hda-intel: spurious response and [pulseaudio] module-udev-detect.c: inotify_init1() failed: Too many open files

[JoseLuisTriana]

I have two desktops, Unity and KDE, in KDE pulseaudio starts without problems, but when I end session in KDE and begin it with Unity, then pulseaudio fails to start, I have sound in KDE even in lightdm, but not in Unity, this lack of sound makes Unity experience to suck at all.

Why pulseaudio cannot start when I log on with Unity?

When I try to start it manually it just drops this message:

E: [pulseaudio] main.c: Falló el inicio del demonio.

The same message when I logon:

Jan 26 00:33:00 64-desktop pulseaudio[25578]: [pulseaudio] module-udev-detect.c: inotify_init1() failed: Demasiados archivos abiertos
Jan 26 00:33:00 64-desktop pulseaudio[25578]: [pulseaudio] module.c: Failed to load module "module-udev-detect" (argument: ""): initialization failed.
Jan 26 00:33:00 64-desktop pulseaudio[25578]: [pulseaudio] main.c: Module load failed.
Jan 26 00:33:00 64-desktop pulseaudio[25578]: [pulseaudio] main.c: Fallo al intentar iniciar el demonio.
Jan 26 00:33:00 64-desktop pulseaudio[25575]: [pulseaudio] main.c: Falló el inicio del demonio.

If the problem is with udev, why it fails with Unity, and not in KDE?.

I actually have sound, but not trough pulseaudio; the speaker icon in the system tray shows disabled and I don't have login sound, I know it is disabled by default, I enabled it, so I expect to hear login sound and have pulseaudio working.

I noticed this problem with pulseaudio since an upgrade that the system made automatically on January 18, these packages:

Start-Date: 2013-01-18 10:24:02
Install: linux-headers-3.2.0-36:amd64 (3.2.0-36.57, automatic), linux-image-3.2.0-36-generic:amd64 (3.2.0-36.57), linux-headers-3.2.0-36-generic:amd64 (3.2.0-36.57, automatic)
Upgrade: linux-generic:amd64 (3.2.0.35.40, 3.2.0.36.43), x11proto-gl-dev:amd64 (1.4.14-2, 1.4.16-1~precise1), linux-headers-generic:amd64 (3.2.0.35.40, 3.2.0.36.43), linux-image-generic:amd64 (3.2.0.35.40, 3.2.0.36.43), linux-libc-dev:amd64 (3.2.0-35.55, 3.2.0-36.57), x11proto-dri2-dev:amd64 (2.6-2, 2.8-1~precise1)
End-Date: 2013-01-18 10:30:02

I personally can't find any relation of these packages with pulseaudio, but after I installed the new kernel, pulseaudio sucks when I log on with Unity.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: pulseaudio 1:1.1-0ubuntu15.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-36.57-generic 3.2.35
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-36-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.1
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: VT82xx [HDA VIA VT82xx], device 0: VT1708B 8-Ch Analog [VT1708B 8-Ch Analog]
   Subdevices: 2/2
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
AudioDevicesInUse: Error: command ['fuser', '-v', '/dev/snd/by-path', '/dev/snd/controlC0', '/dev/snd/hwC0D0', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0c', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D1p', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D2p', '/dev/snd/seq', '/dev/snd/timer'] failed with exit code 1:
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'VT82xx'/'HDA VIA VT82xx at 0xfebfc000 irq 17'
   Mixer name : 'VIA VT1708B 8-Ch'
   Components : 'HDA:1106e721,10191349,00100100'
   Controls : 42
   Simple ctrls : 21
CheckboxSubmission: 12497377426c4e40d55dfc62c00d0a8b
CheckboxSystem: 5606fb5d476dcfd021a0181d012c8ef5
Date: Sat Jan 26 00:26:09 2013
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
MarkForUpload: True
PulseList: Error: command ['pacmd', 'list'] failed with exit code 1: No PulseAudio daemon running, or not running as session daemon.
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 02/21/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 080014
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: P53G
dmi.board.vendor: PCCHIPS
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 0123ABC
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: PCCHIPS
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr080014:bd02/21/2008:svnPCCHIPS:pnP53G:pvr1.0:rvnPCCHIPS:rnP53G:rvr1.0:cvnPCCHIPS:ct3:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: P53G
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: PCCHIPS

[JoseLuisTriana (theunfor)]

Once it fails to start in Unity, it fails to start with other Desktops, the only thing that have sound at stratup is lightdm, I restart sessions with KDE without problems.

[Raymond (superquad-vortex2)]

[ 20.739703] hda-intel: spurious response 0x0:0x0, last cmd=0x2770500
[ 20.739718] hda-intel: spurious response 0x0:0x0, last cmd=0x2770500
[ 20.739740] hda-intel: spurious response 0x0:0x0, last cmd=0x2770500
[ 20.739761] hda-intel: spurious response 0x0:0x0, last cmd=0x2770500
[ 20.739782] hda-intel: spurious response 0x0:0x0, last cmd=0x2770500
[ 20.739801] hda-intel: spurious response 0x0:0x0, last cmd=0x2770500
[ 20.739822] hda-intel: spurious response 0x0:0x0, last cmd=0x2770500
[ 20.739843] hda-intel: spurious response 0x0:0x0, last cmd=0x2770500
[ 20.739866] hda-intel: spurious response 0x0:0x0, last cmd=0x2770500
[ 20.739885] hda-intel: spurious response 0x4:0x0, last cmd=0x2770500
[ 20.739906] hda-intel: spurious response 0x0:0x0, last cmd=0x2770500

[Paul Broadhead (pjbroad)]

I have a similar if not the same problem. It started around the same time. I do not use a kde desktop, only unity but I do run some kde apps e.g. kaffeine. However, I do not know if it is related to use of these. The indicator-sound and system-settings->audio controls are greyed out but I can play sounds. Per session pulse audio will not start for me. If I log out and try another user, their audio is fine. So is lighdm. If I log in again, my audio is still broken. I have tried removing user pulse audio files located in my home directory and /tmp. I have also made sure all processed owned by me are stopped when I logout. However, only a reboot fixes the problem.

If I try to start pulse auto manually using "start-pulseaudio-x11" I get this error at the command line:
Connection failure: Connection refused
pa_context_connect() failed: Connection refused

And this text in /var/log/syslog:
Jan 26 12:52:05 hagrid rtkit-daemon[2970]: Successfully made thread 28324 of process 28324 (n/a) owned by '500' high priority at nice level -11.
Jan 26 12:52:05 hagrid rtkit-daemon[2970]: Supervising 1 threads of 1 processes of 1 users.
Jan 26 12:52:05 hagrid pulseaudio[28324]: [pulseaudio] module-udev-detect.c: inotify_init1() failed: Too many open files
Jan 26 12:52:05 hagrid pulseaudio[28324]: [pulseaudio] module.c: Failed to load module "module-udev-detect" (argument: ""): initialization failed.
Jan 26 12:52:05 hagrid pulseaudio[28324]: [pulseaudio] main.c: Module load failed.
Jan 26 12:52:05 hagrid pulseaudio[28324]: [pulseaudio] main.c: Failed to initialise daemon.
Jan 26 12:52:05 hagrid pulseaudio[28321]: [pulseaudio] main.c: Daemon startup failed.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[JoseLuisTriana (theunfor)]

I managed to reproduce this bug again, it seems that I don't have the chance to restart sessions (100% functional, with pulseuadio runnign) the times I want, as before of course.

It happens to me random, I repeat I have sound through my sound card but not pulseaudio.

I attach the output of "pulseaudio -vvvv", It seems that something in udev is misbehaving, I don't have an idea of why, but that's the reason that the pulseaudio daemon fails, and there is no way to bring it back to life.

[JoseLuisTriana (theunfor)]

"pulseaudio -vvv" output.

[Paul Broadhead (pjbroad)]

In case it helps, my output from "pulseaudio -vvv" too.

[Dennis Schridde (devurandom)]

Duplicate of bug #1101666? After updating to linux-image-3.2.0-37-generic the issue seems to be gone.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 12.04 (precise) reached end-of-life on April 28, 2017.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for alsa-driver (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for pulseaudio (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]