sound is disabled

[mezquitale]

Sound is disabled in karmic, I have noticed this issue in both my laptop and desktop using KARMIC. I first noticed it sporadically while listening to music using firefox or rhythmbox but only every now and then. I noticed it quite frequently on my desktop while playing urban terror. In the urban terror console I saw a message saying that it was dropping sound. I then began testing sound on my laptop while listening to youtube videos and sure enough, the sound would be dropped after 30-45 minutes.

Not only does sound gets dropped but also my keyboard settings keep getting changed to international usa. This happens when my sound goes out, my keyboard settings get changed to international usa as well. This keeps happening on karmic.

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

I forgot to mention another piece of information. The sound is turned all the way up in my headphones. If I lower the volume down using the GUI I can lower the volume down just a little bit since the volume knob is almost all the way down, if I take it further down I mute sound. I am able to turn the volume down using alsamixer however every time I reboot the sound is all the way up again.

I am using a Dell Latitude D610, with the following sound card:

Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)

I can reproduce this bug every time I reboot my laptop. I investigate if I have the same issue with my desktop, I dont reboot my desktop very often.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. I have classified this bug as a bug in linux.

When reporting bugs in the future please use apport, either via the appropriate application's "Help -> Report a Problem" menu or using 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this functionality at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please execute the following command, as it will automatically gather debugging information, in a terminal:

apport-collect -p alsa-base 486207

This will help us to find and resolve the problem. Bear in mind that you may need to install the python-launchpadlib package from the universe repository. Additionally, when prompted to give apport-collect permissions for Launchpad you will need to give it at least the ability to "Change Non-Private" data as it will be adding information to your bug report. Thanks in advance!

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: elf 5112 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'ICH6'/'Intel ICH6 with STAC9750,51 at irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'SigmaTel STAC9750,51'
   Components : 'AC97a:83847650'
   Controls : 38
   Simple ctrls : 24
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: alsa-base 1.0.20+dfsg-1ubuntu5
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-9.152-rt
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-9-rt i686
UserGroups: adm admin audio cdrom dialout fuse lpadmin netdev plugdev sambashare
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:3003): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:3003): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (nautilus:3056): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:3076): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (gnome-panel:3055): Gtk-WARNING **: gtk_widget_size_allocate(): attempt to allocate widget with width -3 and height 24

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

aIt looks like the settings from my keyboard is a different bug in karmic. I had to switch the settings when I'm logging in, this is a new feature in karmic that allows you to specify the keyboard and language when youre logging in. I had to do it more than once so that the settings were applied but it works and that's fixed.

Sound however is still a little buggy. On my laptop I have noticed that the headphone volume is always all the way up when I login to my laptop. I have to go to alsamixer and lower the headphones volume there but the settings doesnt get saved and I have to do the same thing after I reboot my laptop.

I have noticed that sound is disabled on my laptop after around maybe 15~30 minutes of listening to music on youtube using firefox.

Sound on my desktop gets disabled after around 15~30 while firefox is open and I'm playing urban terror. I'm wondering if it's a plugin in firefox that is disabling the sound.

Should I collect info on my desktop using apport-collect data as well?

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

this bug is a duplicate from bug 481759 , can someone please close this bug?

[WeatherGod (ben-v-root)]

mezquitale, while the symptoms may be similar, because the hardware is different, we would like to keep these bug reports separate, at least for now.

[WeatherGod (ben-v-root)]

Out of curiosity, are you dual-booting between Windows and Ubuntu?

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

I have a dual boot with xp although I only use xp to sync my phone. I think the bug is related with firefox, I have noticed FF lose sound while listening to youtube videos & web surfing on another tab. Other users are experiencing the same issue and have noticed the bug while playing UrT.I noticed the bug on both laptop and desktop, don't believe its tied to specific hardware.

-----Original Message-----
From: WeatherGod <email address hidden>
Sent: Wednesday, December 02, 2009 1:35 PM
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: [Bug 486207] Re: sound is disabled

Out of curiosity, are you dual-booting between Windows and Ubuntu?

** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Incomplete

--
sound is disabled
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/486207
You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
of the bug.

Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete

Bug description:
Sound is disabled in karmic, I have noticed this issue in both my laptop and desktop using KARMIC. I first noticed it sporadically while listening to music using firefox or rhythmbox but only every now and then. I noticed it quite frequently on my desktop while playing urban terror. In the urban terror console I saw a message saying that it was dropping sound. I then began testing sound on my laptop while listening to youtube videos and sure enough, the sound would be dropped after 30-45 minutes.

Not only does sound gets dropped but also my keyboard settings keep getting changed to international usa. This happens when my sound goes out, my keyboard settings get changed to international usa as well. This keeps happening on karmic.

[WeatherGod (ben-v-root)]

mezquitale, the next time sound cuts out, could you please run the following command in the terminal: sudo fuser -v /dev/dsp* /dev/snd/* /dev/seq*

and post the outtput.

Also, could you test to see if other programs also lose sound when Firefox does?

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

Interesting, here is the output on my desktop while I was playing Urban Terror. Firefox loses sound consistently on my laptop while watching youtube videos, I go play a video and then go another tab and begin browsing and sound dies.

I very rarely watch youtube videos on my desktop. I have noticed sound on my desktop die mostly while playing urban terror. Every time I lose sound I have to reboot urban terror. I have been playing Urban Terror while all other applications are closed and didnt have an issue. I fired up firefox, went to a youtube video then went to run urban terror and my sound died after 15~20 minutes. It looks like npviewer is the culprit or maybe pulse audio.

Hardware:

Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP61 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5600+

cat /proc/asound/version
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.20.

When my sound died I was using the internal sound card:

cat /proc/asound/modules
 0 snd_hda_intel
 1 snd_usb_audio
 2 saa7134_alsa

Interesting errors logged:

cat /var/log/messages

Dec 3 09:09:57 cinux kernel: [32189.947545] __ratelimit: 3 callbacks suppressed
Dec 3 09:09:57 cinux kernel: [32189.947549] npviewer.bin[3177]: segfault at ff99cd48 ip 00000000ff99cd48 sp 00000000ff8e253c error 14
Dec 3 09:13:02 cinux kernel: [32374.417571] npviewer.bin[3341]: segfault at ff99cd48 ip 00000000ff99cd48 sp 00000000ff91b5fc error 14
Dec 3 09:40:58 cinux kernel: [34050.263411] npviewer.bin[3593]: segfault at ff99cd48 ip 00000000ff99cd48 sp 00000000ffb7b49c error 14
Dec 3 10:13:20 cinux kernel: [35992.216686] npviewer.bin[4266]: segfault at ff99cd48 ip 00000000ff99cd48 sp 00000000ff8fd92c error 14
Dec 3 10:46:29 cinux pulseaudio[4432]: pid.c: Stale PID file, overwriting.

dmesg:

[32189.947545] __ratelimit: 3 callbacks suppressed
[32189.947549] npviewer.bin[3177]: segfault at ff99cd48 ip 00000000ff99cd48 sp 00000000ff8e253c error 14
[32374.417571] npviewer.bin[3341]: segfault at ff99cd48 ip 00000000ff99cd48 sp 00000000ff91b5fc error 14
[34050.263411] npviewer.bin[3593]: segfault at ff99cd48 ip 00000000ff99cd48 sp 00000000ffb7b49c error 14
[35992.216686] npviewer.bin[4266]: segfault at ff99cd48 ip 00000000ff99cd48 sp 00000000ff8fd92c error 14

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

sudo fuser -v /dev/dsp* /dev/snd/*

                     USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0: elf 4432 F.... pulseaudio
/dev/snd/controlC1: elf 4432 F.... pulseaudio
/dev/snd/controlC2: elf 4432 F.... pulseaudio
/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: elf 4432 F...m pulseaudio
/dev/snd/seq: timidity 2656 F.... timidit

[WeatherGod (ben-v-root)]

Ah-ha! You have timidity running! It might be linked to Urban Terror or npviewer. Timidity has been known to cause issues with pulseaudio. As root, you will need to edit the /etc/default/timidity.cfg file. Find the line that says: TIM_ALSASEQPARAMS="-Os" and change it to TIM_ALSASEQPARAMS="-Oe" (so, change the 's' to an 'e'). Then restart timidity with the command:
sudo /etc/init.d/timidity force-reload

This should, at the least, solve some of the issues. There may still be some other underlying issues causing the same problem, but this should clear up one major contributor.

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

Changing the 's' to an 'e' in this line:

TIM_ALSASEQPARAMS="-Os"

Effectively kills my sound on both desktop and laptop. I have been testing more on my desktop and the sound goes off after playing about 20~30 minutes or Urban Terror.

In /var/log/messages I always see these lines:

Dec 11 12:03:08 cinux pulseaudio[2607]: lock-autospawn.c: Cannot access autospawn lock.
Dec 11 12:36:15 cinux kernel: [ 2003.742361] __ratelimit: 3 callbacks suppressed
Dec 11 12:36:15 cinux kernel: [ 2003.742366] npviewer.bin[2986]: segfault at e98ba2cf ip 00000000e98ba2cf sp 00000000ffd589c4 error 14
Dec 11 15:41:17 cinux kernel: [13106.314057] npviewer.bin[4181]: segfault at ff999ed8 ip 00000000ff999ed8 sp 00000000ffc485dc error 14
Dec 11 16:26:10 cinux pulseaudio[4237]: pid.c: Stale PID file, overwriting.

I'm beginning to think the issue is with pulse audio. I am using ubuntustudio and I have a clean install using karmic.

[WeatherGod (ben-v-root)]

mezquitale, did those log messages come from before or after rebooting your machine (if you rebooted at all)?

If you didn't reboot at all, could you try that and see if those messages come back the next time you lose sound.

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

I rebooted my desktop after I made all the changes. Once I had sound working again I played Urban terror on different days and checked /var/log/messages after the sound failed, I consistently saw those messages logged.

Everytime I reboot my machine these are the last lines I see on /var/log/messages:

Dec 11 23:40:36 cinux kernel: [ 10.075741] usplash:1034 freeing invalid memtype ffffffffc0000000-ffffffffc4000000
Dec 11 23:40:42 cinux pulseaudio[2704]: lock-autospawn.c: Cannot access autospawn lock

[WeatherGod (ben-v-root)]

Mezquitale, I am assuming that you are using OpenArea for Urban Terror? If so, there might be a fix. Try installing the libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio package (as opposed to the default libsdl1.2debian package).

More information can be found here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems/KarmicCaveats#No%20sound%20or%20stuttering%20sound%20in%20SDL-based%20games

Let us know if that helps.

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

I am using Urban Terror on my desktop to test sound. I will test that change in the following days.

However I am experiencing the same problem on my laptop using karmic. I notice the bug while using rhythmbox. This time I gathered a few other details:

This is the same message I get every time the sound dies:

cat /var/log/messages

Dec 15 19:38:35 minux pulseaudio[4134]: ratelimit.c: 18 events suppressed
Dec 15 19:42:11 minux pulseaudio[4134]: ratelimit.c: 237 events suppressed
Dec 15 19:55:55 minux pulseaudio[5487]: pid.c: Stale PID file, overwriting.

looking at process 5487:

ps aux

 5487 0.2 0.2 94000 4112 ? Ssl 19:55 0:00 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --start --log-target=syslog

Again, the sound dies after using rhythmbox around 10~15 minutes. I have to kill rhythmbox because it freezes. I start it again and the sound works again for 10~15 minutes then it dies again.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PulseAudio/Log

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

I attempted to log the errors after sound failed on my laptop but nothing was logged, the process that was logging the errors simply died and nothing was logged. The log I am sending attached to this message are the errors that were logged before the crash.

I solved the sound issues on my laptop, I will troubleshoot the issues on my desktop whenever I have the time and post the log once it crashes again.

This is how I solved the problem on my laptop:

1. Open synaptic: "sudo synaptic"
    -->search for "pulseaudio"
    -->uninstall all packages referring to pulseaudio, I uninstalled every package except libpulse0 and libpulse-mainloop-glib0.

2. Install gnome-alsamixer, and use it for volume control. If there is an issue with sound on laptop speakers or headphones adjusting the volume using gnome-alsamixer should work like a charm!

I tested my settings over night. I left my laptop on with rhythmbox playing all the songs on my playlist. When I woke up in the morning rhythmbox was working fine.

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

I have tested sound on my desktop for quite some days and it looks like my desktop is working fine. The only installation I did was the updates which I do on a regular basis, one of the updates must have fixed the issue.

Whatever caused the issue with sound dying while playing urban terror has been solved, how can I close this bug or can someone please close this bug report? Thanks!

[Adam Niedling (krychek)]

I have the same issue; sound just stop while playing urban terror and when I exit the game the whole system freezes.
So it's better to just alt-tab and kill the process.

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

I fixed the sound by trying everything explained in this thread. I really dont know which one fixed it because I did some changes on my desktop remotely. You can start by trying what's posted on comment #27. It would also help a lot if you try this:

1. Reboot your computer.
2. Look at your /var/log/messages file and see if you get any errors similar to what I saw in comment # 28.
3. If you dont notice anything in your messages file then monitor the file in a console:

--Press Ctrl-Alt-F1, log in.
--Monitor the file: tail -f /var/log/messages

4. Play urban terror!

NOTICE: using this scenario you should have nothing else running but urban terror. Reboot your machine, look at your "messages" file, monitor the file, and then play urban terror.

If you lose sound while playing UrT look, press alt-tab to minimize UrT then look at the console. If you see any errors after playing UrT then try running firefox at the same time and watch a youtube video then proceed with step 1.

After a few days of testing post your result.

Last but not least, if you want to play UrT right away and you want the quick fix you can just remove pulse audio but the catch is youre going to have to manually configure alsa.

[mezquitale (mezquitale)]

I meant to say if you ***dont*** see any errors after playing UrT then try running firefox...

[Adam Niedling (krychek)]

The same thing is happening for me in Warzone 2100. The sound lasted about 10 seconds and then it's gone. Computer freezes when trying to quit the game. I will check /var/log/messages later.

[Adam Niedling (krychek)]

I have this issue in every game. It just happened in widelands. I'm attaching the messages file but I don't see anything interesting there.

[Adam Niedling (krychek)]

OK, I've found the master but report for this issue. We are not alone. :)