no sound from Gateway Solo laptop

Problems and successes with specific brands/models of computer audio hardware
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chrisj
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun 14 Dec 2008, 13:46
Location: Nebraska, USA

sound chip ens1371 in Gateway 2150

#31 Post by chrisj »

I am going out on a limb here - I have a Solo 5150 (ens 1879 sound card as I recall) where I had similar strange issues after a frugal install of Boxpup 4.1.1. I got a gut feeling that some hardware issue I don't fully understand was causing the issue.

Then I hooked a set of headphones up to the laptop, ran the ALSA wizard, and voila, I have had sound ever since (with or without headset).

Like I said, I am out on a limb here, but thought it was worth mentioning.

Chris

User avatar
axel
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri 17 Oct 2008, 08:29
Location: Germany / Herrenberg

no sound from Gateway Solo 2150 laptop

#32 Post by axel »

@chrisj
thank you for your hint. I tried it with mine onboard ens1371 chip (labeled ev1938 on the box inside).
Wish I had that succes you have had.
Still no sound.
Can you pls post your settings ?
i.e kernel statement in GRUB menu.lst
axel

micah1_8
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri 09 May 2008, 16:28

#33 Post by micah1_8 »

Add me to the list of frustrated folks. I've not been able to get sound working on my 2150 either.

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#34 Post by tempestuous »

A slight longshot, but worth a try; see "Audio fix for old Thinkpads"
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=38367

Don't use the "soundcard-on" script, but just run this command

Code: Select all

echo 'activate' > /sys/devices/pnp0/00:05/resources
Hopefully this will bring the Ensoniq 1371 sound card to life.

keyma5ter
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun 08 Feb 2009, 22:27

#35 Post by keyma5ter »

You can add me to the list of folks watching this for a fix.

The echo 'activate' command did not work for me for 00:05 or 00:06. I even tried 00:00 through 00:10, 00:12, and all the other directories in pnp0.

I did notice a difference without the modules loaded. The system beeps come through my headphones. I don't know if that means anything, just pointing it out.

keyma5ter
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun 08 Feb 2009, 22:27

Solution for Puppy 2.16.1

#36 Post by keyma5ter »

I have gotten sound from Damn Small Linux before by using the oss driver es1371. I tried using the oss driver in Puppy 2.16.1 and got it to work.

After installing 2.16.1, I edited the modprobe.conf file to blacklist the snd-ens1371 driver and then added the aliases for the sound.

To blacklist the alsa module, add the following (not intuitive) line to modprobe.conf:

install snd-ens1371 /bin/true

Then at the end of the file, I added the following two lines:

alias snd-card-0 es1371
alias sound-slot-0 es1371


I had first tried Puppy 4.1.2 and the es1371 module isn't there. Is there a way to get the module for 4.1.2? Maybe in the unleashed packages?

MikeMT
Posts: 87
Joined: Sat 01 Apr 2006, 17:28

#37 Post by MikeMT »

Still hoping for a solution. Thanks tempestuous for the info to forget about snd-alloc module. An interesting event, I hooked up additional speakers through the head phone jack. When running sound wizard, the speakers cam alive I was able to hear static as the program ticked through the choices. As soon as the wizard got to test the sound, the speakers went dead.

feraliminal
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun 26 Apr 2009, 01:26

#38 Post by feraliminal »

Been banging my head on this sound problem for a week or so. One thing I did notice was this (see attached) coming up when alsaconf installed the driver.

4.2 is fantastic on this ancient laptop. Everything works well & fast, except the sound.

bigmahi
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun 03 May 2009, 06:51

Don't give up on 2150 Sound

#39 Post by bigmahi »

Guys,

I have followed your thread for a while.

Don't give up! - I have spent time trying to get the audio to work on my Solo 2150. I really like puppy on my old hardware - if I had sound working on this old laptop I would have a great system.

I am not the best with Linux but am also willing to run tests.

datagrubber
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon 07 Jul 2008, 20:22
Location: Florida

Gateway 2150 sound

#40 Post by datagrubber »

yes I'm hoping for a solution also...

bigmahi
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun 03 May 2009, 06:51

Sound problem is Kernel issue

#41 Post by bigmahi »

I searched on line for similar problems and found a few posts where people used kernel 2.4.x (with red hat) and the sound worked fine. When they upgraded to kernel 2.6.x the sound stopped working on their Solo 2150.

I ran a test by downloading DamnSmallLinux (DSL) the latest version is based on kernel 2.4.39 and the sound worked perfectly out of the box.

So it looks like it is a kernel problem since all the puppy releases for the last few years have been 2.6.x I think since puppy 1.08.

Kernel issues are beyond my ability to deal with....

Hope this helps the puppy guru's

MikeMT
Posts: 87
Joined: Sat 01 Apr 2006, 17:28

#42 Post by MikeMT »

I have tried 2 versions of Damn Small Linux on my Solo and neither gave sound.

feraliminal
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun 26 Apr 2009, 01:26

#43 Post by feraliminal »

Let's break this down into steps:

* ALSA can't be made to work with Puppy on a Gateway Solo 2150, for whatever reason. Rather than bang our head on that wall, we can note that...

* Sound works out of the box on said Gateway with the latest Damn Small Linux (4.4.10).

* lsmod shows me the es1371 kernel module loading, and gxine's prefs show me that it's using OSS, so I'm thinking Damn Small is using OSS instead of ALSA.

And here's where I hit the first of many snags.

- How do we get the OSS modules loading instead of ALSA?

- In Puppy, I went to Menu -->System-->BootManager configure bootup. Looking in the blacklisted modules, there is es1371, our OSS driver (amirite?). I removed it from the blacklist, and in the prefer-over part, added the line es1371:snd-1371

- Edited /etc/modules.conf, remove the snd-ens1371 lines generated by alsaconf, replace with:
alias sound-slot-0 es1371
alias snd-card-0 es1371

- I reboot, go into gxine -->prefs-->audio, set to OSS, play something (in this case, usr/share/sounds/2barks.au). Nothing.

What am I missing? What is working in DSL that isn't here?

micah1_8
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri 09 May 2008, 16:28

#44 Post by micah1_8 »

Still no solution?

MikeMT
Posts: 87
Joined: Sat 01 Apr 2006, 17:28

#45 Post by MikeMT »

As the starter of this, I must bump this with a message of how I acquired sound on this Solo.
I booted up Puppy Fat-Free 2.16.dillo. Behold this puppy barked. I was startled. So Posters with Solos try Fat-Free. I haven't tried a CD yet.

MikeMT
Posts: 87
Joined: Sat 01 Apr 2006, 17:28

#46 Post by MikeMT »

Geez, I spoke to soon. On booting up Fat-Free the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time, the sound failed. Not a winper to the Puppy. Back to square one. Now to figure out the effecting variables.

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