2 issues - not easy to find definitive answer, on new 8.04 install

[DrNic]

Hi,
I've (very) slowly worked my way through 6.06LTS and 7.04, on my laptop and was always surprised that it all just worked (well with a bit of help from you guys!).
The other day I took the plunge and installed 8.04 on my main desktop (Shuttle SB81P - using intel915 chipset, ICH6R, Realtek AC880 on boardsound). Two seemingly major issues have struck me and I need some help again!

1) The PC will not shutdown properly! I have read extensively on this forum and others about this issue and have tried the grub edit (acpi=force etc) amongst other things. I do not have ATI drivers as I use the on board GMA adapter, so that is not my problem as others have found.
I am a bit shocked to see that this "bug" if that is what it is (or design alteration in comparison with my previous versions) has not yet been addressed. Current behaviour is that shutdown from within KDE causes a system halt with a blank screen - CPU fans still rotating, removing the quiet option reveals it is halted - a command prompt is waiting for my input! Shutting down from the login screen works as expected - both of these facts are well known I think. Is there a definitive answer for sorting this out?

2) Sound issue: using the onboard Intel High-definition Audio device (Realtek AC880) the volume is virtually non-existent. I have ensured that all mixers are at the fullest volume (both with KMix and Konsole Alsamixer, I have tried specifying the exact model of HDA device as per the forum posts. Interestingly the front Microphone input gives the loudest output!! Strange!
This onboard sound device must be fairly common - do any users have this up and running? Is there a definitive answer again as to how to make this work?

I really want to get all this working - I am not afraid of trying anything on this install as it is expendable until I work out how to get it just right! I might need some walking through anything too difficult!
I hope this doesn't come across as a rant - it isn't intended to be, I have already spent 3 days reading post after post on this - but I am getting bogged down with all the possible options and would just like to see if anyone has the holy grail of answers!

Thankyou

Nic

[Snowhog]

Re: 2 issues - not easy to find definitive answer, on new 8.04 install

For sound, you might want to install linux-backports-modules-generic and see if this helps.

[dibl]

Re: 2 issues - not easy to find definitive answer, on new 8.04 install

I don't know about your computer, but for an EEE PC (which also has the GMA945), here's the fix for the shutdown hang:

Edit /etc/default/halt as root with your favourite text editor and add the line "rmmod snd_hda_intel" at the end.

[Snowhog]

Re: 2 issues - not easy to find definitive answer, on new 8.04 install

Edit /etc/default/halt as root with your favourite text editor and add the line "rmmod snd_hda_intel" at the end.

Waaa!?? I don't think that putting a remove module command in the /etc/default/halt file is what you intended to say!

[bmccosar]

Re: 2 issues - not easy to find definitive answer, on new 8.04 install

I'm having the intel hda problem on my 64-bit system.

The good news is: the problem you have found is not a new one, and is a known bug. It's apparently being worked on right now --

Launchpad bug report (my contribution at the bottom, posted on 2008-08-03).

The bad news is: no solution so far. However, sometimes you just have to have faith the problem will be worked out. I've been using Linux since 2001. Every now and then, especially with new hardware, the various teams have to bang their heads against arbitrary and ill-documented changes in hardware specifications.

My experience has been that Ubuntu is good about fixing these problems. It's why I migrated to this distro in the first place. As an example, I have an experimental partition on my hard drive that I use to load other distros, just for comparison sake. Only the Ubuntu / Kubuntu / Xubuntu amd64 disks have installed faultlessly. Fedora hung up; Debian refused to boot from CD. It's a sort of miracle that Kubuntu can navigate the sea of hardware that's already out there -- it's installed on all the computers in my home, now, and there have never been install issues.

So I think it's just a matter of time before it's fixed.

[DrNic]

Re: 2 issues - not easy to find definitive answer, on new 8.04 install

Thankyou for the replies.
The sound issue I can live with - its not a show stopper, just an annoyance!
I would really appreciate ideas on solving the shutdown issue. I'm perfectly fine with using a konsole shutdown command (works everytime), or closing a KDE session to get to the login screen to shutdown the system, but.... my wife will not tolerate such oddities! I've had a hard enough time converting her over to the way of Kubuntu. Please don't make me have to install a dual boot system!!!


Nic