[Alsa-user] Odd bug or crappy sound card?

[Robert D. <rd...@cs...>]

Here are my specs:

OS - Redhat 9.0
Linux - 2.4.24
Alsa - 1.0.1
Sound Card - ESS 1988


Let me first say that my sound works, along with the startup init.d
scripts.  But this is what is odd:

*) I'll boot up the machine, and load either mpg123, or xmms (the client
appears to be irrelevant).

*) 1 of 3 things will happen when the client start to play music an mp3:
   1) No music at all (as if muted)
   2) Music from the left speaker only
   3) Music from both speakers, but extremely soft

*) Here's how I solve the problem.  I go into alsamixer, and adjust the
Master volume.  It doesn't matter if I lower the volume by 1, or increase
the volume by 1. The problem resolves itself immediately, while the client
is still playing the sound file.


For the rest of the session, the sound will be fine.  However, if I
restart the service, I am able to reproduce the error.  So I don't even
have to reboot the machine.


Any help is appreciated.

-Rob