Hardware Help Please (Compaq CQ50)

[mjung79]

Hello all,

While I've tinkered with Linux a bit in virtual machines, I am still pretty green and this is the first time I've run an install on a physical machine. I'm running into some driver issues (makes you really appreciate VMWare!) Any help would be appreciated.

The laptop is a Compaq Presario CQ50-110US. I am running Suse 11.1 x86 (though the CPU 64 bit capable). (Specs are here. Kernel version is 2.6.27.37-0.1-pae. Video drivers are working fine, wireless is a little wierd and sound is nonexistent.

For the wireless, I downloaded the linux specific driver from Broadcom and ran into problems during their install instructions . The following commands got it working, after consulting a forum:

modprobe ieee80211_crypt_tkip
insmod wl.ko

However, it seems I have to enter those two commands after every reboot, so I imagine the driver is not fully installed or I have to edit some bootup file somewhere. Help would be appreciated.

As far as the sound goes, I have updated ALSA, but don't know where else to go. HP claims my device is a Conexant 221 HD Smart Audio chip, but it's detected within lspci as:

00:07.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] High Definition Audio (rev a1).

I get a message on bootup that there's a problem with the audio device and it's failing over to an HDMI device, but there is no HDMI port on my laptop. I'm stumped.

If anyone can help with the wireless or sound, I'd be very grateful. If more information is need I will be happy to provide it, if you can give instructions. I'm going out of my comfort zone with linux here, so I'd really like the hardware to be working.

Thanks in advance.

[TKS1125]

ALRIGHT, we need some info so we could help, go to my computer and open it up, look and see what you have for memory and graphics. this will also help solve some of the issues. in my compaq i am running a NVIDIA 8900 card and i run the libxine in kaffiene for sound . but first let us know what the system has there first.

[mjung79]

Memory Information
Total memory (RAM): 2.7 GB
Free memory: 1.5 GB (+ 862.3 MB Caches)
Free swap: 2.0 GB

Display Info
Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Model: GeForce 8200M G/PCI/SSE2/3DNOW!
Driver: 3.0.0 NVIDIA 185.18.36

[lwfinger]

Do you really need to use the Broadcom wl driver? Please post the
output of the following command:

/sbin/lspci  -nnv  |  grep 14e4

Your wl module is not loading automatically because it is not in the
correct path for the kernel to find it. If it really is needed, then I
will give you the necessary commands that will load it.

[mjung79]

Well, before entering the commands, I have an eth0 and a loopback device only. Afterwards, I get an eth1 and can see wireless networks.

Here's the output of the command:

07:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g [14e4:4315] (rev 01)

Thank you guys for your help so far.

[lwfinger]

mjung79 wrote:
> Well, before entering the commands, I have an eth0 and a loopback device
> only. Afterwards, I get an eth1 and can see wireless networks.
>
> Here's the output of the command:
>
> 07:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312
> 802.11b/g [14e4:4315] (rev 01)

With the 4315, you have two options. You can use the Broadcom wl
driver, or you could install the appropriate compat-wireless package.
That card is supported there.

As you have already installed the Broadcom wl driver, we will stay
with it; however, if you get any instability with it, I would suggest
switching to c-w. The driver in it is rock-solid with the 4315.

To get the ieee80211_crypt_tkip module loaded, use YaST => System =>
/etc/sysconfig Editor. On the screen that follows, click on the + next
to System and Kernel, then click on MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT. Add
ieee80211_crypt_tkip module to that line.

The wl module will auto load once it is installed. Change to the
directory where you built the driver, and enter

sudo make install

Once you do the above two things, you should not need to enter those
commands.

[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by mjung79

... sound is nonexistent.

Get internet working first.

Then after that is working we can help you with sound.

openSUSE by default installs the alsa driver for sound.

The general advice I give for sound problems is to start trying to work your way through the openSUSE audio troubleshooting guide: SDB:AudioTroubleshooting - openSUSE .

Do NOT use the startup system sound as your criteria for stating sound does not work. Also be certain to check your mixer. Its not uncommon for a mixer setting (master, pcm or speaker) to be muted upon boot. In KDE your mixer is "kmix" (the small speaker in right hand corner). In Gnome your mixer is "alsamixer".

Note, when testing if you have sound, please copy and paste the following speaker-test into a Gnome terminal or a kde konsole:

speaker-test -Dplug:front -c2 -l5 -twav

Note Linux is case sensitive, and “D” is not the same as “d”. To stop the above test, while the konsole/xterm has the mouse focus, press <CTRL><C> on the keyboard. Note you should check your mixer settings (kmix if using KDE, and alsamixer if using Gnome) to ensure that PCM and Master Volume are set around 95%. Once you have basic sound established you can back off to lower volume levels. Note the test for surround sound is different.

If that test yields errors (and its not uncommon to get errors there), try instead this more simple test:

speaker-test -c2 -l5 -twav

You should hear a female voice saying 'FRONT LEFT', 'FRONT RIGHT' five times. Its quite common that one of those speaker tests will work and one will NOT work, so don't be distressed if that is the case. IF that test gives sound, stop now, post that the sound test gives sound, and we will look at other possible causes for your applications not giving you the sound you want (such as missing codecs, using the wrong packaged version ... etc ... ).

Or alternatively, for testing the simple playback, use aplay program. Prepare a WAV file and simply run like:

aplay -vv somefile.wav

With the option -vv, aplay shows the verbose information of the PCM device, and a VU-peak meter during playing the file.

Try those speaker-tests as both a regular user, and also with root permissions. If you have a headset, try with your headset plugged in, and also with your headset not plugged in (for speakers).

Assuming no sound, can you provide more very detailed information so a good recommendation can be given? For openSUSE-11.1, you can do that, with your laptop connected to the internet, by opening a gnome-terminal or a kde konsole and twice copy and paste the following into that terminal/konsole

wget -O alsa-info.sh http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-info.sh && bash alsa-info.sh

It will ask if you wish to share your audio information. Select YES. It will diagnose your PC's hardware and software configuration for audio, and it will post its output on the Internet/web. It will give you the URL of the web site. Please post that URL here. JUST the URL.

Alternatively, you can run that by typing:

/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

to update it you need to run it as root. Otherwise run as a regular user. Be certain to select the SHARE/UPLOAD option so as to have it post the info on the web, so that you can share the URL of the script output.

Also, please copy and paste the following commands one line at a time into a gnome-terminal or a konsole and post here the output:

rpm -qa '*alsa*'
rpm -qa '*pulse*'
rpm -q libasound2
uname -a
cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound

... with that information I may be able to make a recommendation.

Also, do NOT waste too much time on this. Simply post on our forum if you get stumped, and continue to look for help that way

mjung79 wrote:
> The laptop is a Compaq Presario CQ50-110US.

when you get it sorted, please update
http://en.opensuse.org/HCL/Laptops/Compaq

thx
--
palladium
Have a lot of fun..

[growbag]

Seeing as he is using 11.1, the first thing would be to remove pulseaudio wouldn't it? That should fix the sound problem in 1 easy step .

Then change the default channel to "master" by right clicking on the mixer. This has finally been fixed in the 11.2 candidates .

growbag wrote:
> Seeing as he is using 11.1, the first thing would be to remove
> pulseaudio wouldn't it?

i agree...but, oldcpu *is* the master sound technician (who has
already forgotten more than i ever knew about sound) and i think i
read where he thinks we should continue working with pulse (else how
will it get better, i _think_ he wrote that...near where i'd
recommended deleting pulseaudio to fix a problem)..

since i have no reason to nor want to question his thoughts on
anything to do with sound i think i stopped recommending it here
(still do on usenet--pulseaudio is not on my system, but i'll not
recommend that to folks that oldcpu is trying to help keep it)

--
palladium
Have a lot of fun..