Bug 118711

I just noticed that quake 3 (but not kmix) prints in the initialisation that the
sound is "muted" until I change the volume.

I guess you updated the system from 9.2, or 9.2->9.3->10.0.
Try to reconfigure the sound device via yast2 again.  See README.SuSE in alsa
package for details.

No, I did an install of RC1 on a formatted partition.
Should I reconfigure anyway?

You did not use alsaconf, right?  alsaconf has a known bug.
Anyway, it may help to reconfigure the sound in such a case.

Also, note that kmix remembers the sound setting by itself.  Even if you set up
the sound device correctly, kmix will bring back to a wrong state.  It's a known
problem also on the shared home environment over NFS.

OK
I´m not using RC1 for production, I just want to test it and report as many bugs
as possible for making the final as good as possible *g
So if this is a known bug and will be fixed for the final it´s not a problem for me.
I didn´t use alsaconf. I just installed RC1 and noticed this behaviour. So for
fixing this "for my computer" do you suggest that I run alsaconf or YaST2 or
just wait for the final version.

Well, it's already too late to fix for the final version (it was closed already
more than a week ago :)  So, I set this to WONTFIX, right now.
If you get exactly the same problem on the fresh installation of the final
version, please reopen this again.

Basically, this kind of problem is fixed simply by reconfiguring via yast2.
Just remove the sound device, quit yast, and start yast again to configure the
device listed in the detected list.
After that, check /etc/sysconfig/hardware/hwcfg-* file whether any of them
includes your sound driver module.
Then, login KDE, adjust/unmute the volume, and logout to store the current
setting.  At the next login, everyhing should work.

I tried what you said but unfortunately this doesn´t work.
It´s exactly like before, the sound is enabled when I change the volume in kmix.

Do you really have the corresponding /etc/syscofig/hardware/hwcfg-* files?

"/etc/sysconfig/hardware/hwcfg-bus-pci-0000:02:09.0" contains:

# YaST configured sound card snd-card-0
# t2XO.cURRVZc0Y21:ES1988 Allegro-1
MODULE='snd-maestro3'
STARTMODE='auto'

Then it must be OK.  Very likely just another problem of kmix, not the sound
system itself.
Try to login on runlevel 3, and check the mixer status.

How do I login with runlevel 3? And where do I get the mixer status from?
Sorry I´m not really familiar with configuring hardware on linux :(

I just checked with SuSE 10.0 Alpha1 (fresh install), and immediately after
YaST2 finished the sound worked, but after a restart the problem appears again.
If you explain me how to boot into runlevel 3 (as asked above) I can check if it
works or not.

I´ll reopen it as you said (the bug is still there)

Grrr, it's so stupid that we hide the boot options on 10.0...

On the boot menu screen, push F2 (or F3?) to enable more options, as shown in
the bottom line.  Then type '3' in the boot option, and boot.  That's all.

If you can login on console, check /proc/asound/cards.  If this shows the
correct entry, the system is OK.  If not, check /etc/sysconfig/hardware/* files
again.

I booted with runlevel 3 and /proc/asound/carsds contains an entry for my
allegro card. I think this has something to do with kMix or volume changing.
Strange is only that after setup finishes it works until I restart.

I just experimented a bit and I changed the volume a bit under the root account.
Now everything wors fine, even for normal users.

And what is even stranger is that after 2 reboots the bug is there again

It's likely a bug of kmix, then.  Try to remove kmix from the KDE start up, and
use another mixer, e.g. alsamixer on console.

I kicled kmix from my autostart but the problem is still there.
If I use alsaconf and change the volume, it´s ok on the next start but on the
second restart it doesn´t work anymore. So perhaps this is a bug with saving the
volume levels. I thought when I change the volume it´s saved so on the next
restart it is correct. But then on shutdown it get saved incorrect.

You mean alsamixer instead of alsaconf, right?
Don't run alsaconf.  It's a wrong solution, and will screw up the bug hunts.

I assume that your "don't work" means that no entry appears in
/proc/asound/cards.  If maestro3 is there and still no sounds, it's a mixer
problem.  Knowing this difference is _VERY_ important.

So, make sure the following:

- Remove kmix, don't start it
- Check /proc/asound/cards before touching anything
  Check whether maestro3 appears there.
- If maestro3 is there:
  - Run alsamixer to check the mixer status
    If it's musted or zero-volume, run "set_default_volume -f"
  If no entry
  - Check /etc/sysconfig/hardware/hwcfg-* whether the file including maestro3
exists.
    It must be a single file.  No multiple files.
  - Check kernel messages (via dmesg) to find any relevant errors/warnings
  - Run "modprobe snd-maestro3" manually.
  - Check the mixer status via alsamixer like above.
- Run "aplay something.wav" for testing sound.  Don't use any kde or other apps.

Test it on both runlevel 3 and 5.  Better to test on runlevel3 at first to check
the system consistency.

The whole test above should be done by a normal user.  Only "modprobe" requires
the root privillege.  Do other jobs on a normal user account.

Ok here´s what I found out:

alsamixer and kmix both behave exactly the same
There are no special kernel messages about the device, the /proc/asound/cards
entry is always present (mixer issue)
When I change the master volume it works and if I restart for the first time it
works also, but after the second restart the sound is muted again and the master
volume in alsamixer is reset to "77". When I change the master volume again the
whole thing starts over.
There´s no error when playing, the sound seems like to be muted.
In runlevel 3 there is no sound at all, not even after changing the volume (the
rest is exactly as above, e.g. when I change the volume in runlevel 3 and
restart with runlevel5 it works)

Thanks, now the situation became clear.

The symptom suggests that you hit a very old bug of maestro3 driver, which
happens only on a certain machine.  This is unsolved yet, unfortunately...

:(
Does this mean it will never be fixed because the driver is unmaintained. Or
does SuSE fix third-party apps with its own employees if there is no maintainer
(IMHO should be like that to guarantee the quality of SuSE linux)?

??  It has nothing to do with SUSE.  It's open-source.
I don't know what do you mean about "third-party"...

Anyway, I'd like to continue debugging this rather on ALSA bug-track system
since this is ALSA-specific thing.  If you can comple ALSA driver manually by
yourself, I'll be able to provide a test patch, for example.

I´m very interested in a solution for that bug and I really like to help here.
If there´s a howto or manual about compiling the driver (but I´m a programmer
myself) then it´s not a problem. Just tell me how to start (which bugtracker and
patch).

Sorry, for the delay.

It would be great that you can help.  Please create a similar bug report on ALSA
bugtracking system:
    https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/

The latest ALSA driver, lib, and others are found in download page on
www.alsa-project.org.  Basically you have to do the following:
- run "./configure --with-debug=full"
- "make"
- "make install-modules" as root user
  (Don't run "make install" for alsa-driver tree.)

alsa-lib and alsa-utils are not necessarily to be installed.  The ones on SL10.0
should be compatible with ALSA 1.0.10rc2 modules.

I submitted the bug to the ALSA bugtracker (after I couldn´t reach it for some days). With the newest drivers the sound doesn´t even work on restart, I´ve to change it every restart to get it to work.

Hmm, interesting.  There are no big changes regarding maestro3 driver between the SUSE kernel and 1.0.10rc2...

Is there anything which I should do (e.g. testing a new driver), because there doesn´t semm to be any activity with the bugreport?

Any progress here? I looked at the ALSA bugtracker but there wasn´t any activity one the bug. It´s now about 6 weeks ago that I submitted it.

Sorry, I know you have many bugs to work on, but I think this one isn´t trivial, many users are using the maestro chipset.
The other bug reports I submitted were all fixed or even worked on, but this one seems "forgotten". Was this by mistake.
I submitted a bug on the ALSA bugtracker (which I think is also read by SuSE staff since they develop ALSA) and nothing happened for over two monts now.
Any chance that this could be done before 10.1?

If you still find this bug in openSUSE 11.0, please reopen this bugreport and change the product to "openSUSE 11.0".

We will not fix this anymore, sorry for the long time to keep this open.