Recognizing the Intel 82801EB AC'97 Audio Controller 865G chipset

[Carl Riches]

On Wed, 18 Feb 2004, Alan E Derhaag wrote:

> I've got a new Dell at work and Xwindows recognized to use of the
> i810 driver but the i810_audio/ac97_codec drivers doesn't seem to work
> to give me any audio, indicating it can't find the device.  Is there
> some /etc/modules.conf entry I need to make to tell it to find the
> device?
>
> BTW, I've got a fairly new Sony/VAIO at home which recognizes to use
> the i810_audio and ac97_codec.  This is rather confusing as the source
> for the i810_audio driver has defines for the 865G chipset.
>

I discovered to my chagrin that not all AC'97 controllers are the same.
Here's what I have on my Dell Precision 350 workstation, purchased in June
2003, as reported by "lspci":

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM AC'97 Audio (rev 04)


We then purchased several Dell Precision 360 workstations in October 2003.
Here's the same "lspci" output from one of them:

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB AC'97 Audio (rev 02)


You will note that they are not the same.  The sound support software
delivered with Red Hat Linux 9 did not support the latter controller.
I found and installed the ALSA sound support software.  This did support
the controller.

You may want to determine exactly what AC'97 controller you have, and try
out the ALSA drivers.

Carl

Carl G. Riches
Software Engineer
Department of Mathematics
Box 354350			voice:     206-543-5082 or 206-616-3636
University of Washington	fax:       206-543-0397
Seattle, WA  98195-4350		internet:  riches at ms.washington.edu