From sbrot@swissonline.ch Thu Oct 22 09:53:01 1998
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 22:53:31 +0200
From: "Stéphane Brot" <sbrot@swissonline.ch>
To: Albert Dorofeev <albert@mail.dma.be>
Subject: Sound problem

Hi Albert,

I have now sound with Linux. Playing .wav file with the 'play' command is ok
but the quality is not so good.

I first tried to configure the kernel to use built-in sound drivers, not
modules. Same symptoms !

Then I went to the BIOS setup. I did not get there before because the sound
was perfect with Windoz 95. In the BIOS setup, there are 2 controlers for
audio, one is the Control Interface ( ressources : IO 0x0250-0c0257 ), the
other is the Audio Player ( ressources : IO 0x0220-0x022F, 0x0388-0x038B,
0x0300-0x0301, IRQ 5, DMA 1 and 5 ).

Something strange, the Audio Player was defined as DISABLED ! But running
fine with Windoz and, half ( mixer, CDs ok but not PCM ) in Linux. So I put
it as ENABLED and then I got sounds in Linux. It is not possible to disable
the Control Interface.

I went back in the BIOS setup to disable it again. Linux could not load the
drivers for sound, the audio system was not reconized which is normal, as it
is disabled. In Windoz, the sound system was still working, as if Win does
not care about BIOS setup.

I have a spare 'scratch' disk for tests ( sharewares, partitioning, ... ), I
don't like to mess with my working configuration. On that disk I installed
Windoz 95 from the Compaq Quick Restore CD and a minimum RedHat 5.1 Linux.
Audio support with modules, configuration with 'sndconfig' with parameters IO
220, IRQ 5, DMA 1, DMA 5. It was the same situation as in the beginning,
audio reconized by drivers, mixer ok, no sounds.

Went in the BIOS setup, the Audio Player was ENABLED. I disabled it, Linux
informed me that the sound device was not present. Setup again, ENABLE and OK
in Linux. Windoz seems not affected by the state of the Audio Player in BIOS
setup ( PnP ? ).

Good luck ! Hoping that your laptop will react in the same way as mine.

Stephane