Is there a solution for ev1938 sound?

[Otsile]

Hi,

I'm a Vectorbie so i'll be asking a lot of questions about vector in the next few weeks.  after almost a week of googling and muddling my way through learning how to install any and everything in linux,

I have one main problem.  My old laptop has ev1938 sound card and I can't find any posts with a confirmed fix.  All the volume levels are at max, Kmix starts up but no sound whatsoever.

Do oss drivers work for this sound card?

My usb wifi card rt73 has been installed using cvs drivers.  I can iwconfig scan and configure essid, key etc but i can't get dhcpcd to work.

Any help would be appreciated

[D3javu]

Have you try modprobe this driver :  snd-es1938 ?

[Otsile]

yep, and no joy. 
After fiddling around with ALSA I finally when and installed oss drivers.
With the oss drivers I can actually hear the speakers hissing when the laptop volume is turned all the way up.  And the pc speaker works, i.e. I get a beep when using the console, but no sound from audio or video files.

[D3javu]

can you paste lspci and lsmod here? tried alsaconfig? also make sure increase PCM on alsamixer.

[Otsile]

gone back to alsa again in case it works 
here's lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 03)
00:08.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1225 (rev 01)
00:08.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1225 (rev 01)
00:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs Ectiva EV1938
00:0a.0 PCI bridge: Actiontec Electronics Inc Mini-PCI bridge (rev 11)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage Mobility P/M AGP 2x (rev 64)
02:04.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 08)
02:08.0 Communication controller: Agere Systems WinModem 56k (rev 01)


and here's lsmod

iptable_nat             7172  0
nf_nat                 16556  1 iptable_nat
nf_conntrack_ipv4      14860  2 iptable_nat
nf_conntrack           53128  3 iptable_nat,nf_nat,nf_conntrack_ipv4
nfnetlink               6168  3 nf_nat,nf_conntrack_ipv4,nf_conntrack
iptable_filter          3460  0
ip_tables              12020  2 iptable_nat,iptable_filter
x_tables               12804  2 iptable_nat,ip_tables
apm                    20356  2
snd_seq_midi            7488  0
cpufreq_conservative     6920  0
cpufreq_ondemand        7308  0
cpufreq_performance     2816  0
cpufreq_powersave       2560  0
speedstep_lib           5128  0
freq_table              4640  1 cpufreq_ondemand
sg                     28456  0
fuse                   40724  0
snd_ens1371            22304  0
gameport               12808  1 snd_ens1371
snd_rawmidi            20032  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_ens1371
snd_ac97_codec         92332  1 snd_ens1371
ac97_bus                3072  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_seq_dummy           3980  0
snd_seq_oss            30208  0
snd_seq_midi_event      6912  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                47344  6 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          7308  5 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss            42176  0
snd_pcm                70540  3 snd_ens1371,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              20744  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc          8712  1 snd_pcm
snd_mixer_oss          15616  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd                    44644  10 snd_ens1371,snd_rawmidi,snd_ac97_codec,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mixer_oss
soundcore               7264  1 snd
joydev                  9024  0
shpchp                 30496  0
pci_hotplug            28752  1 shpchp
i2c_piix4               8596  0
eepro100               28864  0
i2c_core               18816  1 i2c_piix4
evdev                   9088  0
mii                     5888  1 eepro100
intel_agp              22044  1
agpgart                28748  1 intel_agp
serio_raw               6404  0
pcspkr                  3584  0

alsaconfig - command not found.

alsamixer, turned every thing to max.  not even pc speaker's working.

[D3javu]

If your chip is really ev1938, i dont know what snd_ens1371 is doing there? to use alsaconf you have to be super user. do modprobe -all | grep 1938 to check if you have that driver

[Otsile]

from alsaconf I get
Following cards were found on your system
ens1371 - Creative Labs Ectiva EV1938
legacy - probe legacy ISA (non PNP) chips

root:# modprobe -all | grep 1938
/lib/modules/2.6.20.3/kernel/sound/pci/snd-es1938.ko
vector:/~
root:#

[D3javu]

Oh, sorry for misleading you. I didnt notice the EV in front of the number. The driver is installed. Can you recheck your alsamixer? Make sure none of the sound option is muted. increase them and try any sound.

[Otsile]

no joy. turned up every level to 100% tried wav, mp3 and avi files no sound whatsoever.

[D3javu]

The speaker works? Did you plug in the speaker to speaker-output on the soundcard?

[Otsile]

speakers work fine.  before i switched to linux, was using windows 2000 and used the laptop to watch cartoons etc in bed.  Even the sound out jack doesn't give any sound. i'm fairly sure that the problem is software related because from a few google searches, I know i'm not the only one with this laptop (gateway  solo 2150) with this problem.  all the other sites give trial solutions for other linux distro like ubuntu or debian but no one has posted feedback saying if those solutions actually work.