Choppy sound/crash in ekiga

[none]

I recently upgraded to Edgy and the sound with the Ekiga softphone is very choppy (with Dapper there was no problem). Most other apps are okay, I believe this is because Ekiga uses the sound card (in my case an ATI IXP) in full-duplex mode.

I believe this is the same bug that's being discussed here:
https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/alsa-bug/view.php?id=2122

If it is, then the following patch apparently helps:
http://hg.alsa-project.org/alsa-lib?cs=8c310c3277b7

See also

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gnome.apps.gnomemeeting/12281/focus=12283

By the way, this is with a CVS snapshot of Ekiga. The version in the Edgy repository crashes immediately on startup, possibly because of the same bug.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

That patch is already applied in Edgy's alsa-lib. We synced from Debian Sid last week.

http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-alsa/trunk/alsa-lib/debian/patches/06_pcm_rate_hwptr_update.dpatch?op=file&rev=0&sc=0

[none (ubuntu-bugs-nullinfinity-deactivatedaccount)]

Hmm... in that case I'm not sure what the underlying reason is. I'm attaching a backtrace of the segfault in the Edgy Ekiga, hoping that that'll be useful.

By the way, this is on an HP nx6125 laptop with a Turion processor (i.e. AMD64).

Please let me know of any other information that might be useful to you.

[none (ubuntu-bugs-nullinfinity-deactivatedaccount)]

backtrace of ekiga segfault

[none (ubuntu-bugs-nullinfinity-deactivatedaccount)]

Downgrading libasound2 to the Dapper version, i.e. 1.0.10-2ubuntu4, makes the Ekiga CVS version work correctly, with normal sound.

The Ekiga version in the Edgy repository still crashes on startup, so it appears that that is a different bug.

[none (ubuntu-bugs-nullinfinity-deactivatedaccount)]

The Edgy Ekiga no longer crashes, so that crash was probably due to the inconsistent state of the Edgy repository a few weeks ago.

I now get the same behaviour with both Ekiga CVS and the Ekiga from Edgy:

With libasound2 1.0.10-2ubuntu4 from Dapper, everything is normal.

With libasound2 from Edgy (currently 1.0.11-7ubuntu3) the sound is choppy and garbled in Ekiga, although other programs work.

As discussed in the Alsa bugtracker link given above, putting "defaults.pcm.dmix_max_periods -1" into ~/.asoundrc is a workaround that gives me normal sound again.

You put the bug into a "Needs Info" state but I'm not sure what further information I can give you.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

It's in "needs info" because upstream hasn't closed it.

[Stéphane Marguet (stemp)]

Daniel, are you still experiencing this issue ?

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Stemp, I've never been affected by this bug. You should ask the original reporter.

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

I can confirm the bug on edgy. Moreover, I tried to compile the package from feisty and it didn't solve the problem. Using Dapper's packages, though, the problem didn't present itself.

My system is edgy/amd64, and my soundcard is identified by lspci as
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)

Please ask if you need further details.

[Maurice (m1625)]

I have a fully updated Feisty. Sound is choppy/bubbly with Ekiga. Totally broken up with GizmoProject. (tellme is unreadable) Works sporadically with Skype with Skype test call using ALSA IXP. My sound card is: IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller. Any ideas?

[none (ubuntu-bugs-nullinfinity-deactivatedaccount)]

I still have this bug in Feisty. To Maurice: see comment #5 in this bug for a workaround.

[Maurice (m1625)]

After I did a clean new install using the final 7.04 CD, my Ekiga and GizmoProject audio problems disappeared. Others may still be experiencing difficulties, so it would probably be wise to keep this thread open.

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

I confirm I still have the same problem after having updated my edgy to feisty. The "defaults.pcm.dmix_max_periods -1" doesn't solve the problem for me. I can still use twinkle to call, even though I can't hear other people when I'm talking. Maybe the driver thinks my soundcard is not full duplex? Skype works fine for me.

[Maurice (m1625)]

For me, Ekiga audio works just fine, except when I have GizmoProject loaded. In the latter case, I get the 'bubbly' sound. Skype does not appear to cause the same effect. So I guess it's one or the other, Ekiga or GizmoProject.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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