Very weak audio after installing 3.2.18 kernel in PClos Openbox Bonsai

[ka9yhd]

Not sure if this is the correct area to post for help.

I am running PClinuxOS-OpenBox Bonsai.  2011.08
The other day I decided to install a newer kernel and installed the 3.2.18-a64 kernel from the repos and now I have very low audio output.  And i can not adjust the volume level.  Click on the volume icon and put the slider up all the way and tried adjusting the volume with the keyboard keys and still I am unable to increase the volume level.

So when booting this laptop I select to run PClos with the 2.6.38 kernel and the same thing........ very low audio level.

The audio worked fine before installing the 3.2.18 kernel.

The audio controller is a Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI|IXP SB4x0 High Definition Audio Controller)

Your card currently use the ALSA "snd_hda_intel" driver (default driver for your card is "snd_hda_intel")

[melodie]

Hi,
A kernel is a kernel, try uninstalling the more recent one ? Then check the level with a mixer...

Apart from the problem which you are encountering : you might want to take note that the ZRAM module might not be configured at all in your newer kernel, due to the pclos "special policy". At least this is what I could see last time I tried a 3.x.y kernel in a PCLOS box (several months ago, and I would suppose they didn't change the kernel config file since). And one of the interesting things in the Openbox versions is having the zram module enabled and at work : it makes the whole system even more responsive.

You can check this with the following command in a terminal as simple user:

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zgrep ZRAM /proc/config.gz
here it returns:

CONFIG_ZRAM=m
# CONFIG_ZRAM_DEBUG is not set

m : for "module", so it can be loaded, and unloaded at will. the second line "is not set" does not matter for us users, of course.

If you check, let me know the result ?

[djohnston]

Then check the level with a mixer...

That is the key. It sounds to me as though the kernel used is not at fault, as evidenced by the problem persisting after uninstalling the newer kernel. I would suspect the sound level mixer adjustments have reverted to default, which are usually less than optimum. Use a mixer, such alsamixergui, qasmixer, or something equivalent to check the volume settings.

[melodie]

You are welcome.

And to you have zram at work now, with the older kernel ? (the kernels should all have zram enabled, and many distros now have a package containing a script to start it from boot time with the right parameters).

[melodie]

Very good!
What about checking if it is running ? (in the console "cat /proc/swaps").

[melodie]

So it works. Don't you find the system more responsive ?

[melodie]

zram provides /dev/zram0 as a swap in ram device, therefore you can switch in on/off as any swap, in a root terminal with the commands:

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swapoff /dev/zram0
and

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swapon /dev/zram0

[djohnston]

And once I started using the 3.2 kernel I did not switch between them to see if there were any differences.

I don't believe the 3.2 kernels have zram support preconfigured.

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darrel@AMD64:  36 items 692Kb -> uname -r
3.2.18-pclos1.a64
darrel@AMD64:  36 items 692Kb -> zgrep ZRAM /proc/config.gz
# CONFIG_ZRAM is not set
darrel@AMD64:  36 items 692Kb ->

[melodie]

I don't believe the 3.2 kernels have zram support preconfigured.

At PCLOS they don't.
ka9yhd has also confirmed in this post.: http://linuxvillage.net/index.php/topic,124.msg644.html#msg644