# Need help with Linux



## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

I am not very good at Linux yet. Also, after talking to some people about Linux, I hear my problems are common. Can anyone tell me how to fix them? My sound works fine half the time when I play a video. Other than that, it don't work at all. When I use Sndconfig, that detects it correctly, but when I go to test it, it makes the noise I posted here. Also, even as Root, I cannot get to my CD-RW because it is locked. How do I unlock it and get to it? I can't even play a Korn CD in it! Everything works fine outside Linux. Please... Help... Me... Here...


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

Which version of Linux are you using? What soundcard do you have and which CDRW are you using?


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## V0lt (Sep 14, 2002)

I have RedHat 5.1 and I have the same problem: even under root, I can't play any cds or hear any sound....


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## TheTechIsIn (May 7, 2002)

Is it detecting your sound card correctly and is the volume turned up in the control panel?


[edit]
Lectraplayer,
What do you mean its locked ? It wont open or it wont display contents of the drive or? (Have you mounted it?)


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*Yes!*



TheTechIsIn said:


> *Is it detecting your sound card correctly and is the volume turned up in the control panel?
> 
> 
> [edit]
> ...


sndconfig correctly detects my sound card, but it plays that sound I posted when it tests it. The only noise I have been able to get out of it (besides that noise) is the audio for an AVI video. That's with all volumes maxed out! As far as my CD-RW drive, I can mount, unmount, crossmount, and tiemount it all I want and even that don't work. It says nothing there. When I try to access it (after I mounted it), it says I don't have rights to access it, not anything like not ready, like I would normally expect.:angry2: :upset: :sulk: :censore: (Radio Edited.) As far as the physical device, it works normally. If I hit the eject button, it will hand the disk over.


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

how is it mounted? primary slave, secondary master? I think I have a solution for the CDRW problem.

Sound wise.. sorry to ask again, but which soundcard do you have?


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*It all should work.*

My RW (Hewitt Packard 9100 series) is on Secondary Slave (and is picked up by Linux, but remains locked. I can't even use Roaster! How do I make it work?:censore: My audio device is the Sis CMI8738/C3DX. Under Windows, it is detected as both a PCI Audio Device and a PCI Audio Legacy Device. Both are needed under Windows before it will work. Linux just calls it a CMI8738/C3DX. Could that be the problem? Will I need to "add" a new sound card & try to make it detect as a legacy device?


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

I'm going to make a huge assumption here and say you're trying to use your burner when you're not logged in as root correct? CDRecord which is the burning tool in Linux (roast is just a frontend) requires it to be run as root, or... during setup you can configure it to work with non-root users.. If its generally locked all the time and you're not even able to mount it you might look at the following: Which is the permission set on my burner which is working  I hope this helps.

0 brw-r----- 1 root disk 11, 0 Jul 18 1994 /dev/scd0

note that its setup as a SCSI device even though its an IDE burner.. is IDE-SCSI emulation running? This could be the source of the problem as well. 

As far as the card goes.. I'm not sure. However I don't think I've asked you get. Open a shell and type the following:

"lsmod" without the quotes and post the output to the forums. I'd like to see whats loaded ... could help in determing your CDRW issue as well.


Drew


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*Always assume I AM root.*

I do everything as root. My question is "why isn't it working?" My IDE/SCSI emulator is active. I'll try your other suggestions ASAP.


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

Without seeing the output from lsmod and without sitting in front of your machine or seeing an complete error message that is given when you attempt to run a program, I can't tell you why its not working. I never assume someone is logged in as root since its a huge security risk so I apologize for my assumption.

At the promtp try typing this command also and see what you get.

cdrecord -scanbus

as with the lsmod command, please post your findings.


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*That IS a wise assumption.*



gotissues68 said:


> *Without seeing the output from lsmod and without sitting in front of your machine or seeing an complete error message that is given when you attempt to run a program, I can't tell you why its not working. I never assume someone is logged in as root since its a huge security risk so I apologize for my assumption.
> 
> At the promtp try typing this command also and see what you get.
> 
> ...


I have heard about that security risk too. However Linux won't let me in the files unless I am root, among other things. It's just the way I use my computer. Here's what I got when I punched in lsmod (assuming it don't scramble when I post).


[[email protected] /root]# lsmod
Module Size Used by
parport_probe 3536 0 (autoclean)
parport_pc 7568 1 (autoclean)
lp 5552 0 (autoclean)
parport 7744 1 (autoclean) [parport_probe parport_pc lp]
usb-ohci 12624 0 (unused)
usbcore 43632 1 [usb-ohci]
cmpci 20960 1
soundcore 2800 4 [cmpci] // My Sound Driver
nls_cp437 3952 4 (autoclean)
vfat 9408 2 (autoclean)
fat 30432 2 (autoclean) [vfat]
supermount 14224 2 (autoclean) //This should also handle the CD-RW, right?
tuner 2960 1 (autoclean)
bttv 47952 0 (unused)
i2c-algo-bit 7696 1 [bttv]
i2c-core 11968 0 [tuner bttv i2c-algo-bit]
kcompat24 3872 0 [bttv]
videodev 2752 2 [bttv]
ide-scsi 7664 0 // This should allow the CD-RW to work, shouldn't it?
[[email protected] /root]#


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

There are the 4 modules you need loaded in order for your Burner to work.

ide-scsi 7696 0
sr_mod 11840 0 (unused)
sg 24672 0 (autoclean)
scsi_mod 81136 3 (autoclean) [ide-scsi sr_mod sg]


If you need assistance in setting the rest of that up let me know.

As far as your soundcard goes.. Soundcore is part of it, but there's an additional module that needs to be loaded for your specific card, it looks like thats taking place, however perhaps the driver isn't very good ... (this happens with open source.. ) I might suggest you try the Alsa sound drivers which I've heard much better success with. 

At any rate. You burner needs the additional modules loaded, and your sound card looks like it "should" be working and I find it strange that its not. Try this command for me please.. I'd be curious to see the output.. again removing the quotes.

"cat /proc/pci"


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*Hmm, No Audio.*

We may have something here. Though I'll post the output later, I didn't see my sound card listed. I'll try your driver suggestion in the meantime. When I tried it, I didn't see your driver suggestion. Everything I did try either caused a segmentation fault resulting in a core dump or Sndconfig said it didn't respond. What's that driver called again?


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*Update: CD-RW*

An expert has gotten ahold of my CD-RW problem. Now, when I try to read a "Windows formatted" CD, it shows as empty. Is this normal? If anyone is wondering, the only CD I have tried so far is "Unreal, Return to Na Pali."


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

No thats not normal. All CD's should be readable. I'd be curious as to what the expert found out to be your CDRW problem.


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*It was one of my supermount lines.*

He found a line where my CD-RW driver was loaded as a "supermont" and put a pound in front of it. That made the "lock" error go away, but I can't see any files on the disk (after a restart). Shortly thereafter, he disappeared & I never could get with him to tell him what happened.


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*Update: Hmm, No Audio.*



Lectraplayer said:


> *We may have something here. Though I'll post the output later, I didn't see my sound card listed. I'll try your driver suggestion in the meantime. When I tried it, I didn't see your driver suggestion. Everything I did try either caused a segmentation fault resulting in a core dump or Sndconfig said it didn't respond. What's that driver called again? *


Here's my hardware output from "cat /proc/pci" which seems to not have my sound card listed. That may be why I don't have audio. You may recognize the "booktree" stuff as my TV tuner. Even without that, I can't get sound.

[[email protected] /root]# cat /proc/pci
PCI devices found:
Bus 0, device 0, function 0:
Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems 5597/5598 Host (rev 16).
Medium devsel. Master Capable. Latency=64.
Bus 0, device 1, function 0:
ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems 85C503 (rev 1).
Medium devsel. Master Capable. No bursts.
Bus 0, device 1, function 1:
IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems 85C5513 IDE (rev 208).
Fast devsel. Master Capable. Latency=128.
I/O at 0xfedffff8 [0xfedffff9].
I/O at 0xfbffbf7c [0xfbffbf7d].
I/O at 0xfe7bef78 [0xfe7bef79].
I/O at 0x2fffffec [0x2fffffed].
I/O at 0x4000 [0x4001].
Bus 0, device 1, function 2:
USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems 7001 USB (rev 16).
Medium devsel. Fast back-to-back capable. IRQ 11. Master Capable. 
Latency=64.
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xffadf000 [0xffadf000].
Bus 0, device 9, function 0:
Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Bt878 2nd Contr. (?) (rev 2).
Medium devsel. Fast back-to-back capable. IRQ 10. Master Capable. 
Latency=64. Min Gnt=16.Max Lat=40.
Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xff9fe000 [0xff9fe008].
Bus 0, device 9, function 1:
Multimedia controller: Brooktree Bt878 (rev 2).
Medium devsel. Fast back-to-back capable. IRQ 10. Master Capable. 
Latency=64. Min Gnt=4.Max Lat=255.
Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xff9ff000 [0xff9ff008].
Bus 0, device 11, function 0:
Network controller: Compaq Netelligent 10/100 (rev 16).
Medium devsel. Fast back-to-back capable. IRQ 9. Master Capable. 
Latency=64.
I/O at 0xf780 [0xf781].
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xffadeff0 [0xffadeff0].
Bus 0, device 13, function 0:
Multimedia audio controller: Unknown vendor Unknown device (rev 16).
Vendor id=13f6. Device id=111.
Medium devsel. IRQ 3. Master Capable. Latency=64. Min Gnt=2.Max 
Lat=24.
I/O at 0xf200 [0xf201].
Bus 0, device 20, function 0:
VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems 5597/5598 VGA (rev 
104).
Medium devsel. IRQ 10.
Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xff400000 [0xff400008].
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xffaf0000 [0xffaf0000].
I/O at 0xf400 [0xf401].
[[email protected] /root]#


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

Is it an integrated soundcard? After looking at the PCI output it occured to me that, it just might be that the card is on-board and not enabled in the BIOS, Linux see's it but can't directly access it so thats why you get the crazy sound when you try and test it.

Drew


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*I guess that's why it don't work.*

Now, how do I go about telling Linux how to use it properly? It is onboard. If we can solve this, one of the great mysteries of Linux will be solved. Anyway, I really do appreciate this. I still want to attack the CD-RW issue. Thing is, CMOS has it enabled, otherwise not even Microshaft Winblows would be able to us it (and it is). Here's something better--Tell me what lines must go where so I know what to look for. I can navigate my way through, just tell me what line goes in what file.


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

OK so its enabled in the BIOS and windows see's it. I'm beginning to wonder if its a kernel level issue, which is what this is turning out to sound like.. I haven't played with a Drake kernel in ages.. if you know how to get into it and run setup.. I'd be happy to help walk you through it.. 
I forgot to ask, which chipset do you have?


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*Silicon Integrated Systems TX Pro 2*

Beyond Sound & CD-RW, it seems to handle Linux fine. I am still hearing my issue is a common one, and I still haven't gotten ahold of the expert. :no: It's giving it the can because it's old. Maybe I can soon afford a DELL Inspiron or something, or should I go with an iBook? Ain't skeered of either one. I definately do want decent 3D acceleration and a CD-RW. As far as building a new kernel, I will proceed carefully, but I will look into that. What do I do?


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

It seems almost like your kernel isn't supporting your chipset and therefore your onboard sound isn't working.. again I could be wrong but its worth a shot. You can't really break much in building the kernel, it just may take awhile on a slower machine. If we can knock out these issues.. you won't need an expert heh. There's a section for sound support in the kernel and you can try the OSS and Alsa sound modules too, they're pretty much card independent.. I personally use the emu10k1 module for my SBLive! card and it works fine for me....


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*Ok. What am I after?*

The next step is for me to find the kernel. Where's it at and what do I use to build it? Is it Python?


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

I'm hoping the kernel source is there  The easiest route would be to open a shell and then type "make xconfig" and then go through and find the sound section and tick the boxes for OSS and Alsa <--if alsa is in there I forget at this very second.. and then check under IDE/RDL/ basically hard drive support and make sure your chipset is selected specifically or some generic variant. I'll post screen shots of what things should look like if you want.


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*Oh boy, not Make.*

I have not been able to make the "make" command work properly. It always tells me that there are no instructions to make anything with.:no: I will try it, though.


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

what version of mandrake are you using again? I'll install it tonight, so I can better help you .. I'm running Slackware .. and its alot different in its layout. Then I can say install this package or that package ect  I WANT to fix this for you.. this is going to bug me now


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*Linux Mandrake 7.2*

Do you have it already? ...or are you going to download it. Maybe you can get it from here. This should be the Linux Mandrake website (which I did test).


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*OK. New Box.*

It has Winblows XP on it and I want to install my Mandrake 7.2 with it. Can I do it? I guess it may or may not work. My XP loader may get whacked and I don't want to reinstall XP like I think I will need to.


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

Oh my bad I didn't even see which version you were running and you had posted it, sorry. And actually you can dual boot XP and Mandrake and LILO or grub will pick up your XP partitions fine, and you won't need to re-install XP, that is unless you have one huge partition .. Anyhoo seeing the version you're running makes more sense.. If it were me and of course its not, I'd upgrade to the latest and greatest.. which is 9 .. I have a feeling all your aggrevation will be killed with that simple trick


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*I have what I have and I don't wanna change.*

Can you give me other reasons to change? The only issues I were having were those we were working on. Beyond that, I see no reason to change other than the posibility that LILO won't do too well with XP (since XP is newer). I will need to resize my XP partition to fit Linux in, but I have an 80GB disk (which is still nearly empty even after a mass exodus of my data from my old box to this one). Any real reason to change other than that? Also, me being a techie, I need the practice anywho.


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

Well if you're still willing to give a shot then so am I :brush:


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*I'll wait awhile.*

New system. Don't wanna break it right out of the box. Also, that CD-RW issue has already reared its ugly head again. This time with XP. I have tried with DLA both enabled and disabled. I have even limited the speed of my CD-RW. It is a 40-10-40. I use 4 media. Off site, I regularly use the same disk (4X speed) in a 40-10-20 CD-RW and have no problems, but here it's Windows 2000. On my XP box, I am always having problems with it writing to the disk. It keeps reporting errors when writing to it. Any ideas? Do I need to replace the XP RW handler with something like Nero or Adaptec? Another expert I normally talk to says XP is crap. That sound right? If the trouble continues, I guess I'll have to go to the XP forums. In the meantime, I guess I'll try to find a new handler (like a new Adaptec). I'll go to Nero if I must.


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

I don't like the built in XP burning software, always gave me problems back when I used windows... as far as a replacement.. I would choose Nero definately. 

Now to the Linux issue.. I will install 7.2 over the next couple of days (I'm off friday and saturday from work so probably friday) and then we can troubleshoot from there, so about the late replies.. kinda been crazy lately..


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*Are you sure LILO won't frag XP?*

That's the last thing I want, because right now, I have some fragging to do tomorrow. After that, well... it's a new machine and I hate to wreck it twice right out of the box (I already fried it once trying to put in an older graphics program since I have yet to see one of the newer ones that are suitable for cleaning up images). I don't know, maybe Sunday I may put it in. ...but then again, I may wait awhile longer.


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*Made Third Place*

:compute: At that game tournament, I made third place!:clap: :jump1: Also, like any :bandit:, there were a few rivalries that come up. One guy, named BlackKnight (who won) spanked everyone thuroughly. Beyond that, it was a close race with Joe being second (who I had the biggest rivalry with), me, Tiffany, and the rest of 'em. Big Joe come in dead last. I'm not sure if it was because he was the only one with a Playstation controller, but he was doing great on the first few levels, then one level the only frag he made was himselfX(, and he just couldn't recover. All and all, it was a rock-star fragfest and I do not regret going. One more thing, I tried to be on Tiffany's team during the Capture the Flag games.:kiss2: :rockon: :evlwnk: I just hope Drupy don't show up, she ain't on these boards anywho.:fart:


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*Tried Win4Lin...whipeout!*

I tried Win4Lin from Mandrake 7.2. Everything went fine until I hit Rewrite MBR. At reboot, I booted to Linux. All fine. So I reboot to Windows. It went to my HP recovery tools.:angry1: The only way I could get back to XP was to overinstall XP back. Because of this, I now cannot get to Linux again. Should I have hit boot sector vs. MBR to keep XP available? I will try it later on, but not now.:upset:


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

Lin4Win is evil!!!  I'd be happy to help you completely configure XP and slackware  ... which is what I'm currently running.. I extend that to anyone out there heh..


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## merlin (Sep 25, 2002)

hey guys, just wanna jump in with a lil' info. Im not having any problems so far with LILO and xp...I have them on the same machine. But I have Red Hat loaded, dont know if that makes any difference. I've used partition magic to create swap space and actual partition for linux and had no problems with it...what LILO actually shows on the OS choice screen is Dos and Linux.


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

*I don't wanna reformat!*

This is a new box! I don't wanna just go in & reformat it. I actually want to put Linux on it to where it'll work side-by-side with the true villan--Windows XP. (However, this wouldn't be much of a storyline--good guy Linux getting along with supervillan XP:tongue2: ). By the way, are you calling Lnx4Win evil because the last three letters--Win? I had a successful installation of Lnx4Win, but I killed Windows XP in the process (which I can't have, unfortuanetly.).


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

Does anyone know if Linux Mandrake 7.2 can handle "hardware profiles" and how well? I think if I install it to a removeable disk and move it between machines, it will not load on any other than that one I set it up on.


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

*Linux doesn't due hardware profiles*

You should be able to load it up on removeable disk and move it between machines without an issue. You might sacrifice some usability in the process but it will load. Everything is loaded at boot time by the kernel. So unless you have something hardcoded into your config somewhere, the kernel should detect it on boot up.


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

How do I make a bootloader entry for Linux for Winblows without going into Linux? I must do it outside because I can't get in, and the only way I know to get in is to make a bootloader entry in Windows. Also, does anyone know a way to convert a NTFS partition backwards to FAT32? That would probably help greatly (assuming Windows XP don't require a NTFS partition to run).


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## gotissues68 (Sep 7, 2002)

You could make a boot disk, and then make the entry in LILO.. a quick search of google will show you how to edit your boot.ini for windows tho.. I can't remember its been so long since I've used windows on a day to day basis


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## Lectraplayer (Aug 24, 2002)

gotissues68 said:


> *You could make a boot disk, and then make the entry in LILO.. a quick search of google will show you how to edit your boot.ini for windows tho.. I can't remember its been so long since I've used windows on a day to day basis  *


So you fell victim too.:no: Microshaft has everyone. Fortunately, I have a new Linux and more problems.X(


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