# (SOLVED) Alsa in kernel

## mrbassie

been experimenting with whittling down the kernel, 

I find that if I compile all things alsa into the kernel I get no audio playback from vlc or anything playing in the browser but oddly the test sound in phonon does play.

compiling as modules everything works fine.

obviously it's no real problem but I do like everything to be in kernel and I would like to understand what the issue (if any) is.

lspci | grep -i audio:

```
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
```

Last edited by mrbassie on Mon Aug 12, 2013 1:17 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## NeddySeagoon

mrbassie,

Are you passing module parameters to snd-hda-intel when it loads?

If so, you need to do this via the kernel line in grub.conf when snd-hda-intel is built in.

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## mrbassie

could you give me an example to try?

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## NeddySeagoon

mrbassie,

Look in your /etc/conf.d/modules to see if there are any options for snd-hda-intel listed there.  

Also look in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf since module parameters for sound drives can be listed there too. You would have set them in the past.

Once you have found the module parameters, you need to read the top of  /usr/src/linux/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt to see how to pass module parameters to kernel build in modules.

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## mrbassie

both files are stock, this is a recent install. Do you think it could be 

```
Symbol: MODULE_FORCE_LOAD [=y]                                                                                                                                                          │  

  │ Type  : boolean                                                                                                                                                                         │  

  │ Prompt: Forced module loading                                                                                                                                                           │  

  │   Defined at init/Kconfig:1593                                                                                                                                                          │  

  │   Depends on: MODULES [=y]                                                                                                                                                              │  

  │   Location:                                                                                                                                                                             │  

  │     -> Enable loadable module support (MODULES [=y])
```

???

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## NeddySeagoon

mrbassie,

Unlikely - thats really a debug or despertion option as it allows the loading of modules made for another kernel.

It turns off the kernels sanit checks on modules being loaded.

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## Ant P.

Would help to see the output of `cat /proc/asound/cards` also.

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## PaulBredbury

 *mrbassie wrote:*   

> what the issue (if any) is.

 

AIUI, it's because ALSA relies on udev (e.g. /usr/share/alsa/init/00main ), so udev must be running when the modules are initialized.

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## mrbassie

 *Ant P. wrote:*   

> Would help to see the output of `cat /proc/asound/cards` also.

 

```
0 [Intel          ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel

                      HDA Intel at 0xf0700000 irq 42
```

what I find odd is that the phonon test sound plays in kde and I can hear it but there's no sound from the media applications like vlc.

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## mrbassie

ok well, I recompiled my kernel with firmware blobs under 

```
device drivers 

               ---->generic driver options
```

and it now works. which is a little surprising as I was under the impression the intel drivers/firmware were all completely free, guess not.

Thanks for the advice anyway guys.

marking as solved.

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