Bug 4831 - Bad soundcard patches for Intel ICH4 AC'97 in 2.6.13
Summary: Bad soundcard patches for Intel ICH4 AC'97 in 2.6.13
Status: REJECTED INSUFFICIENT_DATA
Alias: None
Product: Drivers
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Sound(ALSA) (show other bugs)
Hardware: i386 Linux
: P2 high
Assignee: Jaroslav Kysela
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2005-07-02 03:35 UTC by Uwe Bugla
Modified: 2005-12-29 08:29 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Kernel Version: 2.6.13-rc3
Subsystem:
Regression: ---
Bisected commit-id:


Attachments

Description Uwe Bugla 2005-07-02 03:35:42 UTC
Hi,
my soundcard is onboard ASUS P4 PE:
Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM
(ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 2). IRQ 21.

There are faulty patches in 2.6.12-mm2.

The effect is that the sound device becomes unusable:
The PCM-button of my sound mixer (kmix) does not work as an effectless volume
control any longer,
but acts like a moog synthesizer old Keith Emerson would have been proud of:
producing weird distorted tones when used.

I tried to substitute a couple of modules by the ones of official Kernel 2.6.12:
- intel8x0
- ac97_codec.c

That did not work because the compiler then complained about unknown vendors and
devices in module intel8x0.c.
I have no idea which modules could be faulty, as the sound architecture is quite
complex as far as dependencies
are concerned.

So please revise that patches.
Comment 1 Adrian Bunk 2005-07-21 06:04:51 UTC
Is this problem still present in kernel 2.6.13-rc3-mm1?
Comment 2 Adrian Bunk 2005-07-22 10:18:53 UTC
Answer by Uwe Bugla:

1.I'm working with KDE 3.3.1 and kmix 2.2 beta1
2.The problem persists in all Kernel versions of sublevel 2.6.13 (i. e. rc1,
rc2, rc3 and rc3-mm1)
3.I'm working with Debian Sarge testing 3.1, snapshot from November 2004:
Perhaps I should make an upgrade, and then test new kernel.
4.Fact is that I tested Knoppix 3.9 with KDE 3.4 and a newer version of
kmix: Knoppix 3.9 is completely unstable as far as KDE is concerned, but the
PCM problem with kmix in relation to my personal sound card doesn't exist
anymore.
Comment 3 James Courtier-Dutton 2005-07-28 20:19:00 UTC
Are you using ALSA or OSS driver.
Add output from:
cat /proc/asound/cards
cat /proc/asound/version
Comment 4 Andrew Morton 2005-07-28 23:13:34 UTC
Can we have an update on this please?  There have been ALSA
patches in 2.6.13-rc4 - testing those would be appreciated.
Comment 5 Uwe Bugla 2005-08-02 08:22:41 UTC
Subject: Bug 4831 - Soundcard problems with Intel ICH4 onboard sound chip

Before anything runs into chaos concerning this bug report, I decided to compare
two kernel versions to show a kind of "before-afterwards-effect" for developpers:
2.6.13-rc3 and 2.6.13-rc4.

A. Kernel version: 2.6.13-rc4
Two printouts in advance:
1.cat /proc/asound/cards says:
0 [I82801DBICH4   ]: ICH4 - Intel 82801DB-ICH4
                     Intel 82801DB-ICH4 with AD1980 at 0xe8800000, irq 21

2. cat /proc/asound/version says:
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.9b (Thu Jul 28 12:20:13
2005 UTC).

1.PCM button works now. It doesn't produce weird sythesizer-like tones any more.
2.The output part of Kmix2.2beta1 contains three buttons: PCM, Input
amplification and Digital 1: PCM works fine for video playback, Input
amplification seems to be completely effectless, Digital 1 I cannot test because
I'm missing digital equipment. A volume control for audio CD playback is
missing. Digital 1 refuses to work correctly (it kind of trembles when moved).
3.The input part of Kmix2.2beta1 contains 8 buttons: master volume, input,
microphone, CD, input 1, phone input, phone output, video.
Master volume works fine, input is effectless, microphone not tested, CD is
effectless, though it should control audio CD playback, input 1 controls audio
CD playback, phone input and output is not tested, and video refuses to work (it
kind of trembles when moved).

Advantages to former versions:
a. The mixer device carries a correct name now: Analog Devices AD1980
b. All button names are german now.
c. No more distorted tones by any control buttons

In comparison to this:
B. Kernel version: 2.6.13-rc3
Two printouts in advance:
2.cat /proc/asound/cards says:
0 [I82801DBICH4   ]: ICH4 - Intel 82801DB-ICH4
                     Intel 82801DB-ICH4 with AD1980 at 0xe8800000, irq 21

2. cat /proc/asound/version says:
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.9 (Sun May 29 07:31:02 2005
UTC).
1.The output part of Kmix2.2beta1 contains eight buttons: Master, master mono,
master surround, PCM,  surround, center, LFE, IEC 958 Playback.
Master works fine for video and CD audio playback, master mono is effectless,
master surround produces weird synthesizer-like tones (i. e. unusable!), PCM is
only usable for video playback, not for audio CD playback, surround, center are
not tested as I don't own digital equipment, LFE effectless, IEC958 Playback
effectless.
2.The input part of Kmix2.2beta1 contains 6 buttons: line, CD, microphone,
phone, Aux, video.
For video playback all 6 buttons are completely effectless.
For audio CD playback only the Aux button works fine, while the other 5 buttons
are completely effectless.

OK, so far about the bug report update.
Big question: Under Windoze XP the driver package supplied by ASUS contains
wonderful MIDI support. Why isn't that also possible under Linux? It's a real
pity that many PC owners are thrown back to oldfashioned ISA cards if they
appreciate MIDI support. Would developpers please be so kind and add MIDI
support not only to this sound device?
Comment 6 Andrew Morton 2005-09-14 22:54:36 UTC
OK, so we've had some progress with this bug.

Is 2.6.14-rc1 still actually more buggy than 2.6.12 or are
we at the same level of bugginess?

Comment 7 Adrian Bunk 2005-12-29 08:29:49 UTC
Please reopen this bug if you are able to answer the questions from comment 6.

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