# Question on Sound Card

## Techie2000

I compiled my Sound Card driver into my kernel. Do I still need to go through the steps of the Desktop configuration involving sound, also, and finding my sound module, or do I just skip  part or all of it?

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## Techie2000

Also forgot to mention there is no ./misc under /lib/modules/2.4.18/ so I don't know where to look for the modules.

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## Techie2000

I merged ALSA, still can't find the modules and not quite sure what to do with /etc/modules.d/aliases...

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## Techie2000

Okay found modules in /lib/modules/2.4.18/kernel/sound/pci. The problem is my sound card is a Soundblaster PCI 16. Course I compiled it into my kernel. But anyways when I

```

modprobe snd-ens1371

```

and get

```

/lib/modules/2.4.18/kernel/sound/pci/snd-ens1371.o: init_module: No such device

Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.

      You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg

/lib/modules/2.4.18/kernel/sound/pci/snd-ens1371.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.18/kernel/sound/pci/snd-ens1371.o failed

/lib/modules/2.4.18/kernel/sound/pci/snd-ens1371.o: insmod snd-ens1371 failed

```

would this be because I did compile my sound into my kernel and don't need the module? After it fails when I type

```

amixer

```

I get

```

amixer: Mixer attach default error: No such device

```

My /etc/modules.d/aliases looks like

```

# Aliases to tell insmod/modprobe which modules to use

# Uncomment the network protocols you don't want loaded:

# alias net-pf-1 off      # Unix

# alias net-pf-2 off      # IPv4

 alias net-pf-3 off      # Amateur Radio AX.25

 alias net-pf-4 off      # IPX

 alias net-pf-5 off      # DDP / appletalk

 alias net-pf-6 off      # Amateur Radio NET/ROM

 alias net-pf-9 off      # X.25

 alias net-pf-10 off      # IPv6

 alias net-pf-11 off      # ROSE / Amateur Radio X.25 PLP

 alias net-pf-19 off      # Acorn Econet

alias char-major-10-175   agpgart

alias char-major-10-200   tun

alias char-major-81   bttv

alias char-major-108   ppp_generic

alias /dev/ppp      ppp_generic

alias tty-ldisc-3   ppp_async

alias tty-ldisc-14   ppp_synctty

alias ppp-compress-21   bsd_comp

alias ppp-compress-24   ppp_deflate

alias ppp-compress-26   ppp_deflate

# Crypto modules (see http://www.kerneli.org/)

alias loop-xfer-gen-0   loop_gen

alias loop-xfer-3   loop_fish2

alias loop-xfer-gen-10   loop_gen

alias cipher-2      des

alias cipher-3      fish2

alias cipher-4      blowfish

alias cipher-6      idea

alias cipher-7      serp6f

alias cipher-8      mars6

alias cipher-11      rc62

alias cipher-15      dfc2

alias cipher-16      rijndael

alias cipher-17      rc5

alias char-major-195 NVdriver

alias /dev/nvidiactl char-major-195

# Alsa

alias snd-card-0 snd-ens1371

alias snd-card-1 snd-ens1371

alias snd-card-2 snd-ens1371

alias snd-card-3 snd-ens1371

alias snd-card-4 snd-ens1371

alias snd-card-5 snd-ens1371

alias snd-card-6 snd-ens1371

alias snd-card-7 snd-ens1371

```

My ALSA section of my devfs.d looks like

```

# ALSA/OSS stuff

# Comment/change these if you want to change the permissions on

# the audio devices

LOOKUP          snd          MODLOAD ACTION snd

LOOKUP          dsp          MODLOAD

LOOKUP          mixer        MODLOAD

LOOKUP          midi         MODLOAD

REGISTER        sound/.*     PERMISSIONS root.audio 660

REGISTER        snd/.*       PERMISSIONS root.audio 660

```

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## delta407

ALSA provides its own sound card drivers, so you don't need to/don't want to/can't use the ones provided with the kernel. I'm not certain if ALSA has a driver for your SoundBlaster 16 PCI, so you may not be able to use it.

In any case, if you want to use ALSA, remove your sound driver from the kernel before doing anything else.

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## Techie2000

Okay then, so I guess I'm off to compile a new kernel :-/

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## Techie2000

YIPES! My modules are all gone! There is nothing in my modules folder! How exactly do I need to setup my sound section of the kernel in menuconfig? NVDriver module is also gone...

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## delta407

It's normal to have modules disappear; that's what happens when you run "make modules_install". You have to re-emerge nvidia-kernel and alsa-driver, as well as installing any other custom kernel modules (like VMware's).

Anyway, set up your sound config to build sound support as a module and don't enable any drivers. Alsa should take care of the rest (assuming Alsa supports your card).

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## Techie2000

okay thanks. I'll try it and report back with hopefully good news...

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## Techie2000

ALSA is now working, except the computer starts up with the sound all muted and set at zero. Anyway to change the default so I don't have to turn up the sound every time I boot up?

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## delta407

"rc-update add alsasound default" should preserve levels between reboots.

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