Wish me luck on my venture to fix my Linux partition...

[magomago]

Hrm...Well I did try installing it 4-5 times and I'm not sure if I deleted the files (edit that...I DIDN't delete anything) or "unloaded" any modules.

What commands could i type (and where) so I could uninstall the RPM of the linux kernel, get rid of the Aureal driver so I could start with a clean slate.

I'm worried that I did it wron ght efirst time (which i probably f'ed up anyway) and it affected my latter attempts.


And will do on those commands when I get home at around 4:30 (I'm at school. This period I'm a TA [Teacher's Assistant] and I do absolutely nothing...beauty of the Senior Year )after practice


God I hope I can get it to work... That would be, as vetern First Person Shooter Players would say, be "ub34 l337"


Another thing:

When I first compiled the the file "make install20" I didn't eid the drictory to be my linux directory...I maybe changed that on my 4-5th time on a different post on the sourceforge forums where a guy told another guy how to set it up

Could that be interfereing with it? I'm not sure if each step I do overwrites my prevoius attempt or if it skips it because I usually never get a confirmation (or a failure notice for that matter)

 

[cleverhandle]

OK, so here's what I'm thinking...

You built the module, and it loads (it's listed in lsmod) - chances are that that part of the process (creating the module) works as well as it's going to. Now, Mandrake 8.1, unlike most distros, uses a device system called devfs. Basically, devfs is an extension to the kernel that monitors your hardware, and automatically creates a /dev entry appropriate to whatever it finds. So, if you have, say, a scsi disk, it will automatically get a device listed in the /dev/scsi directory. If you don't have one, you won't even have a /dev/scsi directory. Therefore, the fact that "locate mixer | grep dev" does not show /dev/sound/mixer (or /dev/sound/mixer0, etc.) is Not a Good Thing. It means that, at the hardware level, the kernel can't see a mixer on the system, even though the appropriate module is loaded to recognize it. So this is not a permission problem, which is what a lot of stuff on the Web will say - you can't change the permissions on /dev/mixer or /dev/sound/mixer because you don't have a mixer.

Possible solution:

0) Try "rm /lib/dev-state/sound/mixer" and reboot. devfs has a friendly daemon called devfsd that keeps track of any changes (like permissions or symlinks) you make in the /dev directory. It saves these changes in /dev-state or, in Mandrake's case /lib/dev-state. I suspect that that file exists because the kernel tried to open the mixer, but failed, causing devfsd to remove it from /dev directory. Removing the file will force devfs to try opening it again at the next boot. I very much doubt this will help, but it's quick to try out.

More likely solutions:

1) First off, delete the old modules and rmmod the au8820 if it's currently loaded. Get the CVS version of the driver - the one you're using was developed for 2.2 primarily, and only tested briefly on 2.4.0. The CVS has been tested up to 2.4.16, which is a hell of a lot more recent. CVS instructions can be found here. Just follow the commands, substituting "aureal" for "modulename". If you've never pulled CVS before, the first command will cough up a harmless error that you can ignore. Read the README, as the procedure is a bit different than the one you were using. Basically, "make install-all" should do it.

2) Both the old package and the CVS directions note that sound support should be compiled into the kernel, not as a module. While I don't see how this would matter, they must know something I don't, otherwise they wouldn't say it. So if you haven't compiled a kernel before, now would be a great time to learn.

3) If the above stuff works, you should get a mixer listed as /dev/sound/mixer - not /dev/mixer, which the traditional device system uses. Most apps still expect /dev/mixer, so create a symlink with "ln -s /dev/sound/mixer /dev/mixer". If you get this far, you may have to change some device permissions, but you can at least check things out by running as root to make sure the hardware part works. Permissions are easy to fix once you know they're the problem.

edit: oh, and at this point, you can just jump to step 6 in the directions you listed - the earlier steps don't need to be repeated.

 

[magomago]

Aight, will do.

Hope it works.

And if it does, I'll ask how to create a symlink

 

[magomago]

Hrm....How would I delete the modules? I tried "rm au8820.o" but it says "file does not exist"


Also, you mentioned compiling a kernel...perhaps that is the missing key. You said "First you have to recompile it", but I thought (and was told) that the instructions I had posted up included enabling sound support in the kernel . If so, perhaps that is the mistake, and it might make sense. The module is loaded and it is recognized; but because Sound Support is not enabled in the kernel it wo'nt load up anything and the module sits there.

Is that a valid theory?

 

[cleverhandle]

Originally posted by: magomago
Hrm....How would I delete the modules? I tried "rm au8820.o" but it says "file does not exist"

Because it doesn't know where to find it - either give the absolute path name /lib/modules/blah/blah/au8820.o or cd to that directory first.

Also, you mentioned compiling a kernel...perhaps that is the missing key. You said "First you have to recompile it", but I thought (and was told) that the instructions I had posted up included enabling sound support in the kernel . If so, perhaps that is the mistake, and it might make sense. The module is loaded and it is recognized; but because Sound Support is not enabled in the kernel it wo'nt load up anything and the module sits there.

Is that a valid theory?

Not exactly. You have kernel sound support - that's the module soundcore.o. But it's possible to compile that support permanently into the kernel, rather than as a module that can be inserted and removed. I was looking over the READMEs for the Aureal packages, and they mentioned that some problems might be avoided by compiling sound directly into the kernel rather than as the soundcore.o module. But, honestly, they were talking more about errors you get when compiling the modules in the first place - so I doubt that's your problem. Just another possibility. Learning to compile and install a kernel is a pretty educational experience (and very easy once you've done it once), so it's not a bad idea anyway. Again, just something to try if you're determined.

The first thing to try is certainly the CVS sources, rather than the older ones you were trying before.

 

[magomago]

CVS files? There are only 1 set of files. This is what I d/led


au88xx-1.1.2.tar.gz 243457 68194 i386 .gz

I also have the .bz d/ed but i'm not sure what the difference is and I used the .gz to install it. I'll try Bz this next time around

 

[magomago]

Btw, I was seraching a site and i fund this

stosh [guest]
RE: MX300 don't work with RedHat 8.0, why? Posted 10-10-2002 16:31

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From goadeff%40earthlink.net:

How I got this sound card to work with Psyche:

In a terminal window, enter

cvs -z3 -dserver:anonymous@cvs.aureal.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/aureal
co aureal

(This is all one command line, starting with "cvs"
and ending with "aureal" Thanks to Richard Sperling in
alt.os.linux.suse)

This will require an internet connection, and will copy the newest
Source Forge Aureal drivers to a folder called "Aureal" in the current
directory. These newer files are important; I was getting a mess of
errors trying to "make" other versions.

Switch to the "Aureal" directory, and run

make install-all

as root.

The final touch I found at

http://www.greg.louisville.ky.us/archive/000113.html

"To work them under RedHat, you'll need to do some mangling every boot
(put it in your rc.local), /sbin/modprobe soundcore then /sbin/insmod
-f au88X0 (where X is the number for your driver, you'll see it at the
end of the make install-all.) Ignore the error messages, it should
still work. SHOULD being the operative word. "

So, I added the following lines to my /etc/rc.local

/sbin/modprobe soundcore
/sbin/insmod -f au8830

Then reboot, or run the two commands above in a terminal window (as
root? that's what I did, dunno if it's required). Yippee! Sound! But
now my head hurts What an aggravating scavenger hunt - and I
hardly know what any of this stuff means... I'm just parroting stuff I
find on the internet.
[/v]


Now i'd say ignore everyonthing but the begging that is italicized


Guess what? My pc has a winmodem...so it seems CVS is outta the question because I was planning on getting that modem working second

Ugh... /me slaps self

Well, atleast I don't hafta worry 'bout the kernel not having sound support enabled....


So now Should I try to get that modem working before I tackle the problem of the soundcard since many site have said that CVS makes everything easier? ???

 

[cleverhandle]

PM me with your address and I'll mail you the CVS - I had already downloaded them to look over anyway.

 

[magomago]

You have a PM.

 

[magomago]

aLL RIGHT. i'LL try that right now and see what happens. After my "test" i'll go to bed again (its 10pm. I have a XC race tomorrow)

so the update shall occur tomorrow....hopefully it works (but knowing me it won't ) and feel free to say anything.

Btw, thanks again

 

[magomago]

I was quickly glancing through the readme and i found this

Hi-Val PCI 338 (AU8820)

Thats mine....

 

[magomago]

I'd just like to note something i noticed:

When i boot up Mandrake It is booting as it gets to bringing up interface IO . It stalls here for 2ish minutes or so, and thena Unhappy face appears right under the mandrake star (its a boot up with a GUI)

Could this mean anything?

 

[TonyRic]

Bringing up Interface lo or eth0 sounds to me like it is attempting to get a DHCP IP. Are you attempting DHCP or Static IP? If static, when the machine boots up (finally) as root run netconfig. If DHCP, do you have it properly connected to the network?

 

[magomago]

Bringing up Interface lo or eth0 sounds to me like it is attempting to get a DHCP IP. Are you attempting DHCP or Static IP? If static, when the machine boots up (finally) as root run netconfig. If DHCP, do you have it properly connected to the network?

Nope. Its an individual Pc with a NIC tossed in it (sometimes I go to lan parties)



Also, one more thing. I deleted "au8820.o" however you mentioned "other" modules and I was confused as to the idea that there are other modules beyond that....are there? It seems that is the only one (beyond soundcore, but that is sound support)

Also, When I run make install-all It does it all, and keeps repeating in a never ending pattern.... Whats up with that.

I was also reading that readme and noticed that it said "Some people may have to recompile the kernel to include sound support instead of a module" which seems it might be me.

So what I did was include sound support and not compile it permanently into the kernel???

Why in the world would they disable sound!

 

[magomago]

I just got home from a race and I'll cehck out all your stuff...btw read my above response it might be a key to the problem


EDIT:

I was on a differnt sit and I'm also going to try the command " lspcidrake" and see what it yields (my guess would be to list all PCI devices recognized by harddrake)

 

[magomago]

OMFG it worked.

Instead of getting the same repeating pattern I actually loaded up this time (which THRILLED me!)

I haev no idea what I did (i just ran lspcimod, dmseg, modprobe, lsmod) read the read me and tried the same thing and it worked!

Here are some pics.


http://www.geocities.com/ammar85_2000/snapshot2.png

http://www.geocities.com/ammar85_2000/snapshot3.png


that is the confirmation.


It i wasn't straight cleverhandle I'd love you! You are so cool! Now I can type up HW and listen to music. that takes away a huge reason for me to use windoze

Next Project: Attempt to get my Lucent Winmodem Working (which I think will be VERY difficult)


This time i'll reserached a lot more and try a few things before I come here and ask for help.


But i would like to thank you all SOOOOOOOO much.


btw, one last question:

How do I create a symbolic link? Only XXMS worked (which is what i'll be using since I have too many cool winamp skins to lose) and KDE Media player would play no sound and I'm guessing it is b/c I have to symbolic link it.

Could you tell me how to do that.

And thanks again!

 

[cleverhandle]

Glad to hear that everything worked out...

As far as symlinks go, the basic format is this:

ln -s [what you have] [link to create]

So, if you have /dev/sound/mixer, and want /dev/sound/mixer0 to point to it, you would do:

ln -s /dev/sound/mixer /dev/sound/mixer0

which is somehow always backwards from the way I want to think of it. You could also do:

cd /dev/sound
ln -s mixer mixer0

which accomplishes the same thing. But, this usually this shouldn't be necessary for devices - the same devfsd daemon I mentioned before should already be configured to automatically create symlinks to resolve namespace problems (ex: a media player is looking for /dev/dsp instead of /dev/sound/dsp). So it's a little strange that K Media isn't working. But maybe it's looking in a strange place, or just never had a device set up to begin with - poke around in the preferences and see if you can point it in the right direction. Probably you can change it's device in a dialog and avoid making symlinks. If you do want to make symlinks in /dev, that's fine - devfsd will keep track of them and restore them at every boot.

I've never yet had the pleasure of setting up a winmodem, thanks to my wonderful old USR Courier, but I'd guess the hardware configuration should be roughly similar to the sound card. What can be tricky is getting the PPP configuration right to get yourself hooked up to your ISP. But KDE's PPP tool is pretty good for that.

Have fun...