[Studio XPS 7100, Realtek ALC887] intermittent or total mic loss when voiping

[Gabriel Pannwitz]

I was asked to report this bug by the Canonical support Team.

Release of Ubuntu: 11.04

I can record sound fine, using my headset plugged into the front jacks and the sound recording applications. The problem arises when I try to make phone calls over the internet (voip). When I make a SIP call over Empathy, my mic will switch an and off, at about one second intervals. If I make a call with Gmail ( in my webbrowser: Chrome, or Firefox ) , my mic will get transmitted for maybe a second, then switch off. Also, when I call in Gmail, at the beginning of the call, there is a crackling sound, which I also observe when starting skype. At such times, the sound is also choppy.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.24+dfsg-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-10.46-generic 2.6.38.7
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-10-generic i686
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: gabriel 1380 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0c: gabriel 1380 F...m pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: gabriel 1380 F...m pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'SB'/'HDA ATI SB at 0xfe7f4000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC887'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0887,10280458,00100202'
   Controls : 35
   Simple ctrls : 20
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'HDMI'/'HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfe8e8000 irq 19'
   Mixer name : 'ATI RS690/780 HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:1002791a,00791a00,00100000'
   Controls : 4
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card1.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [on]
Date: Fri Jul 29 08:53:02 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release i386 (20110427.1)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Symptom_Card: Internal Audio - HDA ATI SB
Symptom_Jack: Pink Mic, Front
Symptom_Type: Sound works for a while, then breaks
Title: [Studio XPS 7100, Realtek ALC887, Pink Mic, Front] fails after a while
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 09/10/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A06
dmi.board.name: 0GK1K2
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA06:bd09/10/2010:svnDellInc.:pnStudioXPS7100:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0GK1K2:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Studio XPS 7100
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Gabriel Pannwitz (gabkdlly)]

I have installed the "proposed" kernel, as suggested on bug #741825. It seems to fix the sound problems I was experiencing in Empathy, but not the ones I am still experiencing with Skype and Gmail. As Ubuntu's developers have no influence over the development of those softwares, I suppose this is the best I can hope for. If there is anything else I can do to help, please just let me know. Thanks !