Here's the update on the issue (at least from my aspect): TODO: 1) provide detailed lspci (will do later tomorrow, too tired right now) 2) thoroughly check /var/log/syslog for anything suspicious Apart from the ACPI and APIC problems, nothing out of the ordinary (i.e. APIC assigns IRQ 0 to cardbus and therefore nothing works, but if I disable APIC it's all ok. Furthermore, I've just yesterday fixed the ACPI and APIC problems by patching the kernel yet the problem persists. Right now the laptop boots with ACPI and APIC turned on, IRQ's get assigned properly, as a matter of fact EXACTLY the same like in Windows where the problem does not occur. Therefore, now the assumption that there is a "sweet" IRQ I need to select does not stand any more, as the same problem is exhibiting itself when the cardbus is at IRQ 11 (no ACPI/APIC) or at 17 (with ACPI/APIC and also the same IRQ as in WinXP). This now leads me to believe that the problem is strictly limited to the yenta_socket driver. 3) try pcmcia-cs (most likely won't work as Tim already tried that and it made no difference on his laptop, also the package wasn't updated since Dec.) This is not an option, as Tim pointed out, not only because this package only works with pre 2.5 kernels but also because it has been tested by Tim and had no difference. 4) try playback with an external Word Clock source Will try tomorrow (although I don't think so, as the card appears to work just fine on other Linux notebook). 5) provide downloadable examples of the distorted sounds (will do tomorrow). But by briefly looking at it, it definitely looks the same like Tim's (image found here: http://www.volny.cz/guitar_billy/hdsp.screenshot.png) where it seems like the sound has one small burst of audio data, then the comparably-sized streak of no change in data. There is still some distortion which I am not sure whether it is a result of this kind of misperformance of the sound or there is more to the story. 6) Pester alsa-dev, lau, and kernel/pcmcia people to death begging for help :-) IN-PROGRESS :-) 7) Pester eMachines to update BIOS (I may retire before this one happens, though) I did get through to someone and they did reply to my e-mail seeming interested in cooperating to resolve the issue, but at this point it does not seem like the BIOS is the culprit. 8) Something else? How about I go catch some z's :-) Good idea... Best wishes, Ico
