Arch Linux

hatten

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

From: Sweden, Borlange

Registered: 2009-02-23

Posts: 736

Problem with sound card "soundblaster model ct4170"

I'm quite new to arch, but have been using ubuntu for a while and felt for trying out arch. The installation went successful and the problems i encountered was easily solved my the IRC channel. After following the beginners guide i got stopped at the command "alsamixer", it gives me the error "alsamixer: function snd_ctrl_open failed for default: No such file or directory" I have googled quite a bit but didn't find a solution, i also took of the cover of the computer and noted the model of the sound card. I googled that one too but i found no simple solutions at the first pages. If this sound card is impossible to get working i can ask my brother (who built this comp together) for another.
I do not have a GUI and don't plan on getting one for this computer so only terminal commands for me please.

dschrute

Member

From: NJ, USA

Registered: 2007-04-09

Posts: 183

Re: Problem with sound card "soundblaster model ct4170"

According to Google, this is a Sound Blaster Vibra16X.  An old ISA card ?  I didn't have that exact model, but did have something with the same chipset which I used  for a while so it should work with the correct drivers/modules.

make sure you follow the wiwki here :
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ALSA

And if it still doesn't work try the Alsa page for the card here :
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index. … odule-sb16

According to the Alsa page you want to do the following before alsamixer :

modprobe snd-sb16 ; modprobe snd-pcm-oss ; modprobe snd-mixer-oss ; modprobe snd-seq-oss

So when following the Arch wiki, you should be able to use the modules listed above...

hatten

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

From: Sweden, Borlange

Registered: 2009-02-23

Posts: 736

Re: Problem with sound card "soundblaster model ct4170"

Well, seems like my drivers are not autodetected

You might also want to check the directory /dev/snd for the right device files:

If you have at least the devices controlC0 and pcmC0D0p or similar, then your sound modules have been detected and loaded properly.

If this is not the case, your sound modules have not been detected properly. If you want any help on IRC or the forums, please post the output of the above commands. To solve this, you can try loading the modules manually:

my output of "ls -l /dev/snd/"

$ ls -l /dev/snd/
total 0
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 3 2009-02-26 17:55 [yellow text]seq[/yellow text]
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 2 2009-02-26 17:55 [yellow text]timer[/yellow text]

note, the [yellow text] tags indicate yellow text, it is not written like that

I will go try the Alsa page for the card now.

EDIT1: seems like there are some specific errors for my card. http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/So … tml#AEN882

There seems to be a new type of Soundblaster - it was sold to us as a SB16 - the Model no. on the Card is CT4170. These Beasties only have one DMA channel so when you try to set them up then the kernel will have trouble accessing the 16 bit DMA. The solution is to set the second DMA to 1 so that the card will behave as advertised.

I have no clue what that means but i will research it.

Last edited by hatten (2009-02-26 17:22:57)

hatten

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

From: Sweden, Borlange

Registered: 2009-02-23

Posts: 736

Re: Problem with sound card "soundblaster model ct4170"

Okay, found nothing when searching, i have probably the wrong keywords but nothing relevant shows up, my bios doesn't give any options to change DMA so I'm stuck. My brother will try to dig out another sound card for me. If someone can point me to a good howto it would be much appreciated so that i don't need to change sound card

Last edited by hatten (2009-02-27 10:14:48)

kjon

Member

From: Temuco, Chile

Registered: 2008-04-16

Posts: 398

Re: Problem with sound card "soundblaster model ct4170"

As far as I know, if you soundcard is *that* old (I've not researched, just read the thread), you might need to change some jumpers on the pcb (assuming it's a E/ISA card).  Look for the card's manual.

---

They say that if you play a Win cd backward you hear satanic messages. That's nothing! 'cause if you play it forwards, it installs windows.

hatten

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

From: Sweden, Borlange

Registered: 2009-02-23

Posts: 736

Re: Problem with sound card "soundblaster model ct4170"

Got no manual...