Hmmm... Sound on the Thinkpad T60...

[Mike Reinehr]

Matthew,

On Monday 20 November 2006 10:41, Matthew Carpenter wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I have been running Kubuntu Dapper on a TP T60 series for a couple weeks
> now. Basically the only thing which didn't work off the bat was sound.
> I wanted to email you all about it but hadn't found the chance.  It seems I
> keep reading that there is a "Linux-friendly" version of the T60 (which was
> scary, since I didn't know that when it was ordered).  Also, the docs I
> keep running into say "run alsaconf" and Debian removed this tool as
> deprecated...
>
> I have absolutely no idea what happened, I barely tinkered, and with no
> noticeable success....
>
> But last night my Korganizer alarm goes off, fr34ks my wife out because
> sound suddenly works...
>
>
> DOH!
>
> Anyway, I am all ears on this one.  What might have happened!?!  I'm
> running at 4 days uptime, so "all of a sudden" can't involve a reboot
> (because it wasn't working two days ago)....
>
> As for any packages that may have been installed:
>
> $ find /var/lib/dpkg/info/ -ctime -3
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libpng12-0.list
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libpng12-0.md5sums
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libpng12-0.postinst
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libpng12-0.postrm
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libpng12-0.shlibs
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libpng12-dev.postinst
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libpng12-dev.list
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libpng12-dev.prerm
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libpng12-dev.md5sums
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libgdk-pixbuf2.shlibs
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libgdk-pixbuf2.list
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libgdk-pixbuf2.postinst
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libgdk-pixbuf2.postrm
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libgdk-pixbuf2.md5sums
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/python-gtk-1.2.postinst
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/python-gtk-1.2.list
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/python-gtk-1.2.prerm
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/python-gtk-1.2.md5sums
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/imlib-base.conffiles
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/imlib-base.list
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/imlib-base.md5sums
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/gdk-imlib11.shlibs
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/gdk-imlib11.list
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/gdk-imlib11.postinst
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/gdk-imlib11.postrm
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/gdk-imlib11.md5sums
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/imlib11.shlibs
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/imlib11.list
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/imlib11.postinst
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/imlib11.postrm
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/imlib11.md5sums
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libungif4-dev.md5sums
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/libungif4-dev.list
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/imlib11-dev.md5sums
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/imlib11-dev.list
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/python-gdk-imlib-1.2.postinst
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/python-gdk-imlib-1.2.list
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/python-gdk-imlib-1.2.prerm
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/python-gdk-imlib-1.2.md5sums

It probably was the mixers. Alsa never works "out of the box". You always have 
to fire up one of the mixers, i.e., alsamixer, kmix, etc. and turn on 
channels & raise volumes. I've never bothered to learn what all the 
acronyms/abreviations mean, so I usually just start turning things on until I 
get sound. You probably fiddled with a mixer and turned on the right channel 
without realizing it at the time.

Here's a relevant snip from one of the README's:

	ALSA drivers initialize hardware mixer levels to zero.  It is usually
	desirable to set things up so that the mixer levels for basic sound
	output are automatically raised to reasonable levels after the drivers
	have completed their initialization.

	Currently, alsa-utils accomplishes this by having its initscript's
	"start" method restore mixer levels to what they were the last time
	they were saved (see below).  The levels are stored in the file
	/var/lib/alsa/asound.state.  If either the latter file or the alsactl
	program is not available then amixer is used to set mixer levels to
	"reasonable" default values.

	To set mixer levels to "reasonable" default values from the command
	line (i.e., without trying first to restore saved values), run
	"/etc/init.d/alsa-utils reset".

HTH's!

cmr
-- 
Debian 'Etch': Registered Linux User #241964

"More laws, less justice." -- Marcus Tullius Ciceroca, 42 BC