[arch-general] Problems rebuilding kernel with alsa 1.0.19

[David Rosenstrauch]

Tomás Acauan Schertel wrote:
> What kind of problem with sound are you having?
> I use the same module, and all I got is a continuous "shhhhhhhhhhhh" for a
> while.
> 
> --
> Tomás A. Schertel

Actually, I think I finally just solved it!  (Woo hoo!)  What a relief!!!!

Symptom was basically ... no sound at all.  BTW, I'm using the 
snd-hda-intel module, with the IDT 92HD71B7X codec.

I think there may have been a combination of issues that was causing the 
problem, but I just identified the final one - the analog loopback setting.

Here's all the things I've tweaked in the last couple of days that 
either individually or in combination appear to have fixed it:

* Upgraded to kernel 2.6.29.  Possibly might have been a bug in the 
snd-hda-intel ALSA driver/codec in 2.6.28?

* Removed snd_hda_intel and snd-pcm-oss from the MODULES line in my 
rc.conf.  I'm using MOD_AUTOLOAD anyway, so I might as well just let the 
system load them.  Perhaps I was loading them in the wrong order somehow?

and, most important:

* This codec has 2 "Analog loopback" settings on the mixer.  (Visible 
both in alsamixer and in kmix (on the "Switches" tab).)  Both of these 
settings MUST be set to mute or sound goes dead.  I have no idea what 
these settings do - or why they normally start out UNmuted at system 
boot - but as soon as I switch them off, the sound automagically comes 
to life!


HTH,

DR