[linux-audio-user] xinerama and alsa problems

Arthur Moore art at infinitybox.net
Fri Apr 18 16:18:01 EDT 2003


Ivan Z. Ganza wrote:

>Hmmm, this is interesting...
>
>I have a similar problem.  Two videocards here, NVIDIA GeForce4 and a
>Matrox MGA400 (Dual Head) on a gentoo system.  XFree 4.3.0 and Alsa
>0.9.2.  Kernel has low-latency enabled.
>
>If I enable the other videocard in XF86Config (simply by adding a
>screen section for it), when I get into X, ANY sound will have major
>clipping problems, and eventually my machine will TOTALLY LOCK,
>leaving the only way to save it to pull the frigging plug out the
>back.  This is extremely frustrating.  Even more frustrating is that
>things actually work just fine under WindowsXP, this is so wrong.
>(Although games do get a tiny bit of clipping once in a while).
>
>When the other video card is not used things work just perfectly!
>
>Have read many suggestions on net about this.  Seems one possible
>solution is the soundcard needs to be on a low IRQ such as 9, however,
>no matter what I do (even moving card physically) its always sharing
>an IRQ with something.  Right now the NVIDIA card and the Sound card
>are sharing the same IRQ, how braindead is this?
>
>Any clues would be much appreciated.  Its been a long time since I had
>actually mess with the damn hardware.
>
>Does enabling APIC-IO in the kernel make any difference?  Don't even
>know if my processer has APIC support.
>
>I mean this has got to work, if it can work fine under winblows, then
>I'm assuming there has got to be a way.
>
>Thanks
>-Ivan/
>
>-------
>
>
>
>
>
>root at durhamel iganza # cat /proc/pci
>PCI devices found:
>  Bus  0, device   0, function  0:
>    Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82850 850 (Tehama) Chipset Host Bridge (MCH) (rev 2).
>      Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xd8000000 [0xdfffffff].
>  Bus  0, device   1, function  0:
>    PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82850 850 (Tehama) Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 2).
>      Master Capable.  Latency=64.  Min Gnt=14.
>  Bus  0, device  30, function  0:
>    PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA/CA/DB PCI Bridge (rev 2).
>      Master Capable.  No bursts.  Min Gnt=6.
>  Bus  0, device  31, function  0:
>    ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 2).
>  Bus  0, device  31, function  1:
>    IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801BA IDE U100 (rev 2).
>      I/O at 0xffa0 [0xffaf].
>  Bus  0, device  31, function  2:
>    USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM USB (Hub #1) (rev 2).
>      IRQ 12.
>      I/O at 0xff80 [0xff9f].
>  Bus  0, device  31, function  3:
>    SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM SMBus (rev 2).
>      IRQ 11.
>      I/O at 0xdcd0 [0xdcdf].
>  Bus  0, device  31, function  4:
>    USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM USB (Hub #2) (rev 2).
>      IRQ 10.
>      I/O at 0xff60 [0xff7f].
>  Bus  1, device   0, function  0:
>    VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV25 (GeForce 4) (rev 163).
>      IRQ 9.
>      Master Capable.  Latency=248.  Min Gnt=5.Max Lat=1.
>      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfd000000 [0xfdffffff].
>      Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe8000000 [0xefffffff].
>      Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe7f80000 [0xe7ffffff].
>  Bus  2, device  10, function  0:
>    PCI bridge: Hint Corp HB1-SE33 PCI-PCI Bridge (rev 18).
>      Master Capable.  Latency=64.  Min Gnt=6.
>  Bus  2, device  11, function  0:
>    Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy (rev 3).
>      IRQ 9.
>      Master Capable.  Latency=64.  Min Gnt=2.Max Lat=20.
>      I/O at 0xece0 [0xecff].
>  Bus  2, device  11, function  1:
>    Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy MIDI/Game port (rev 3).
>      Master Capable.  Latency=64.
>      I/O at 0xecd8 [0xecdf].
>  Bus  2, device  11, function  2:
>    FireWire (IEEE 1394): Creative Labs SB Audigy FireWire Port (rev 0).
>      IRQ 11.
>      Master Capable.  Latency=64.  Min Gnt=2.Max Lat=4.
>      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf9fff800 [0xf9ffffff].
>      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf9ff8000 [0xf9ffbfff].
>  Bus  2, device  12, function  0:
>    Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 120).
>      IRQ 5.
>      Master Capable.  Latency=64.  Min Gnt=10.Max Lat=10.
>      I/O at 0xec00 [0xec7f].
>      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf9fff400 [0xf9fff47f].
>  Bus  3, device   0, function  0:
>    VGA compatible controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G400 AGP (rev 133).
>      IRQ 12.
>      Master Capable.  Latency=64.  Min Gnt=16.Max Lat=32.
>      Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf0000000 [0xf1ffffff].
>      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfbffc000 [0xfbffffff].
>      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfb000000 [0xfb7fffff].
>
>
>"Jack O'Quin" <joq at io.com> writes:
>
>  
>
>>Arthur Moore <art at infinitybox.net> writes:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>I'm using xinerama with two nvidia cards and I'm having a problem when
>>>trying to play sound. When I stretch an app (like audacity) over two
>>>screens I get all sorts of distortions. Actually whenever any sound
>>>app is on the second screen I have problems. Like a clicking. Anyway
>>>I'm using Debian unstable, with kernel 2.4.20 (no patches), Xfree86
>>>4.2.1, and alsa 0.9.2. Anyone else seen this problem?
>>>      
>>>
>>It works OK for me.  I'm running Debian woody (stable), homemade
>>kernel 2.4.19 with lowlatency and capability patches, XFree86 4.1.0,
>>GNOME 1.4 and ALSA 0.9.0rc7-2 with xinerama on a Matrox G400.  Sound
>>card is an M-Audio Delta 66 (very good card for the money).
>>
>>The first thing I'd suspect is the NVIDIA cards.  Some models are
>>reputed to have poor latency characteristics.  Google for information
>>on what the problems are and what to do.
>>
>>You may want to try building a low-latency kernel, too.  Debian has a
>>package for it that you can install and include in the kernel build
>>with make-kpkg.  If you're going to do all that, I'd recommend making
>>the capability patch, also.  It's only two lines, and it makes JACK
>>far more usable.
>>
>>Regards,
>>-- 
>>  Jack O'Quin
>>    
>>
My soundcard and Nvidia card are also sharing the same irq. I tried to 
move the card to keep that from happening, but it doesn't seem like that 
is working. Can't you manually assign IRQ's to a device? how would one 
go about doing that?

Art




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