MSI GT740 - sound in mono, no HDA

**Capodastro** · 21-Mar-2010, 06:16

Oh, I have forgotten the most important thing.
OpenSuse 11.3 makes an excellent impression of usability already
at this stage!

**oldcpu** · 21-Mar-2010, 06:18

Originally Posted by Capodastro

Oh, I have forgotten the most important thing. OpenSuse 11.3 makes an excellent impression of usability already at this stage!

I noticed the same, and that was a BIG (pleasant) surprise to me , as I feared the worst. 11.3 milestone3 introduced a new version of GCC (that was NOT in milestone2), and my limited experience over the years has seen many cases were a GCC update caused no end of problems. Hence I've been pleasantly surprised at the usability of 11.3.

**Capodastro** · 11-Apr-2010, 01:16

Hi oldcpu,
Time to conclude this thread

On MSI GT740, 04.11.2010
After installing opensuse 11.2 x86_64 I get just one working sound channel, like to say the sound is in mono! In addition the loudness is insufficient, but that happens also under windows 7 by disabling SRS, a compressor providing an appropriate sound quality for gamers.

Solution:
- Add the following 2 repos:
Index of /repositories/multimedia:/libs/openSUSE_11.2
Index of /repositories/multimedia:/audio:/KMP/openSUSE_11.2_Update

This will update the ALSA kernel module and driver, right now to
version 1.0.20. Check with :~> cat /proc/asound/version

- Yast | Hardware | Sound
Edit "5 Series/3400..."
Select "Use the given board model", an input box will appear.

I found 3 different and meaningful options:
acer
medion
targa-dig

The last one provides a dramatic loudness and opens all channels providing a very nice stereo effect, so I filled the input box with "targa-dig".
Your /etc/modprobe.d/50-sound.conf should look like this:
Before the change in Yast:

options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.qiP79F15hQ5:5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

After the change in Yast:

options snd-hda-intel model=targa-dig
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.qiP79F15hQ5:5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

The first line makes the difference.
- Reconfigure your mixer adding the undisplayed channels and you are set!

- The "woofer" is controlled by "Front"
- The other speakers are controlled by "Master" and you will need to reduce a bit their Volume.

PERSISTENT BUG:
I don't get sound on dvb-s HD senders. However, I have here also 2 msi gt640: alsa installs perfectly from oss repo and there is no problem with HD sound. I conclude that the HD sound doesn't work by driver insufficiency. Let hope in the next life

**oldcpu** · 11-Apr-2010, 01:32

Originally Posted by Capodastro

PERSISTENT BUG:
I don't get sound on dvb-s HD senders. However, I have here also 2 msi gt640: alsa installs perfectly from oss repo and there is no problem with HD sound. I conclude that the HD sound doesn't work by driver insufficiency. Let hope in the next life

It reads like you had some success, albeit not as much as you would have liked.

Congratulations on getting as far as you have.

Reference a fix in a future version, IMHO there will be no fix unless you take the lead in helping the alsa developer make the fix. Our community is THAT small that in truth it is up to user's like you and me to make this happen.

The way to do this is via the bug report that I suggested earlier:

write a bug report on 11.2 - go to Submitting Bug Reports - openSUSE for guidance and write a bug report on openSUSE-11.2. Use your forum username and password to log on to the bug reporting tool. Submit the bug report against 11.2 component "sound". Note the packager for sound for openSUSE will address that bug report and they also happen to be an alsa developer, so you will be in good hands. They will NOT (ie they will refuse) to read a forum thread, so you need to ensure all salient information is in the bug report. Run the diagnostic script with the --no-upload option which will create an /tmp/alsa-info.txt file and attach that to the bug report:
Code:
```
/tmp/alsa-info.sh --no-upload
```

And if they do not respond to the 11.2 bug report, then try out an openSUSE-11.3 Milestone4 (or Milestone5) liveCD, edit the /etc/modprobe.d/50-sound.conf file, restart alsa with root permissions with "rcalsasound restart" and restart the mixer and test. And assuming same problem is still there in 11.3 (and I expect it will be) then write the bug report on 11.3. I find that often one gets faster action if one writes on the latest openSUSE milestone version.

**Capodastro** · 11-Apr-2010, 04:32

...well, first of all I apologize: if I don't answer on a subject it doesn't mean that I don't consider about! I have to leave now, so I will write about "the posting bugs project" later.

**Capodastro** · 12-Aug-2010, 13:04

Dear oldcpu,
sorry, life can bring sometimes a hard time! So, I don't post bugs before I don't know and understand them (old windows programmer...

). Here the results:
Alsa makes a great job. Just Yast --> Sound --> Edit
Select "use the given board model" and push "edit".
Put in the box medion, in my case the best result.
confirm, back to the first window, select "other" --> Volume and reopen the channels.
Restart KMix and reconfigure the channels.
Done!

Concerning the HD features:
- Packman was messing with the codecs to get them better, but I had an earlier installation with well working codecs.
- Kaffeine 3 by Packman did work selecting OSS for audio output. At this point the only working Kaffeine 4 version resulted to be the one in the official install repository. By anything else, no HD.

By OpenSuse 13.3:
Alsa: the same like by 11.2.
HD: Packman did it, the codecs are OK.

Kaffeine 3 - Packman works even with alsa as xine selection.
Kaffeine 4 - Tried 4 version an "forget it".

a guest is coming in, I have to stop.