From alsa-user-owner@alsa.jcu.cz  Tue Jun 23 16:31:36 1998
Received: from hotmail.com (f209.hotmail.com [207.82.251.100])
	by marvin.jcu.cz (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id QAA19053
	for <alsa-user@jcu.cz>; Tue, 23 Jun 1998 16:29:29 +0200
Received: (qmail 1308 invoked by uid 0); 23 Jun 1998 14:28:43 -0000
Message-ID: <19980623142843.1307.qmail@hotmail.com>
Received: from 193.130.38.81 by www.hotmail.com with HTTP;
	Tue, 23 Jun 1998 07:28:42 PDT
From: "Reinier Mostert" <reinier_mostert@hotmail.com>
To: alsa-user@jcu.cz
Subject: Re: SB 16 hangs my PPro when playing sound
Content-Type: text/plain
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 07:28:42 PDT
Reply-To: alsa-user@alsa.jcu.cz
Sender: alsa-user-owner@alsa.jcu.cz
Precedence: list

Hi,

I'll try you suggestions below tonight.  Some notes:
1) It hangs using SMP and non-SMP kernels.  I got the second CPU only a 
couple of weeks ago, and it used to hang before that.

2) I never thought of DMA conflicts - I'll definitely check on that.  I 
am using a 16 bit DMA, and just selected the one suggested.  BTW, I 
checked last night, and the IRQ is actually 5 (and not 7, as I said).  
Still, I set the SB 16 IRQ the same as the SB 1.5.

3) No other instabilities.  And it is just too pat, the machine will be 
on for a week, I start playing audio, and after a random time it freezes 
solid.  It's never hung while I'm not playing sound. 

My RAM amount is set to mem=79.x (x < 5) MB - I had it on 80 MB, and had 
some problems.  I played around, and settled on this amount.  No 
problems after that.

So, I'll fiddle with DMA and let you know.  

>1.  It's relatively easy to compile a non-SMP kernel and test this 
setup with
>    SMP disabled and running only on one processor.  I know JK says it 
should
>    be SMP-safe, but it won't hurt to double check.  If you still have 
problems
>    with SMP disabled, it will rule that out as a possibility and we 
can
>    stop worrying about it.
>
>    I've got a dual PPro system I can use (SuperMicro MB), but it 
currently
>    has no sound card.  I could put a GUS in it, but I don't have an 
SB16
>    I can use.  If I get around to testing it, I'll let you know if I 
have
>    any problems.
>
>2.  One difference between an SB and an SB 16 is that the SB 16 is a 16 
bit
>    card (duh) and therefore can use a 16 bit DMA.  Are you using a 16 
bit
>    DMA?  Are you sure that DMA is otherwise unused?  I think a DMA 
conflict
>    is a more likely problem than an IO base or IRQ conflict.
>
>    Can you run applications in 8-bit mode, using the 8-bit DMA used 
with
>    your original card?  If the problems go away, you have a problem 
with
>    your 16-bit DMA.
>
>3.  Are you experiencing any other instability at any other time?  I 
notice
>    that you have >64 MB of RAM, which linux cannot automatically 
detect.
>    You need a special lilo appendage to get that to work.  If that is 
not
>    done correctly, if the ammount of memory actually installed is not 
less
>    than or equal to the amount of usable memory in the system (taking 
into
>    account anything used by the bios) you can have random system 
crashes
>    when linux tries to use memory that isn't there.  (See the 
BootPromt
>    HOWTO for more info on the mem= appendage.)
>
>    Try ommitting the mem= line from lilo if you've got one. (This 
should
>    set it to use at most 64 MB of RAM.)  If the problem goes away, you
>    have a RAM problem.  You should play with the amount of memory 
listed
>    on the mem= line until you have as much memory as possible without
>    having any crashes.  There's probably some better way to do this.
>
>That's all I can think of off the top of my head.  It shouldn't be hard 
to
>try these things and see what happens.
>
>Eric
>------
>To unsubscribe from <alsa-user@alsa.jcu.cz> mailing list send message
>'unsubscribe' in the body of message to 
<alsa-user-request@alsa.jcu.cz>.
>
>


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

