No sound on ibm thinkpad 600 (Solved)

What works, and doesn't, for you. Be specific, and please include Puppy version.
Post Reply
Message
Author
sammy
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri 15 Dec 2006, 14:45

No sound on ibm thinkpad 600 (Solved)

#1 Post by sammy »

hello, i am a newbie here
i installed puppy on the hdd of my acer aspire 1304 and it works flawless, no probs with the hardware whatsoever, and wireless works great.
now i want to install it on a ibm thinpad 600 (128ram - 266mhz) too, but if i run the alsa wizard it doesn't recognize my soundcard. i did some search on google and found the thinkpad uses the Crystal 4237B chip
can anyone please help me with this please? (i am using puppy 2.01)
thanks

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#2 Post by tempestuous »

In your bios set "QuickBoot = OFF".

sammy
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri 15 Dec 2006, 14:45

#3 Post by sammy »

i did set the quick boot off, but it remains the same
i also tried pup 2.12 zdrv, and placed the 2.12 sfs file in the home directory,
again no success

when i poweroff, the system says can't find mixer, chmod 666 /dev/mixer

please help
sammy

User avatar
paulh177
Posts: 975
Joined: Tue 22 Aug 2006, 20:41

#4 Post by paulh177 »

i have exactly the same problem/error on an Acer Aspire 5612WLMi with realtek HDA. (see thread here)
It works fine with Puppy 2.02

zode
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon 19 Jun 2006, 21:06

#5 Post by zode »

Problems getting sound to work with Linux on Thinkpad 600 models are quite pervasive.

After spending more time on my Thinkpad 600E (2645-IB1) than I wanted to, I found that I could get sound to work on two distributions: Damn Small Linux 2.3 and newer, and Puppy 1.0.6. I could never find a combination of parameters that made sound work under a distro that used a 2.6-based kernel. DSL 2.3 through 3.1 use a 2.4-based kernel, as does Puppy 1.0.6. I don't know what the latest Puppy version is that used a 2.4-based kernel.

I could not get sound to work under any version of Puppy 2.x. I think I tried Puppy 1.0.8 and that didn't work either.

Anyway: you may want to try this, which worked on my Thinkpad:
0. Download Puppy 1.0.6.
1. Boot Puppy 1.0.6.
2. Open a console session.
3. Type the following commands, pressing Enter after each:
modprobe sound
insmod ad1848
insmod uart401
insmod cs4232 io=0x530 irq=5 dma=1 dma2=0

4. If you do a hard disk install, you can put those 4 commands into the file
/etc/rc.d/rc.local
which will cause sound to work after bootup.

I believe these instructions only work when using OSS-based sound, rather than ALSA-based.

Good luck.

sammy
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri 15 Dec 2006, 14:45

#6 Post by sammy »

it works, many thanks zode !!
i tried on puppy 1.06, but had some problem with xvesa, and i also tried it on puppy 1.07 and on both versions the sound works fine

after some more searching on google, i think that from puppy 1.08 on it's all alsa based

anyway, many many thanks
& the best for the new year to come

sammy

zode
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon 19 Jun 2006, 21:06

#7 Post by zode »

Sammy,

Happy to try to help...I'm glad it worked for you.

Best to you too.

sammy
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri 15 Dec 2006, 14:45

#8 Post by sammy »

hello again,
i have one last question
if i want to install the windows driver with ndiswrapper for my wireless card , i get an error message from ndiswrapper. it says :

can't locate Fcntl.pm in @inc (@inc contains : /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.6/i686-linux /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.6 /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.6 /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl) at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper line 18 BEGIN failed --compilation aborted at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper line 18

if i look in the perl directory, there's in fact no directory i686 but a i486 directory. do i have to install another perl version?
or is it a problem with the usr_devx.sfs?

thanks
sammy

sammy
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri 15 Dec 2006, 14:45

#9 Post by sammy »

... found the problem,
was using the wrong usr_devx file

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#10 Post by tempestuous »

sammy and zode,
With patience you should be able to get the ALSA driver working.
There are different variations of the Thinkpad 600 -

Model 600 and 600D use the CS4237B chip (ISA).
Model 600E uses the CS4239 chip (ISA).
Both chips are supported by the snd-cs4236 ALSA module. Try this -

modprobe snd-cs4236 index=0 port=0x530 cport=0x538 isapnp=0 dma1=1 dma2=0 irq=5

Model 600X uses the CS4624 chip, which is supported by the snd-cs46xx ALSA module. This is on the PCI bus, and should be automatically detected.

EDIT Aug 10 2008
To explain this issue further, it seems that the ALSA snd-cs4236 module does not load properly when defined in /etc/modprobe.conf
The solution is to load the module late in the boot sequence, from /etc/rc.d/rc.local
Here are the steps:

1. Check your bios to make sure that you have "QuickBoot = OFF".
2. Open /etc/modprobe.conf in Geany and delete all reference to "snd-cs4236".
This will be in a section marked "ALSA configuration".
3. Open /etc/rc.d/rc.local in Geany and add this line

Code: Select all

modprobe snd-cs4236 index=0 port=0x530 cport=0x538 isapnp=0 dma1=1 dma2=0 irq=5
4. Save. Reboot.
Sound should be working, but you may need to run alsamixer to unmute the master channel, and raise the volume.
Last edited by tempestuous on Sun 10 Aug 2008, 08:38, edited 2 times in total.

zode
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon 19 Jun 2006, 21:06

#11 Post by zode »

Tempestuous,

Many thanks. I was away from this for awhile. I wanted to set up Puppy on a different hard drive for the 600e because the old one was noisy, and this led me to think about getting a later version of Puppy with sound working on the 600e. Your post inspired me to take another crack at this.

And...it works!

I found, as I'm sure others have, that the ALSA mixer starts with its Master volume set to zero. Now, this just seems peculiar to me. After using the parameters you provided, and adjusting ZMixer's volume away from zero, I can use sound.

I verified that I still need to have Quick Boot disabled in the 600e's BIOS, even when using ALSA.

I would like to find a way to have the sound levels come up at my pre-determined settings upon next boot. I believe this is done with alsactl.

For the record, I found an item from a Gentoo user discussing sound on the 600e...
http://linuxfocus.org/~guido/gentoo-tp600e/
which states that he had to specify every single parameter to get sound to work:
snd-cs4236 isapnp=0 cport=0x538 port=0x530 sb_port=0x220 fm_port=0x388 irq=5 dma1=1 dma2=0

I tried it that way and your way (without the sb_port and fm_port parameters) and it works either way on my 600e.

Since I've now done a normal hard disk install of Puppy 2.13, I just need to get the sound settings to be maintained after rebooting.

Thanks again...cheers.

ssme
Posts: 81
Joined: Thu 15 Jan 2009, 14:40

#12 Post by ssme »

tempestuous wrote:sammy and zode,

EDIT Aug 10 2008
To explain this issue further, it seems that the ALSA snd-cs4236 module does not load properly when defined in /etc/modprobe.conf
The solution is to load the module late in the boot sequence, from /etc/rc.d/rc.local
Here are the steps:

1. Check your bios to make sure that you have "QuickBoot = OFF".
2. Open /etc/modprobe.conf in Geany and delete all reference to "snd-cs4236".
This will be in a section marked "ALSA configuration".
3. Open /etc/rc.d/rc.local in Geany and add this line

Code: Select all

modprobe snd-cs4236 index=0 port=0x530 cport=0x538 isapnp=0 dma1=1 dma2=0 irq=5
4. Save. Reboot.
Sound should be working, but you may need to run alsamixer to unmute the master channel, and raise the volume.
this is fascinating as a solution. i have a thinkpad 560x (running pup4.1.2 retro) which also 'features' a cs4237b sound chip. i have tried all sorts of solutions gleaned from the forum to get it working, including this one that obviously worked for the OP of this thread way back in the heady days of 2007,

i cleared the snd code from modprobe.conf, edited rc.local as described, saved and rebooted. no sound, no little speaker picture. when i try to run alsamixer, it says:
"alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such device"

any idea what i might be doing wrong, or how to get this frustrating thing working?

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#13 Post by tempestuous »

ssme wrote:this is fascinating as a solution.
Fascinating? It's standard procedure for ALSA configuration of ISA-based audio devices.
ssme wrote:i have tried all sorts of solutions gleaned from the forum to get it working, including this one that obviously worked for the OP of this thread
Yes, but did you follow the important instruction above:
tempestuous wrote:Check your bios to make sure that you have "QuickBoot = OFF".
In some Thinkpad models this bios setting may be called "ThinkPad Simple Boot"

ssme
Posts: 81
Joined: Thu 15 Jan 2009, 14:40

#14 Post by ssme »

tempestuous wrote:
ssme wrote:this is fascinating as a solution.
Fascinating? It's standard procedure for ALSA configuration of ISA-based audio devices.
fascinating in that you mention that ALSA has a problem loading snd-cs4236 in modprobe.conf, which is what i suspected all the time i had been trying to get it to work. having said that, the alternative (local.rc) didn't work, either.
ssme wrote:i have tried all sorts of solutions gleaned from the forum to get it working, including this one that obviously worked for the OP of this thread
Yes, but did you follow the important instruction above:
tempestuous wrote:Check your bios to make sure that you have "QuickBoot = OFF".
In some Thinkpad models this bios setting may be called "ThinkPad Simple Boot"
this thinkpad doesn't have any option like that in the bios. the bios options are very simplistic, just a date/clock and a boot order selection.

strangely, on a whim i just frugal installed puppy 1.0.8, which ran the alsaconf thing during the initial setup (before setting up xorg etc). it identified cs4236 as the correct module and, hey presto, i can listen to mp3s. having checked modules.conf on the puppy 1 filesystem (i don't if/where there is a modprobe.conf), the settings were identical to how i had set up puppy 4.1.2.

i'm guessing this is related to the older kernel or something, so it seems to suggest a toss-up between sound and an old puppy, or an up-to-date puppy with no hope of sound. it's a shame, as i really like puppy :(

srgtlord
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat 31 Jan 2009, 03:54

#15 Post by srgtlord »

I have a thinkpad 770x with a similar sound card and puppy 4.-whatever dsaid I had the sound card but then it said It did not detect any sound card. I need puppy 1.0.6 and it seems to have disapeared.

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#16 Post by tempestuous »

These recent problems are possibly due to the more modern kernel in Pupy 4.1.x
See "Audio fix for old Thinkpads" for a possible solution
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=38367

Post Reply