Driver for Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio (PCIe)

English Hardware
#1

I am a complete novice with Linux.
I recently installed openSUSE 11.3 (64-bit) on my PC – no other OS is present. I like openSUSE a lot but I cannot get my sound card to work. (Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio - PCIe).

Poking around on the Internet, I found a site (OSS/Linux) that apparently has a Linux driver for the card (the driver is called Open Sound System). I would like to give it a try and see what happens…

I need however to get some help since Linux is still a mystery to me:

  1. Which version do I want to download from OSS Download Registration? (Linux 2.6 AMD64 RPM? Linux 2.6 AMD64 DEB? Linux 2.6 AMD64 TAR? Does it even matter??)
  2. How do I install the downloaded file?
#2

OSS
Is already part of the SUSE install
It will not help your situation. Which IIRC did I suggest ebay for a bit of selling and buying?

#3

The .rpm is the file to download if you want to try it.

Then in the download location open a terminal and become su and do

rpm -ivh oss-linux-v4.2-2003.x86_64.rpm

When you download the file there is a instructions link too

#4

No, don’t use OSS. This card should be perfectly supported with what comes with openSUSE. Please describe what you see in YaST when you try to configure sound.

#5

According to this link Matrix:Vendor-Creative Labs - AlsaProject my card is not supported by the ALSA Project.

Sound Configuration shows the following cards:

  • 0 Sapphire HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Dual Slot Fansink
  • 1 SB1040

Within the Manual Sound Card Selection section, I can select Creative Labs, select X-Fi, and chose either Quick Automatic Setup or Normal Setup. In either case, I get an error message stating that the kernel module snd-ctxfi for sound support could not be loaded and that this can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.

#6

OK, I see. Could you please run the following command and paste the output?

hwinfo --sound

Thanks.

#7

caf4926, an alsa emulator of OSS is provided with openSUSE. The OSS driver is not provided with openSUSE. OSS is in fact a separate audio driver.

There was a time years ago that OSS was “THE” Linux driver, but then the developer of OSS decided they had spent so much time on it, they wanted money for their efforts and after some complexities associated with that, almost all of the open source Linux community dropped use of the OSS and adopted the alsa driver. Of couse this is all ancient history.

I documented some of this detail in an old sound concepts wiki: Sound-concepts - openSUSE

Of course my sound concepts page was not migated to the new wiki, and me not even be certain it met the new criteria that the wiki team has, means I have not pushed to have this page moved to the new area. I suspect that sound concepts page may just ‘die’ as I suspect not many found it useful.

#8

I can’t find the SB1040 on that list. Just because it is not on that list does not mean for certain it is not supported (although this could very well be). Could you do a screen dump of the page, and mark it up as to where it states your specific X-fi is not supported? Some X-Fi work with Linux and some do not, and I can not see the SB1040 version on the page you note.

A good place to go, when one has tried everything they can think of and still do not have their sound working, is to write a bug report on openSUSE-11.3 component ‘sound’. This brings their sound problem to the attention of the SuSE-GmbH packager, who is also a developer of the alsa sound driver. If anyone can be 100% accurate in their assessment as to a sound card’s compatibility, they can for sure. There is guidance here for writing a bug report: openSUSE:Submitting bug reports - openSUSE Use your openSUSE forum user name and password to log on to bugzilla. Note the openSUSE packager will REFUSE to read a forum thread, so the bug report must have all salient information. Also attach to the bug report (with the attach feature on bugzilla) the /tmp/alsa-info.txt file you get by running:

/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh --no-upload

I note you had another thread trying to get sound working on this X-Fi. I stopped providing you support on that thread: No Sound From Speakers… because as near as I could determine you stopped following my recommendations.

#9

See below.

35: PCI 200.1: 0403 Audio device
[Created at pci.318]
Unique ID: 2Oa+.h2kiZ7VIR82
Parent ID: 3hqH.tOQycw20j13
SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/0000:02:00.1
SysFS BusID: 0000:02:00.1
Hardware Class: sound
Model: “PC Partner Sapphire HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Dual Slot Fansink”
Vendor: pci 0x1002 “ATI Technologies Inc”
Device: pci 0xaa30 “HD48x0 audio”
SubVendor: pci 0x174b “PC Partner Limited”
SubDevice: pci 0xaa30 “Sapphire HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Dual Slot Fansink”
Memory Range: 0xfb9ec000-0xfb9effff (rw,non-prefetchable)
IRQ: 5 (no events)
Module Alias: “pci:v00001002d0000AA30sv0000174Bsd0000AA30bc04sc03i00”
Config Status: cfg=yes, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Attached to: #10 (PCI bridge)

37: PCI 500.0: 0403 Audio device
[Created at pci.318]
Unique ID: Ddhb.YhraNp3EzIA
Parent ID: YmUS.Ap1NNKytTd3
SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.0/0000:04:00.0/0000:05:00.0
SysFS BusID: 0000:05:00.0
Hardware Class: sound
Model: “Creative SB1040”
Vendor: pci 0x1102 “Creative Labs”
Device: pci 0x0009 “[SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio] CA0110-IBG”
SubVendor: pci 0x1102 “Creative Labs”
SubDevice: pci 0x0018 “SB1040”
Driver: “oss_hdaudio”
Driver Modules: “oss_hdaudio”
Memory Range: 0xfbafc000-0xfbafffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
IRQ: 16 (3591 events)
Module Alias: “pci:v00001102d00000009sv00001102sd00000018bc04sc03i00”
Config Status: cfg=yes, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Attached to: #36 (PCI bridge)

#10

I have the screen dump you requested in the form of a .jpg file but I cannot figure out how to attach the file to this message. In the ALSA matrix link that I quoted in the earlier message, the card is listed as: “X-Fi Xtreme Audio (PCIe)”
Also, the chipset for my card is CA0110 since my card is PCIe. I am not quite sure why openSUSE thinks that it is an SB1040.
I am trying my best to become proficient with Linux while also trying to find some solution to this problem…
Thanks.

#11

That output has never been very useful to me for audio. I’m not smart enough to give any sort of recommendation for that, as it does NOT provide enough information for me given my limited understanding. Was there something very specific there that you thought I absolutely must look at to understand your sound problem ?

Instead, I always ask for the information that is requested to be provided in the openSUSE multimedia stickie: Welcome to multimedia sub-area

and I’ll quote that to make your job easier:

please post …, providing in your post the following information:

/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

and select the SHARE/UPLOAD option and after the script finishes it will give you a URL to pass to the support personnel. Please post here the output URL/website-address that gives. Just the URL/website-address. You may need to run that script twice (the first time with root permissions to update in the /usr/sbin directory, and the second time to get the URL).
.
Note if for some reason that gives you no website/url/address then run it with the no-upload option:

/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh --no-upload

and post the file /etc/alsa-info.txt it creates to Pastebin.com and press SUBMIT on that site and again post here the URL/website-address it provides.

.
… some clarification on running the script “alsa-info.sh” … when you run:

/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

you should get something like this (if it asks for an update, select NO):
http://thumbnails33.imagebam.com/9280/a5973e92794041.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/a5973e92794041)

followed by this (select the SHARE/UPLOAD option):
http://thumbnails30.imagebam.com/9280/5e84f992794044.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/5e84f992794044)

followed by this (its quickest if you simply select ‘NO’ to seeing the output - you will see it on the web page) :
http://thumbnails32.imagebam.com/9280/214da092794048.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/214da092794048)

followed by this (where in RED is the URL).
http://thumbnails23.imagebam.com/9280/d9858092794051.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/d9858092794051)

Just post the URL you get (similar to the RED URL in my example, but yours will be different).

Again, if you can not get that, then run this with the no upload option:

/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh --no-upload


which will create the file /tmp/alsa-info.txt.  Copy that file and paste it on [Pastebin.com](http://pastebin.com) and press submit. That will give you a URL address. Please post that URL here.

Also provide the following:
  • in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: rpm -qa ‘alsa’ #and post output here
  • in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: rpm -qa ‘pulse’ #and post output here
  • in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: rpm -q libasound2 #and post output here
  • in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: uname -a #and post output here
  • for openSUSE-11.1 or earlier, in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound #and post output here
  • for openSUSE-11.2 or newer, in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: cat /etc/modprobe.d/50-sound.conf #and post output here
#12

Actually I posted the above information at the request of “cyberiad”. (See his reply of 22OCT10 05:09 hour to my initial post)

Anyhow, I ran /usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh and it gave me an URL:
http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=e66aedba04ea88f210e448d8279790833d7fe311

#13

I can confirm that the Creative Sound card SB1040 does not work with openSUSE. I happen to own one of these cards. In fact, if you search out the internet, you find that the card is not really even an X-Fi card. There are no X-Fi labeled chips on the PC board. When you use the card with Windows Vista or Windows 7, it comes up as HD Audio by default (Intel?), until you load a Creative driver for it. If you have any other sound card options, it is time to pull them out for use with Linux as the SB1040 is not likely to be working for you today or tomorrow.

Thank You,

#14

Did anyone write a bug report on it so as to bring it to the attention of the openSUSE packager?

#15

Thanks for your reply. I wish to clarify though that the chipset of my card is CA0110 and not SB1040. Why is it that Sound Configuration (YaST) shows “SB1040” under the Card Model column, I do not know…

#16

Thanks for your reply. I wish to clarify though that the chipset of my card is CA0110 and not SB1040. Why is it that Sound Configuration (YaST) shows “SB1040” under the Card Model column, I do not know…
Yup, the one big chip on my SB1040 says CA0110-IBG LF, but it also has MODEL : SB1040 followed by 010725. In any event, it is the very same sound card. Again, it does not appear to use an X-Fi chipset, on the Internet many complaints about it indicate it is not X-Fi based, It did not work with openSUSE 11.2 or 11.3 and it did not work with the open source driver released by Creative and it is not in the list of supported cards for the X-Fi driver.

In general, I would say that the fact that the SB1040 does not work with openSUSE is not a bug, but rather a case where a stepchild Creative sound card was released whose chipset drivers have not yet and may never be released to the open source community. It was built I think to fill a niche for those who want a computer to connect to a home entertainment system via optical interface on the cheap and it was never a main stream sound card. If you have one of these, give or sell it to a Windows only buddy, if you have one.

Thank You,

#17

On 2010-10-22 19:06, oldcpu wrote:
>
> Did anyone write a bug report on it so as to bring it to the attention
> of the openSUSE packager?

Me, a year ago.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)

#18

On 2010-10-22 04:36, tb75252 wrote:
>
> I am a complete novice with Linux.
> I recently installed openSUSE 11.3 (64-bit) on my PC – no other OS is
> present. I like openSUSE a lot but I cannot get my sound card to work.
> (Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio - PCIe).

I have that one.

hwinfo --sound says:

Model: “Creative SB1040”
Vendor: pci 0x1102 “Creative Labs”
Device: pci 0x0009 “[SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio] CA0110-IBG”
SubVendor: pci 0x1102 “Creative Labs”
SubDevice: pci 0x0018 “SB1040”

I have not been able to make it work in 11.2. I made a bugzilla, no real resolution, so I assume it
doesn’t work in 11.3 either.

I bought a cheap card to get sound (SB Audigy SE), while I wait some years till it works - if it
ever does.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)

#19

Ok … and what was the resolution ?

I did a search for bug reports on this and came up with 3. Two of which those who raised the bug report never answered the packagers questions. And one the packager appears to have dropped … but no one appears to have ‘bumped’ the bug report asking for a re-examination. I note:

I’m not saying there is a fix for this X-Fi, but from what I read in 2 of the 3 threads, there was no support provided to the packager to attempt to solve this bug.

Without support the packager will not be able to solve the bug.

#20

On 2010-10-23 02:06, oldcpu wrote:
>
> robin_listas;2242400 Wrote:

>> Me, a year ago.
>>
>> Ok … and what was the resolution ?

That it doesn’t work upstream. Hopeless.

> - ‘Bug 564324 - Sound does not work - Creative Labs [SB X-Fi Xtreme
> Audio] CA0110-IBG’
> (https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=564324) - this one also,
> the writer

Me >:-)

> of the bug report did not reply to the packagers
> suggestion,

What suggestion? I see none. If you refer to:

> Add snd-hda-intel to modprobe.d blacklist file.

What it does is block the driver from loading so that I don’t get a thousand log entries. Yes, that
worked, of course, it blocks the card. I didn’t take that as needing feedback, it is an obvious
hack. He knew that it would work, and that I would comment back if it didn’t.

I also asked a question that never got answered.

Ah, and a funny thing: after comment #1 the resolution was “resolved: upstream”. When I commented it
bumped to “Fixed”, instead of “Upstream”, which is wrong, it is not fixed. I’m sure I did not do
that myself, that was some automatic change.

I just reopened it.

> I’m not saying there is a fix for this X-Fi, but from what I read in 2
> of the 3 threads, there was no support provided to the packager to
> attempt to solve this bug.
>
> Without support the packager will not be able to solve the bug.

He doesn’t require it, it is buggy upstream. I would have tried a new package if he said so.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)