Barks but no play. Creative sb Awe pnp

[canbyte]

After using ALSA to set up the card, i hear the bark. But will not play an audio Cd (the stream positioner is moving slowly along but the visual display thingy is not moving). . System seems slow with cd running. A youtube video will play but no sound. Volume has been turned up. Is there a step missing? I just got the system & asked the vendor to load puppy based on hearing good things about it - am just a noob (dummy) trying to migrate away from windows & believing in small rather than more!. Any help much appreciated

[smokey01]

Have you tried the setup wizard for CD/DVD?

I have two DVDs and recently couldn't play movies on DVDs.

Once I setup my CD/DVD all worked fine.

[steevieb]

Menu>Utility>Rvxt and type alsamixer
Alsamixer has various sliders that control volume, ie; Master, PCM, CD, Line, Playback.
Make sure there is not 'MM' (mute) showing at the bottom. 'm' key toggles on/off.
Arrow keys cycle through sliders, and adjust up/down.

[canbyte]

Hi Smokey - re tried the setup wizard for CD/DVD? Yes, seemed to be ok, identified cd as sr0 but repeated it just to make sure.

Hi Steve Thanks for pointing me to Alsamixer and the 'm' key. Just heard the first sound, but seems very sluggish & cut out after a few seconds. Snippet of sound every 15 minutes or so! The cpu meter on task bar is at/near top. Is Alsamixer supposed to remember its settings? Seems to forget on shutdown.

On the gxine player, trying to open file menu item 'cd' results in a) during play attempt, message "The xine engine failed to start: No input plugin was found. Maybe the file does not exist or cannot be accessed, or there is an error in the URL." or b) if the drawer is open message is : "Autoplay input plugin cd failed; Check engine output for further details."

Also, as a result of searching this forum, i found an old discussion about this card that seemed to imply i had to install a different driver but have no idea how to go about this.
Link: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 14&t=28571

Opening the kernel module - system info window, i can't find a file/module called 'snd-sbawe' which the other thread called for.

Is this the problem? How to fix?

What is the audio channel (bottom right) on gxine for, does this need setting? Defaults to -1

Does sGmixer have anything to do with it? Seems inoperative.

Thanks in advance

[smokey01]

canbyte, what version of Puppy are you using?

[canbyte]

found the snd-sbawe under kernel modules instead of operating system.
I guess that rules out any clues from the other thread so i guess i'm still stuck.

[canbyte]

Smokey: i shoulda mentioned i'm using puppy 4.1.2

[steevieb]

This is from my card setup. Options line will be in the list somewhere,
probably between alias and install. 2nd block has to be at the end of the file.
Do you have these?

#from /etc/modprobe.conf #

options sb io=0x220 irq=7 dma=1 dma16=5 mpu_io=0x330

# --- BEGIN: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---
# --- ALSACONF version 1.0.10 ---
alias snd-card-0 snd-sbawe
alias sound-slot-0 snd-sbawe
# --- END: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---

[canbyte]

Hi StevieB. Is that a set up file? How do you do that? New to linux. Thanks.

[steevieb]

Yes it is. Most setup files are text files.
Menu>Filesystem>Rox then click on green up arrow in top LH corner.
Click on the 'etc' folder, and you will see modprobe.conf.
Right click on it and select 'open as text'.
Geany (or another text editor) will open, scroll down and check.
Copy and paste if missing.

[canbyte]

StevieB - yes i found that text. There was a bunch of other stuff (between your 1st line and subsequent lines) that i wondered if it was supposed to be there or whether in my poking around inadvertently put it there (was trying to figure out how to print and seemed to have to install some kind of pdf printer whatever that is). I wonder if some kind of switch is hiding in all that code. As below:

------------------------------
options sb io=0x220 irq=7 dma=1 dma16=5 mpu_io=0x330
install binfmt-0000 /bin/true
install char-major-10 /bin/true
install char-major-10-1 /bin/true
install dummy0 /sbin/modprobe -o dummy0 --ignore-install dummy
install dummy1 /sbin/modprobe -o dummy1 --ignore-install dummy
install eth0 /bin/true
install net-pf-10 /bin/true
install net-pf-19 /bin/true
install net-pf-3 /bin/true
install net-pf-6 /bin/true
install ov518_decomp { /sbin/modprobe ov511; } ; /sbin/modprobe --first-time --ignore-install ov518_decomp
install scsi_hostadapter /bin/true
install wacom /sbin/modprobe --first-time --ignore-install wacom && { /sbin/modprobe evdev; /bin/true; }
remove ov518_decomp /sbin/modprobe -r --first-time --ignore-remove ov518_decomp && { /sbin/modprobe -r ov511; /bin/true; }
remove wacom { /sbin/modprobe -r evdev; } ; /sbin/modprobe -r --first-time --ignore-remove wacom
install sdhci /sbin/modprobe mmc_block ; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install sdhci
remove sdhci /sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove sdhci ; /sbin/modprobe -r mmc_block
install tifm_7xx1 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install tifm_7xx1 ; /sbin/modprobe mmc_block ; /sbin/modprobe tifm_sd

# --- BEGIN: Generated by ALSACONF, do not edit. ---
<snip>
.

[steevieb]

Card setup seems ok. The end of your modprobe.conf is the same as mine. Sgmixer works ok here. Audio channel here is -1.

Open rxvt and type top. What are the top few programs, and are they using a lot of memory/cpu? What cpu/memory do you have?

One of the first things I do is turn off visualisations in Gxine. It just slows the machine down for no reason.
On Gxine menu, File>configure>Preferences, check audio>volume 50% or more,
and audio>output set to what you are using,ie; speakers,headphones,
media>audio cd device matches name of your cd, gui>post plugins set to none. (no goom visualisations)
You may need to set experience level to 'Master of the known universe' to adjust some settings.

If you run the setup wizard in Gxine is everything green?
Finally make sure speaker icon on Gxine is not muted and sound slider is up.
Or you could try a different media player, such as Beep.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 19&t=28760

[canbyte]

Hi steevieb. Glad yer hangin in!


Snapshot of rxvb top:
1 without gxine open
118 meg used, 266 meg free, nothing very big open (wish i could cut/paste)

2 after opening gxine
142 meg used, 243 free
Top few things running
/usr/lib/seamonkey-1.1.11/seamonkey-bi
X :0 -br -nolisten tcp
/bin/sh /sbin/pup_event_frontend_d
blinkey -bg #DCDAD5
/usr/local/apps/ROX-Filler
absvolume -bg #DCDAD5
jwm
/usr/sbin/cupsd
xload -nolabel -bg ...
hope thats what you wanted but let me know if more needed. Hard to catch everything when jumping around!


I tried to catch everything you mentioned in your next para, goom off, i did find another volume slider at 0 so i increased it. (seems to be a lot of these scattered around). device is just listed as /dev/cdrom under media/audio cd without any specifics, nor could i find any other location to add the sound card info. Hmmm

All is not green in the setup wizard (i had assumed not important since is not a dvd, just a cd (i think)

* check for dvd drive: error msg says: "FAILED - could not access dvdrom: /dev/dvd Either create a symbolic link /dev/dvd pointing to your cdrom device or set your cdrom device in the preferences dialog."

* check for dma mode on dvd drive: error msg says: "FAILED - Could not read stats for /dev/dvd.
If you are using the ide-cd module ensure
that you have the following entry in /etc/modules.conf:
options ide-cd dma=1
Reload ide-cd module.
otherwise run hdparm -d 1 on your dvd-device."

Also just noticed i can't start the mixer. Maybe its time for a reboot.

re Beep, i guess i'm supposed to download the attachment in that link but before i do that, even figuring out where to put it is a challenge to this old brain!

[steevieb]

A couple more settings to check.
Under media/audio cd change device from /dev/cdrom to /dev/sr0 just to be sure
Under Preferences>audio> make sure audio driver selection is set to alsa or auto. (LH tab)
As far as I can tell, everything else is as it should be.

BTW, to copy and paste, highlight by left click and drag to copy, middle mouse button to paste.

If you open rxvt and type sgmixer do you get all the sliders?

[canbyte]

Hooray Steevieb. I can finally play/hear a Youtube clip. Sound works! I think i was mixing up alsamixer and sGmixer, the latter apparently not working.

I changed the device to sr0, Device to alsa or auto. No effect, still hangs..

I tried entering sgmixer in rxvt but got the error message:
(process: 4104):WARNING **:Can't open /dev/mixer !!! Quitting ....

when i typed sGmixer i got another message:
bash:sGmixer: command not found

so large/small caps are not interchangeable here?!
What is sGmixer anyway? I was just confused about needing it??

So still no cd.

Incidentally, when i tried to type that number on the numeric keypad, this page vanished! Twice. I realized i did not have the numlock ON so what was the key i pushed. I tried to duplicate the occurrence on the puppy home page but got no vanishing!? How does one set numlock on at bootup so i don't lose my work when i forget?

Two issues for the price of one!

Cheers 'n thks again

[steevieb]

To set numlock at boot you need a program called xsetnumlock - see last post for .pet
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=15708

Commands have to entered exactly - eg: aplay -l is not the same as aplay -L
Sgmixer is a graphical display of the same controls as alsamixer - see screenshot
Note; I do not set Line or cd sliders as I rip cd's to the hdd and play music from there.

[canbyte]

Hi StevieB
I got that numlockx working. Thanks and thanks again for your help on the audio, which now also works as long as i turn on alsamixer (master, pcm and cd with the m switch). [summary for posterity!]

As for getting cd audio working, will have to wait until i get the printer working, if ever (seldom wanted). Here is a thread /link that may help for those that do and have an older sound card based on ISA .

Anyone know if my card is ISA? (Creative SB AWE 64 pnp)

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=8816

[rjbrewer]

Yes, your card is isa

Forgot what type of comp. you are using.
It may be an irq conflict problem.

http://www.bios-drivers.com/drivers/20/20309.htm