[Pkg-alsa-devel] Bug#438886: alsa-base: alsa modules loaded but /proc/asound/cards remains empty

[Matthew Grice]

Package: alsa-base
Version: 1.0.14-1


I'm using Debian Unstable (Lenny) on the AMD64 platform.

  All the correct ALSA modules are loaded for my soundcard:

matt at giant:~$ lsmod | grep snd
snd_via82xx            34600  0
gameport               21264  1 snd_via82xx
snd_ac97_codec        117336  1 snd_via82xx
ac97_bus                7040  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm                89736  2 snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer              28552  1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc         15120  2 snd_via82xx,snd_pcm
snd_mpu401_uart        13568  1 snd_via82xx
snd_rawmidi            30880  1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device         13076  1 snd_rawmidi
snd                    69104  7 
snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore              15392  3 snd,via82cxxx_audio,sound
matt at giant:~$

But! There is no mention of a soundcard in /proc/asound/cards:

matt at giant:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
--- no soundcards ---
matt at giant:~$

the kernel reports the soundcards correctly configured:

matt at giant:~$ dmesg | grep [Vv][Ii][Aa]82
via82cxxx: Six channel audio available
via82cxxx: Codec rate locked at 48Khz
via82cxxx: board #1 at 0xDC00, IRQ 193
via82cxxx: Six channel audio available
via82cxxx: Codec rate locked at 48Khz
via82cxxx: board #1 at 0xDC00, IRQ 193
matt at giant:~$

But alsa reports that there are no cards to applications:

matt at giant:~$ xmms
Message: device: default

** WARNING **: alsa_get_mixer(): Attaching to mixer hw:0 failed: No such 
device
ALSA lib confmisc.c:769:(parse_card) cannot find card '@
                                                         �'
ALSA lib conf.c:3510:(_snd_config_evaluate) function 
snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such device
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:3510:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat 
returned error: No such device
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:3510:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer 
returned error: No such device
ALSA lib conf.c:3982:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such device
ALSA lib pcm.c:2144:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM dmix

** WARNING **: alsa_setup(): Failed to open pcm device (default): No 
such device
matt at giant:~$

Neverwinter Nights also reports that no card can be found.

gnome-sound-properties fails when ALSA is selected with:

matt at giant:~$ gnome-sound-properties
sound-properties-Message: Error running pipeline 'audiotestsrc wave=sine 
freq=512 ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink': Internal 
GStreamer error: state change failed.  Please file a bug at 
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=GStreamer. 
[gstswitchsink.c(155): gst_switch_commit_new_kid (): 
/pipeline0/gconfaudiosink0:
Failed to set state on new child.]
matt at giant:~$

I hope I have provided enough relevant information.

Many thanks,

Matt Grice