# Alsa on a Dell Latitude 266XT

## MerlinTheWizard

Ok, I've managed to install Gentoo and everything's fine on my laptop... except sound.

The sound chipset is a CS4237B (Crystal), unfortunately it's not PnP, but I took the I/O and IRQ parameters from Windows and used them for the snd-cs4236 module. I can load the module alright, but there is no sound. The card is properly recognized, but when I start sound, it seems to do nothing or lock up. I'm guessing an IRQ problem here... but not sure. A "click" can be heard in the speakers when the module is loaded, so something is definitely happening. (before someone mentions that, yes of course I have unmuted the channels in the alsa mixer).

When using XMMS, playing a sound file won't work: the time indicator is not moving forward and stays at 0:00.

A couple details: my kernel is a 2.4.20 (gentoo-sources) with preemption enabled, as well as ACPI. Since the sound card is not really PnP, could it be a problem with ACPI?

Thanks for any pointers...

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## MerlinTheWizard

I finally got it to work, woohoo   :Smile: 

Alsa works really fine on my laptop. I have a preemptive 2.4.20 kernel, and I can listen to MP3's with XMMS with absolutely no skipping while the laptop is extremely busy (compiling KDE!)

If anyone's interested, I'll post the details (my conf file, what I compiled and stuff).

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## lmeadors

I am interested. 

I am installing a 233mt (same sound) but having difficulty w/ pcmcia nic. 

Maybe you can save me another headache on the sound.  :Wink: 

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## MerlinTheWizard

well, first off, the simplest is to begin with following the Gentoo Alsa how-to. I ended up compiling the latest alsa (0.9.3a), but you might get it to work with 0.9.2 (which is the version you'll get for now if you 'emerge alsa-driver' and the like).

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml

Here is my /etc/modules.d/alsa configuration file:

```
# Alsa 0.9.X kernel modules' configuration file.

# $Header: /home/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/media-sound/alsa-driver/files/alsa-modules.conf-rc,v 1.1 2002/12/21 06:31:52 agenkin Exp $

# ALSA portion

alias char-major-116 snd

# OSS/Free portion

alias char-major-14 soundcore

##

## IMPORTANT:

## You need to customise this section for your specific sound card(s)

## and then run `update-modules' command.

## Read alsa-driver's INSTALL file in /usr/share/doc for more info.

##

##  ALSA portion

alias snd-card-0 snd-cs4236

options snd-cs4236 index=0 id=CARD_0 port=0x530 cport=0x210 mpu_port=0x330 fm_port=0x388 \

                   irq=5 mpu_irq=9 dma1=0 dma1_size=64 dma2=1 dma2_size=64 isapnp=0

## alias snd-card-1 snd-ens1371

##  OSS/Free portion

## alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

## alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1

##

# OSS/Free portion - card #1

alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss

alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss

alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss

alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss

alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss

##  OSS/Free portion - card #2

## alias sound-service-1-0 snd-mixer-oss

## alias sound-service-1-3 snd-pcm-oss

## alias sound-service-1-12 snd-pcm-oss

alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss

alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss

alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss

# Set this to the correct number of cards.

options snd cards_limit=1

```

Hopefully the I/O ports and IRQ are the same on your laptop; there is no way other than specifying them, because the sound card is not PnP.

If you compile Alsa yourself, don't forget to configure it with isa plug and play, even though plug and play is not used: the snd-cs4236 module relies on it. You'll get unresolved symbols if you don't.

Don't forget to unmute the channels. For this sound card, the master is called "Master Digital" and you need to unmute "PCM" as well.

Concerning your NIC, what chipset is it exactly? I have a fast ethernet CardBus based on Realtek 8139. For those, you need to enable PCI hotplug in the kernel, and "emerge hotplug" too. The module to load is 8139too.

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## lmeadors

Cool! Thanks for the tips!

I have a 3com pcmcia card (3ccfe575bt), and here is more info on my problem. I am about to go out and get another card to try it.

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## MerlinTheWizard

since it works with rc3 and not rc4, I'm just suspecting that the module needed for your NIC was not compiled in the rc4 Live CD. Good news is that it's supported, bad news is that you'll have to figure out a way to get a basic install running before you can re-compile your kernel and modules.

I suggest you install a stage-3 rc4 without any access to the network. Once you can compile a new kernel, you'll get your NIC support.

Or, just do as I did: I had a USB-ethernet (rtl8150-based) adapter lying around, and it was handy to install gentoo. 'modprobe rtl8150' did the trick immediately.

Once my install was completed, I figured out how to make my CardBus adapter work  :Wink: 

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## lmeadors

I cheated and used rc3. I did submit a bug though - to save the next guy some time!

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## lmeadors

OK, mine is a cp m233st (in case someone is searching!), and the settings from your notebook did not work on mine with versions 0.9.2 or 0.9.3. I found another page with these settings which did not work either:

```
#ALSA portion

alias char-major-116 snd

#OSS portion

alias char-major-14 soundcore

#MORE ALSA

alias snd-card-0 snd-card-cs4236

options snd-card-cs4236 index=0 id=CARD_0 port=0x530 \

   cport=0x210 mpu_port=0x330 fm_port=0x388 \

   irq=5 mpu_irq=9 dma1=1 \

   dma2=-1 isapnp=0

#MORE OSS

alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

#YET MORE OSS

alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss

alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss

alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss

alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss

alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss

options snd snd_major=116 snd_cards_limit=1 snd_device_mode=0660 \

snd_device_gid=29 snd_device_uid=0 
```

When I play a sound, I get no sound and no error, it just sits there. Is there a way to get more info on what is going on? It is so dang close!

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## MerlinTheWizard

when you say "no sound", what exactly is happening? Does the module get loaded successfully (snd-cs4236)?

Note: for a recent release of alsa drivers, the module name is not snd-card-cs4236 anymore, but snd-cs4236.

So, if you try with my settings, and then try playing a wav file with 'aplay', what happens? Does it just hang (forcing you to issue a CTRL-C to kill aplay), or does it stop by itself after the sound is ended (even though you're not hearing anything)? In the latter case, you just need to unmute your channels to be able to hear sound.

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## lmeadors

You = TheMan

I am listening to Donnie Iris as I type. Mmmm....

It was the levels. I used alsamixer to set the levels, but it does not allow you to unmute them. They were at 100%, just muted.

Note to self: RTFM, twice.  > smack on the forehead <

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