SOLVED: Sound on Compaq Armada 1750- ALSA snd-es18xx driver

Problems and successes with specific brands/models of computer audio hardware
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bullterrier
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Joined: Mon 16 May 2011, 14:24

SOLVED: Sound on Compaq Armada 1750- ALSA snd-es18xx driver

#1 Post by bullterrier »

I have an old laptop A Compaq 1750 and installed the latest Puppy lucid 5.2.8. After making the below manual configurations Alsamixer detects the Es audiodrive 1869. I have unmuted all the available options. All I get from the speakers is a hissing static type sound when I play a sound file.

The Bios sound settings are as follows:

ESS Audio drive, ESS1869, IR number 5, DMA channel 1, DMA channel 5, IO Range 0x220 - 0x022f, IO Range 0x0388 - 0x038b, IO Range 0x0330 - 0x0331

Sound works on Winxp / and over the years I successfully configured sound on ubuntu 7.04/7.10 and tinycore linux

After browsing the forums and trying out suggestions I have the following setup:

Content of /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf

alias snd-card-0 snd-es18xx
alias snd-slot-0 snd-es18xx
options snd-es18xx isapnp=0 port=0x0220 dma1=1 dma2=5 irq=5 mpu_port=0x330

I have also the following kernel entry in /boot/grub/menu.lst

pnpbios=off acpi=off

These are turned off as in
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 1865191538

Thanks
Last edited by bullterrier on Sat 31 Dec 2011, 21:40, edited 1 time in total.

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bigpup
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Location: S.C. USA

#2 Post by bigpup »

From menu->help->LupuNews Help

[quote]If no sound, open Menu -> Multimedia Tools -> Alsamixer (alsamixer, not alsawizard). Press F6 and that will show you what sound devices have been detected and configured. If yours is not the top one then arrow down and click it, then make sure everything plausible is turned up. I have to do this with my “second
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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bullterrier
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#3 Post by bullterrier »

Thanks for reply.

1. Ran Alsamixer - pressed F6 - there are 2 entries - on the top it says "default" and the entry below - "0 - ESS Audiodrive ES1869" I selected the ESS Audiodrive entry. I have rebooted and the Sound icon in the taskbar has now disappeared. However Alsamixer still picks up the soundcard

2. Alsa config has been tried and it dosn't work for these non plug and play legacy sound cards built into the motherboard - they have to be manually configured.

Still no sound - just a static type of sound when mp3 or wav files are played.

Thanks any help is appreciated.

tempestuous
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#4 Post by tempestuous »

bullterrier wrote:I have also the following kernel entry in /boot/grub/menu.lst

pnpbios=off acpi=off

These are turned off as in
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 1865191538
Yes, those boot options are an important start.
But you missed a critical point in that earlier forum thread - the audio (ALSA) settings in /etc/modprobe.d/ often fail to "take" with older ISA-based audio devices.

I suggest you completely delete (or move) /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf
Then reboot.
Now run these 3 commands -

Code: Select all

rmmod snd-es18xx
modprobe snd-es18xx isapnp=0 irq=5 dma1=1
modprobe snd-es18xx isapnp=0 irq=5 dma1=1 dma2=5
Now try to play an audio file, preferably with a simple commandline application like aplay. If you hear no sound, but aplay does its thing without reporting any errors, the sound system is half-working.
Launch alsamixer -

Code: Select all

alsamixer
And check that the master volume is not muted, indicated by "M". If it is, press the "m" key to unmute, then raise the volume level.
Now try aplay again.

If this all works, you can automate the process from /etc/rc.d/rc.local

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bullterrier
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#5 Post by bullterrier »

Great - some sound.

Did what you said, unloaded module, and reloaded it gradually.

played sound files found in /root/puppy-reference/audio/ in aplay

all the wav files played perfectly

the mp3 and ogg files sounded awful (like an old 56k modem dailing up)

went into alsamixer.

Turned up all the sliders I could - there are a few duplicated entries (ie. "3d contr" & "Hardware") with no sliders just an "00" in a box above them.

Thanks - what is the next step.

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bullterrier
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#6 Post by bullterrier »

added the following lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.local

rmmod snd-es18xx
sleep 1
modprobe snd-es18xx isapnp=0 irq=5 dma1=1
sleep 1
modprobe snd-es18xx isapnp=0 irq=5 dma1=1 dma2=5

Am about to reboot and test.

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bullterrier
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Joined: Mon 16 May 2011, 14:24

#7 Post by bullterrier »

rebooted and . .

The wav files are playing with aplay.

It dosn't play the mp3 or ogg files. (Are these being encoded correctly?)

What is the next step?

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bullterrier
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Joined: Mon 16 May 2011, 14:24

#8 Post by bullterrier »

WOW!!! Thanks for your help.

Just fired up VLC media palyer, loaded an mp3 and it played perfectly.

Well done puppy! > This 10 year + old laptop now has sound, uses my usb 3g/HSDP modem via usb-modeswitch to connect to the internet. The old wireless card works perfectly. And it has an up to date world class os. It is as fast than it was when it had Windows 95 installed.

Last Question: The sound wigit on the task bar has disappeared. I moved a few files in init.d (10alsa and alsa-restore.conf) when manually configuring my sound over the last few days - Would this have made the sound wigit disappear?

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