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Sound Problems on Slackware

Investigate the problem

1) See which kernel modules are loaded:

   lsmod | grep snd

Use this information along with your motherboard sound chipset to verify that the correct sound drivers are loading.

2) See which sound devices are detected by alsa:

   aplay -l

Most likely, alsa is loading the correct modules but setting the wrong sound device as default.

3) Test sound devices to see which one(s) work:

   alsamixer
   <F6>
   <select a card(s)>
   <adjust volumes and make sure they aren't muted>
   <ESC>
   
   aplay -D hw0,0 test.wav   (WHERE 0,0 is card/slot 0, device 0 and test.wav is a sound file.)
   aplay -D hw0,1 test.wav
   aplay -D hw1,0 test.wav
   aplay -D hw1,1 test.wav

PROBLEM: alsa is setting the wrong device as the default sound; you can force the correct default as follows:

FIX: Create /etc/asound.conf and add an entry for the working card/slot and device:

   pcm.!default {
        type hw
        card 1
        device 0
   }
   ctl.!default {
        type hw
        card 1
        device 0
   }

OR, if you just want the changes for a single user create ~/.asoundrc in the user's home directory and put the above in it…

Sources

 howtos:hardware:sound_problems_on_slackware ()