Fedora 8 64bit and sound+linking error...

[lesstwo]

Hi all,

First, I am new to Linux altogether. I am installing it on a spare hard drive on my desktop, tri-booting Vista, XP, and Fedora 8. Unfortunately, since I decided to try Linux after I built the computer, I made some poor hardware choices from a Linux standpoint: for example, an X-Fi Fatal1ty soundcard.

On first boot, there is no sound and the GNOME volume applet has an X. Trying to test sounds under System>Preferences>Hardware>Sound gives the following error:

audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512 ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink: Internal GStreamer error: state change failed.  
Please file a bug at http://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=GStreamer.

At first I tried the closed Creative drivers, but that was an utter failure so I turned to OSS v4. However, when downloading the .rpm from the website, it loads and installs by itself until the bar is complete, then hangs indefinitely. When rebooting the system, I notice that OSS is an option under by System>Preferences>Hardware>Sound settings, but selecting it does not enable sound. Typing osstest into the terminal looks like this:

/dev/mixer: No such file or directory
The device file is missing from /dev.
Perhaps you have not installed and started Open Sound System yet

I also read somewhere to try "soundon" but the result is this:

...
/lib/modules/2.6.24.3-50.fc8/kernel/fs/squashfs/squashfs.ko is not a valid ELF object
Relinking OSS kernel modules for ""
This may take few moments - please stand by...

OSS build environment set up for REGPARM kernels

Building module osscore
ld: Relocatable linking with relocations from format elf32-i386 (osscore_mainline.o) to format elf64-x86-64 (/lib/modules/2.6.24.3-50.fc8/kernel/oss/osscore.ko) is not supported
Linking the osscore module failed

This is preceded by quite a few other things that are not "valid ELF objects." From reading the last few lines it seems to be a 64 vs 32 bit compatibility problem, but I am at a complete loss. I have no sound currently, and Fedora does not recognize my onboard sound at all (it only has SPDIF output anyway, so using it is not an option.)

I have gcc, kernel-devel, and kernel-headers all installed if that helps.

Finally, would it be smarter to just use 32-bit Fedora? I haven't even started working on getting the video card drivers to work yet, as I have spent the last few days troubleshooting this sound issue. I will post my system specs at the end of this. Please help me out. I am very competent in the Windows environment, but a complete newcomer to Linux. Please let me know if there are console commands you would like reported.

System specs:
MB: Asus Striker Extreme
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme 3.0Ghz (QX6850)
RAM: 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair Dominator 800Mhz DDR2
Video: XFX GeForce 8800 Ultra XXX Edition
HDD: 2x WD Raptor X, 1x Seagate Barracuda (where Fedora is installed)
Sound: Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty

[Thetargos]

Being your sound card an X-Fi, there is not much you can do other than building an installing OSS from source. And try again. Other than that... There is not much you can do, being as not even your onboard is usable.

[lesstwo]

Originally Posted by Thetargos

Being your sound card an X-Fi, there is not much you can do other than building an installing OSS from source. And try again. Other than that... There is not much you can do, being as not even your onboard is usable.

How would I go about doing this, and is it reasonable for a new Linux user to accomplish? I have seen other people on different forums claiming success with an X-Fi card, OSS4, and Fedora 64 bit. Unfortunately, they have no solutions since the install just "worked" for them. Something is wrong on mine.

Keep in mind that I am not asking for a miracle; I am perfectly content with stereo playback. I do not need recording capabilities, 5.1, or any Creative Labs special processing hype. For now, I will do a fresh install of F8 64bit (I doubt this will do anything, since this WAS a fresh install to start with) and try again. Although, I'm not sure how this error:

Relocatable linking with relocations from format elf32-i386 (osscore_mainline.o) to format elf64-x86-64 (/lib/modules/2.6.24.3-50.fc8/kernel/oss/osscore.ko) is not supported
Linking the osscore module failed

has anything to do with my X-Fi card, since if you google just "Relocatable linking with relocations from format elf32-i386 o format elf64-x86-64 is not supported" you will find a lot of similar errors of 64 bit users using "make" on 32 bit source. I just don't know what I'm missing, be it a compatibility library or something else altogether.

[Thetargos]

Please take a minute to analyse the error message...

Relocatable linking with relocations from format elf32-i386 (osscore_mainline.o) to format elf64-x86-64 (/lib/modules/2.6.24.3-50.fc8/kernel/oss/osscore.ko) is not supported
Linking the osscore module failed

It is indeed impossible to link a 32-bit driver binary (the mentioned object file) against a 64-bit kernel, not even possible to do in Windows. You will have to build from source OSS (IIRC there is a source package) and then install from there. As for the feasibility, well, it really depends on your reading skills, actually. All the necessary instructions on how to build the package should be within the source itself. You will have to be comfortable with the CLI to perform this task, though. Usually all that's involved is the "three steps to build" of ./configure && make && su -c make install, again a file called README or INSTALL in the package should tell you exactly what to do. You will have, however, to cover the necessary dependencies on your own, but basically installing the kernel-headers, the kernel-devel and the development tools should be all you need.