Zorin OS9 Audio messed up

Hello,

I am new to Zorin OS9 which I have just installed on an old Windows XP 32-bit Sony VAIO laptop, with incredible speed increase results making the machine usable again!
Nevertheless, I have a huge problem with the audio configuration/drivers, the laptop keeps beeping loudly all the time, despite that I have muted everything I could in Pulse Audio Manager.
To avoid going crazy, I had to plugin a headphone jack in order to keep the laptop "muted".
Any tips please?

Thanks and regards,
Rafael

Sony computers are not overly GNU/Linux friendly and suspect this is the issue - in the meantime:

1. Look at Wolfman's post-install guide here, and look in the section concerned with Audio:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9785

2. Can you give us the precise model of your Sony VAIO please?:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5449

Swarfendor437,

Please find info requested here below:

1. Sony VAIO VGN-FS660_W Intel Pentium 1.73 GHz

2. RAM 1GB, 795 MHz, Physical Address Extension

3. Dual boot: Windows XP Home Edition version 2002 Service Pack 2 (5.1, Build 2600), 32-bit
plus Zorin OS9 boot

4. Hard Drive partitioning:
Disk 0: 5.01GB NTFS (EISA), 40.21GB NTFS (C:), 28.31 GB + 1GB (Zorin)

5. Graphics chipset of Notebook:
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6200, Integrated RAMDAC (128MB), 1280x800 (32 bit, 60Hz) LCD notebook display
nv4_disp.dll (driver)

6. Audio chips/Soundcard
RealTek HD Audio output, WDM, RtkHDAud.sys (driver)
Hardware Sound Acceleration Level = Full
tested with "No acceleration" (RealTek output emulated)

7. PCI Card/Wireless:
Intel PRO/100 VE Network Connection (PCI bus 6, device 8)
Intel PRO/Wireless 220BG Network Connection (PCI bus 6, device 4)

8. I did not run Zorin Live first before installing.

9. I have installed Zorin OS9


Thanks and regards,
Rafael

@Rguerra: Thanks for the info! let me ask you a question: when you here this beeping do you also hear the CPU fan blowing like a table fan? The motherboard could be honking due to an overclocking CPU.

Another cause I have had that caused such beeping is bad RAM. zorin 9 uses more RAM than windows XP (though it does better use it ) .

For the specs I heard there I would say that zorin OS lite would probably run better than zorin os 9. I think when you have 1 GB of ram or below lite will work better, and swarfendor437 thinks 2GB ram and below [I have run zorin 11 fairly well on 2 gb ram].

Another possiblility: i'm guessing you put 32 bit OS on your computer right? the CPU prob wont do 64 bit instructions and will overclock over them which may cause annoying beeping.

I'm going to guess if you say your CPU is not blowing loudly that it is a RAM issue. If that's the case maybe try zorin lite.

Hope this helps!

James,

Thanks for your reply. As requested:
- The loud noise beeps seem to come only from the notebook speaker (the fan seems to be quiet).
- Zorin OS9 Lite (32-bit) is installed (sorry for not having mentioned it).
(Zorin Task Manager shows: CPU usage ~2% and ~220MB of RAM being used out of 1000 MB)

I am considering disabling the notebook sound card. Does anybody know how this can be done via software?

PS: in case it helps in the diagnostic, the "aplay -l" command produces:
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC260 Analog; Subdevices: 1/1

Thanks and regards,
Rafael

if the volume is all the way down i doubt it is a problem with your speakers. here's a great way to find out though. If you have headphones or a external speaker that use a 3.5 mm jack plug them in to your laptop's headphone jack. See if the noise moves to there.

The volume is all the way down and muted but Pulse Audio Manager blinks and somehow the OS temporarily unmutes during the beeps.
Yes, using headphones moves the non-stopping loud beep noise there.
I think I have managed to disable the sound card by blacklisting: "snd_hda_codec", "snd_hda_codec_realtek" and "snd_hda_intel"
Not the best solution but for the time being, it is better to have the computer totally silent...
If someone experienced similar issues I would be glad to learn the solution.
Regards, Rafael

OK, the first thing I spotted was too small an allocation for Zorin - if you want either Core or Lite to run smoothly you should give it a minimum of 8 Gb Partition space!

Sorry for the loose wording. When I wrote: 28.31 GB + 1GB (Zorin), this reflected the way Windows XP Disk <anagement displayed the info and it really means a total of 29.31 GB allocated for Zorin.
Btw, I have used Zorin OS9 Lite's default settings for dual boot option during installation.
Despite the sound issue, I am very pleased with the performance, it is really amazing so far.
Thanks again,
Rafael

Have you tried to remove the pc speaker from use?
sudo modprobe -r pcspkr

Tried now but does not work: computer reboots silent but when first sound is played it does not stop beeping loud noises.
Best fix to totally silence the laptop was to blacklist the items indicated above.