# Sound issues with thinkpad T61p - please help <<SOLVED>>

## MarcusXP

kernel:

 *Quote:*   

> Linux T61p 2.6.28-gentoo #2 SMP Sun Jan 11 13:37:28 EST 2009 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

 

Soundcard:

 *Quote:*   

> 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
> 
>         Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T61                                                   
> 
>         Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17                                
> ...

 

Wi-fi card:

 *Quote:*   

> 03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection (rev 61)                                                                                        
> 
>         Subsystem: Intel Corporation Lenovo ThinkPad T51                                           
> 
>         Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 17                                                                 
> ...

 

Soundcard issue description:

 When I run "alsaconf", it cannot detect my sound card.

 I have Intel HDA enabled in kernel.

Wifi issue description:

 I have a router that has PKA encryption. I am noob at wifi (my first time configuring it) so the issue may be easy to solve for others.

 *Quote:*   

> T61p linux # /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 restart
> 
>  * Stopping wlan0
> 
>  *   Bringing down wlan0
> ...

 

 *Quote:*   

> T61p linux # iwconfig
> 
> lo        no wireless extensions.
> 
> eth0      no wireless extensions.
> ...

 Last edited by MarcusXP on Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:08 am; edited 1 time in total

----------

## nixnut

Maybe the output channel is muted. Some info here

----------

## MarcusXP

 *nixnut wrote:*   

> Maybe the output channel is muted. Some info here

 

I don't think so.. I think my soundcard is not installed somehow, because when I run alsaconfig it cannot detect it, although I have the module installed in kernel.

Also, this is what it says when I run:

 *Quote:*   

> T61p ~ # amixer set Front unmute 100
> 
> amixer: Unable to find simple control 'Front',0

 

----------

## MarcusXP

I tried to follow the instructions here:

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

alsasound service starts fine:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> T61p ~ # /etc/init.d/alsasound restart
> 
>  * WARNING:  you are stopping a boot service.
> ...

 

my username was added to audio group using this command:

 *Quote:*   

> gpasswd -a <username> audio 

 

invoking "alsaconf" does NOT find my soundcard.

If I run "alsamixer", I get this:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
>  Card: HDA Intel                                                              │
> 
> │ Chip: Analog Devices AD1984                                                  │
> ...

 

so it seems that "Master" is enabled, and full volume..

I can run:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> T61p ~ # madplay -v /mnt/DATA/TOP.1000.of.the.last.30.years.PACK-PT/0128-Modern.Talking-You.re.My.Heart.You.re.My.Soul.mp3
> 
> MPEG Audio Decoder 0.15.2 (beta) - Copyright (C) 2000-2004 Robert Leslie et al.
> ...

 

but NO SOUND is heard..

What am I missing here ? Why "alsaconfig" cannot detect my sound card ?

I upgraded today the kernel from 2.6.27 to 2.6.28 today, with no success.. I have the same behavior with both kernels.

Any ideas ?

----------

## zigver

Is your modem disabled in the bios?  If so, turn it on.

----------

## MarcusXP

I think it is.. I will turn it on, recompile the kernel and post results..

----------

## MarcusXP

is this the option that you are talking about:

[*]   PCI sound devices  --->

 <*>   Intel/SiS/nVidia/AMD MC97 Modem

----------

## MarcusXP

I enabled the modem as well.. no change. No sound, and "alsaconf" still does not detect my soundcard..

Any other ideas of what I could try ?

----------

## zigver

No, I was talking about checking that the modem was enabled in the bios, not the kernel.  IIRC at least on the T60, disabling the modem in bios also disabled the sound card.

----------

## MarcusXP

I have dual boot with Windows XP.. if I reboot the laptop to Windows, I have sound.. so I doubt this may be the issue.

I will try that, though. I think I disabled the modem, since I don't have a use for it..

----------

## MarcusXP

that wasn't the problem. I rebooted, and it seems there is no setting to disable the modem (in the BIOS).

A friend told me that Intel HDA must be compiled as MODULE in the kernel, whereas I had it compiled with star (*).

After I recompiled it as module and I rebooted, I was able to use "alsaconf" and select the soundcard.

Also, "lsmod" showed the intel hda module loaded (when before wasn't).

 *Quote:*   

> T61p ~ # lsmod
> 
> Module                  Size  Used by
> 
> snd_hda_intel         495728  1
> ...

 

However, the issue remains.. I still cannot hear any sounds. I have KDE 4.1, and I have the mixer on the bottom-right in the taskbar. When I right-click on it, it shows the "Mute" option as selected.

How do I un-select that ? Regular tricks (clicking) don't work on it..

----------

## MarcusXP

the KDE mixer shows the master channel as being PCM. Is that the correct one ?

I can change the master channel to Front, PCM, Mic, digital and many others.

Should it be the Front channel selected as the "Master channel" ?

----------

## DirtyHairy

Allthough I would guess your sound hardware should work with ALSA, you might want to try OSS4 if you can't get it working with ALSA. It's opensource nowadays, does software mixing out of the box and has been a huge improvement for me over ALSA on my T60 (sound was clicking and popping before in some apps). You can find ebuilds for it on the bug tracker.

----------

## olger901

Hiya,

I own a ThinkPad T61p as well and both sound and wireless LAN are working fine for me (using a 2.6.27 kernel). 

To get your sound working properly you need to know a few things first:

1. The ALSA configuration utility (alsaconf) only detects a sound card if it's compiled as module and it doesn't detect a soundcard if it's compiled into the kernel. Use:

```
dmesg | grep alsa
```

 to see if the kernel detects a sound card if support for the sound card is compiled into the kernel.

2. When selecting the HDA Intel option, you need to select the Generic HD Codec and ADI chip support.

3. When running alsamixer make sure you unmute The Master Volume, Front Channel, PCM and the Speakers (The Speakers are really important, if you don't unmute them, you won't hear any sound at all).

To get your wireless connection working do the following:

1. Make sure the proper options in the kernel are selected.

2. Make sure you've emerged the (~arch) latest version of iwl4965-ucode

3. Emerge wpa_supplicant and configure your interface properly by following this howto: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=4&chap=4

----------

## eros

I also have a T61p. Sounds works just fine, but you must build sound support as a module.

----------

## MarcusXP

 *DirtyHairy wrote:*   

> Allthough I would guess your sound hardware should work with ALSA, you might want to try OSS4 if you can't get it working with ALSA. It's opensource nowadays, does software mixing out of the box and has been a huge improvement for me over ALSA on my T60 (sound was clicking and popping before in some apps). You can find ebuilds for it on the bug tracker.

 

I guess I could try that, but I'm not that advanced yet, and I don't know how to install it  :Smile: 

Also, I need the sound to work with Wine, and I'm not sure that OSS4 will work with Wine..

----------

## MarcusXP

 *olger901 wrote:*   

> Hiya,
> 
> I own a ThinkPad T61p as well and both sound and wireless LAN are working fine for me (using a 2.6.27 kernel). 
> 
> To get your sound working properly you need to know a few things first:
> ...

 

running

```
dmesg | grep alsa
```

gives me nothing..

I have these options in kernel

```
 │ │          <M>   Advanced Linux Sound Architecture  --->                                    │ │

  │ │          < >   Open Sound System (DEPRECATED)  ---> 
```

```
 │ │          --- Advanced Linux Sound Architecture                                            │ │

  │ │          <M>   Sequencer support                                                          │ │

  │ │          <M>     Sequencer dummy client                                                   │ │

  │ │          <M>   OSS Mixer API                                                              │ │

  │ │          <M>   OSS PCM (digital audio) API                                                │ │

  │ │          [ ]     OSS PCM (digital audio) API - Include plugin system                      │ │

  │ │          [ ]   OSS Sequencer API                                                          │ │

  │ │          [ ]   Dynamic device file minor numbers                                          │ │

  │ │          [ ]   Support old ALSA API                                                       │ │

  │ │          [ ]   Verbose procfs contents                                                    │ │

  │ │          [ ]   Verbose printk                                                             │ │

  │ │          [ ]   Debug                                                                      │ │

  │ │          [ ]   Generic sound devices  --->                                                │ │

  │ │          [*]   PCI sound devices  --->                                                    │ │

  │ │          [ ]   USB sound devices  --->                                                    │ │

  │ │          [ ]   PCMCIA sound devices  --->                                                 │ │

  │ │          < >   ALSA for SoC audio support  --->   
```

```
          <M>   Intel HD Audio                                                             │ │

  │ │          [*]     Build hwdep interface for HD-audio driver                                │ │

  │ │          [*]     Support digital beep via input layer                                     │ │

  │ │          [*]     Build Realtek HD-audio codec support                                     │ │

  │ │          [*]     Build Analog Device HD-audio codec support                               │ │

  │ │          [*]     Build IDT/Sigmatel HD-audio codec support                                │ │

  │ │          [*]     Build VIA HD-audio codec support                                         │ │

  │ │          [*]     Build ATI HDMI HD-audio codec support                                    │ │

  │ │          [*]     Build NVIDIA HDMI HD-audio codec support                                 │ │

  │ │          [*]     Build Conexant HD-audio codec support                                    │ │

  │ │          [*]     Build C-Media HD-audio codec support                                     │ │

  │ │          [*]     Build Silicon Labs 3054 HD-modem codec support                           │ │

  │ │          [*]     Enable generic HD-audio codec parser                                     │ │

  │ │          [ ]     Aggressive power-saving on HD-audio        
```

Could you please tell me what to keep from there, and what to modify (from * to M, or from M to *)

BTW, the stars (*) below  "<M>   Intel HD Audio" cannot be changed to M.. it's either *, or disabled.

The wifi is not a priority, I am connected on the gigabit Lan, which is working great, btw.

thanks a lot,

----------

## MarcusXP

BTW, as it is now, running "alsaconf", sees my Intel HDA sound card.

"alsamixer" used to work, but now I get this:

```
T61p linux # alsamixer

alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such file or directory

```

----------

## DirtyHairy

OSS4 works with wine for me, you just have to make sure that it is compiled with the oss use flag. If you want to try it, you just  have to put the files from the bug report https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=184123 into a portage overlay and emerge it (you should disable ALSA in the kernel prior to that or at least compile it as a module).

----------

## MarcusXP

hehehe I solved it.. actually a friend of mine  :Smile: 

It seems that when you run "alsamixer" there are more channels if you go further right  :Very Happy: 

I only saw like 4 of them and I didn't know there could be more. So there is something called "Speaker" that can be turned on and off.

After he un-muted that, the sound worked !

Thanks everyone for your help. One more issue to worry about now..

Next step is configuring the wifi, but that should be easier.

----------

