The problem
After installing PCLinuxOS on an Acer 5051AWXMi laptop, the sound would disappear whenever I rebooted the computer.
This was strange behavior, as when ran it from the Live CD, it worked perfectly. Furthermore, if I ran the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Configurator in a terminal, (command = alsaconf), the sound would work yet again until the next time I rebooted the machine.
Clearly from the afore mentioned behavior, something wasn't happening during the boot sequence - part 1.
New. After updating the system recently, I lost the sound again. Please see part 2, for the resolution.
The solution - Part 1
Running alsaconf revealed the driver being used for the built in sound chip (hda-intel).
Inspection of the modules (/etc/modules) file revealed the driver was not listed, therefore, not being loaded during the boot sequence.
A simple edit of the modules file to add the driver (just as it appeared in alsaconf in this case hda-intel) solved the problem.
So a recap to define the steps to take.
1. Run alsaconf to determine the driver to use
2. Check your modules file to see if that driver is listed
3. If necessary, add the driver to the modules file via your favorite editing program*
4. Reboot the computer
* Adding the driver simply means using an editing program (I used vim) to type in the name of your driver. So all you need to do is select a fresh line and type the driver name.
For example, my modules file now looks like this:
- slamr
- martian_dev
- hda-intel
- nvram
- evdev
The solution - Part 2
If you loose the sound after an update, try the following:
Go back into a Terminal (PC >> System >> Terminals >> Terminal Program - Super User Mode) and add this line to your /etc/modprobe.conf file:
Your file may now look something like this:
As PCLinuxOS is a high-bred system using components from Mandriva and Debian, systems based around the same, may possibly benefit from these fixes.
