[9.10 regression] HDA power_save=10

[jimav]

Horrible loud clicks (via my powered speakers) frequently occur even though Preferences->Sound->Sound Effects has both Output volume and SoundEffects:Alert volume set to zero (far left) AND the Mute check-boxes checked.

They are not normal sounds (e.g. Drips, Barks, or any of those alert sounds) but LOUD CLICKS, as though some software is sending a few garbage samples into the sound system at a low level.

Clicks also occur while Gnome is starting up during login (at least immediately after boot).

I'm sorry to use mega-gnome2 as the subsystem -- I have no idea how sound is handled.
Since the clicks seem associated with my typing errors (when I imagine apps are outputting ^Gs to 'ring the bell'),
and Gnome supposedly maps those to sounds and should be muting them, I'm reporting this as a Gnome issue.

FWIW, /var/log/messages contains a number of messages like "pulseaudio[2038]: ratelimit.c: 68 events suppressed".

The funny thing is, the clicks are not always there. They are horrible for several minutes, and then I can't cause a click if I try.
Strange.

Note: There are TWO audio devices in my system: The normal one, which is on the motherboard ("82801JI (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller" according to udev), and an audio system on my Radeon graphics card associated with an HDMI output, which I don't use.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Dec 6 20:43:26 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
Package: gnome (not installed)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-16.52-generic
SourcePackage: meta-gnome2
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-16-generic x86_64
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:2155): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:2155): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:2336): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (nautilus:2276): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
 (rhythmbox:2327): Rhythmbox-WARNING **: Could not open device /dev/radio0

[Mitch Towner (kermiac)]

Hi James. Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Unfortunately we can't fix it without more information. Would you please add the information requested from the "Reporting Sound Bugs" section of https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems as separate attachments? In Jaunty or Karmic this can be achieved by running the command apport-collect -p alsa-base 493440. Thanks in advance.
As a temporary workaround whilst this is being worked on, please comment out the the last line in your alsa-base.conf by doing the following:
open a terminal
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
add a "#" to the last line which should then be "#options snd-hda-intel power_save=10 power_save_controller=N" (without the quotes).