I posted about this exact same problem a few months ago, but got so
frustrated with this problem that I gave up and took a break from Linux as a
whole.
Now, I'm back at it. Here's the problem:
I have a Soundblaster 16 ISA card that I cannot get to work with Suse 7.1.
I've never had a problem with this card working with other distributions and
I have a crapload of them on my bookshelf.
I've PnP disabled in BIOS. My card isn't PnP.
Yast2 won't detect the card, and if I try to add this card to the system
setup manually, I get the error, "The kernel module snd-card-sb16 for sound
support could not be loaded."
I tried ALSA and without ALSA....either way won't work. I've tried to
install OSS (pkg opso) but it seems this is not on the Suse 7.1 CD set. I did
a search of the disks for this package when installing some other software
from the disks and the search was negative for opso. Will the same opso from
6.4 work with Suse 7.1? If so, I'll try it...if not, is there a 7.1 opso
build on Suse's site? I haven't looked yet because every few minutes, Suse
will lock up my whole system and I end up having to reboot...console messages
right before lockup show "recording overrun," whatever that means.
Other errors I'm seeing at the console are:
Console log for 500mhz
Jun 26 13:54:01 500mhz kernel: PCI: Found IRQ 9 for device 00:09.0
Jun 26 13:54:01 500mhz kernel: usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports
Jun 26 13:54:01 500mhz kernel: usb.c: USB device 3 (vend/prod 0x6a3/0x53f) is
not claimed by any active driver.
Jun 26 13:54:01 500mhz kernel: usb.c: USB device 4 (vend/prod 0x4a9/0x2204)
is not claimed by any active driver.
Jun 26 13:54:44 500mhz kernel: isapnp: Scanning for Pnp cards...
Jun 26 13:54:44 500mhz kernel: isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
Jun 26 13:54:45 500mhz kernel: at 0x220 irq 5 dma
3,7
Jun 26 13:54:45 500mhz kernel: at 0x330 irq 5 dma 0,0
Jun 26 13:54:45 500mhz insmod:
/lib/modules/2.4.0-4GB/kernel/drivers/sound/sb.o: post-install sb failed
Jun 26 13:54:45 500mhz insmod:
/lib/modules/2.4.0-4GB/kernel/drivers/sound/sb.o: insmod char-major-14 failed
I commented out ALL sound device lines from /etc/modules.conf to try to stop
the errors above but they are still coming, although at a slower rate.
Here's how things look now:
Jul 1 01:08:47 500mhz modprobe: modprobe: Can't locate module sound-slot-0
Jul 1 01:08:47 500mhz modprobe: modprobe: Can't locate module
sound-service-0-3
Jul 1 01:15:06 500mhz kernel: isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
Jul 1 01:15:06 500mhz kernel: snd: Sound Blaster 16 soundcard #1 not found
or device busy
Like I've said, I commented every single line that had to do with sound in
/etc/modules.conf and the soundcard is STILL being detected and it's modules
loaded.
I'm also sure I have all the soundcard settings correct (DMA, IRQ...). I do
get sound with all the errors, but only at the X-server's initialization
(KDE, actually). MP3 and video players won't work....before, they would work
but I couldn't control volume and equalizers.
I don't know why Suse has always had problems with my SB16. It's worked in
numerous other systems I've built, with other OSs, but NEVER Suse. I've only
gotten it to work with Suse once and I had to ditch ALSA and use OSS for it
to work....now I find that the OSS drivers aren't showing on the CDs for 7.1.
I'm not about to buy another soundcard, although I should. The SB16 is so
damn old...any cut-rate OS should detect it.
I'm about to backup some material so I can soon try a reinstall of Suse since
sound isn't the only thing I'm having problems with (CDR and NIC also). I'll
give the current install about one more week before I kill it and have
another go at installation.
