[VIA VT1708S] ALSA test tone not correctly played back. Cannot unmute. Get brief burst of sound then it remutes without my taking any action

[John Catt]

On unticking mute I get a brief burst of sound, then it remutes. I'm using 10.10

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: alsa-base 1.0.23+dfsg-1ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-22.33-generic 2.6.35.4
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-22-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: VT1708S Analog [VT1708S Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/2
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: VT1708S Analog [VT1708S Analog]
   Subdevices: 2/2
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: john 1671 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: john 1671 F...m pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'NVidia'/'HDA NVidia at 0xf7ff8000 irq 22'
   Mixer name : 'VIA VT1708S'
   Components : 'HDA:11064397,18490397,00100000'
   Controls : 24
   Simple ctrls : 15
CurrentDmesg: [ 22.736355] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
Date: Mon Oct 4 01:11:41 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Beta i386 (20100901.1)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SelectedCard: 0 NVidia HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Title: [VIA VT1708S] ALSA test tone not correctly played back
dmi.bios.date: 05/27/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: P1.30
dmi.board.name: N68C-S UCC
dmi.board.vendor: ASRock
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrP1.30:bd05/27/2010:svnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:rvnASRock:rnN68C-SUCC:rvr:cvnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.product.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.

[Gary Houston (ghouston)]

I also have this problem at the moment. The sound has worked fine in the past, including after I installed 10.10. But about a week ago I had this problem. I didn't investigate it and it was gone the next day. Yesterday I had it again, and it's still present today, after shutting down the computer overnight. The sound can be unmuted as long as no application is playing sound. But as soon as something produces sound, it mutes again immediately. Attempting to unmute while sound is playing just produces sound for a fraction of a second and then it automatically remutes.

[Gary Houston (ghouston)]

The problem goes away if I disable pulseaudio, although I guess this is not the ideal solution:

echo autospawn = no >> ~/.pulse/client.conf
killall pulseaudio

[Gary Houston (ghouston)]

Unfortunately disabling pulseaudio makes Firefox extremely unresponsive, the next time it's restarted. Perhaps other applications would have difficulties too.

[Gary Houston (ghouston)]

running pulseaudio -vvvvv, it prints the following when remuting:

I: module-device-restore.c: Storing volume/mute/port for device sink:alsa_output.pci-0000_00_14.2.analog-stereo.

[Gary Houston (ghouston)]

Got the sound working again by plugging the headphones into the rear socket instead of the front panel socket, and changing the output setting in Sound Preferences.

[Gary Houston (ghouston)]

I haven't seen this bug for several years. It should probably just be closed as stale.