Pidgin stops playing sounds after a while

[Yaron Tausky]

Binary package hint: pidgin

When I start Pidgin, it plays sound alerts as expected. However, after a while, it stops playing sounds completely. It should be noted that other programmes continue to play sound flawlessly even when Pidgin stops doing that.
Quitting Pidgin and then restarting it solves the problem temporarily (until the next time it stops playing sounds).

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/pidgin
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
Package: pidgin 1:2.5.2-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: pidgin
Uname: Linux 2.6.27-8-generic i686

[Vadim Gusev (zarbis)]

I confir this bug for me, same pidgin and kernel version.

[zorblek (zorblek)]

I am experiencing the same bug. Interestingly, it doesn't always happen with all sounds. For instance, pidgin is currently playing sounds when buddies log in or out, but not when I am messaged, even though both are enabled in preferences (and both work when I test them from the preferences page).

[zorblek (zorblek)]

I've noticed another odd thing: I can be having 2 conversations simultaneously, and get message sounds for one of them but not the other. I have a hunch that I get sounds from conversations with people who appear online, but not from conversations with people who are invisible.

[zorblek (zorblek)]

Well, my hunch was wrong. I got an invisible friend to go visible and message me, and it made no difference. I also didn't get any noise when it said they had logged in.

I don't think it's network-dependent. When I was getting sounds from one conversation but not the other, the only other difference between them was that the one I was getting sounds from was on Gtalk, and the one I wasn't getting sounds from was on Yahoo. However, I've gotten sounds from other people who were on Yahoo.

[Lupine (thelupine)]

I have seen this same behavior on Ubuntu 8.10. I searched Pidgin's bug tracker and have found that this issue has also been reported there: http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/7567

[Ka-Hing Cheung (kahing)]

does the problem go away if you tell gstreamer not to use pulse (by choosing ALSA in gstreamer-properties)?

[zorblek (zorblek)]

Sorry about the delay... I finally got a chance to test this, and the answer
is no. It doesn't seem to matter whether I have it set to pulseaudio, alsa,
or just auto (which is what it was originally).

On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 9:47 PM, Ka-Hing Cheung <email address hidden> wrote:

> does the problem go away if you tell gstreamer not to use pulse (by
> choosing ALSA in gstreamer-properties)?
>
> --
> Pidgin stops playing sounds after a while
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/298040
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Pidgin: New
> Status in "pidgin" source package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: pidgin
>
> When I start Pidgin, it plays sound alerts as expected. However, after a
> while, it stops playing sounds completely. It should be noted that other
> programmes continue to play sound flawlessly even when Pidgin stops doing
> that.
> Quitting Pidgin and then restarting it solves the problem temporarily
> (until the next time it stops playing sounds).
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> Architecture: i386
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
> ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/pidgin
> NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
> Package: pidgin 1:2.5.2-0ubuntu1
> ProcEnviron:
>
> PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games
> LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> SourcePackage: pidgin
> Uname: Linux 2.6.27-8-generic i686
>

[Endolith (endolith)]

Do you also experience any other symptoms?

I cannot click on links ("Failed to create pipe for communicating with child process (Too many open files)", I get errors about not being able to save log files, and I get errors about not being able to open log files. After I restart, everything works again.

[Endolith (endolith)]

See http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/7452 and http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=560410

[zorblek (zorblek)]

I have not experienced either of those problems. But I rarely deal with
either links or logs, so that may not mean anything.

On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 8:40 AM, Endolith <email address hidden> wrote:

> See http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/7452 and
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=560410
>
> --
> Pidgin stops playing sounds after a while
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/298040
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Pidgin: New
> Status in "pidgin" source package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: pidgin
>
> When I start Pidgin, it plays sound alerts as expected. However, after a
> while, it stops playing sounds completely. It should be noted that other
> programmes continue to play sound flawlessly even when Pidgin stops doing
> that.
> Quitting Pidgin and then restarting it solves the problem temporarily
> (until the next time it stops playing sounds).
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> Architecture: i386
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
> ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/pidgin
> NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
> Package: pidgin 1:2.5.2-0ubuntu1
> ProcEnviron:
>
> PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games
> LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> SourcePackage: pidgin
> Uname: Linux 2.6.27-8-generic i686
>

[Yaron Tausky (yaront)]

This bug seems to be fixed in Jaunty.

[zorblek (zorblek)]

That is not my experience. I am using Jaunty and the latest version of
Pidgin, and I am still having this problem.

On Fri, May 8, 2009 at 1:06 AM, Yaron Tausky <email address hidden> wrote:

> This bug seems to be fixed in Jaunty.
>
> ** Changed in: pidgin (Ubuntu)
> Status: Confirmed => Fix Released
>
> --
> Pidgin stops playing sounds after a while
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/298040
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Pidgin: New
> Status in “pidgin” source package in Ubuntu: Fix Released
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: pidgin
>
> When I start Pidgin, it plays sound alerts as expected. However, after a
> while, it stops playing sounds completely. It should be noted that other
> programmes continue to play sound flawlessly even when Pidgin stops doing
> that.
> Quitting Pidgin and then restarting it solves the problem temporarily
> (until the next time it stops playing sounds).
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> Architecture: i386
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
> ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/pidgin
> NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
> Package: pidgin 1:2.5.2-0ubuntu1
> ProcEnviron:
>
> PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games
> LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> SourcePackage: pidgin
> Uname: Linux 2.6.27-8-generic i686
>