Hello, I did as Chris suggested and put a number of pr_info statements throughout speakup_init. Here is the code lying between the last pr_info statement which produces output in the log and the next one which is not output. if (quiet_boot) spk_shut_up |= 0x01; To help find it, its just before the comment which reads: /* From here on out, initializations can fail. */ Does this help? I have just taken a quick look again at my system, I found I did have options set for speakup in the /etc/modprobe.d/ directory. The options line was: options speakup quiet=1 I have just removed that line and about to restart. I thought this might be worth while as the if statement looks like it might deal with such an option. Michael Whapples