No sound on Asus M2Ne sli mainboard w/openSUSE-11.2

[oldcpu]

# rpm -qa '*alsa*'
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.21-3.3.x86_64
Performous-plugin-alsa-0.5.1-0.pm.1.40.x86_64
alsa-devel-1.0.23-62.1.x86_64
alsa-utils-1.0.23-20.1.x86_64
alsa-driver-kmp-desktop-1.0.23.20100629_2.6.31.12_0.2-1.1.x86_64
alsa-oss-1.0.17-53.1.x86_64
alsa-firmware-1.0.20-3.2.noarch
alsa-plugins-pulse-32bit-1.0.21-3.3.x86_64
alsa-1.0.23-62.1.x86_64
alsa-tools-1.0.21-2.5.x86_64
alsa-plugins-1.0.23-28.1.x86_64
alsa-tools-gui-1.0.21-2.5.x86_64
# rpm -q libasound2
libasound2-1.0.23-62.1.x86_64

Do you remember I asked you after updating to SPECIFICIALLY CHECK your alsa version numbers after updating to ensure they were updated ? Did you do that? I note some were NOT updated (see the red above). ie specially:

• alsa-tools-1.0.23-9.3.x86_64.rpm
• alsa-tools-gui-1.0.23-9.3.x86_64.rpm
• alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.23-28.1.x86_64.rpm
• alsa-plugins-pulse-32bit-1.0.23-28.1.x86_64.rpm
• alsa-firmware-1.0.23-8.1.noarch.rpm

Was there a specific reason why you elected not to update those? ... I'm trying to understand so I can understand better your approach/method wrt trying to get things working.

I have never heard of "Performous-plugin-alsa" . Please, what is that for ?

[oldcpu]

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=f4...2d71703d15e6dc

It looks to me that you are ONLY getting sound out of some plugin USB device and NOT out of the motherboard.

[ioask4it]

My new configuration is:
/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh = http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=05...e8848be3031ef2

opensuse:~ # rpm -qa '*alsa*'
alsa-docs-1.0.23-62.1.noarch
alsa-devel-1.0.23-62.1.x86_64
alsa-firmware-1.0.23-8.1.noarch
alsa-utils-1.0.23-20.1.x86_64
alsa-tools-1.0.23-9.3.x86_64
alsa-driver-kmp-desktop-1.0.23.20100629_2.6.31.12_0.2-1.1.x86_64
alsa-oss-1.0.17-53.1.x86_64
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.23-28.1.x86_64
alsa-1.0.23-62.1.x86_64
alsa-plugins-1.0.23-28.1.x86_64

opensuse:~ # rpm -q libasound2
libasound2-1.0.23-62.1.x86_64

1. I used "Alsa-update - openSUSE" link and I updated only the selected software from that picture because I thought that only those must be updated.
2. "Performous-plugin-alsa" perhaps is a trash left from my previouses tries to install the sound-card. I've seen that is installed but I didn't delete because I didn't know if is a required package or not.
3. in windows, my sound card is seen as a usb device because it "eats" usb resources. A strange thing is that if I have the sound started (in windows) the usb composite device (from device manager) shows that I have an usb connected that "eats" like 60% of the usb resources. If I start the webcam ALONE for a video-conferince it eats too like 50-60%. If there is an audio-video conferince so, the sum of them are > 100% and the computer locks and sound will never be usable till reboot. So, the motherboard's (m2n-e sli) sound card (c-media 6501) eats usb resources

Sorry for not executing right the #1 and #2 steps

The sound card works, but it is stereo (not 5.1) and when I start X, when it plays the welcome sound i get this message
"The audio playback device PnP Audio Device (USB Audio) does not work. Falling back to PulseAudio"
... any suggestions?

[oldcpu]

My new configuration is:
/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh = http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=05...e8848be3031ef2

From that script, its pretty clear:

Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right - Rear Left - Rear Right - Front Center - Woofer - Side Left - Side Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 197
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 35 [18%] [-30.37dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 35 [18%] [-30.37dB] [on]
Rear Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-36.93dB] [on]
Rear Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-36.93dB] [on]
Front Center: Playback 0 [0%] [-36.93dB] [on]
Woofer: Playback 0 [0%] [-36.93dB] [on]
Side Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-36.93dB] [on]
Side Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-36.93dB] [on]

You have all the 5.1 speakers muted at 0%. Muted means no sound. That 'may' be relevant. Why NOT use your mixer to move the volume up ?

I don't know much about 5.1 surround sound, but I documented my experience here: Exploring surround sound in Linux - openSUSE Forums

1. I used "Alsa-update - openSUSE" link and I updated only the selected software from that picture because I thought that only those must be updated.

I wrote that guide, and I confess to being a bit frustrated, because most of the time I simply can not get users to install alsa completely. Note I wrote in the guide:

and then select for update all of your PC's alsa applications, including "libasound2". Do not add new alsa applications, just update your existing ones. See the example on the left.

ie ... update "all of PC's alsa apps", ... and an 'example' is just an 'example', ... its not hard fast instructions because everyone has different alsa apps installed.

How do I fix this guide so that the sort of approach you made is not repeated?

Sometimes I feel like just deleting the update alsa article because it fails far too often ... anyway ...thats my frustrations and we are here to solve your problem (and not mine).

when I start X, when it plays the welcome sound i get this message
"The audio playback device PnP Audio Device (USB Audio) does not work. Falling back to PulseAudio"

Thats a bug in KDE and likely not relevant nor harmful.

... any suggestions?

I provided instructions above on raising a bug report.

[oldcpu]

How do I fix this guide so that the sort of approach you made is not repeated?

I updated the section in the guide to try and better describe what need be done (to update ALL alsa apps that are already installed):
SDB:Alsa-update - openSUSE
... others have also struggled with my previous guidance in the guide, so hopefully this update I made now will help.

[ioask4it]

ok. the mixer volume is not muted...
Picasa Web Albums - 10494728902671418... - linux
I will try to see if I can manage to make it work.
Your tutorial is good but I made a few mistakes following it...
Thank you for your time.

[oldcpu]

ok. the mixer volume is not muted...
Picasa Web Albums - 10494728902671418... - linux
I will try to see if I can manage to make it work.
Your tutorial is good but I made a few mistakes following it...
Thank you for your time.

I'm always looking for suggestions on how to improve my wording in the alsa-update wiki. Sometimes I get too familiar with the method to update, and its hard to sit back and put myself in the shoes of someone who has never seen this before. Hence hiccups such as you encountered are very instructive for me. If I appear grumpy at times when others encounter hiccpus, that is MY own personality weakness that I need to find a solution for !

Don't forget the 'raise a bug report' approach. I know it reads to be painful, but if you succeed in getting the openSUSE sound packager's attention, then they are one of a 1/2 dozen people in all of Linux who know the Linux sound driver really really well.