Comprehensive Sound Problem Solutions Guide

[jonjpeterson]

Okay I did the new kernal. Like others I lost gdm and the desktop (thanks Renko for getting that up and running again). I still have no sound though, so what's the next step if I put in a whole new kernal. Should I continue to follow the steps in this guide even though I have success right from ~$ aplay -

[Xizorbg]

Hi there-

I am running Dapper Drake on an AMD64 CPU. Sound works okay...BUT.....I have an M-Audio Revolution 7.1. I can get the sound to play out of my SPDIF connection, and Skype will use the regular audio out. Does ANYONE know how I can get the sound to come out of BOTH the Analog AND Digital OUTS???

Thanks everyone,
X

[jonjpeterson]

I'm trying to follow the guide step by step and after I do the dpkg-reconfigure alsa-source I type in the following and get

:~$ sudo ./configure --with-kernel=/usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r) --with-cards=via82xx --with-oss=yes
sudo: ./configure: command not found

I don't know if I changed the command wrong or wheather I was supposed to make other changes as well.

[LordRaiden]

Renko - I'm running Kubuntu so I did not get gdm or ubuntu-desktop removed. I'll put in the warnning but I think this a gdm and ubuntu-desktop should not depend on any of the packages I ask to remove (they really are not related).

jonjpeterson - if you have success from aplay then there is no need to do anything after the *fresh* install.

[smbrow14]

I'm not having any success getting sound to work with Dapper.

Output from aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: V8237 [VIA 8237], device 0: VIA 8237 [VIA 8237]
  Subdevices: 4/4
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
  Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
card 0: V8237 [VIA 8237], device 1: VIA 8237 [VIA 8237]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Full output from lspci -v

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8378 [KM400/A] Chipset Host Bridge
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.: Unknown device 8118
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 8
        Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI Bridge (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
        Memory behind bridge: e8000000-e9ffffff
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: e4000000-e7ffffff
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:0a.0 Communication controller: Agere Systems V.92 56K WinModem (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Agere Systems: Unknown device 044c
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 255
        Memory at ea000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
        I/O ports at a000 [size=8]
        I/O ports at a400 [size=256]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:0b.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev 80) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.: Unknown device 808a
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 177
        Memory at ea001000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
        I/O ports at a800 [size=128]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:0f.0 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VIA VT6420 SATA RAID Controller (rev 80) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO])
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. A7V600/K8V Deluxe/K8V-X motherboard
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 169
        I/O ports at ac00 [size=8]
        I/O ports at b000 [size=4]
        I/O ports at b400 [size=8]
        I/O ports at b800 [size=4]
        I/O ports at bc00 [size=16]
        I/O ports at c000 [size=256]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. A7V600/K8V-X motherboard
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 169
        I/O ports at c400 [size=16]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. A7V600/K8V-X motherboard
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 185
        I/O ports at c800 [size=32]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. A7V600/K8V-X motherboard
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 185
        I/O ports at cc00 [size=32]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. A7V600/K8V-X motherboard
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 185
        I/O ports at d000 [size=32]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. A7V600/K8V-X motherboard
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 185
        I/O ports at d400 [size=32]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:10.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. A7V600/K8V-X motherboard
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 185
        Memory at ea002000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [KT600/K8T800/K8T890 South]
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. A7V600/K8V-X motherboard
        Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 0
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.: Unknown device 810a
        Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 201
        I/O ports at d800 [size=256]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 78)
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.: Unknown device 80ff
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 193
        I/O ports at e000 [size=256]
        Memory at ea003000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8378 [S3 UniChrome] Integrated Video (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.: Unknown device 8118
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 209
        Memory at e4000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
        Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
        Expansion ROM at e9000000 [disabled] [size=64K]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

When I try sudo modprobe snd-via82xx it doesn't seem to do anything:

stephen@chook-n-coop:~$ sudo modprobe snd-via82xx
Password:
stephen@chook-n-coop:~$

I've opened alsamixer and made sure the that the volume was turned up and the output was not muted. Still nothing.

I followed the steps in the Getting the ALSA drivers from a *fresh* kernel section. I used to following commands:

sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-uti
sudo apt-get install linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils
sudo apt-get install gdm ubuntu-desktop

I then reboot (multiple times) and checked alsamixer again. Still no sound. I have also followed the steps in the section ALSA driver Compilation.

What else can I do?

[gbenga]

Comprehensive Sound Problem Solutions Guide v0.5c

Version History (DD-MM-YY)

28-06-06 - version 0.1 - initial creation
28-06-06 - version 0.2 - alsa-source guide added
28-06-06 - version 0.3 - alsa-drivers from alsa-project guide added
29-06-06 - version 0.4 - multiple sounds and multiple cards support added
02-07-06 - version 0.4 - fixed mistake spotted by Jvaldezjr
04-07-06 - version 0.5a - layout changes - starting on MIDI guide - Read *EXPERIMENTAL*
04-07-06 - version 0.5a - added part on saving sound settings so they are restored after reboot.
11-07-06 - version 0.5b - added guide for doing a *fresh* kernel installation
13-07-06 - version 0.5c - minor layout edit - moved *fresh* kernel above compilation to see if it is more help and if it solves more problems.
15-07-06 - version 0.5d - usage update

Background / Notes / Warnings

• I can't guarantee if these instructions will work for everybody, and this is definitely a work in progress. But if these instructions can at least help one person out, I'll be happy.

• If anyone has any suggestions or tips in making this post better, feel free to PM me or post below. Credits will be given regardless of how small the improvement.

• If you find that you have followed the instructions on this post that something did not and you don't know why, it will be better if you start a new post and cite the fact that you used the instructions on this guide to solve your problem. Your post might get lost in all the other posts and you might not get help.

• If you however find a solution to your problem, and you fee that the solution should be here, don't hesistate to post. However, please be specific.

• Note: To make it absolutely clear, when I say 'Ubuntu', I mean Ubuntu AND Kubuntu AND Xubuntu (for people who find this confusing - just accept it and don't feel bad - I and probably a whole lot others got confused when we started out).

• Important syntax note: ALSA modules are denoted by the prefix 'snd' followed by the dash ' - ', followed by the module name (i.e. 'via82xx'). So the full name might be something like snd-via82xx. However, in some cases you will see an underscore ' _ ' instead of the dash. This is OK, do not let it confuse you. For all intensive purposes (installing modules or posting on forums) only use the dash ' - '.

General Help - Start here if you have no idea why sound is not playing

(1) Go to a shell and type:

aplay -l

• Success - You will get a list of the all the soundcards installed on your system. Your sound just might be muted. See alsamixer section.
• Failure - You will get a message like

  aplay: device_list:221: no soundcard found...

  Move on to step 2.

(2) Type this into the shell:

lspci -v

• Success - At this point, you should see your sound card listed. This is a positive sign because it means that Ubuntu is detecting the presence of your soundcard, but the drivers are not installed/running. Leave your shell running since you will need it.

• Failure - If it is not listed, then there are a few things that you can do.
  • If your soundcard is an onboard sound card, then it might be disabled in the system's BIOS. You will have to reboot and hit the key that lets you enter into the BIOS (usually Delete, F2, or F8).
  • If your soundcard is not onboard, make sure that it is properly seated in the PCI slot. If your card is working under Windows then this is not a problem.

(3) Check to see if the ALSA driver for your sound card exists. Go to http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/ and search for your sound card (chipset) manufacturer in the dropdown box. You'll be given a matrix of the sound cards made by the manufacturer. Try to match the chipset you found in step 2 with the driver(green hyperlink text).

• Success - You will have found the driver for your soundcard's chipset.

• Failure - You will have not found the driver for your soundcard chipset. (at the moment I cannot help you, but stay tuned!)

(4) Now go back to the shell and type

sudo modprobe snd-

Now, press the TAB key BEFORE pressing the ENTER key to see a list of modules. Try to find the module that matches the driver you found in step 3.

For example, my driver is a via82xx so I would type, sudo modprobe snd-via82xx.

• Success
  • A success here means that your soundcard was installed, but it was not being loaded. Now you have loaded it for the current session.
  • To load it for all sessions (you will probably want to do this) you will have to edit /etc/modules (I think this is the file, I'll check once I get to my Dapper PC).
  • Type this into the shell

     sudo nano /etc/modules

  • Add only the name of the module to be loaded at the end of the file. In my case, the via82xx module gave me sound so I added "snd-via82xx" to the end of the file.(iii) Make sure that you have all channels unmuted in alsamixer
  • See the alsamixer section
  • Play media using your favorite media player. Set your audio engine to alsa. In some cases, you have to configure your audio engine within another (media engine) like in Kaffiene in Kubuntu. If you hear sound, hurray!
  • One final step. Go onto Saving Sound Settings

• Failure -You have two options

• Move on to Getting the ALSA drivers from a *fresh* kernel. This step is easier and is recommended to users who might have been tinkering with their sound settings and want to revert back to the way it was just after installing Ubuntu (without reinstalling Ubuntu of course )

Move on to ALSA driver Compilation, if you have not done so already. If you have, please post a new thread with your problem.

Getting the ALSA drivers from a *fresh* kernel
Sometimes, sound might be configured correctly, but for some reason or another (tinkering) it stops working. One way to go back to the old setup is to reinstall Ubuntu. However, this step is actually quite unnecessary since you are reinstalling everything because of one thing.
A faster way, is to just remove the problematic packages and reinstall them cleanly.

(1) Remove these packages

sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils

(2) Reinstall those same packages

sudo apt-get install linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Ubuntu (GNOME) users have reported that packages 'gdm' and 'ubuntu-desktop' are removed after removing the lsound packages. If this happens, then do the following

sudo apt-get install gdm ubuntu-desktop

(3) Reboot

Now you may ask "I already had the packages, so why did I go through the trouble of removing them, then installing them". The answer lies in the --purge option which removes all the extra information that accumulated from tinkering and upgrading. After doing a purge then install, the packages are unpackaged as if it they are brand new.

(4) At this point, try using

 aplay -l

you should get your soundcard listed.

• Success - Your soundcard is detected. Go onto the Using alsamixer section, then try playing something on your music or media player.
• Failure - Your card was not detected. You should try compiling your driver, so go onto ALSA drive Compilation.

ALSA driver Compilation

• If you are here, then either your soundcard driver could not be loaded with modprobe, or you want to compile the drivers yourself from scratch. Good luck to you!
• There are two main ways the sources of alsa-drivers are made available to you. One is though the apt-get system. Using this system would be the recommended system since most of the heavy lifting is done for you.
• The other way, is getting the latest drivers from alsa-project.org. This page has the latest drivers available, which you might want to fix problems with. However, these have not been tested with Ubuntu and therefore should be used with caution.

Using alsa-source

1. Type the following to shell: (note: module-assistant is optional, it will compile the package for you)

   sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r) module-assistant alsa-source

2. sudo dpkg-reconfigure alsa-source

3. You now have a big blue dialog box (left and right keys to choose 'Yes' and 'No', Enter key proceed). Answer yes (for ISA-PNP - recommended by package maintainers), then yes again (for debugging - recommended by package maintainers).
4. Now you must pick which driver you want to install. Use space to select and deselect modules, and up and down to navigate.
5. From General Help step 3, you should know the name of your driver. Deselect 'all' (the * will go away), and select your driver. In my case, I deselected 'all' then selected 'via82xx'. Hit Enter. Almost home free!
6. • If you chose module-assistant

     sudo module-assistant a-i   alsa-source

     If the progress bar reaches 100% with no errors, you will have installed the drivers successfully. Resume this guide from General Help step 4.
   • If you did not choose module-assistant - Remember the name of your soundcard driver and use it place of the blue text below.

      cd /usr/src sudo tar xjvf alsa-driver.tar.bz2 cd modules/alsa-driver

sudo ./configure  --with-kernel=/usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r) --with-cards=<enter driver name here e.g. via82xx> --with-oss=yes

sudo make  
sudo make install 
      

If you get no error messages, you will have installed the drivers successfully.

• Success - Resume this guide from General Help step 4.

• Failure - Start a new thread in this thread of the forum. Paste the error message that you get and state that you were following instructions on this page.

Using drivers from alsa-project - update I now recommend using version 1.0.12rc1

• The alsa-project route is very similar to the alsa-source route without the module-assistant.
• First you would have to get the alsa-driver tar from alsa-project then pretty much do configure, make and make install again.
• However, I do recommend that you make a specific directory when you compile something from source. Remember the name of your soundcard driver and use it place of the blue text below.

 
mkdir src
cd src 

mkdir alsa 

cd alsa 

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)
       wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/driver/alsa-driver-1.0.12rc1.tar.bz2
 tar xvjf alsa-driver-1.0.12rc1.tar.bz2
cd alsa-driver-1.0.12rc1
sudo ./configure  --with-kernel=/usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r) --with-cards=<enter driver name here e.g. via82xx> --with-oss=yes
sudo make
sudo make install

If you get no errors from doing the above then you have successfully compiled alsa-drivers from source. Resume this guide from General Help step 4.

Using alsamixer

• Type this into a shell

  alsamixer

You will now see what appears to be a graphical equalizer. It is more like ten different volume controls in the sample place.

• To navigate around:
  • Left and Right Arrow Keys - Move left and right (if you move long enough in one direction you will get back to where you started - you will not fall off the screen )
  • Up and Down Arrow Keys - Increase and decrease volume respectively.
  • Letter M Key - Mutes/unmutes. If a channel is unmuted, then there is a green box underneath the volume slider. If the channel is muted, the box is grey.

Saving Sound Settings
Do this step to ensure that your alsamixer settings reload with each boot. First make sure you have your settings just the way you like them in alsamixer. Then do

sudo alsactl store 0

or if this is your nth sound card (where n is the number of soundcards in your computer) replace 0 with n-1. Many thanks to xpix for trying this out.-

Getting more than one application to use the soundcard at the same time

• You might want to play a game and listen to music on your favorite music player at the same time. To do this successfully, you will have to use ALSA since it supports this feature the best. On all the music players I know of, you can configure the sound engine, to any module that is available.

• The setting is usually found under something like Tools >>> Configure >>> Player Engines.

• For games, it is a bit more tricky since there is not always a way to configure the player engine directly. Most games, however, do support the OSS. ALSA has an OSS module that allows OSS applications to use the ALSA driver.

• To do this you will need the alsa-oss package

  sudo apt-get install alsa-oss

• After doing this step, it is very easy to use alsa-oss. In the shell, you can type 'aoss' then the name of the program name you want to use with alsa-oss.

Configuring default soundcards / stopping multiple soundcards from switching

Note: This section assumes that you have installed each soundcard properly.

• In a shell, type

  cat /proc/asound/modules

• This will give the the name and index of each soundcard you have currently. Make a note of the names, and decide which one you want to be the default card.

• Now type

  sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

• At the very end of the file, add the following (assuming you have 3 cards with module names A, B and C and you want to have them in the order CAB)

options snd-C index=0
options snd-A index=1
options snd-B index=2

Getting MIDI To Work - *EXPERIMENTAL*

This section assumes you can successfully hear sound from your soundcard.

First of all, make sure that you actually have a MIDI port on your soundcard. Most onboard soundcards do not have a MIDI port.

Next, open up this file:

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

Then add this options line

 options <snd module name here i.e. snd-via82xx> mpu_port=0x330

OR if you already have a options line for this soundcard add

mpu_port=0x330

to the line.

The default MIDI port is 330. You should verify this number in your BIOS if you are not sure. If the number is not listed, it is most likely that the number is 330 (add the 0x for the file).

If you get no errors, you have successfully installed your MIDI port. At the moment, I do not know if any further configuration is necessary.

Miscellaneous Tips and Tricks

Here are a few things that other people have dug up over the course of this guide. Not all tips are meant to work for all hardware (believe me hda-intel will probably have like a mini guide of it's own one day).

• shaviro found the following from this post http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=153752

• Useff had a very annoying problem where he could get sound through alsa from one user, but not through is main account. http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1221754. Him and I managed to fix the problem by making sure the main account was in the audio group in /etc/groups (which he was) and deleting the .asoundrc file in the main account's /home directory.

• Bo Rosén solved his ISA problem the following way. Thanks to FarEast for his help in the matter.
  
  

To Do:

Important - no particular order

• Getting MIDI to work
• Compiling alsa entirely (drivers, utils, oss, etc)
• Getting line input to work if it does not already - for microphones, etc.
• Getting SPDIF output to work if it does not already - for amplifiers, speakers with digital in.

On the backburner

• Scripts for getting configuration that needs to be done in this post to be done automatically

Related

Getting keyboard multimedia keys to work - http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/MultimediaKeys

(I personally like the non-keytouch route - configuring xmodmap and then using gnome-keybindings or for KDE (System Settings >> Regional and Language Settings >> Keyboard Shortcuts). The xmodmap route also works for XFCE, but I do not how to configure XFCE application keybindings.

Posts / References /Credits

Hoary Sound Broke

Problem with Azalia audio

MultipleCards from alsa.opensrc..org

Volume Control does not save my settings after reboot

Every single sound problem error post I have read

The Ubuntu community for being energetic, dynamic, and polite providers of help with Ubuntu Linux in all its flavours.

I tried your guide on this thread and it worked like magic!!!!!!!!!!! You are a life safer. Bless u.

[LordRaiden]

smbrow14 - your driver is installed. give the output of 'dmesg | grep snd'
If you don't get anything then that means you do not have problems. At this point, I suggest carefully looking at all your connections and making sure all media/MP3 players are using ALSA. Also look at alsamixer. Make sure the following are not muted: Master, PCM, DXS (all 4 of them). Master can safely be at 100%, PCM 80%~, and DXS should be 100%. Flip IEC 958 and IEC 958 Output on then check your results, then flip them off. You're not very far from getting sound, its now a settings/connection issue.

gbenga - Congratulations on getting it to work. One request though if you don't mind? Could you delete the quote of my entire guide? It's really long lol. I might move it to USDF if I can permission and if have time.

[azmodean]

Attempted to follow the guide, but I'm not getting the expected output.

When I enter the command, "aplay -l", I ge the output:
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****

But nothing is listed.

"lspci -v" seems to give the proper output, including

0000:00:05.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce Audio (rev c2)
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 3730
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
        Memory at ee000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce Audio (rev c2)
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 3730
        Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel, IRQ 11
        I/O ports at e000 [size=256]
        I/O ports at e400 [size=128]
        Memory at ee081000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Capabilities: <available only to root>

And finally, when I enter "sudo modprobe snd-intel8x0" there is once again no output.

I also tried the "fresh kernel" instructions, which worked normally (including uninstalling the desktop), but it did not restore sound.

One last bit of background, this is a very fresh install of Dapper Drake from a live cd. I installed once and sound was working, but the install had corrupted the winXP MBR, so I reinstalled both WinXp and Ubuntu, they both boot now, but no sound in Ubuntu.

p.s. This is my first linux install after years of claiming I was going to "get around to it soon", and I'm pretty hyped about it.

[LordRaiden]

If sudo modprobe snd-intel8x0 works successfully, there is no output (no success message - a silent success so to speak). It is odd that aplay -l reports success without the card. Have you tried the hda-intel driver? Try it and see. If it does not work, go to https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org and post a bug report.

[smbrow14]

smbrow14 - your driver is installed. give the output of 'dmesg | grep snd'

stephen@chook-n-coop:~$ dmesg | grep snd
[17179594.020000] snd_seq_dummy: disagrees about version of symbol snd_seq_create_kernel_client
[17179594.020000] snd_seq_dummy: Unknown symbol snd_seq_create_kernel_client

Could this be a problem?