[conspire] [solution to] sound under Debian 4.0r0 on IBM Thinkpad 600?

[Eric De Mund]

Ladies, Gentlemen,

I've finally managed to get sound working on my Thinkpad 600 (Type
2645-51U) running Debian 4.0r0. I recently did a clean install of 4.0r0
and thought I could get sound working by using the configuration file
settings I'd had under 3.1r4, but that didn't work. Biggest thanks go to
user "keenerd" at <http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=238958>
where he posted his successful configuration file settings for Arch
Linux under the thread entitled "Thinkpad 600E and udev". I was able to
take his settings and reduce them down to what I believe is a set of
minimal configuration tweaks required to get the job done.

Step by step, here's what I had to do under Debian 4.0r0:

1a. % sudo apt-get install alsa-utils # this package might not be
                                      # necessary; unlike under Debian
                                      # 3.1r4, I never needed to run
                                      # /usr/sbin/alsaconf
1b. % sudo apt-get install mpg123     # for my console sound test
1c. % sudo apt-get install xmms       # for my X Window System sound test

2.  Edited /etc/modules to include the snd-cs4236 module. Here is my
    unified diff:

    /-----------------------------
    --- modules.orig 2007-04-30 01:47:43.000000000 -0700
    +++ modules 2007-05-02 23:01:07.000000000 -0700
    @@ -4,3 +4,4 @@
    # at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.

    loop
    +snd-cs4236
    \-----------------------------

    Incidentally, this was the same addition to /etc/modules that Debian
    3.1r4 required, although my /etc/modules there started with modules
    psmouse, mousedev, ide_generic, ide_cd, ide_disk, and ide_core,
    instead of the sole module, loop, that Debian 4.0r0 started with.

3.  Created /etc/modprobe.d/sound. Here is the file:

    /-----------------------------
    alias snd-card-0 snd-cs4236
    options snd-cs4236 index=0 isapnp=0 port=0x530 cport=0x538 irq=5 dma1=1 \
    dma2=0
    \-----------------------------

    keenerd seemed to need sb_port and fm_port settings to get sound
    working on his Arch Linux system, but I omitted these, as shown
    above, and my sound still worked.

    Incidentally, this was the same /etc/modprobe.d/sound file that I
    had under Debian 3.1r4.

4.  Blacklisted the snd-cs4232 module. It seems that the cs4236 chip in
    this laptop is and maybe always has been mistaken for a cs4232 chip;
    it's my guess that this blacklisting step, which is the sole differ-
    ence between my 3.1r4 and 4.0r0 configuration, prevents that misi-
    dentification from taking place. (The other difference between my
    4.0r0 and 3.1r4 configuration is that I'm no longer required under
    4.0r0--as I was under 3.1r4--to have the alsa-utils package in-
    stalled and to invoke /usr/sbin/alsaconf.)

    Here is the unified diff between the original and my new
    /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base-blacklist:

    /-----------------------------
    --- alsa-base-blacklist.orig 2007-02-26 09:05:24.000000000 -0800
    +++ alsa-base-blacklist 2007-05-02 22:37:49.000000000 -0700
    @@ -2,3 +2,4 @@
    # blacklist snd-atiixp-modem
    # blacklist snd-intel8x0m
    # blacklist snd-via82xx-modem
    +blacklist snd-cs4232
    \-----------------------------

That's it. If these steps don't work for you, make sure plug-and-play is
disabled in your Thinkpad 600's BIOS.

Regards,
Eric
--
"Good medicine, bad medicine, and omens change our understanding of our
relationship to the world." --Tom Brown, Jr.

Eric De Mund              |      Ixian Systems      |
email: <ead at ixian.com>    | 650 Castro St, #120-210 | ICQ: 811788
http://www.ixian.com/ead/ | Mountain View, CA 94041 | Y!M: ead0002