[ltp] sound on Thinpad 600 with Sarge (Yet again...)

[Sriram Karra]

On 7/18/05, wim@djo.tudelft.nl <wim@djo.tudelft.nl> wrote:
>=20
> > From: Sriram Karra <skarra@gmail.com>
> >
> > I have a Thinkpad 600 (2645-48U) that I have just started using after
> > a really long time.  The sound was working even ~4 years ago with
> > Debian Potato.  But Sarge is having issues.  I did go through the
> > archives and tried out different things.  Most specifically disable
> > BIOS Quick Boot.  After doing that I did start getting Beeps from the
> > speakers but xmms and stuff still refuse to work.
> >....
> > And oh, btw.  I also tried ugprading to 2.6.11 kernel from sid.  That
> > did not work either.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > -Sriram.
>=20
> THAT, btw, looks like your main problem.
> I bet you first tried to run a 2.6 kernel and THEN you had no more sound!

Yes.  That's true.

> Nobody seems interested, so there's little to no chance that this will
> ever be fixed. I couldn't even get people (at kernel.org and gentoo)
> interested to just only stick a big warning in the sources.
>=20
> I'm glad to see that there still are a few TP600 users around.
> So I'll try a last big warning:
>=20
>   DO NOT TRY TO RUN WHATEVER KERNEL 2.6 IN YOUR TP600, EVER!
>=20
> Always check your boot tools for kernel versions in another machine first=
.
>=20
> Every 2.6 kernel will crash sooner or later, most often even before reach=
ing
> the prompt. (Except for a kernel with hotplugging disabled. That kernel w=
ill
> run, but without hotplugging there's hardly anything useful to do with yo=
ur
> laptop.)

Actually on my TP600, a 2.6.11 and 2.6.8 kernels run fine, except for
the soundcard.  (I have not tested the mwavem, actually).

> ANY attempt to start a 2.6 kernel will disable the sound chip permanently=
.
> The good news is that the damage appears not to be irreversible.
> However, all methods to get it back to life are all quite tedious and not
> suitable for Joe Average. (The question remains if there is any Joe Avera=
ge
> using a TP600?)
>=20
> Anyway, the easiest and less damaging way to get your sound back is:
> - Shut down your TP600 and unplug the power cable.
> - Take out the battery pack (to ensure that the CMOS RAM can get empty).
> - Open/remove the lid that covers the RAM modules and CMOS battery.
> - Unplug the CMOS battery. (That tiny connector in the corner).
> - Wait a moment. (A few minutes suffices).
> - Put everything back together again.
>=20
> Now you'll have sound back (if you use cs4232.o).

Unfortnately it doesn't work.  I removed the cmos battery.  It
appeared to be done correctly, because the hw clock got reset.  But
then, on booting into a 2.4.27 kernel from the sarge repository
cs4232.o still does not do the trick.  Are you suggesting I use the
OSS modules instead of ALSA, btw?

btw, thanks a lot for your responses.  It's a nice working system that
I dont feel like junking because sound does not work now... :)
-Sriram.

>=20
> There might even be a cleaner method that I haven't tried yet (AFAIR).
> I would have tried it in my DOS days, but under linux I don't have the
> tools at hand.  If you change even just one byte in CMOS, so that it make=
s
> the checksum invalid, then the BIOS might think that the battery failed.
> A subsequent reboot will reset all fields to a sane value, just as
> when you really remove the battery.
> Not all CMOS bytes are checksum protected. You'd better check Ralf Browns
> Interrupt List, or other sources. Let's hope that the TP600 is sufficient=
ly
> IBM compatible :-).
>=20
> Is there anyone that successfully runs a 2.6 kernel on a TP600[e] ?
>=20
> Regards,
> Wim Osterholt.
>=20
>