Problems with openSUSE 11.2 and the Kernel

English Install/Boot/Login
1

First, sorry for the vague title, but there is not enough room to list all of these minor problems I am having with my openSUSE upgrade.

I followed the upgrade directions, found here, precisely. However, I am still experiencing some unusual problems, some I think I have resolved, but others are leaving me puzzled.

Before I get to far into this, my working knowledge of *NIX platforms is decent, but I am no where close to expert or advanced.

Problem 1 - KDE Profiles (resolved)
The first problem I experienced was that my KDE profiles were all screwed up, buttons would not work, desktop icons were missing, applications would not start or would show horrid graphics, and the list goes on. Having run through a similar problem with FreeBSD, I decided to simply move my ~/.kde4 to ~/.kde4.orig and then do a forced reinstall of KDE4. This seems to have resolved the issue, I just have to recreate my profile, which should be relatively simple.

Problem 2 - Sound Driver
Shortly after my upgrade, I did have sound, but I had lost control of the volume. This is somewhat expected as with each Kernel update of Linux, I found I had to reinstall the sound drivers, Creative X-Fi. This never presented a problem as it was a 30 second process and very simple to perform (there were three commands, four if you include ‘su -’). This time, I ended up running into an error, seen below:


make -C /lib/modules/2.6.31.5-0.1-default/build M=/home/005/a/aw/awj071000/Documents/XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.31.5-0.1-obj/x86_64/default'
make -C ../../../linux-2.6.31.5-0.1 O=/usr/src/linux-2.6.31.5-0.1-obj/x86_64/default/. 
  CC [M]  /home/005/a/aw/awj071000/Documents/XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00/xfi.o
/home/005/a/aw/awj071000/Documents/XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00/xfi.c:14:26: error: sound/driver.h: No such file or directory
/home/005/a/aw/awj071000/Documents/XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00/xfi.c: In function ‘ct_card_probe’:
/home/005/a/aw/awj071000/Documents/XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00/xfi.c:55: error: implicit declaration of function ‘snd_card_new’
/home/005/a/aw/awj071000/Documents/XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00/xfi.c:55: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast
make[4]: *** [/home/005/a/aw/awj071000/Documents/XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00/xfi.o] Error 1
make[3]: *** [_module_/home/005/a/aw/awj071000/Documents/XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00] Error 2
make[2]: *** [sub-make] Error 2
make[1]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.31.5-0.1-obj/x86_64/default'
make: *** [all] Error 2

This brings me to my third problem…

Problem 3 - VMware
Similar to the sound card, each time a new Kernel patch is applied, I have to recompile VMware Workstation 6.5 for it to work again. This is even simpler than the sound drivers as all I do is start VMware and it automatically recompiles. Now, when I go to start it, I receive the two following errors:

This appears upon trying to start VMware Workstation…
http://utdallas.edu/~awj071000/vmware_error1.png

This appears when I click ‘Install’…
http://utdallas.edu/~awj071000/vmware_error2.png

Problem 4 - Kernel…
The previous two problems seem to be related to some underlying kernel issue that I have yet to be able to resolve. I have barely been able to change the error messages. So far I have forced a reinstall of almost everything kernel related that was already installed, plus I installed quite a few *-devel packages. I reinstalled ‘make’ and ‘gcc’ for good measure, but I am not getting anywhere.

Any assistance in trying to get this resolved would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if you need any additional information as well, but to start my computer is a Dell Precision 690 (64-bit).

Thank you.

2

For the other things I dont know, but for VMWare, I had same problem. I recompiled kernel, and then it installation went OK.

How to recompile kernel, see at my blog, it’s the latest post.

3

I have to say that putting multiple problems in one thread is a REALLY BAD idea. Unfortunately, as a result, you will not get near the attention you deserve to solve your problem.

What do you mean by you had to reinstall Creative Sound drivers? Did you download something from Creative and install it? If so, THAT is what broke your sound. That was a REALLY BAD idea.

Please describe what you did !

I am not sure how easily this can be fixed. You may need to re-install all of your alsa apps, or possibly force a re-install of your kernel (but first backup your /boot/grub/menu.lst file).

4

This might help. It’s about server rather than workstation (but with a quick scan it appears workstation did install, while server requires some hacks because vmware’s installation script does not work with the newer kernel).

OpenSuse 11.2 and VMware Server - openSUSE Forums

This also might help:

Setting up VMware Workstation - openSUSE

Are you sure you have the headers installed? That would be package linux-kernel-headers or (according to the above howto if using kernel-desktop) then kernel-desktop-devel.

Not having the headers could also prevent the Creative driver from compiling.

5

xfi drivers are already part of the 11.2 kernel… why do you insist installing them from Creative???

6

Sorry for the extended delay, had a two-week vacation for Christmas…

I went ahead an did a fresh install of 11.2, and although I have some sound now (where I had none before), it is only limited to the login and logout sounds. Test sounds, YouTube videos, and video/audio files do not produce sound through my Creative card.

I followed the Audio Troubleshooting article (SDB:AudioTroubleshooting - openSUSE), including the part where it has you delete the card. I was able to reinstall the default card, an Intel ESB2(HDA), but not the Creative SB X-Fi. Following the remaining instructions, I ran…

/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

and it generated the following information: http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=8a6265f9f9ca0500247e9df9d6dffbb0eaa6f670.

7

It sounds like all your problems stem from not having installed the kernel-source for the new kernel.

8

I forgot to include the error I receive when I try to add the Creative X-Fi card:

“An error occurred during the installation of [X-Fi]. The kernel module error for sound support could not be loaded. This can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.”

9

According to that, none of your sound is working … but you say you have sound. Did you run that when sound was not working? or working?

Is it possible (ie agreeable) for you to only use one sound device at a time? Support for the X-Fi is new (as of alsa-1.0.21 which is included in openSUSE-11.2 as an rpm and also in the 2.6.31 kernel) and I do not know if it is possible to use both X-Fi and another device at the same time (ie one may need to be disabled in BIOS or physically removed).

X-Fi is not yet supported by YaST, and hence for X-Fi to work, you need to remove any /etc/modprobe.d/50-sound.conf file. But removing that file will likely break sound for your other sound card.

However alsa upon booting will see your other sound device and try to configure that in addition to the newly supported X-Fi, and I’m not clear what will happen.

Hence please advise as to which one you wish to get working. …

  • If X-Fi, then you need to disable your “other” sound device in BIOS (or physically remove if a card) *]If your other sound device, then you need to go to YaST > Hardware > Sound and configure your other device and make it the primary device. Do not configure any entry for X-Fi in YaST.

Note, if you have login/logout sounds working, then your sound works.

With Flash under firefox, you need to ensure your primary sound device (as selected in YaST > Hardware > Sound) is the device you are using for firefox, and ensure PCM volume is up high in your mixer when playing.

For other audio you will need to setup your codecs. There is guidance here: Multi-media and Restricted Format Installation Guide - openSUSE Forums

10 
rpm -qa '*kernel*'

kernel-source-2.6.31.8-0.1.1.noarch
kernel-default-devel-2.6.31.8-0.1.1.x86_64
kernel-syms-2.6.31.8-0.1.1.x86_64
patterns-openSUSE-devel_kernel-11.2-20.22.1.x86_64
kernel-desktop-devel-2.6.31.8-0.1.1.x86_64
kernel-xen-devel-2.6.31.8-0.1.1.x86_64
linux-kernel-headers-2.6.31-3.4.noarch
kernel-debug-devel-2.6.31.8-0.1.1.x86_64
kernel-firmware-20090821-4.1.noarch
kernel-desktop-2.6.31.8-0.1.1.x86_64

11

@oldcpu

Thanks, I am working on the problem as I update this thread. I was able to get my Intel HDA device working again, it was disabled/broken during troubleshooting, but I was not sure when as I got tired of switching the cable. Currently, it appears most everything is working under my Intel HDA sound card, which is directly connected to my motherboard, so I am going to leave well-enough alone for now.

Here is the latest alsa-info.sh file: http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=64605078e6bac66a8e3253ca7a0d44b97a1b811e.

In regards to VMware, I found that getting support for 6.5 is becoming more and more difficult now that 7.0 is out, and with VirtualBox being supported through YaST, providing a quality free alternate (not paying to upgrade VMware), and that I was able to get it to work, I am not going to even bother with VMware anymore.

12

Ok …

You will probably note your PC has an /etc/modprobe.d/50-sound.conf file.

Anytime you wish to test your X-Fi, simply move that file to /home/yourusername/backup/50-sound.conf such the file is no longer under /etc/modprobe.d . Then switch OFF your PC. Change your speaker cables to your X-Fi (or if you have to sets of speakers you have nothing to change). Then reboot to BIOS and disable mother board sound. Then continue to boot. Your X-Fi should automatically be working. You may have to tune your mixer (it should look different under X-Fi). If you are using KDE it may be confused a bit by the audio card change, and you “may” also have to go to “Configure Desktop” > General > Computer Administration > Multimedia Device Preference and change the order of your “preferred devices as appropriate” ( to put X-Fi first). And when you go back to motherboard sound you “may” have to change it back.

I recommend you install the packman packaged (not the Novell packaged) libxine1 and use that as your backend under “Configure Desktop” > General > Computer Administration > Multimedia > backend to xine.

13

A couple of quick additional thoughts . . .

Re VBox, bear in mind that the open source version which is in the standard openSUSE repository, does not support USB. The VBox folks have created a repository for the proprietary version, the url is:

http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/rpm/opensuse/11.2/

The open source version will be automatically reinstalled with a kernel change. The proprietary version needs to have reinstallation invoked manually in YaST when the kernel changes.

Re the sound: In the KDE multi-media module that @oldcpu ref’s, note that under Audio Output there is “Notifications” separate from “Music” and “Video”. You mentioned earlier you were getting login/logout sound but not elsewhere; this would suggest that Notifications might have had a working configuration but the others not. You can test each output device choice under each category.