I can't get any sound.

[willow]

Hello.

I have managed to install Kubuntu 5.10 as a dual-boot with XP, and have solved a few minor problems with the source list and build-essentials and such. It wasn't really that difficult. The only thing now is I can't get a soundcard to work. I have three: an E-mu 0404, an Edirol UA20 USB card, and the AC97 integrated card on the mobo. There is an ALSA driver for the AC97 on the Asus site, but the instructions didn't seem to make any sense, and the 0404 has no support at all, so I've been concentrating on the UA20. I downloaded the ALSA driver and followed the instructions here, but when I get to ./configure I get a few lines of checking, then

checking for kernel linux/version.h... no
The file /usr/src/linux/include/linux/version.h does not exist.
Please install the package with full kernel sources for your distribution
or use --with-kernel=dir option to specify another directory with kernel
sources (default is /usr/src/linux).

There isn't a usr/src/linux, just a usr/src/alsa/alsa-driver-1.0.11rc1/alsa-driver-1.0.11rc1. There are a couple of version.h in different directories in there, but I don't know if thats the file it wants.

I'd be very grateful if anyone could help. Thanks.

[whoiam55]

Re: I can't get any sound.

That ./configure script is looking for your kernel source and complaining that it can't find it. You have to install the kernel source solve this problem.

[willow]

Re: I can't get any sound.

OK, Thanks. I installed kernel-source-2.6.11 and now I have /usr/src/linux/include/linux but there's no version.h in it.

Is getting sound normally this complicated, or is it just me?

[incinerator]

Re: I can't get any sound.

You don't need the kernel source, you need the kernel-headers package.

[willow]

Re: I can't get any sound.

Yes, I did, because thats solved the original problem. It does the configure bit fine now, but the make install bit goes

Hacking autoconf.h...
if [ ! -d include/sound -a ! -L include/sound ]; then \
ln -sf ../alsa-kernel/include include/sound ; \
fi
ln: creating symbolic link `include/sound' to `../alsa-kernel/include': Permission denied
make: *** [include/sound/version.h] Error 1
rm -f /lib/modules/2.6.12-10-686-smp/misc/snd*.*o /lib/modules/2.6.12-10-686-smp/misc/persist.o /lib/modules/2.6.12-10-686-smp/misc/isapnp.o
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/alsa/alsa-driver-1.0.10/acore'
mkdir -p /lib/modules/2.6.12-10-686-smp/misc/acore
mkdir: cannot create directory `/lib/modules/2.6.12-10-686-smp/misc': Permission denied
make[1]: *** [modules_install] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/alsa/alsa-driver-1.0.10/acore'
make: *** [install-modules] Error 1

which doesn't make much sense. Sorry to be a pain. :P

[kubicle]

Re: I can't get any sound.

You need to 'sudo make install'

[willow]

Re: I can't get any sound.

That was strange, because the first time I did sudo /configure --with-cards=usb-audio --with-sequencer=yes;make;make install, like in the instructions, so I put in th password. Oh well. Now I get

rm -f /lib/modules/2.6.12-10-686-smp/misc/snd*.*o /lib/modules/2.6.12-10-686-smp/misc/persist.o /lib/modules/2.6.12-10-686-smp/misc/isapnp.o
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/alsa/alsa-driver-1.0.10/acore'
mkdir -p /lib/modules/2.6.12-10-686-smp/misc/acore
cp snd-hwdep.ko snd-page-alloc.ko snd-pcm.ko snd-rawmidi.ko snd-timer.ko snd.ko /lib/modules/2.6.12-10-686-smp/misc/acore
cp: cannot stat `snd-hwdep.ko': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat `snd-page-alloc.ko': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat `snd-pcm.ko': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat `snd-rawmidi.ko': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat `snd-timer.ko': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat `snd.ko': No such file or directory
make[1]: *** [modules_install] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/alsa/alsa-driver-1.0.10/acore'
make: *** [install-modules] Error 1

I guess I'm missing another package. Its hard to tell which one from looking in Adept though.

Thanks so far. I'm sure I'll get there in the end.

[incinerator]

Re: I can't get any sound.

I don't think you are missing any packages here. I'd rather suspect that the install.sh can't cope with the fact that the binary kernel modules are not in
/lib/modules/2.6.12-10-686-smp/
but in
/lib/modules/2.6.12-10-686-smp/kernel

There's probably an option for .configure that will set that up correctly
.configure --help will tell you what to do.

Btw, are you sure the drivers for your card are not included in the standard ubuntu kernel already? If they are not, I would suggest filing a bug report at http://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/

[willow]

Re: I can't get any sound.

Btw, are you sure the drivers for your card are not included in the standard ubuntu kernel already? If they are not, I would suggest filing a bug report at http://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/

I'm not sure at all. Both cards are fairly generic USB and AC97 devices. When Kubuntu boots I get ALSA card 0 OK, ALSA card 1 OK. In KInfoCenter it says Installed drivers: Type 10: ALSA emulation. But theres no sound. If I had a clean Kubuntu and those cards, what would be ther first things I should do to enable sound? I couldn't really find anything about that from searching around.

[incinerator]

Re: I can't get any sound.

Most AC97 cards/chips should work out of the box. What does kinfocenter say following "Audio Devices:" line?

[willow]

Re: I can't get any sound.

Audio devices:
0: Intel 82801DB-ICH4 (DUPLEX)
1: USB Audio (DUPLEX)

[willow]

Re: I can't get any sound.

Its an ADI AD1980, according to the manual.

[incinerator]

Re: I can't get any sound.

Audio devices:
0: Intel 82801DB-ICH4 (DUPLEX)
1: USB Audio (DUPLEX)

The first card is the on-board sound chip and it should be supported out of the box using alsa's intel-8x0 drivers. They are included in the ubuntu kernel. Have you checked your mixer settings? Click on the wee speaker symbol in the lower right-hand corner of your screen. A wee popup window will appear, click the "Mixer" button. Make sure the "General Volume" and "PCM" channels are unmuted and have their volume set to more than zero.

[willow]

Re: I can't get any sound.

Yeah, I had KMix open. I have to admit I've slightly belatedly discovered the AC97 doesn't work in Windows either. I'd never tried using it before. I also noticed from looking around that a few people seemed to be having trouble setting a default card when they had more than one, so I tried disabling the AC97 in the BIOS, and now I have system sounds coming through the USB card. But KMix has a little red circle with a cross in it now, and there are no mixer channels available, and still no sound from KsCD etc.

[willow]

Re: I can't get any sound.

I meant to add that in KInfoCenter it says

Mixers:
0: mixer00

I don't know if that helps.

edit: I had a think and decided the best thing would be to reinstall Kubuntu, with the AC97 disabled and the UA20 attached, because apparently the UA20 does work, its just me that messed up the mixer thing.