Creative SoundBlaster drivers

Hi all,

New to Suse and Tumbleweed, but I love it.
However I am not able to hear any sound as my audio card is a SoundBlasterX G6, connected via USB.
Creative does not have any drivers for this model (has for others though).

Any idea if I can make it work?

Hi, welcome

Which desktop enviroment are you running? KDE? GNOME?

Sorry, forgot to mention… :slight_smile:

GNOME for know, but if there is a solution to any other, I might try, cause right now, it’s a no go for me…

A quick search online didn’t turn up any confirmation of Linux support for this device (as of yet). Can you provide the chipset details?

usb-devices

*Try and identify the output block pertaining to the device itself.

Sorry for the delay, I was on a trip.

So, I contacted Creative. They don’t have, nor they will plan to release drivers.
They suggested to contact Alsa Project, but neither they have for USB models.

“usb-devices” output is:

T:  Bus=05 Lev=02 Prnt=02 Port=02 Cnt=02 Dev#=  6 Spd=12  MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 1.10 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=041e ProdID=3256 Rev=01.00
S:  Manufacturer=Creative Technology Ltd
S:  Product=Sound BlasterX G6
S:  SerialNumber=xxxxxxxxxxxx
C:  #Ifs= 5 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=500mA
I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 0 Cls=01(audio) Sub=01 Prot=00 Driver=snd-usb-audio
I:  If#= 1 Alt= 0 #EPs= 0 Cls=01(audio) Sub=02 Prot=00 Driver=snd-usb-audio
I:  If#= 2 Alt= 0 #EPs= 0 Cls=01(audio) Sub=02 Prot=00 Driver=snd-usb-audio
I:  If#= 3 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID  ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=usbhid
I:  If#= 4 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID  ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=usbhid


Try communicating with the the alsa developers…
https://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Mailing-lists

We are fortunate to have such an alsa developer (Takashi Iwai) who is also a packager/maintainer for openSUSE as well, so raising a bug report may also get the required attention, although please be aware that driver development sometines takes considerable time and effort, and may involve reverse engineering to get a working driver. (Hopefully, this chipset is similar to other soundblaster devices that are already supported by the snd-usb-audio driver.)

In the past Soundblaster cards often required the user be a member of the sound group. you may try that

No, that’s not required, and the issue is no driver support as of yet (refer to the usb-devices output).

BTW, if you check

ls -l /dev/snd

you’ll see that ACLs are used (and ‘getfacl /dev/snd’ will report similarly). :wink:

I am not sure what to see here:

ls -l /dev/snd
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root       60 Nov 24 07:19 by-id
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root       80 Nov 24 07:19 by-path
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  8 Nov 24 07:19 controlC0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  2 Nov 24 07:15 controlC1
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  7 Nov 24 07:15 hwC1D0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 10 Nov 24 07:58 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  9 Nov 24 07:57 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  3 Nov 24 07:16 pcmC1D3p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  4 Nov 24 07:50 pcmC1D7p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  5 Nov 24 07:16 pcmC1D8p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  6 Nov 24 07:16 pcmC1D9p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  1 Nov 24 07:15 seq
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 33 Nov 24 07:15 timer


That reply was really for user gogalthorp (to demonstrate ACLs are in use for permissions). Refer to the ‘+’ sign in the output.

Sorry, I was incorrect about the driver status before. The ‘snd-usb-audio’ module is loaded (and bound to the Sound BlasterX device interfaces).

It may still be the case that the driver doesn’t properly support this device though. See if you can test your audio device with the the advice given in this troubleshooting guide…
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Audio_troubleshooting

If the audio tests fail to produce audible sound, run the alsa-info.sh (diagnostic script) as per the instructions given there and report back here with the link to the uploaded output.

With my limited knowledge on this topic, I can not tell from this thread if the issue is with the USB-driver not supporting the hardware, or if there is a configuration issue. There is a diagnostic script I like having run, which gives more information, and can help lead to even more diagnostic steps.

Assuming I am not missing the obvious, lI_Simo_Hayha_Il, could you plug your USB createive soundblaster into your PC, configure the mixer as you believe best possible to get the sound working (possibly also using the application ‘pavucontrol’ to tune the sound) and then assuming no sound, please open an xterm and as a REGULAR user with PC connected to the Internet, paste in the following command.


/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

That will run a diagnostic script. It will configure nothing, but it will provide information. Please let the script run to completion. When it asks whether to “UPLOAD/SHARE” or “SAVE LOCALLY”, select “UPLOAD/SHARE”. When it is complete, it will say in the xterm "Your ALSA information is located at … " and give you an HTTP address. Please post that HTTP address here.

That will give us information on the USB audio device as configured in your PC, and possibly that might give us some hints as to how to proceed.

Here is the information you asked for: http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=b71c0db0ac8da5413132b1b4415511692ac8afe3

However, the card is not at all recognized and when I am going to the Sound panel, I have zero options.

What I did and solved the issue is, I enabled the onboard card, which has a SPDIF out, connected the cable to G6 SPDIF in, and voila!
I don’t have all that fancy staff that the driver provides, equalizer, modes, presets, etc, but at least I can hear sound with minor distortion, since the Digital-To-Analog part is done by G6 and not the cheap chip on board.

Note the dmesg in the script output


!!ALSA/HDA dmesg
!!--------------.....

  232.456891] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio
  442.377535] usb 5-1.3: 2:1: usb_set_interface failed (-110)
...
  953.355167] usb 5-1.3: 1:1: usb_set_interface failed (-110)
...
 1003.531325] usb 5-1.3: 2:1: usb_set_interface failed (-110)
--
 2962.193870] usb 5-1.3: 2:1: usb_set_interface failed (-110)
 3015.244045] usbcore: deregistering interface driver snd-usb-audio
...


It looks to me, based on the timing (where ‘232.456891’ is the earliest time) that you 1st booted the PC, and only then plugged in the USB device.

If I am correct, (based on the above),how about plugging the USB device in BEFORE you boot, and only then boot your PC, and see if that makes a difference? Maybe re-run the diagnostic script in such a case, to see if the dmesg yields anything different.

.

I guess it is semantics … I suspect the card is partially detected, but the alsa driver will not load for it (at least it won’t load when you 1st boot the PC and only then plug in USB device, where that is assuming I have this correct based on dmesg … that may also be the case if you boot with the USB device already plugged in on boot, where it will not work). Note this:


/dev/snd/by-id:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  60 Nov 24 21:13 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 360 Nov 24 21:59 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  12 Nov 24 21:13 usb-Creative_Technology_Ltd_Sound_BlasterX_G6_4800694F5B1-00 -> ../controlC0

/dev/snd/by-path:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 100 Nov 24 21:59 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 360 Nov 24 21:59 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  12 Nov 24 21:59 pci-0000:00:1b.0 -> ../controlC0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  12 Nov 24 21:59 pci-0000:04:00.1 -> ../controlC1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  12 Nov 24 21:13 pci-0000:06:00.0-**usb**-0:1.3:1.0 -> ../controlC0

Unfortunately my knowledge is such that I can’t go further than that. The suggestion to write an openSUSE bug report (to get the alsa developer support) is a good idea. You can find guidance here: openSUSE:Submitting bug reports - openSUSE Wiki … you can use your openSUSE forum username and password when logging on to bugzilla. Write the bug on the ‘kernel’. Ensure your bug report is complete with a copy of the diagnostic script attached. And don’t bother referencing this thread, as the alsa developer will not read a forum thread.
.

Actually, the card is always connected on the USB, I am never removing it.
Maybe it is a motherboard thing, and this USB port doesn’t get enabled until later during boot sequence.
However, during Suse boot, it is definitely online, since the power leds are on.

I will file that bug report though.

Thanks for sharing your code.
I have been experimenting some issues, but i think that’s due to my computer being full of garbage.
Has anyone ever tried to download revo uninstaller to keep the computer clean and optimiced?

Well… problem solved!

You got me thinking with the USB staff, and I checked mobo manual. There are two USB controllers, on is 3.0 and the other 3.1. 3.0 is embedded in the X99A chipset, but 3.1 is an external chip, made by ASMedia.
I checked and the card was connected on the ASMedia chip, which is either not recognised by Suse, or it is initialized late, therefore making the card disconnect.
I moved the cable to one of the 3.0 ports, and works like a charm!

Still no driver interface though, but I can enable some of the features it has, from the buttons on the device.

Thank you all for your support :slight_smile:

Thanks for the update. It’s good to read of your progress with this device. It may be of help others who come searching.