# stupid soundcard, show up in lspci! [CLOSED UNRESOLVED]

## mobymac

I've got this motherboard: http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en-us/mb/content.php?S_ID=283

It says it has a sound card on board, however

```
alai ~ # lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M900 Host Bridge

00:00.1 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M900 Host Bridge

00:00.2 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M900 Host Bridge

00:00.3 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M900 Host Bridge

00:00.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M900 Host Bridge

00:00.5 PIC: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M900 I/O APIC Interrupt Controller

00:00.6 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M900 Security Device

00:00.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M900 Host Bridge

00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237/VX700 PCI Bridge

00:02.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M900 PCI to PCI Bridge Controller (rev 80)

00:03.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M900 PCI to PCI Bridge Controller (rev 80)

00:0f.0 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. Device 5337 (rev 80)

00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 07)

00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev a0)

00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev a0)

00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev a0)

00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev a0)

00:10.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86)

00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237A PCI to ISA Bridge

00:11.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8251 Ultra VLINK Controller

00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 7c)

00:13.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237A Host Bridge

00:13.1 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237A PCI to PCI Bridge

02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Device 0641 (rev a1)

04:03.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC16 (CX23416) MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)

04:04.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC16 (CX23416) MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)

alai ~ # 
```

nary a sound card to be found.

I basically want to shoot myself in the face at this point. Am I just screwed, or is there a chance I just haven't done the proper things to get linux to recognize the card? If lspci doesn't list it, is that it?Last edited by mobymac on Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:42 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## champ

Try running lspci as root. Some PCI information can be accessed only by root.

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## Gankfest

it does have an on-board sound card just not hardware more software AC'97, you should be fine if you tick the via module in the kernel ./config in device drivers.

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## mobymac

roger, unfortunately that was as root.

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## Gankfest

ok let me understand the ?, are you trying to hide the information of lspci as in you already have another working sound card, or are you trying to get one working?

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## mobymac

no, I don't have a working soundcard. I'm trying to use the onboard one, sorry I didn't phrase the question very well... I'm getting pretty frustrated.   :Confused: 

I'm trying a couple different module combinations now, but I can't get alsaconf to bite off on any of them. Any other advice on how to get this onboard sound to work? I suppose it was stupid to think lspci would list it, since it's not an actual pci card...?

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## NeddySeagoon

mobymac,

Check your BIOS. It may be disabled.

Run lsusb. Its a long shot but you may have a USB sound card built in.

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## mobymac

great minds think alike, Neddy.  :Wink:  I had just checked my BIOS but no dice. I couldn't even find a setting for enabling/disabling-- closest thing was "Azalia HDA controller" on either Auto or Disabled. It had been on Auto, trying on Disabled.

Unfortunately no dice on lsusb either-- the only thing listed is my wifi adapter.

Would this card show up on lspci if it were working correctly? Where else could I look for it? I guess I don't understand the difference between a "software" card and a regular sound card...

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## Mistwolf

According to the Debian hardware compatibility list, you need the snd-hda-intel sound module (http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/Biostar/p4m900-M4+rev6.1).

Hope this helps.

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## NeddySeagoon

mobymac,

Lets assume that the sound card is on its own PCI bus but the kernel isn't spotting it. PCI buses (you have several) are numbered

```
04:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. Device 3403

XX:YY.Z
```

Where XX is the bus number, starting from 00, YY is the card number on the bus and Z is the function number on the card.

The example sbows my firewire controller on bus 04 at card 0 and function 0.

On some hardware, the kernel needs some help to find all yor PCI buses.  

Read /usr/src/linux/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt as a first step try adding 

```
pci=lastbus=N
```

 on the end of the kernel line in grub.conf. Set N to some number bigger than the highest bus number that lspci repeorts for you now.

Set your sound back to auto in the BIOS. You can also try some of the other pci= options in /usr/src/linux/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt

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## eccerr0r

Yes, if it doesn't show up in lspci, there's virtually no chance of it working in Linux and likely either hardware problem, or software not initializing PCI properly...  At least implied in the documentation page, this should be an AC97 codec clone using the southbridge AC97, and should show up as a PCI adaptor.

Another curiosity... I think most motherboard BIOS now displays a list of all PCI adaptors on startup, does it show up there?

You might also want to try resetting ESCD to see if it helps, or clear CMOS via the jumper or battery removal.

Does it work in any other OS?

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## mobymac

it doesn't show up in the summary listing during boot up. So it doesn't seem to be even a linux thing-- maybe the board is just junk. I'm about fed up with this board anyway-- I wish I'd exercised a little more restraint and shopped a little more for a more decent board.

Anyway guys, I think I'm close to giving up and either buying a PCIe sound card (the only slot I've got left cause I was stupid and bought microATX) or getting a new mobo altogether. Thanks for trying anyway-- I really appreciate it.

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