# /dev/dsp disappeared [partially solved]

## PiniHadad

I recently updated a few things including compiling and installing a few kernels and now /dev/dsp doesn't exist any more. I've done a whole bunch of searching and can't find anything useful. I use alsa and kernel level oss emulation. I'm now running 2.6.10 vanilla. I tried booting 2.6.9-mm1 and it still didn't exist. This was definatly working with 2.6.9-mm1 but I've recompiled that version of the kernel recently and I'm not sure that it's worked since then (although it may have). I use the alsa driver that's part of the kernel and have alsa-lib 1.0.7, alsa-headers 1.0.8_rc1 (I don't know if I need this), & alsa-utils 1.0.6 installed. Xmms, with the native alsa output plugin, works. Something that may be related is that if I open the kde control center, go to sound system, and click test sound, artsd crashes with sigsegv even though it's set up to use alsa natively (this used to work). Something else I recently did is switch sata controller drivers which changed 2 of my disks from hd.. to sd.., but I don't see how this could affect anything especially since I'm running a software raid on top of that so my system is still on md0.

Here's some possibly useful info:

```
# cat /usr/src/linux/.config | grep OSS

# CONFIG_CHR_DEV_OSST is not set

CONFIG_SND_OSSEMUL=y

CONFIG_SND_MIXER_OSS=m

CONFIG_SND_PCM_OSS=m

CONFIG_SND_SEQUENCER_OSS=y
```

```
# lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by

...

snd_intel8x0           32928  3

snd_ac97_codec         75936  1 snd_intel8x0

snd_seq_oss            34944  0

snd_seq_midi_event      7680  1 snd_seq_oss

snd_seq                54160  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event

snd_seq_device          8716  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq

snd_pcm_oss            53604  0

snd_pcm                97224  3 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss

snd_timer              25668  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm

snd_page_alloc          9924  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm

snd_mixer_oss          20096  1 snd_pcm_oss

snd                    55012  15 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mixer_oss

soundcore               9888  1 snd

...
```

```
# ls -a /dev/dsp

ls: /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
```

```
# cat /etc/modules.d/alsa

# Alsa 0.9.X kernel modules' configuration file.

# $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/media-sound/alsa-utils/files/alsa-modules.conf-rc,v 1.1 2003/08/05 21:07:55 johnm 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-intel8x0

## alias snd-card-0 snd-interwave

## 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
```

If anyone can help me I'd really appreciate it.Last edited by PiniHadad on Mon Jan 17, 2005 8:19 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## Zyne

what happens if you restart the alsasound service?

On bootup I have no /dev/dsp /dev/mixer, but from the moment I restart the alsasound daemon (/etc/init.d/alsasound restart), all the nodes come back...

----------

## PiniHadad

That did it. Thanks a lot :-) Do you have any idea what caused this or if there are any bugs filed anywhere about this? 

I realized this may not be clear. Restarting alsasound causes the devices to be created, but like yours, they disappear again when I reboot and I have to do it again.

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## Zyne

 *PiniHadad wrote:*   

> That did it. Thanks a lot  Do you have any idea what caused this or if there are any bugs filed anywhere about this? 
> 
> I realized this may not be clear. Restarting alsasound causes the devices to be created, but like yours, they disappear again when I reboot and I have to do it again.

 

well... as I stated before, I have the exact same problem, and I don't know what causes it...

I've manually added the modules to load to /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6, but that still didn't bring a solution...

It sucks bigtime, cause everytime I reboot, I have to restart the alsasound daemon...  :Sad: 

maybe someone else has a solution for this...  :Smile: 

----------

## Devport

Here is another gentoo user who has this damn problem. I need to restart alsasound everytime I reboot to get /dev/dsp back and for me this happened after an recent update, too...

The init script for alsa belongs to alsa-utils, which I did not upgrade ( 1.0.6 ). As a conclusion either the alsa-script was always buggy and its bug is now triggered by the new alsa-driver in the kernel - or its a bug in the new alsa-driver used in linux 2.6.10.

----------

## jedioetzi

I suppose the problem belongs to 2.6.10. I have the same problem and I had only upgraded the kernel version.

using restarting alsa the devices appears, but then I get strange problems with volume control of gnome.

I searched in gentoo bugs but nothing found...

----------

## Peripatetic

I had the same problem after upgrading to vanilla 2.6.10-r1 from 2.6.8.1.  I fixed it by compiling sound support into the kernel rather than as a module

```
 <*> Sound card support 
```

and disabling alsa and oss in the kernel.  Then I reemerged alsa-driver and alsa-utils.  Now /dev/dsp and /dev/mixer as well as everything in /dev/sound are created on startup.

I'm just guessing here, but I think the problem was that the soundcore module doesn't get initialized in time when the alsa modules are loaded.  That's why if you restart alsasound it works.  But if we build sound into the kernel, then it finishes initializing before alsa is loaded.  Anyway, I'd like to know if this fix works for anybody else.  Also, it shouldn't matter whether you're using the kernel's builtin alsa support or alsa-driver but I haven't tested the in-kernel option yet.

----------

## Zyne

 *Peripatetic wrote:*   

> I had the same problem after upgrading to vanilla 2.6.10-r1 from 2.6.8.1.  I fixed it by compiling sound support into the kernel rather than as a module

 

that could very well be the solution for this annoying problem...  :Smile: 

I don't have alsa in the kernel either, but I do have the soundcore as a module...

I'll rebuild my kernel, and update this post if it works  :Smile: 

thanks for pointing this out Peripatetic!

EDIT: well, you were right!!! thanks a lot for bringing this to my attention... everything works great now!

----------

## Fauli

An alternate solution would be to upgrade udev to udev-050. That solved the problem for me.

----------

## lot3k

I haven't had luck with any of these in getting /dev/dsp reinitialized.

running linux-2.6.17-gentoo-r8 with udev-087-r1.  Sound card support compiled in, as well as disabled oss/alsa in kernel.  All driver configuration has occured externally.

I let alsaconf do it's magic in detecting the card, as wel as attempted restarting service upon load.  I even created aliases linking to /dev/dsp and have had no luck having them regenerated.  I'm to the point of attempting to create them manually.

----------

## shirozaru

+1 to lot3k post

unfortunately i dont have the vaguest idea when this started.

----------

## lot3k

 *lot3k wrote:*   

> I haven't had luck with any of these in getting /dev/dsp reinitialized.
> 
> running linux-2.6.17-gentoo-r8 with udev-087-r1.  Sound card support compiled in, as well as disabled oss/alsa in kernel.  All driver configuration has occured externally.
> 
> I let alsaconf do it's magic in detecting the card, as well as attempted restarting service upon load.  I even created aliases linking to /dev/dsp and have had no luck having them regenerated.  I'm to the point of attempting to create them manually.

 

Issue was PEBKAC, I wasn't expressly compiling with OSS support.

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## shirozaru

+1 to PEBKAC as well.

sometimes i am such a n00b

----------

## AA

oss support compiled as a module and media-libs/alsa-oss is how I fixed it.

*  media-libs/alsa-oss

      Latest version available: 1.0.11

      Latest version installed: 1.0.11

      Size of files: 224 kB

      Homepage:      http://www.alsa-project.org/

      Description:   Advanced Linux Sound Architecture OSS compatibility layer.

      License:       GPL-2

----------

## navaburo

i have the same issue

no /dev/dsp

but restarting alsa brings it back

sound works otherwise though (playback in audacious or aRts)

----------

## zoe

hi,i don't know where to start from,i hope someone will help me.after an update thast i did yesterday when i log in i get a crash message about artsd like this

 *Quote:*   

> The application Soundserver (artsd) crashed and caused the signal 6(SIGABRT)

 

the backtrace is this :

 *Quote:*   

> This backtrace appears to be of no use.
> 
> This is probably because your packages are built in a way which prevents creation of proper backtraces, or the stack frame was seriously corrupted in the crash.
> 
> (no debugging symbols found)
> ...

 

when i run 

 *Quote:*   

> # /etc/init.d/alsasound restart
> 
>  * Storing ALSA Mixer Levels ...                                                                                                    [ ok ]
> 
>  * Killing processes using ALSA ...                                                                                                 [ ok ]
> ...

 

The result is that i can't get sound through anything,not amarok(crashes),not even in firefox when i try to see a video,firefox crashes.i don't know what to do.please if anyone needs more info or has any idea please post it,i really don't know what to do

EDIT:i re merged arts and kdelibs as suggested in a post but nothing

----------

## totycro

 *zoe wrote:*   

> 
> 
> when i run 
> 
>  *Quote:*   # /etc/init.d/alsasound restart
> ...

 

i have the exact same problem, but i can't tell what caused it. i use emu10k1 and the ouput of `/etc/init.d/alsasound start` should be fine:

```
 * Loading ALSA modules ...

 *   Loading: snd-card-0 ...                                              [ ok ]

 *   Loading: snd-seq-oss ...                                             [ ok ]

 *   Loading: snd-pcm-oss ...                                             [ ok ]

 *   Loading: snd-emu10k1-synth ...                                       [ ok ]

 *   Loading: snd-seq-midi ...                                            [ ok ]

 * Restoring Mixer Levels ...                                             [ ok ]
```

if i don't start alsasound, playing audio files with mplayer works fine, but i have no /dev/mixer or /dev/dsp

----------

## PaulBredbury

As I must have stated about a hundred times in similar threads:

Follow wiki article carefully.

----------

## zoe

 *Quote:*   

> As I must have stated about a hundred times in similar threads:
> 
> Follow wiki article carefully.

 

Maybe i didn't mention that everything was working perfect and arts and amarok crashed after my latest upgrade.Many people around the internet have the same with alsa after some upgrade.I found one library that is broken and i will try to fix it and post again

----------

