5.1 Sound On Gigabyte Ga-ma78gm-s2h

Hi all
this is my first* post here, I'll try to give you as much information as possible, though I'm currently not at the PC in question. So if you need more information, I'll be happy to supply it, but it might take a while.

Specifications for the Mainboard
This states "Audio Realtek ALC889A codec".
I've followed the instructions at http://de.opensuse.org/SDB:Intel-hda
If I'm running

head -n 1 /proc/asound/card0/codec*

I'm getting

Codec: Realtek ALC885[/b]

There isn't any entry for "ALC889A" in the Documentation.
So I've downloaded and installed latest ALSA drivers (1.0.16) by following the guide on the Alsa Homepage

I've turned up all the volumes using alsamixer (as well as kmix) and unmuted all channels. However, if I'm running

speaker-test -c 5

I'm getting this:

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 5 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 2048 to 16384
Period size range from 1024 to 1024
Using max buffer size 16384
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 1024
was set buffer_size = 16384
0 - Front Left <-- noise (OK)
1 - Front Right <-- noise (OK)
2 - Rear Left <-- nothing
3 - Rear Right <-- nothing
4 - Center <-- nothing [/b]

and if I'm running

speaker-test -c 6 -D surround51

I'm not getting anything at all (from any speaker).

I'd post my /etc/modprobe.d/sound but as I said, I'm not at home right now. I tried it with the one created by alsaconf as well as with one that look very similar (if not identical) to the one at http://de.opensuse.org/SDB:Intel-hda. I've tried every model="" combination possible for the ALC885 (see ALSA-Configuration.txt) with no difference at all.

Is it simply that 889A is not yet supported by alsa?
Anyone ideas what I could try?

Cheers

Martin

*) Well, it's the third to get around the linking restriction...

I just found http://en.opensuse.org/AudioTroubleshooting and will try these steps when I have time to do so.
Nevertheless, any other ideas are welcome :-)

Cheers

Martin

From what I can read, basic sound works on your PC. Its 5.1 sound you need to sort.

I've never used 5.1 sound and I have yet to find a good how-to written by any openSUSE user on how to do this. But my having typed that, my rather crude understanding is you need to custom edit your PC's .asoundrc file for this to work:
http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php/Playing_...tup_%28Howto%29

If you have problem doing that, you could go to IRC chat on freenode #alsa and ask for help there from one of the sound guru's. Sometimes one needs to ask 1/2 dozen times at different times of the day to get help from there.

As for your ALC885, its also possible you need a custom "model= " option in your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file. I don't have that hardware, so I don't know.

Note there are updates for the ALC885 in alsa-1.0.15:
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php...LC885&go=Go

There are also updates/entries for the ALC889 (but not the 889A) on the alsa page for alsa 1.0.15 and 1.0.16:
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php...LC889&go=Go

Reading your post, I can't tell what alsa version you are running. You can list that by typing:
<span style="font-family:Courier New">rpm -qa | grep alsa</span>

.... but having typed that, since I don't have a 5.1, nor have I ever tried to configure a 5.1, I can't offer any more advice than the few knowledge tidbits that I just passed (which is not much). Good luck, and hopefully a successful 5.1 user will pitch in here, as I don't have anything else to offer.

.... and if you ever do figure this out, a simple post of a "how to" would be nice. .... Thanks, and good luck.

From what I can read, basic sound works on your PC. Its 5.1 sound you need to sort.[/b]

Correct.

(...) having typed that, my rather crude understanding is you need to custom edit your PC's .asoundrc file for this to work:[/b]

Tried the configuration of your link - no luck (no worse than before, but also no better). I also tried the configuration of the alsa homepage (see link in first post) with no luck and one I found on a forum (don't remember the link, sorry)

As for your ALC885, its also possible you need a custom "model= " option in your /etc/modprobe.d/sound file. I don't have that hardware, so I don't know.[/b]

I already tried all models available for the ALC885, no luck, all give me just 2.0

Reading your post, I can't tell what alsa version you are running. You can list that by typing:
<span style="font-family:Courier New">rpm -qa | grep alsa</span>[/b]

This gives me 1.0.14 (opensuse repositories don't offer anything newer) but I've manually installed 1.0.16.

.... and if you ever do figure this out, a simple post of a "how to" would be nice. .... Thanks, and good luck.
[/b]

Thanks - I hope I will be able to post a How-To at some time in the future (because that would mean that I got it to work :-))
Thanks for your suggestions.

Martin

This gives me 1.0.14 (opensuse repositories don't offer anything newer) .....[/b]

... for the record, thats not 100% accurate. Yes, the nominal repositories do not, but the opensuse repositories for multimedia do have rpms for 1.0.16 for SUSE. You can find them here for various SUSE versions:
http://download.opensuse.org/reposit...imedia:/audio/

For example, for 10.3 with a 2.6.22.5 kernel:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/multimedia:/audio/openSUSE_10.3/

or for 10.3 with a 2.6.22.17 kernel:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/multimedia:/audio/openSUSE_10.3_Update/

As noted, you could try logging on to IRC freenode #alsa and asking for help there. Likely that will mean logging on at a 1/2 dozen different times, at different times of the day, until you finally find an audio guru who will help.

You could also take a look at this:
http://home.cfl.rr.com/infofiles/asoundrc.examples.html
which has many .asoundrc examples. User gnubian created that page, and he "hangs out" on the IRC chat channel.

... for the record, thats not 100% accurate. Yes, the nominal repositories do not, but the opensuse repositories for multimedia do have rpms for 1.0.16 for SUSE. You can find them here for various SUSE versions: [...]
As noted, you could try logging on to IRC freenode #alsa and asking for help there. Likely that will mean logging on at a 1/2 dozen different times, at different times of the day, until you finally find an audio guru who will help.
You could also take a look at this:
http://home.cfl.rr.com/infofiles/asoundrc.examples.html
which has many .asoundrc examples. User gnubian created that page, and he "hangs out" on the IRC chat channel.
[/b]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I will try them, but I probably won't be home for another 3 weeks (meeting and vacation), but I'll report back.

Thanks again

Martin

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I will try them, but I probably won't be home for another 3 weeks (meeting and vacation), but I'll report back.[/b]

Have a GREAT vacation.

After you get back, and have time to look at this, I hope you succeed, and if you do, I hope you share the details as to how you setup the 5.1 sound (is it as simple as installing the correct .asoundrc file ? ).
http://home.cfl.rr.com/infofiles/asoundrc.examples.html