Usb Sound Card

I bought a creative soundblaster live usb card / device today. I checked under hardware and it installed. I checked Alsa and alsa- firmware is installed. I ran a sound test and do not get a response. Am I missing something?
using OpenSuse 10.3 AMD64 bit

I bought a creative soundblaster live usb card / device today. I checked under hardware and it installed. I checked Alsa and alsa- firmware is installed. I ran a sound test and do not get a response.
using OpenSuse 10.3 AMD64 bit[/b]

Try working your way through the audio troubleshooting guide:
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AudioTroubleshooting

In particular note that sound blaster devices often require 'alsa-firmware' to be installed, and also often require extra effort to ensure permissions are setup properly (step-6 of the above guide).
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AudioTroublesho...issions_Problem

Please post here if you have any problems getting your sound to work when following the guide. In such a case, it would also help if you provide the URLs given to you by running the two diagnostic scripts:
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AudioTroublesho...led_information

and provide the output of:
<span style="font-family:Courier New">uname -a
rpm -qa | grep alsa
rpm -q libasound2
cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound</span>

uname -a
rpm -qa | grep alsa
rpm -q libasound2
cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound[/color]
[/b]

I still have onboard sound card connected which is Intel ICH

Alastairo@BlackBastard2:~> uname -a
Linux BlackBastard2 2.6.22.13-0.3-default #1 SMP 2007/11/19 15:02:58 UTC x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Alastairo@BlackBastard2:~> rpm -qa | grep alsa
alsa-1.0.14-31.2
alsa-firmware-1.0.14-24
alsa-oss-1.0.14-23
alsaplayer-0.99.80-1
alsa-plugins-1.0.14-41
alsa-plugins-jack-1.0.14-41
kalsatools-1.5.0-468
alsa-utils-1.0.14-27
alsa-oss-32bit-1.0.14-23
gmerlin-alsa-0.3.7-0.pm.1
alsa-tools-1.0.14-38
Alastairo@BlackBastard2:~> rpm -q libasound2
libasound2-1.0.14-31.2
Alastairo@BlackBastard2:~> cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound

options snd-intel8x0 enable=1 index=0

# uniq.unknown_key:Intel ICH
alias snd-card-0 snd-intel8x0

http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AudioTrou...ssions_Problem[/url]
[/b]

I did have to fix audio permissions

Under Yast - sound only the on board sound card shows. How do I get the usb card to appear on the list ?

I did have to fix audio permissions [/b]

Note you have to log out and log back in again, for the permissions change to have any useful affect.

Under Yast - sound only the on board sound card shows. How do I get the usb card to appear on the list [/b]

Does it show if you type:
<span style="font-family:Courier New">lsusb</span>
(you need usbutils for the lsusb command to work).

Did you have any luck running either of the two scripts that i asked you run?
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AudioTroublesho...led_information

Its possible there is a newer version of alsa for your USB device, but I would really like to know more about your USB sound card before I recommend an alsa upgrade. I'm hoping either "lsusb" and the output URL from diagnostic scripts (which is a paste on a web site of your PC audio hardware/software config) will help provide sufficient information for a good recommendation.

Does it show if you type:
<span style="font-family:Courier New">lsusb</span>
(you need usbutils for the lsusb command to work).
[/b]

Yes - This is what I get:
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 041e:3040 Creative Technology, Ltd
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Did you have any luck running either of the two scripts that i asked you run?
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AudioTroublesho...led_information
[/b]

I have done the first script and am trying to find away to get result into Here
I have never used this method before.
the result of 2nd script here

Here[/b]

It appears to be a copy and paste error with that script.

the result of 2nd script here[/b]

OK, thanks. This script works.

Yes - This is what I get:
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 041e:3040 Creative Technology, Ltd[/b]

MY BRIEF RESEARCH ON THIS:
In note in addition to your USB device (which is still not showing up on the script) you have, in addition to your mother board sound device, some sort of Phillips broadcast decoder. ...
* Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 AC97 Audio Controller (rev a2)
* Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7133/SAA7135 Video Broadcast Decoder (rev d1)
Hopefully that won't complicate things .... (almost every users configuration is new to me). The ALC 850 hardware codec (and the snd_intel8x0 kernel module) are most likely associated with your nVidia MCP51 audio controller.

I suspect for your USB sound controller, you will need the snd_usb_audio kernel module to be loaded, but alsa should look after that for you.

When looking at the alsa site for Creative USB driver support
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php...r-Creative_Labs
I noted mention of:
* Sound Blaster Audigy2 NX - supported
* Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook PCMCIA - only partially working/supported
* Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Video Editor USB - NOT supported
* Sound Blaster Extigy - partially supported
* Sound Blaster MP3+ - supported
* Sound Blaster Connect (USB) - NOT supported
* Creative E-MU 0404 USB
* Creative E-MU 0202 USB
* Creative E-MU Xmidi2x2 USB
Its not clear to me which of those USB devices is yours, if any.

Searching the web for "041e:3040" I noted this:
usb_ids 041e 3040 SoundBlaster Live! 24-bit External SB0490

Searching on the SB0490 and I've read of Ubuntu users getting this USB card to work, but only with a recent Ubuntu version, and not without some difficulty. ....

I also noted here where an alsa patch was needed to get this USB device working:
http://www.mail-archive.com/alsa-user@list...t/msg16017.html

... anyway, all of this suggests to me you will likely need to update your alsa version, where presumably the latest alsa will have such a patch.

However the alsa rpms I know are built for the original 2.6.22.5-31 kernel (original kernel for openSUSE-10.3) and for the 2.6.22.17 kernel (which is the latest kernel for openSUSE-10.3 with various openSUSE kernel security patches). You have a 2.6.22.13-0.3 kernel version, which is somewhere in between.

RECOMMENDATIONS
So I think, to get sound working on this USB sound device, you need to:
1st - update your kernel to the 2.6.22.17 version, and then
2nd - update your alsa version to 1.0.16 per the audio troubleshooting guide:
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AudioTroubleshooting

Once that is updated, reboot your PC. Then go to alsa conf and see if you configure your USB sound card.

If after all that, you still have no sound from your USB device, then post your most current file:
<span style="font-family:Courier New">uname -a
rpm -qa | grep alsa
cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound</span>

Thanks for a very in depth reply.

Well, I updated kernel to 2.6.22.17
And then proceeded with alsa update as per Opensuse alsa update. This zypper procedure knocked the kernel back to 2.6.22.13. I then rebooted and the sound at bootup complete came through the usb. I then went to sound settings under hardware and the onboard sound card did not feature. I have headphones on my usb soundcard and speakers on onboard soundcard. i went to the mixer and the usb card was set as default and under switches can operate 2 leds, showing total control.
When I tried to update to 2.6.22.17 (via smart) it wanted to remove the alsa 1.0.16 - something wrong here perhaps.

Well, I updated kernel to 2.6.22.17
And then proceeded with alsa update as per Opensuse alsa update. This zypper procedure knocked the kernel back to 2.6.22.13.[/b]

Probably because you are using the wrong repos .... I'm really struggling here, ... as I have tried in my troubleshooting guide, and I have CLEARLY failed, for I simply can not seem to make it clear that one must CAREFULLY chose their repositories, when updating their ALSA. Carefully! Very Carefully!
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AudioTroublesho...ng_alsa_via_rpm

If one has the 2.6.22.17 kernel in place, by going here:
http://en.opensuse.org/Alsa-update
and if one has the 2.6.22.17 kernel (and NOT the bigsmp kernel), one updates with these zypper commands:

zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/reposit...E_10.3_Update/ multimedia

zypper install alsa alsa-driver-kmp-default alsa-utils alsa-tools alsa-firmware libasound2

zypper rr http://download.opensuse.org/reposit...E_10.3_Update/

or, if one has the 2.6.22.5 kernel in place, one updates with a different repos, per these zypper commands:

 zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/reposit...openSUSE_10.3/ multimedia

zypper install alsa alsa-driver-kmp-default alsa-utils alsa-tools alsa-firmware libasound2

zypper rr http://download.opensuse.org/reposit...openSUSE_10.3/

Anyway, it reads like the USB audio is working finally, and if so, CONGRATULATIONS !!

Update

I have removed the on board sound card in the Bios and the usb card plays all sounds, except kradio - quite nicely too.

There remains the problem with the sound from kradio which gives this message

alsa sound : read playback mixer volume : error while reading volume from hwplug 0.0