sound chip doesn't play with ALSA

Get the PCI ID with lspci -n and google it, maybe you find something.

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Nathan

Member

Registered: 2008-12-27

Posts: 34

Re: Built-in NVIDIA sound chip doesn't play with ALSA

Well, I found out that I need the module "snd-hda-intel" -- I think. But it doesn't seem to be on my system despite documentation saying it's still available in 2.6.27. Do I really need to recompile my kernel just for this one module? I'd really prefer not to  have to deal with that. If I do "modprobe snd-" and press tab twice, it shows me this list of modules:

snd-ac97-codec      snd-au8820          snd-cs5530          snd-es1688-lib      snd-ice1712         snd-mixart          snd-oxygen-lib      snd-sb8-dsp         snd-usb-caiaq
snd-ad1816a         snd-au8830          snd-cs5535audio     snd-es18xx          snd-ice1724         snd-mona            snd-pcsp            snd-sbawe           snd-usb-lib
snd-ad1848          snd-aw2             snd-cs8427          snd-es1938          snd-ice17xx-ak4xxx  snd-mpu401          snd-pcxhr           snd-sc6000          snd-usb-usx2y
snd-ad1848-lib      snd-azt2320         snd-darla20         snd-es1968          snd-indigo          snd-mpu401-uart     snd-pdaudiocf       snd-seq-midi        snd-util-mem
snd-ad1889          snd-azt3328         snd-darla24         snd-es968           snd-indigodj        snd-mtpav           snd-portman2x4      snd-seq-midi-emul   snd-via82xx
snd-adlib           snd-bt87x           snd-dt019x          snd-fm801           snd-indigoio        snd-mts64           snd-pt2258          snd-seq-virmidi     snd-via82xx-modem
snd-ak4114          snd-ca0106          snd-dummy           snd-gina20          snd-intel8x0        snd-nm256           snd-rawmidi         snd-serial-u16550   snd-virmidi
snd-ak4117          snd-cmi8330         snd-echo3g          snd-gina24          snd-intel8x0m       snd-opl3-lib        snd-riptide         snd-sgalaxy         snd-virtuoso
snd-ak4xxx-adda     snd-cmipci          snd-emu10k1         snd-gus-lib         snd-interwave       snd-opl3-synth      snd-rme32           snd-sis7019         snd-vx-lib
snd-ali5451         snd-cs4231          snd-emu10k1-synth   snd-gusclassic      snd-interwave-stb   snd-opl3sa2         snd-rme96           snd-soc-core        snd-vx222
snd-als100          snd-cs4231-lib      snd-emu10k1x        snd-gusextreme      snd-korg1212        snd-opl4-lib        snd-rme9652         snd-sonicvibes      snd-vxpocket
snd-als300          snd-cs4232          snd-emu8000-synth   snd-gusmax          snd-layla20         snd-opl4-synth      snd-sb-common       snd-sscape          snd-wavefront
snd-als4000         snd-cs4236          snd-emux-synth      snd-hdsp            snd-layla24         snd-opti92x-ad1848  snd-sb16            snd-tea575x-tuner   snd-ymfpci
snd-atiixp          snd-cs4236-lib      snd-ens1370         snd-hdspm           snd-maestro3        snd-opti92x-cs4231  snd-sb16-csp        snd-tea6330t        
snd-atiixp-modem    snd-cs4281          snd-ens1371         snd-hifier          snd-mia             snd-opti93x         snd-sb16-dsp        snd-trident         
snd-au8810          snd-cs46xx          snd-es1688          snd-i2c             snd-miro            snd-oxygen          snd-sb8             snd-usb-audio

Nothing "hda" related.

UPDATE: According to this and alsaconf (I checked /etc/modprobe.d/sound) I *do* need the "snd-hda-intel" module. I'm running the standard arch kernel from pacman, do I really have to recompile my kernel...?

UPDATE: Turns out I do have the module I need. I don't know why it didn't show up. In other news, I get a new dmesg error!

hda-intel: no codecs initialized

So, it seems like I need to load snd_hda_codec... but that was "merged" with snd_hda_intel back around 2.6.23. Any ideas?

Last edited by Nathan (2008-12-27 22:02:48)

Nexx

Member

Registered: 2007-08-08

Posts: 11

Re: Built-in NVIDIA sound chip doesn't play with ALSA

What output does "aplay -l" give you?

If the card is detected, aplay -l should display the actual ALSA devices.

Pse

Member

Registered: 2008-03-15

Posts: 415

Re: Built-in NVIDIA sound chip doesn't play with ALSA

I have the same chipset. I usually have to remove the kernel module and then reload it to get sound:

su
rmmod snd-hda-intel
modprobe snd-hda-intel
alsamixer

Last edited by Pse (2008-12-30 00:44:49)

Nathan

Member

Registered: 2008-12-27

Posts: 34

Re: Built-in NVIDIA sound chip doesn't play with ALSA

I don't know how, but that somehow fixed it after a reboot. Thanks!