Insanely loud static scream with new SB 5.1 VX card.

[arioch]

Hello all,

Been a while since I was around here last, hope you are well.:)

I just got myself a new SoundBlaster card and it just gets me nothing but insanely loud screamy static right from boot. I also see Kmix changing to: "USB Device 0x46d:0x990" instead of "CA0106" - which is the soundblaster chip. I did:

1) modproble snd-ca0106
2) disabled onboard sound
3) upgraded ALSA

Nothing...

Sometimes, I can get it to go away by booting up into XP and then back into SimplyMepis 8, but not always.

What to do from here?

[camelrider]

Is the card firmly seated in the slot? Also, back in the day we sometimes used a pencil eraser to make sure the contacts were clean and oil-free before inserting them into the slot.

[arioch]

Yes, it's firmly inserted. Didn't clean the connectors though, hardly necessary on new card and in case of that kind of trouble, there would also be probs under Windows...

The problem is excactly similar to this: http://www.megacomputers.com.my/version2/content/making-sound-blaster-51vx-work-ubuntu ==> but the solution is not transferrable.

it's also mentioned here: http://translate.google.dk/translate?hl=da&sl=da&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fubuntuforums.org%2Farchive%2Findex. php%2Ft-1104738.html (http://translate.google.dk/translate?hl=da&sl=da&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fubuntuforums.org%2Farchive%2Findex. php%2Ft-1104738.html)

Look at the last post in the above link. How can it be a problem for 5 years??? Whats up: "OSS-bugs-get-fixed-waaaaaay-faster!"

[Icarus]

What does lspci find for the audio?
# lspci|grep -i audio
It might be caused by an additional sound card, is there onboard audio that is not disabled in the system BIOS?

[arioch]

Result of grep:

05:00.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs CA0106 Soundblaster

I don't see anything soundrelated enabled in the BIOS.

[Icarus]

The switching to USB Device is saying there is something else and it seems to have priority. Does lsusb show any additional audio device?

[arioch]

lsusb as follows:

Bus 008 Device 006: ID 046d:0990 Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Pro 9000
Bus 008 Device 005: ID 046d:c043 Logitech, Inc. MX320/MX400 Laser Mouse
Bus 008 Device 004: ID 090c:1000 Feiya Technology Corp. Flash Drive
Bus 008 Device 003: ID 058f:9254 Alcor Micro Corp. Hub
Bus 008 Device 002: ID 04f9:0182 Brother Industries, Ltd Composite Device
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0d49:7410 Maxtor Mobile Hard Disk Drive (1TB)
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

The Quickcam pro ID ends in "0990" and the mentioned USB device in Kmix ends in "0X990". Coincidence? I believe the Quickcam pro has audio in it?

[Icarus]

I'm confused as to why it wants to use the mic in the QuickCam as an output device? Does kmix have an option to set the default device? As a totally unacceptable (:)) fix how does it work when you unplug the QuickCam?

[arioch]

Icarus, thx for responding.

Unplugging the cam changes nothing.

The default analog source is "Line in", default digital source is "IEC958".

[Icarus]

I'm at a loss of what else to try. Maybe check dmesg for any errors if there are any? Move the card to a different slot?

[arioch]

Christ, now I have no sound at all. Can someone please explain to me, why Linux can have such a problem with a simple, cheap soundblaster live CA106 based card anno 2010? This is just redicilous. :confused:

[arioch]

I have now dumped ALSA completely and gone with the OSS project instead. I now have sound on the system, but not in Firefox. Is there no way to win with this? :confused: