My previous message said compiler install where it should have said KERNEL install loses the ALSA drivers. This is a rewrite and covers some new ground too. This includes a suggested fix to the problem. I have spent 10 months without sound ( VIA8237 ) on my machine because ALSA would not work. I tried ALSA 1.0.9, 1.0.16. and now 1.0.17. I have discovered while working on another machine that compiling and installing a new version of your KERNEL will wipe out your ALSA driver modules. That is not something that would be obvious nor expected. The INSTALL documentation should definitely warn and inform. I do not know if it works now on my VIA8237 because the 1.0.17 fixed something important, or simply because kernel module installs were wiping out the ALSA drivers before. I saw in the changlog that the via82xx driver fixed something, but I also think that I never had the older version ALSA installed long enough to try it. I was fixing other kernel problems at the same time.. In this latest case I had to add a new network driver to the kernel because the old card died, and ALSA was working on that machine before the network problem. The following is the kernel makefile lines that does the deed. << FROM KERNEL MAKEFILE >> .PHONY: modules_install modules_install: _modinst_ $(patsubst %, _modinst_%, $(SUBDIRS)) _modinst_post .PHONY: _modinst_ _modinst_: @rm -rf $(MODLIB)/kernel <<<<<< Removes ALSA @rm -f $(MODLIB)/build @mkdir -p $(MODLIB)/kernel @ln -s $(TOPDIR) $(MODLIB)/build << END KERNEL MAKEFILE >> I change the extraversion of my kernel for the custom install so that it has a separate modules directory, keeping it independent of the default kernel binary, which is kept as backup. I also configure the kernel with things like karch=Athlon, and do not like to mix those modules with old modules. I keep the default kernel as backup during testing of the new kernel, and trying to delete the default kernel modules afterwards, when they are mixed in with new ones, would be inviting disaster. The interaction of the extraversion with the ALSA modules is not obvious, nor documented. The following is my suggested text to be included in INSTALL: << START INSTALL TEXT >> Compile and install ALSA drivers after customizing your kernel. The driver modules will be installed to "/lib/modules/2.4.31/kernel/sound", where 2.4.31 will be your kenel version as detected by the ALSA configure. OSS and older ALSA installed the driver modules to "/lib/modules/2.4.31/kernel/drivers/sound. A new ALSA will not overwrite the modules from an old ALSA. You do not want two different versions of any driver module installed as modprobe could easily get the old version. Install of kernel modules will wipe out your ALSA driver modules, as it cleans the entire kernel modules directory of everything. If you change a kernel config, or add a module, and reinstall your kernel modules, you will have to reinstall ALSA again afterwards! If you update kernels, or change the extraversion of your kernel, then you will have to configure, compile, and install ALSA afterwards. Save a copy of all ALSA configure files that you create or modify, in case you have to reinstall ALSA. The ALSA install likes to reinstall all files and may wipe out config file changes, and this behavior can vary from version to version. If you have to install a new kernel module someday, it is likely that suddenly ALSA does not work. Saving all ALSA config will save you from having to recreate all your ALSA setups too, when you are already fighting other problems. I suggest an easy to remember, easy to find, directory for such things, such as /root/configs. Another tactic is to save a copy of the ALSA drivers from "/lib/modules/2.4.31/kernel/sound" to someplace safe (outside "/lib/modules":), so it can be restored after kernel installs. example>> mkdir /root/modules_backup example>> mkdir /root/modues_backup/2.4.31 example>> cp -a /lib/modules/2.4.31/kernel/sound /root/modules_backup/2.4.31/sound Kernel install only wipes out the kernel modules directory, so a copy of the saved modules back into "/lib/modules/2.4.31/kernel" is all that is needed to restore the ALSA drivers. example>> cp -a /root/modules_backup/2.4.31/sound /lib/modules/2.4.31/kernel/sound Another place to keep backup modules could be: "/lib/modules_backup/... but I do not like to put such things into directory space that is package install territory, as those directories are handled by package-install and package-remove scripts from the distributor, and it can be hard to find them later. << END INSTALL TEXT >> I think these few paragraphs are not too much, and can save some people considerable wasted time and aggravation. Wesley D. Johnson, Linux user since 1994 . --- Get FREE High Speed Internet from USFamily.Net! -- http://www.usfamily.net/mkt-freepromo.html --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _______________________________________________ Alsa-user mailing list Alsa-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user
