Bug 396101 - no sound thinkpad 600e cs4236
Summary: no sound thinkpad 600e cs4236
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: kernel
Version: 8
Hardware: i586
OS: Linux
low
low
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Kernel Maintainer List
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2007-11-22 20:58 UTC by Brent R Brian
Modified: 2014-06-16 23:37 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2009-01-09 05:18:51 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
modprobe options for the ThinkPad 600E soundcard situation (1.11 KB, text/plain)
2008-06-02 06:21 UTC, Fulton Green
no flags Details
init script to handle the ThinkPad 600E soundcard situation (800 bytes, text/plain)
2008-06-02 06:25 UTC, Fulton Green
no flags Details

Description Brent R Brian 2007-11-22 20:58:45 UTC
Description of problem:

Technique for using sound on 600e for fc4 - fc7 no longer works

*** output of lsmod | grep snd

snd_cs4236             19917  0 
snd_opl3_lib           11713  1 snd_cs4236
snd_hwdep              10309  1 snd_opl3_lib
snd_cs4236_lib         17601  1 snd_cs4236
snd_mpu401_uart        10177  1 snd_cs4236
snd_cs4231_lib         23105  2 snd_cs4236,snd_cs4236_lib
snd_rawmidi            21185  1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_ac97_codec         92389  0 
ac97_bus                6081  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_seq_dummy           6725  0 
snd_seq_oss            29889  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      9793  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                44849  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device         10061  5
snd_opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss            37569  0 
snd_mixer_oss          16705  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                63685  4
snd_cs4236_lib,snd_cs4231_lib,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              20549  4 snd_opl3_lib,snd_cs4231_lib,snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd                    43461  15
snd_cs4236,snd_opl3_lib,snd_hwdep,snd_cs4236_lib,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_cs4231_lib,snd_rawmidi,snd_ac97_codec,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               9633  1 snd
snd_page_alloc         11337  2 snd_cs4231_lib,snd_pcm

*** modprobe.conf

alias scsi_hostadapter libata
alias scsi_hostadapter1 ata_piix
alias scsi_hostadapter2 usb-storage
install snd-cs46xx /bin/true
install snd-cs4236 /usr/sbin/soundcard-on

*** rc.local

/usr/sbin/soundcard-on

*** /usr/sbin/soundcard-on

modprobe --ignore-install snd-cs4236 port=0x530 cport=0x538 fm_port=0x388 irq=5 
dma1=1 dma2=0 isapnp=0 index=0 

Using these has worked from FC4 thru FC7 ... but not F8

Now, when I access the volumn control I get

*******
The volume control did not find any elements and/or devices to control. This
means either that you don't have the right GStreamer plugins installed, or that
you don't have a sound card configured.

You can remove the volume control from the panel by right-clicking the speaker
icon on the panel and selecting "Remove From Panel" from the menu.
*******

Comment 1 Brent R Brian 2007-11-27 01:23:21 UTC
/dev/snd does NOT have the following ....

controlC0
hwC0D0
pcmC0D0c
pcmC0D0p



Comment 2 Chuck Ebbert 2007-11-27 22:40:44 UTC
(In reply to comment #1)
> /dev/snd does NOT have the following ....
> 
> controlC0
> hwC0D0
> pcmC0D0c
> pcmC0D0p
> 

Is everything up-to-date on this system?



Comment 3 Brent R Brian 2007-11-28 02:15:13 UTC
Yes, this is a THINKPAD 600e with a PCI AND ISA sound system (ask IBM, I don't
know why), no can do autodetect on this this thing, SOUND IS HAND CONFIGURED ..
it is a real pain ... also, the ACPI is off because the BIOS is TOO OLD

Comment 4 Christopher Brown 2008-02-14 00:06:41 UTC
Hello,

I'm reviewing this bug as part of the kernel bug triage project, an attempt to
isolate current bugs in the Fedora kernel.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/KernelBugTriage

I am CC'ing myself to this bug and will try and assist you in resolving it if I can.

There hasn't been much activity on this bug for a while. Could you tell me if
you are still having problems with the latest kernel?

If the problem no longer exists then please close this bug or I'll do so in a
few weeks if there is no additional information lodged.

Comment 5 Brent R Brian 2008-02-14 12:16:20 UTC
This 'lack of proper detection' has existed forever in RedHat/Fedora systems.  I
have seen the sound properly configured in some debian based distros, but not
reliably over the course of time.

This laptop has two sound systems (one ISA DOS based the other PCI) from what I
understand. (there are thinkpad sites that describe this in gross detail).  When
the detection is done, the PCI unit is detected and enabled, but, the ISA one is
not, and this system has to have the ISA one enabled at a minimum (from what I
understand, I have not looked into this in depth).

The fix is to /bin/true the module state for the PCI (so it won't load) and then
load the ISA driver by hand and past the modprobe parms in by hand to setup the
device like a soundblaster 16.

There may need to be a "dropdown" in sound config for special cases (wierd
hardware setups like 600e thinkpads) then use a script to detect the exact
configuration needs.

These stupid laptops are great for e-mail and surfing (and, unfortunately, are
very durable ... ie. great for grandkids).



Comment 6 Christopher Brown 2008-02-14 19:58:35 UTC
(In reply to comment #5)

> These stupid laptops are great for e-mail and surfing (and, unfortunately, are
> very durable ... ie. great for grandkids).

You might be interested to know that the European Space Agency use these types
of laptop as they are the only ones that don't fall apart when run on vibration
beds that simulate launch.

Anyway, to business. ISA detection has always been flaky and will not improve
given its legacy status. I'm assuming you need the ISA card for some reason and
blacklisting the driver to use purely the PCI one is not an option?

I wonder if disabling pulseaudio would solve things? Any chance of testing this?
If you could test with Fedora 9 Alpha that would be appreciated but I realise
this is a big ask.

If you have a boot log from F7 to compare to F8 that might also be helpful.

Comment 7 Fulton Green 2008-06-02 06:21:03 UTC
Created attachment 307333 [details]
modprobe options for the ThinkPad 600E soundcard situation

Either save this attachment in the /etc/modprobe.d directory or, if you're
overriding that directory with an /etc/modprobe.conf file, insert the contents
of this attachment into that file.

Comment 8 Fulton Green 2008-06-02 06:25:04 UTC
Created attachment 307334 [details]
init script to handle the ThinkPad 600E soundcard situation

Save this attachment to the /etc/rc.d/init.d/ directory, and create the
appropriate softlinks in the /etc/rc.d/rc[0-6].d/ directories.

Comment 9 Fulton Green 2008-06-02 07:13:59 UTC
First of all, I apologize for "hijacking" this bug thread.  But since it was
over three months old (and was previously slated for closure anyway), I didn't
think anyone would mind.

As with the original reporter, I have a ThinkPad 600E which is still going
strong after nearly nine years.  I just recently put a fresh install of Fedora 9
on it and immediately noticed the lack of sound (save for the beeping PC speaker).

As most people on this thread have figured out, the root cause seems to be the
detection of the PCI sound device (the CS4610), which causes the snd-cs46xx
module to be loaded.  Since this module (incorrectly) assumes AC97 functionality
underneath, no sound ever comes forth this way.

Also, the root solution seems to be centered around inhibiting the loading of
the snd-cs46xx module and loading, in its stead, the snd-cs4236 module with
custom parameters fine-tuned for the ThinkPad 600E.  This allows Linux to use
the ISA sound device (the CS4239 in this case).

Now to some information I've discovered while playing around with this for about
a week or so on the fresh Fedora 9 system:

First of all, I've included two attachments:
- a modprobe options file, and
- an init script
which, when inserted into the appropriate places underneath /etc/ (specific
instructions attached to the attachments), will result in at least some limited
playback functionality.

The main caveat: right now, the only way I can get any waveform sound to play is to:
- open up a terminal window;
- switch to superuser (su); and
- run aplay specificing the hardware device, e.g.:
  aplay -D hw /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Side_Right.wav

Some other caveats:
- I have not had a chance to test arecord, though I will note that there appears
to be some PCM capture devices being auto-created in /dev/snd/, /proc/asound, etc.
- FM synthesis capability (for MIDI files) seems to be lacking, even though I'm
specifying what I believe to be the proper FM port.

I'll leave it to the Fedora bug swatters to determine if the above caveats, or
anything else, are enough to keep this particular bug in an "open" state.

However, depending on the counsel of those involved here, I will most likely be
opening up two separate bugs soon due to:
- the startup process not detecting this particular soundcard situation in the
first place (hal-info?), and
- Pulseaudio not recognizing the legitimacy of the ALSA driver, resulting, I
believe, in the GNOME desktop volume applet being disabled.

If anyone needs anything in the way of logs, tracedumps, etc., just let me know,
but please try to be specific.  I'm also not afraid to break out the C compiler
if need be.

Thanks for your consideration, and again, I apologize for hijacking this.

Comment 10 Bug Zapper 2008-11-26 08:39:22 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 8 is nearing its end of life.
Approximately 30 (thirty) days from now Fedora will stop maintaining
and issuing updates for Fedora 8.  It is Fedora's policy to close all
bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained.  At that time
this bug will be closed as WONTFIX if it remains open with a Fedora 
'version' of '8'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version' 
to a later Fedora version prior to Fedora 8's end of life.

Bug Reporter: Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that 
we may not be able to fix it before Fedora 8 is end of life.  If you 
would still like to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it 
against a later version of Fedora please change the 'version' of this 
bug to the applicable version.  If you are unable to change the version, 
please add a comment here and someone will do it for you.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's 
lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events.  Often a 
more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes 
bugs or makes them obsolete.

The process we are following is described here: 
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers/HouseKeeping

Comment 11 Bug Zapper 2009-01-09 05:18:51 UTC
Fedora 8 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2009-01-07. Fedora 8 is 
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further 
security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of 
Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version.

Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.


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