Pulseaudio is not running and sound cannot not be started

[Martin Wildam]

Binary package hint: pulseaudio

When I start the notebook, sound system seems to not start up correctly or crashes during start - I don't know.
No matter if I do a cold boot or a restart - effect is the same - klicking on the Gnome-panel volume control I don't get a volume slider and clicking on preferences nothing happens. See attached screenshot.

Trying System->Preferences->Sound I can see an item in the taskbar with the title "Starting sound" and it goes a away after ~35 seconds.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: pulseaudio 1:0.9.22~0.9.21+stable-queue-32-g8478-0ubuntu21.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-24.42-generic-pae 2.6.35.8
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-24-generic-pae i686
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse: Error: command ['fuser', '-v', '/dev/snd/by-path', '/dev/snd/controlC0', '/dev/snd/hwC0D0', '/dev/snd/hwC0D2', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0c', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D1p', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D3p', '/dev/snd/seq', '/dev/snd/timer'] failed with exit code 1:
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf6afc000 irq 47'
   Mixer name : 'Intel Cantiga HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:111d76b2,10280263,00100302 HDA:80862802,80860101,00100000'
   Controls : 22
   Simple ctrls : 11
Date: Tue Jan 11 19:40:56 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
ProcEnviron:
 LC_TIME=en_DK.utf8
 LANGUAGE=en
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
Symptom: audio
Title: Pulseaudio is not running
dmi.bios.date: 04/15/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A11
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA11:bd04/15/2009:svnDellInc.:pnLatitudeE5500:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Latitude E5500
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

After seeing the auto-attached file content I searched again the bug database and found bug 549185 - similar but I either can't get to the sound preferences.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Hi Martin, would it be possible for you to
1) copy /etc/pulse/default.pa to ~/.pulse/default.pa
2) add "set-log-level 4" in the beginning of this file, right after the initial comments
3) try to start pulseaudio
4) see if anything pulseaudio related shows up in /var/log/syslog and if so, post it here?

(btw, if none of the above makes sense and you've never seen a terminal, let me know and I'll explain more thorough.)
Thanks!

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

Thanks David, you are my hero!
That solved the problem.

BTW: You are now holding the record for me in bug fixing (or is it just a workaround? - who cares?) speed. 1 hour is awesome. This is something I will tell tomorrow in the Office my collegues - this is really cool!

Remains to decide, if this an issue and solution only in case the problem comes up or is it a general good idea to copy that file to a newly created profile or even would it be best to directly use that file from /etc if no default file exists in the user profile?

In case you are anyway interested in the log - see attached log.

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

I leave the default file now - except commented out the logging line you mentioned to add.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Hmm, maybe you had a corrupt default.pa in your home directory before copying the fresh one in?
Anyway, the default should be what it is - no file in ~/.pulse i e using the default in /etc/pulse and for people who want advanced modifications, be able to copy it to .pulse.

Does the problem reappear if you remove ~/.pulse/default.pa?

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

I did not have the default.pa in my home directory before. So I think it did not use the one in /etc/pulse.
I will try at next opportunity to reproduce again after removing the file again, but I assume it will re-occur then (as I did not have that file at all before).

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

I am terrible sorry - although I do have the default.pa in my ~/.pulse directory, sound again not available after cold boot.
syslog attached.

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

I did about 10 cold boots now and 2 times out of ~10 it worked.
I am pretty sure it's a race condition.

In some cases I noticed that the sound played when coming up with the login screen sometimes was working until I logged in (while waiting for screensave to be activated before logging in) and sometimes either that sound was not to hear.

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

That were the tests with the current release kernel (2.6.35-24-generic-pae #42-Ubuntu SMP Thu Dec 2 03:21:31 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux).

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

@Martin, looking at your syslog, it seems like pulseaudio was indeed running...? Can you confirm that the problem you're having is due to pulseaudio not running?
Basically what I need is that if pulseaudio crashes or refuses to start, I need that happening with the "set-log-level 4", to get a debug log from when it crashes or refuses to start.

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

I had the logging enabled all the time during my tests.

If it is running, could it be that it is hanging or that just the appropriate gnome-panel has the problem?

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

If you have "set-log-level 4" in your default.pa - whether it is in /etc/pulse or ~/.pulse - you should get a lot more in your syslog compared to what you've posted.
You can check whether pulseaudio is running or not through gnome-system-monitor (or through e g "ps -e | grep pulse" terminal command).

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

I have set the log-level to 4 in the file in /etc and in the ps output there is no pulse.
It is pretty every time, when I do a cold start until login screen and then wait (e.g. until screen saver comes up), sound is then absent after login (login sound already not to hear).

The attached syslog if from such a case (log-level already set in /etc).

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

Here another syslog after trying to browse with Firefox - when sound is missing Firefox from time to time hangs for about 30 seconds or so.

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

And here is my process list (no pulse).

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Hmm. It seems like the gdm user has a working pulse but that pulse never starts as the "mwildam" user. Could you try the following:
1) Make sure pulse is *not* running
2) change the name of your /home/mwildam/.pulse directory to something else (to wipe away all settings for the mwildam user)
3) try again

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

Same - and pulse not running (no result in grepping ps -Af)
Current log attached.

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

Could it be possible that pulse stops/crashes as soon as the screensaver activates?
However, to test that, I don't know how to deactivate the screensaver when yet nobody is logged on (being at login screen).

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Hmm, strange.

Is it working successfully if you're logging in as mwildam, and then start pulseaudio manually via this terminal command:

pulseaudio -vvvv

If it isn't working, can you send me the output from this command?

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

It worked after starting it manually.
I am pretty convinced that it ends itself between login screen shown and login finished (as I already mentioned, I hear the sound when the login screen is displayed). Something is making it quit or crashing.

D: alsa-util.c: Trying plug:hw:0 with SND_PCM_NO_AUTO_FORMAT ...
D: alsa-util.c: Managed to open plug:hw:0
D: alsa-util.c: snd_pcm_hw_params_set_channels(1) failed: Invalid argument
D: alsa-util.c: Trying plug:hw:0 without SND_PCM_NO_AUTO_FORMAT ...
D: alsa-util.c: Managed to open plug:hw:0
D: alsa-util.c: snd_pcm_hw_params_set_channels(1) failed: Invalid argument
I: alsa-util.c: Failed to set hardware parameters on plug:hw:0: Invalid argument
D: alsa-mixer.c: Looking at profile input:analog-stereo
D: alsa-mixer.c: Checking for recording on Analog Stereo (analog-stereo)
D: alsa-util.c: Trying front:0 with SND_PCM_NO_AUTO_FORMAT ...
D: alsa-util.c: Managed to open front:0
D: alsa-util.c: Maximum hw buffer size is 23777 ms
D: alsa-util.c: Set buffer size first (to 3528 samples), period size second (to 441 samples).
D: alsa-mixer.c: Profile input:analog-stereo supported.
D: alsa-mixer.c: Looking at profile input:iec958-stereo
D: alsa-mixer.c: Checking for recording on Digital Stereo (IEC958) (iec958-stereo)
D: alsa-util.c: Trying iec958:0 with SND_PCM_NO_AUTO_FORMAT ...
I: (alsa-lib)pcm_hw.c: open '/dev/snd/pcmC0D1c' failed (-2)
I: alsa-util.c: Error opening PCM device iec958:0: No such file or directory
D: alsa-mixer.c: Looking at profile input:iec958-surround-40
D: alsa-mixer.c: Checking for recording on Digital Surround 4.0 (IEC958) (iec958-surround-40)
D: alsa-util.c: Trying iec958:0 with SND_PCM_NO_AUTO_FORMAT ...
I: (alsa-lib)pcm_hw.c: open '/dev/snd/pcmC0D1c' failed (-2)
I: alsa-util.c: Error opening PCM device iec958:0: No such file or directory
I: card.c: Created 0 "alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0"
D: reserve-wrap.c: Successfully create reservation lock monitor for device 'Audio0'
D: alsa-util.c: Trying front:0 with SND_PCM_NO_AUTO_FORMAT ...
D: alsa-util.c: Managed to open front:0
D: alsa-util.c: Maximum hw buffer size is 23777 ms
D: alsa-util.c: Set buffer size first (to 88200 samples), period size second (to 88200 samples).
I: alsa-sink.c: Successfully opened device front:0.
I: alsa-sink.c: Selected mapping 'Analog Stereo' (analog-stereo).
I: alsa-sink.c: Successfully enabled mmap() mode.
I: alsa-sink.c: Successfully enabled timer-based scheduling mode.
I: (alsa-lib)control.c: Invalid CTL front:0
I: alsa-mixer.c: Unable to attach to mixer front:0: No such file or directory
I: alsa-mixer.c: Successfully attached to mixer 'hw:0'
D: alsa-mixer.c: Probing path 'analog-output'
D: alsa-mixer.c: Probing path 'analog-output-speaker'
D: alsa-mixer.c: Probe of element 'Speaker' failed.
D: alsa-mixer.c: Probing path 'analog-output-speaker'
D: alsa-mixer.c: Probe of element 'Desktop Speaker' failed.
D: alsa-mixer.c: Probing path 'analog-output-headphones'
D: alsa-mixer.c: Probing path 'analog-output-headphones'
D: alsa-mixer.c: Probe of element 'Headphone2' failed.
D: alsa-mixer.c: Probing path 'analog-output-mono'
D: alsa-mixer.c: Probe of element 'Master Mono' failed.
D: alsa-mixer.c: Probing path 'analog-...

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

Fortunately I never have and had that issue on my productive machine (exactly the same hardware) where I already had 9.04, 9.10 and now 10.04.

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

Another attempt: Waited after coming to login page but not until screensave becoming active. After login pulse again not running.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Martin Wildam (mwildam)]

In the meantime I am on 11.04 on this machine and did not experience the problem there so far.