Configuring sound card freezes system

[J-TAK]

I just read on linuxhardware.com that my DFI AK75 MB is crap. I wish I'd known that before I bought it :rolleyes:

Has anyone had experience getting the onboard sound to work under linux?? Running sndconfig freezes the system when it tries to play Linus's voice, but it thinks it's installed the sound - on boot up the whole thing locks up again. Any ideas?? :confused:

[mdwatts]

All I can suggest is for you to try some Google searches for your motherboard/soundcard etc.

Sorry I didn't catch the distro/version you are using, so also check their support/documentation site and also their hardware compatibility lists.

Perhaps your distro's usergroup where others may have posted problems about the same m/b and soundcard.

It's kinda hard to suggest something else since we don't know the distro/version you are using or what soundcard you have.

[J-TAK]

I'm using rh7.0 2.2.16-22 - guess that's probably a bit old huh? - I've had a few problems compiling a new kernel too, but that's another story! SInce posting I found an article on NHF re ALSA for the southbridge integrated sound (VIA VT82C686B AC97/Audio) so that's my next step, unless someone knows a better way. Thanks for replying, sorry I was too vague....

[mdwatts]

It's just the more info you give us upfront the less time you have to wait for the answer. If we have to keep asking questions of you, then it may take a few days before you get the solution. No harm done. Just some advise.

I'm not sure if the older distros/kernel have support for the VIA chipset.

I have the same VIA on both my home pc's (Asus and Abit) and use the 2.4 kernel series. I don't have builtin sound though as I prefer to get a separate soundcard.

The 2.4 kernel has support for the VT82C686B.

#
# Sound
#
CONFIG_SOUND=m
CONFIG_SOUND_VIA82CXXX=m

If your pc has enough memory etc., then I would suggest you try Redhat 7.2 or continue on with ALSA if it will work with the VIA and the 2.2.16 kernel. That I'm not sure about.

[J-TAK]

I managed to install the drivers from VIA's website, without having to worry about ALSA, but they didn't work until I went through xconfig and removed all the other sound modules that had been installed with the OS. Now I get system sounds and can play audio cd's!! The install's not completely clean (has problems with mpu401 midi stuff), but it's good enough for now. Thanks for the advice :)

[mdwatts]

Your welcome. Glad I could help somewhat.