SPDIF does not work on ASUS M2N68-VM

[mocitysam]

I spent over a week trying to get this working.  Out of fresh ideas and suggestions.  Also posted to a bug on alsa site (https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view.php?id=4330)

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated - I am pretty close to returning this MOBO to newegg.

alsa_info.sh output @ http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=7619145a69fa28571030e22fde7f8e776b83661c

Alsamixers have iec958 enabled (not muted). I also see PCM and digital in the kmixer.

Optical out does not have the light lit up.


Motherboard: M2N68-VM
Kernel: 2.6.28
Alsa driver: 1.0.19
NVIDIA Driver: 180.22

aplay -l: output:
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: VT1708B Analog [VT1708B Analog]
  Subdevices: 2/2
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: VT1708B Digital [VT1708B Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: pcsp [pcsp], device 0: pcspeaker [pcsp]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

aplay -L output:

default:CARD=NVidia
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, VT1708B Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, NVIDIA HDMI
    HDMI Audio Output
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default:CARD=pcsp
    pcsp, pcsp
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=pcsp,DEV=0
    pcsp, pcsp
    Front speakers

asound.conf:
pcm.digital {
type plug
slave.pcm "digital-hw"
}
ctl.digital {
type hw
card 0
}

pcm.digital-hw {
type hw
card 0
device 1
}

ctl.digital-hw {
type hw
card 0
}

[tkmedia]

I just started testing this board I will see if I can get any better results



Tim

[mocitysam]

Tim, Any updates?

[tkmedia]

Analog is working fine

I don't even see IEC958 in alsamixer under 0710 with default alsa
I will try 1.0.19 tonight.

As well as a test with 0810 lmce.



Tim

[mocitysam]

Thanks for the update.  If you do the following (in that order) you will see IEC958:

1) Upgrade kernel - I was using 2.6.14/17 (do not remember exactly - the one that comes default with linux mce install) and upgraded 2.6.28 (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Upgrading_the_Kernel )
2) upgrade the nvidia driver
3) apply the ALSA snapshot as part of ALSA upgrade.  There is nice script @ http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6589810#post6589810 to upgrade ALSA drivers. This script will upgrade to 18a. Change it to point to 19. You need to run it with -d (for download), then -snap (for snapshot) and then -i (in that order).


Not that  all this will get any sound out of SPDIF :-(

check out this post as well:
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42183

Good luck. 

Let us know if 8.10 works

[tkmedia]

Thanks Dave,



Cool I will try tonight


Tim

[mocitysam]

Dave,

I do not see VT1708B in this model list.  Should I be looking for something else?

Thanks

[Itsik]

Dave

I'f followed your guide trying to figure out the sound problems on my P5N7A-VM, but it didn't change anything. The sound is vary distorted, loads of noise and what not.
Any idea what could be causing it ?

Thnx
Itsik

[mocitysam]

I have alsa 19 drivers installed and the digital is still VT1708B.  what codec should I specify for this chip to get the SPDIF working?

Thanks

aplay -l: output:
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: VT1708B Analog [VT1708B Analog]
  Subdevices: 2/2
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: VT1708B Digital [VT1708B Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: NVIDIA HDMI [NVIDIA HDMI]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: pcsp [pcsp], device 0: pcspeaker [pcsp]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0