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I have a Creative Soundblaster Z SB1570 (yeah I know big mistake) and I read somewhere that the 4.18 kernel will have better support for this card. My question is how can I make it work earlier using this kernel before the kernel update will be released officially to all 18.04 users? I read also that there is a patch for this card. Is this needed as well?

I am sorry if my question is too broad, but basically I need the steps that I need to follow in order to make the sound card work properly.

P.S.: I tried myself to install this specific kernel and I succeeded, but I didn't get the sound card to work properly.

EDIT:

alsa-info output

und3rd06012
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2 Answers2

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Install Updated Kernel

Per this link, you can manually update to kernel 4.18. If your device is reported to work with this kernel, theoretically it should work out of the box:

Download the kernel here:

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.18/

Depends on your OS type, download and install the packages in turns:

linux-headers-4.18.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
linux-headers-4.18.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
linux-modules-4.18.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
linux-image-xxx-4.18.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb

Select generic for common system, and lowlatency for a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio), amd64 for 64bit system, i386 for 32bit system, or armhf, arm64, etc for other OS types.

Download required files into a folder, say ~/kernel, then:

cd ~/kernel
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
sudo reboot

Once you have rebooted, verify your kernel with:

uname -a

If for some reason you want to get rid of this kernel

Reboot, go to advanced boot options and select a different kernel and boot. To remove 4.18 run this command:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-4.18.0-041800-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-041800-generic

( you will have to change the package name according to the kernel you installed )

Confirm Sound Card Works

Reboot and see that your audio card is recognized using alsamixer:

`alsamixer -c1`

You may need to change the number next to the flag -c depending on the sound card you want to choose and edit its settings.

You can adjust levels here. According to answer found by OP, the HP/Speaker output needs to be muted for other outputs to work.

OP Picture of Alsa

und3rd06012
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Joshua Besneatte
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  • Thanks for the answer. The problem is that I already did that the exact same way you stated, and now I did it again and the card doesn't output anything from any of the sources. Do I need do configure the Alsamixer or Pulseaudio somehow? – und3rd06012 Aug 18 '18 at 18:50
  • OK, but it is 1485 lines the whole info file. Do you want me to post it all of it or a part? – und3rd06012 Aug 18 '18 at 19:02
  • Sorry for the delayed answer. I have edited the question to contain the link to alsa project. – und3rd06012 Aug 19 '18 at 05:45
  • I am facing another issue at the moment which is related to the kernel installation of 4.18. The problem is when I install 4.18, gdm3 and other packages are getting purged from my system and after a reboot when the OS is trying to boot all I get is the Ubuntu splash screen and nothing more. Should I open another question for this problem? – und3rd06012 Aug 29 '18 at 06:32
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I am using an ubuntu kernel updater ukuu http://www.teejeetech.in/p/ukuu-kernel-upgrade-utility.html

And I upgraded the kernel to 4.18.3 . My creative sound blaster Z is finally working. Hope it works for you also.

Chun
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    Seems like there's still a minor problem with this newer kernel, the sound card stops working after a reboot and I have to plug the audio cord to different ports on the sound card for it to work again after a reboot. – Chun Aug 19 '18 at 01:27