aplay -l reports no soundcards, although the kernel clearly recognizes my sound card and is there under /proc/asound

[yourself]

Binary package hint: pulseaudio

I'm using 10.04. This happens in both i686 and x86_64 variants. Currently I am using the x86_64 one.

Sometimes, after a normal boot (I can't see any error messages) my sound card will not work (aplay reports no sound cards). A simple reboot usually fixes it. The weird thing is that every single time this happens it is accompanied by other weird stuff such as:

-> Gnome's shutdown applet (not the one with the session indicator), the one which displays a form with one option under the other for shutdown, logout, suspend etc gets grayed out and can't be pressed.

-> The computer can't be shut down or restarted either from the initial login screen or the Indicator applet session. The option to shutdown or restart is there, but it will either way drop back to the login screen. Also, it is missing the suspend and hibernate options.

-> In the users administration form, the add user and advanced buttons won't work. I click them and nothing happens. Also, the Account type's change button and the change button next to my user name won't work, either. When I start users-admin from a terminal I see this upon startup:
(users-admin:12050): Liboobs-WARNING **: There was an unknown error communicating asynchronously with the backends: Malformed message was sent

-> USB and CD/DVDs cannot be mounted by gnome and a "Not Authorized" message is displayed every time I plug one in.

This thing clearly is not pulseaudio's fault but I have filed it here because it is the most obvious problem and maybe the developers can point to the source of the problem

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: pulseaudio 1:0.9.22~0.9.21+stable-queue-32-g8478-0ubuntu14
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
AplayDevices: aplay: device_list:223: no soundcards found...
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices: arecord: device_list:223: no soundcards found...
AudioDevicesInUse: Error: command ['fuser', '-v', '/dev/dsp', '/dev/snd/by-path', '/dev/snd/controlC0', '/dev/snd/hwC0D0', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0c', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D1c', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D1p', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D2c', '/dev/snd/seq', '/dev/snd/timer', '/dev/sequencer2', '/dev/sequencer'] failed with exit code 1:
Date: Thu May 13 14:39:03 2010
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/pulseaudio
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
XsessionErrors:
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:1138): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (gnome-terminal:11060): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_accel_map_unlock_path: assertion `entry != NULL && entry->lock_count > 0' failed
 (users-admin:11140): Liboobs-WARNING **: There was an unknown error communicating asynchronously with the backends: Malformed message was sent
 (gnome-terminal:11246): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_accel_map_unlock_path: assertion `entry != NULL && entry->lock_count > 0' failed
dmi.bios.date: 09/25/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmi.bios.version: ASUS P5N-E SLI ACPI BIOS Revision 1301
dmi.board.name: P5N-E SLI
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: 1.XX
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 123456789000
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvrASUSP5N-ESLIACPIBIOSRevision1301:bd09/25/2008:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnP5N-ESLI:rvr1.XX:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thanks for the report, it has been some time without any response or feedback in this bug report and we are wondering if this is still an issue for you with the latest release of Ubuntu the Natty Narwhal, May you please test with that version and comment back if you're still having or not the issue? Please have a look at http://www.ubuntu.com/download to know how to install that version.Thanks in advance.

[yourself (athlion)]

This was resolved (for me) by adding acpi=force to the kernel.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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