ATI HDA - SIGMATEL CHIP How To

[theredguy]

Here's what you need to do to get sound if you have this chipset:
1. uninstall every alsa package if you have any
rpm -qa | grep -i alsa - if it shows nothing skip this step
and then
rpm -evv --nodeps alsa-... for every package

2. go to www.alsa-project.org and download these files :
alsa-driver-1.0.15rc1.tar.bz2
alsa-lib-1.0.15rc1.tar.bz2
.alsa-utils-1.0.15rc1.tar.bz2

Open a terminal and type : su then make a directory called alsa into /usr/local/src. Copy the files to this directory and unpack them (tar xjvf alsa-... for every file).

3. go to https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/al...ew.php?id=3036 and download the file patch_sigmatel.c.patch-1.0.15rc1-simple. Copy the patch to /usr/local/src/alsa.

4. type this :
patch alsa-driver-1.0.15rc1/alsa-kernel/pci/hda/patch_sigmatel.c < patch_sigmatel.c.patch-1.0.15rc1-simple.

5. do this:
cd alsa-lib-1.0.15rc1/
./configure && make && make install
cd ../alsa-utils-1.0.15rc1/
./configure && make && make install
cd ../alsa-driver-1.0.15rc1/
./configure && make && make install

If the configure script complains about missing some libraries yum for them and try again.

6. reboot
7. after rebooting volume may be muted so use kmix or some other mixer to enable it.

Hope it works for you. I have a Gateway MT 3705 laptop and i finally have sound after months of silence

[mrspock33]

thredguy, thanks a bunch for this post, it worked like a champ! I am using PClinuxos on a Gateway MT3422 and went a head and posted my own mini-guide based largely on yours (includes wireless networking setup as well). Note that there are currently update developmental alsa packages from the ones you quoted, but most should be able to figure that out.

If anybody want to check it out, go to http://zder.net/

[FriedChips]

damn, I sold my last laptop because it had this sound system and I could not get it to work. Figures, thanks though, I know there are still ALOT of people looking for this. You may want to post something at the nVidia forums cuz I know there are ALOT of pissed off people there.

[dmbomb]

theredguy - Thanks for the info, It worked great for me as well. I am using an hp pavilian dv9500t. Sound looked like it was working, drivers loaded songs played, but no sound at all. The blue light on my laptop telling me that my sound was working was red, which meant that it was muted somehow. I am using openSuSE 10.3. The fix worked perfect for me. Thanks again.