nForce2 audio, ATI, mouse wheel...

[toconnor]

I don't mean to crosspost. I had debated on where to ask this, and tried the Debian forums first. After a few days with no response, I figured I'd ask here. I'll copy and paste any response I get over to the other forum, for the benefit of others.

My other thread can be viewed here.

To update my previous info, it seems that sound may have only worked under Knoppix through Java. Sound works on my hard drive install through Java.

Sorry to be a pest, I realize this (and related questions) has already been asked, but I haven't come across a solution, yet. If I can get this working, maybe I can write up a little HOWTO or script, since a lot of people seem to have very similar problems.

This is a long message, as I'm hoping to provide all necessary information in one shot.

I recently installed Knoppix 3.3 to my hard drive. I originally wanted to install pure Debian, but getting my ATI card and X to work was too much trouble, and it seemed to work off the Knoppix CD. Getting help and downloading things without a working X server is really hard, lynx doesn't really work with modern websites well. Anyway, Knoppix got X working for me, which was good enough.

I don't know if 3D works, or ever did work... I'm not too concerned with getting that working under Linux anyway. Maybe using my motherboards integrated 3D would be nice, later. The fact that sound worked when booting off the CD and doesn't work off my hard drive is what's irritating me.

I have an nForce2 (Epox 8RDA3+) motherboard, and I'm using that for sound. I tried installing the nForce drivers, but that didn't seem to help. I don't think the modules are loading properly. When I look at the output of `dmesg` I see errors in trying to load all the nv modules (nvaudio, nvnet, etc). Oddly, my networking is running fine, as far as I can tell. I don't know what it's using, but I'm pretty sure it's not the nvnet module.

I've tried upgrading to the 2.6.1 kernel, with all the appropriate options as far as I can tell. I had left out the ReiserFS driver the first time, and couldn't mount / at first, so I ended up going over things pretty carefully.

Upon boot, or when changing settings in the sound system, I get the following message.

Error while initializing sound driver:

device: default can't be opened for playback (No such file or directory)

The sound server will continue, using the null output device.

I get a slightly different message when booting into the 2.6.1 kernel, instead of the 2.4.22 kernel which came with Knoppix. The other message makes mention of /dev/dsp not being opened (I think, I'd have to reboot to confirm that exactly).

Running `modprobe nvaudio` complains that it can't find the module.

I'm pretty sure it's not a permissions problem, since even root can't get sound:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 31 17:01 /dev/dsp -> /dev/dsp0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 11 Jan 31 17:01 /dev/audio -> /dev/audio0

Running `sndconfig` gives me -

ERROR:
There are already sound config options in /etc/modules.conf.
This could give unexpected results.
Please remove the appropriate entries from /etc/modutils/*

I'm a bit hesitant to mess with whatever entries are in modutils, since I'm not familiar with them.

As a side issue, my mouse wheel doesn't work with the 2.6.1 kernel, but it does work with 2.4.22. I did set the mouse device to "IMPS/2", but that didn't seem to help. At this point, I find a computer without a working mouse wheel to be essentially unusable. It may also be worth mentioning that there seems to be a problem enabling DMA.

I've tried running alsa-autoconfig and alsa_init. As far as sound goes, I'm in the same boat as this guy - http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtop...ed1b277cd45413 to which there has been no solution posted, yet.

Does anyone have any other ideas? I, and apparently others, would really appreciate it. There must be a good (and probably simple) solution, since sound works off the CD.

I would like to be able to run Freevo/MythTV. But, I'm nowhere near that stage, yet.

Just to let you know, I'm pretty new to Linux. I worked with Solaris for a few years, but wasn't much of an OS guy... so, please, be gentle.

Thanks a lot.

PS: Below is the result of `lspof | grep aud` while running the 2.4.22 kernel (grepping for 'dsp' found nothing) -
kdeinit 488 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 491 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 494 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 496 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 511 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 511 root mem REG 22,6 122988 33086 /usr/lib/libaudiofile.so.0.0.2
kdeinit 516 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 517 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 519 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 521 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 522 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 525 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 526 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 527 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 528 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 529 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 537 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 641 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
artsd 3513 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
artsd 3513 root mem REG 22,6 122988 33086 /usr/lib/libaudiofile.so.0.0.2
kdeinit 3576 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 3580 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3
kdeinit 3582 root mem REG 22,6 86128 58261 /usr/lib/libaudio.so.2.3


PPS: Below is the result from an `lspci -v` on my machine -

00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (different version?) (rev c1)
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, fast devsel, latency 0
Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: [40] AGP version 3.0
Capabilities: [60] #08 [2001]

00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 1 (rev c1)
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:1000
Flags: 66Mhz, fast devsel

00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 4 (rev c1)
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:1000
Flags: 66Mhz, fast devsel

00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 3 (rev c1)
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:1000
Flags: 66Mhz, fast devsel

00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 2 (rev c1)
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:1000
Flags: 66Mhz, fast devsel

00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 5 (rev c1)
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:1000
Flags: 66Mhz, fast devsel

00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 ISA Bridge (rev a4)
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:1000
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, fast devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: [48] #08 [01e1]

00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation nForce2 SMBus (MCP) (rev a2)
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:1000
Flags: 66Mhz, fast devsel
I/O ports at e000 [size=32]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:1000
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 5
Memory at d7002000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:1000
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
Memory at d7003000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

00:02.2 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:1000
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 5
Memory at d7004000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [44] #0a [2080]
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:04.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Ethernet Controller (rev a1)
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:1000
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
Memory at d7005000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
I/O ports at e400 [size=8]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AC97 Audio Controler (MCP) (rev a1)
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:1001
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
I/O ports at d000 [size=256]
I/O ports at d400 [size=128]
Memory at d7000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

00:08.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 External PCI Bridge (rev a3) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
I/O behind bridge: 0000a000-0000bfff
Memory behind bridge: d6000000-d6ffffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: d4000000-d4ffffff

00:09.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation nForce2 IDE (rev a2) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:1000
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, fast devsel, latency 0
I/O ports at f000 [size=16]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (rev c1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 32
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=32
I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000cfff
Memory behind bridge: d5000000-d5ffffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: b0000000-cfffffff

01:09.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc. WinTV Series
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
Memory at d4000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [44] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [4c] Power Management version 2

01:09.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc. WinTV Series
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
Memory at d4001000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [44] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [4c] Power Management version 2

01:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:9001
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
I/O ports at a000 [size=256]
Memory at d6081000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

01:0c.0 RAID bus controller: CMD Technology Inc Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATARaid Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: CMD Technology Inc: Unknown device 6112
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at a400 [size=8]
I/O ports at a800 [size=4]
I/O ports at ac00 [size=8]
I/O ports at b000 [size=4]
I/O ports at b400 [size=16]
Memory at d6080000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=512K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2

01:0d.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Lucent Microelectronics FW323 (rev 61) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Unknown device 1695:9015
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
Memory at d6082000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4150 (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 0002
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
Memory at b0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
I/O ports at c000 [size=256]
Memory at d5020000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [58] AGP version 3.0
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

02:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4170
Subsystem: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 0003
Flags: 66Mhz, medium devsel
Memory at c0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [disabled] [size=256M]
Memory at d5030000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

[champagnemojo]

You could try to run Kano's ALSA installer from his script page. That fixed my sound problems. Also, you might want to try a different sound server...such as esound (esd). You'd say "apt-get install esound" and then you'd start the daemon by typing "esd" in the console. Of course...that still won't work if it's a driver problem. But that's all I can think of...neither of which may work since I'm still new to linux. They're worth a shot. If nothing else I'm bumping you up a bit.

[toconnor]

Thanks.

I tried the Alsa script, but it didn't help. I might try another server later, but I suspect it won't make any difference.