Asus Essence STX-II sound card

English Hardware
1

Assorted web sites note that this card is a no-brainer for Linux, that it should be detected out of the box and normally autoconfigured. On my installation of OpenSuse-13.2 it is not even detected and I have no idea where to find the driver “snd-virtuso”. There is a “cmi8788 Oxygen HD-Audio” shown detected in Yast but attempting to configure it I get a message to the effect that “kernel module snd-virtuoso could not be loaded”. With Tumbleweed it’s a slightly better story, the card is detected and is already configured when I open Yast onto Hardware/Sound. There is no configuration as-such available though. Clicking TEST however produces sound only in the speakers, not in the headset (it has a separate 1/4" jack). The volume control in Syst-Tray gives an empty dialog as does clicking the settings icon (just says ‘No output or input devices found’).

I need this card as I do a lot of music work, since I seem to be closer to results wit h Tumbeweed I’d appreciate some help with that but since some of the apps I use don’t work with TW I need to get the card to work under 13.2 as well. It works under windows so there are no hardware issues, but did notice under w7 that to get sound out into the headset I needed to select it in a small utility (OR speakers if I wanted speakers). I have no idea how this would/would-not work under linux.

TIA

2

With respect to your Tumbleweed install, you should start by making sure that pavucontrol is installed. That can help with setting the correct profile and selecting/adjusting the appropriate outputs (sinks).

As you probably are aware openSUSE 13.2 is EOL so your options for support are limited. Having said that, you might try testing with a current stable kernel. To do that you’d need to subscribe to the appropriate repo and install the stable kernel alongside your existing kernel (so that you can boot using either as necessary). Be aware that booting with this stable kernel will break any proprietary drivers that you may have added (eg graphics drivers).

The steps required

zypper ar -f http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/ kernel

zypper ref

zypper in --from kernel kernel-default

then reboot.

YMMV.

3

I need this card as I do a lot of music work, since I seem to be closer to results wit h Tumbeweed I’d appreciate some help with that but since some of the apps I use don’t work with TW I need to get the card to work under 13.2 as well.

Have you tested the behaviour of these applications with Leap? You might like to start another thread discussing the problems you had with these in a TW environment, as someone may be able to assist/advise further.

4

Thanks for both replies Deano. As far as TW, everything turned out ok, pavucontrol had been installed. I did an update involving a kernel revision and the requisite reboot but the controls still were not showing up. Went back to 13.2 for a while and on return to TW they were right there. I had bought this (shielded) card for output but mostly to get to static and noise free input so that part was vital.

I’ll look into using a newer kernel on 13.2 and will also post some outstanding app problems here with respect to TW. Because of them I can’t realy move over yet but I’d like to tame TW instead of Leap because the rolling-release bit.

5

This reads like progress anyway. :slight_smile:

6

I worked over the 13.2 isue as well, without much success so far:

zypper made an unbootable mess. System booted from grub cLi. Kernel 4.x found installed. Grub2 boot-code redeployed with Yast.
pavucontrol installed
alsamixer launched, card enabled.

http://paste.opensuse.org/76542540

Kmixer shows 2 cards as playback devices: the moboard (nVidia) GK107 hdmi controller on left and the earlier cmi8788 (virtuoso) on the right, moving the latter slider produces poping sounds in speakers (only). No sound.

Loaded mp3 in Audacity, no sound. Audacity speaker selection options ‘default’ or onboard hdmi controller, nothing else.

lsmod shows the snd-virtuoso module loaded and in use by 2. qJackctl can not be started, this will probably force a partition recovery from image made with dd becasue as it is I now have two systems to do sound on but the one thing that neither does is sound. By sound I mean a studioful of sound apps qjackctl being one :-)))

I’ll bang this around again later tonight


07:36:05.209 Patchbay deactivated.
07:36:05.210 Statistics reset.
07:36:05.212 ALSA connection change.
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started
07:36:05.235 ALSA connection graph change.
07:36:07.137 JACK is starting...
07:36:07.138 /usr/bin/jackd -dalsa -r44100 -p1024 -n2 -D -Chw:SB,0 -Phw:SB
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started
07:36:07.151 JACK was started with PID=3043.
Cannot create RT messagebuffer thread: Operation not permitted (1)
Retrying messagebuffer thread without RT scheduling
Messagebuffer not realtime; consider enabling RT scheduling for user
no message buffer overruns
Cannot create RT messagebuffer thread: Operation not permitted (1)
Retrying messagebuffer thread without RT scheduling
Messagebuffer not realtime; consider enabling RT scheduling for user
no message buffer overruns
Cannot create RT messagebuffer thread: Operation not permitted (1)
Retrying messagebuffer thread without RT scheduling
Messagebuffer not realtime; consider enabling RT scheduling for user
no message buffer overruns
jackdmp 1.9.10
Copyright 2001-2005 Paul Davis and others.
Copyright 2004-2014 Grame.
jackdmp comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; see the file COPYING for details
JACK server starting in realtime mode with priority 10
self-connect-mode is "Don't restrict self connect requests"
Cannot lock down 86605722 byte memory area (Cannot allocate memory)
control open "hw:SB" (No such device)
control open "hw:SB" (No such device)
creating alsa driver ... hw:SB|hw:SB,0|1024|2|44100|0|0|nomon|swmeter|-|32bit
control open "hw:SB" (No such device)
ALSA lib pcm_hw.c:1693:(_snd_pcm_hw_open) Invalid value for card
ALSA lib pcm_hw.c:1693:(_snd_pcm_hw_open) Invalid value for card
ALSA: Cannot open PCM device alsa_pcm for playback. Falling back to capture-only mode
Cannot initialize driver
JackServer::Open failed with -1
Failed to open server
07:36:07.359 JACK was stopped with exit status=255.
07:36:09.224 Could not connect to JACK server as client. - Overall operation failed. - Unable to connect to server. Please check the messages window for more info.
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started




lsmod    
Module                  Size  Used by
snd_seq_dummy          16384  0 
snd_seq                81920  1 snd_seq_dummy
bnep                   24576  2 
bluetooth             589824  5 bnep
ecdh_generic           24576  1 bluetooth
fuse                  118784  3 
ccm                    20480  3 
af_packet              49152  8 
arc4                   16384  2 
carl9170              106496  0 
ath                    32768  1 carl9170
mac80211              901120  1 carl9170
cfg80211              716800  3 mac80211,ath,carl9170
rfkill                 28672  4 bluetooth,cfg80211
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     57344  1 
snd_hda_intel          45056  2 
snd_virtuoso           57344  2 
snd_oxygen_lib         49152  1 snd_virtuoso
snd_hda_codec         147456  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_hdmi
snd_mpu401_uart        16384  1 snd_oxygen_lib
snd_rawmidi            40960  1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_hda_core           90112  3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_hdmi
snd_seq_device         16384  2 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi
snd_hwdep              16384  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm               147456  5 snd_oxygen_lib,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_core,snd_hda_codec_hdmi
snd_timer              36864  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
joydev                 24576  0 
snd                    98304  20 snd_oxygen_lib,snd_hda_intel,snd_hwdep,snd_seq,snd_hda_codec,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_seq_device,snd_virtuoso,snd_pcm
uas                    28672  0 
usb_storage            69632  1 uas
soundcore              16384  1 snd
edac_mce_amd           28672  0 
sp5100_tco             16384  0 
kvm_amd                94208  0 
kvm                   696320  1 kvm_amd
xhci_pci               16384  0 
xhci_hcd              241664  1 xhci_pci
serio_raw              16384  0 
irqbypass              16384  1 kvm
pcspkr                 16384  0 
fam15h_power           16384  0 
k10temp                16384  0 
shpchp                 40960  0 
i2c_piix4              24576  0 
crct10dif_pclmul       16384  0 
crc32_pclmul           16384  0 
crc32c_intel           24576  0 
ghash_clmulni_intel    16384  0 
wmi_bmof               16384  0 
pcbc                   16384  0 
acpi_cpufreq           24576  1 
aesni_intel           188416  2 
aes_x86_64             20480  1 aesni_intel
crypto_simd            16384  1 aesni_intel
glue_helper            16384  1 aesni_intel
cryptd                 28672  3 crypto_simd,ghash_clmulni_intel,aesni_intel
asus_atk0110           24576  0 
dm_mod                143360  0 
hid_generic            16384  0 
usbhid                 57344  0 
ohci_pci               16384  0 
sr_mod                 28672  0 
cdrom                  69632  1 sr_mod
nouveau              1896448  3 
ohci_hcd               61440  1 ohci_pci
ehci_pci               16384  0 
ehci_hcd               94208  1 ehci_pci
video                  45056  1 nouveau
ata_generic            16384  0 
mxm_wmi                16384  1 nouveau
i2c_algo_bit           16384  1 nouveau
drm_kms_helper        200704  1 nouveau
pata_atiixp            16384  0 
usbcore               286720  10 usbhid,usb_storage,ehci_hcd,ohci_pci,xhci_pci,uas,ohci_hcd,carl9170,xhci_hcd,ehci_pci
syscopyarea            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
sysfillrect            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
sysimgblt              16384  1 drm_kms_helper
fb_sys_fops            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
ttm                   114688  1 nouveau
pata_jmicron           16384  0 
drm                   434176  6 nouveau,ttm,drm_kms_helper
wmi                    28672  3 wmi_bmof,mxm_wmi,nouveau
button                 16384  1 nouveau
sg                     40960  0
7

I recovered the 13.2 installation from a backup, installed pavucontrol but then could not get the on-board sound to work, essentially finding myself in a self-induced situation similar to he one this morning. (Asus x-hair-IV mobo). Deleted pavucontrol and got Yast to set the onboard sound working again on reboot. So the heads-up is that I have a 13.2 system with old sound and working apps with loads of static, squelch and radiation interference; then I also have a Tumbleweed with new card sound but crashing and unusable sound apps.

8

Don’t really know if related to my card…

When I started today’s nag-session I clicked on the sound Volume (spkr) icon in System Tray and I got what I had been expecting: ALBEIT horizontal but nonetheless SLIDERS for input and output control functions. So I figured ‘nothing to do here’. Seconds ago I tried again and there’s only: “NO output devices found” even though I had not removed any sound hardware all this time.