Member Avatar for big_k105

Well i got it to dual boot jst fine the only problem is that the sound card wont work. the network works great. so if you could help me find out whats wrong with the sound card drivers and where to find some. one more how do i get linux to see my data drive its a fat32 format i thought i heard that redhat 9 could see and used fat32 if this is wrong let me know also thanks for the help.

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Practical, step-by-step checklist for diagnosing laptop sound problems and mounting a FAT32 data partition on a Red Hat 9–era install. This follows the troubleshooting direction from and the vendor-compatibility note from , and complements 's report that the hardware eventually became usable.

Start by identifying what the kernel actually sees and whether userland tools are present. Useful commands will show the PCI/USB device, kernel messages, ALSA device list, and the mixer state:

lspci -nn | grep -i audio
dmesg | egrep -i "audio|snd|alsa|sound"
cat /proc/asound/cards
aplay -l
alsamixer

If a device appears but there is no output, try loading a matching driver module temporarily and test playback. Use modprobe to load modules, check that /dev/snd* exists and permissions are correct, unmute channels with alsamixer, and test with aplay or a simple WAV file. To preserve mixer settings across boots use alsactl store. To make a module load automatically, add it to your distribution's module config (Red Hat systems typically use /etc/modprobe.conf) or create an init script.

For accessing a FAT32 data partition use the vfat type. Find the device with fdisk -l or blkid, then mount it:

sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdX1 /mnt/data -o uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0022
# Example /etc/fstab entry
/dev/sdX1  /mnt/data  vfat  defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0022  0 0

Final checks and cautions: verify the BIOS audio setting, scan /var/log/messages for errors, confirm ALSA userland packages are installed, and consider newer ALSA packages or a newer kernel if no driver exists for the card. Keep in mind some laptop models used nonstandard hardware and may need vendor-specific driver workarounds.

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Member Avatar for TallCool1

Well i got it to dual boot just fine the only problem is that the sound card won't work.

I googled this for you, and I came up with the following information (the referenced laptop is a slightly earlier model):

Relevant quote re sound: "Default - had to add modules to /etc/modules.conf to load on boot" and something about a "Trident module." Since Mandrake is Red Hat-based, it should be similar.

It's based on an ALi chipset with AC '97 sound, so sound quality may be noticeably better for Windows than Linux.

Member Avatar for big_k105

do you konw how i would go about "load sound modules in /etc/modules.conf". i am pretty new to linux too so you know. i know the basics but thats about it

Member Avatar for jabberwock486

this is a common problem. i had it on mine. many current companies are useing back handed ways to insure that u use their version of windows. some of these can be easy to defeat, with time, however many cant be.
first what kind of laptop ios it
chances are it is a no go for atleast a while if it is a dell, compaq or gateway

Member Avatar for big_k105

well actually its a toshiba satellite, and i got the sound to work. all i did was run redhats up2date program and updated the kernal and now it works. i was pretty pumbed. :D
thanks for the willing to help tho. actually if you would know how to "load sound modules in /etc/modules.conf". cause im sure this would be a good thing to know since im learning linux.

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