pulseaudio disables GP107GL output every so often

[Ian]

Since upgrading to 19.10, the sound output on this PC stops.

Looking at the volume control's 'sound settings', the GP107GL High Definition Audio Controller (digital stereo HMDI 2 output) is disabled.

Doing

pluseaudio -k

restores it.

Possibly relevant from syslog:

Nov 18 07:48:51 example kernel: [42392.063211] snd_hda_codec_hdmi hdaudioC0D0: HDMI: invalid ELD data byte 3
Nov 18 07:51:04 example kernel: [42524.900935] snd_hda_codec_hdmi hdaudioC0D0: HDMI: invalid ELD data byte 2
Nov 18 08:05:23 example kernel: [43383.465647] snd_hda_codec_hdmi hdaudioC0D0: HDMI: invalid ELD data byte 3
Nov 18 09:34:08 example kernel: [48708.806452] snd_hda_codec_hdmi hdaudioC0D0: HDMI: invalid ELD data byte 4
Nov 18 13:32:46 example kernel: [63026.605375] snd_hda_codec_hdmi hdaudioC0D0: HDMI: invalid ELD data byte 3
Nov 18 13:34:13 example kernel: [63114.281953] snd_hda_codec_hdmi hdaudioC0D0: HDMI: invalid ELD data byte 3
Nov 18 13:34:40 example kernel: [63141.350110] snd_hda_codec_hdmi hdaudioC0D0: HDMI: invalid ELD data byte 2

[Ian (superian)]

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 19.10
Release: 19.10

$ apt-cache policy pulseaudio
pulseaudio:
  Installed: 1:13.0-1ubuntu1

[Ian (superian)]

Interestingly, at the moment if I start playing audio in user1 and switch to user2, the audio is still audible.

Normally, it'd be silent unless user2 was playing something until switched back to user1.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug report. Does it stop only when using a second user? Could you describe the actions you do exactly?
Also could you add your 'journalctl -b 0' log after getting the issue and indicate at what time it stopped the sound?

[Ian (superian)]

Yes, it seems to be a 'multiple users logged in' thing.

Use the sound in one user, then - at some seemingly random point that's NOT while something is actually playing - discover that the sound system is disabled. It's possible that both users have it not working, or one to work and one not to.

Attached is the logs for a second - not using the GP107GL chipset - PC where it's just happened. Sound was working fine in one user (and still is) and disabled in the second.

They logged in at about 16:30...

[Ian (superian)]

If I log out the first user, the second user suddenly has sound.

And it didn't do this on Friday, when the same programs were running before the user switch.

[Ian (superian)]

Here's another log: user2 logged in at 15:03 to discover that the sound output was disabled (and stayed that way until user1 logged out, despite it not playing any audio)

[Ian (superian)]

Interestingly, both PCs have webcams (both Logitech, but different models) and if I unplug that on PC2 and switch, there isn't a problem.

I'll try doing it some more next week and see if that's consistent.

[Ian (superian)]

No, it's not (just?) having a webcam.

Two new logs. In both cases user1 started the PC, played some music, paused it, then switched to user2 - disabled sound output for them.

[Ian (superian)]

Just in case it was a driver issue (affecting two different chipsets...) I can report that it's still behaving like this with version 5.3.0-24.26 of the kernel.

[Simon John (sej7278)]

i've just begun seeing this in debian 5.5.0-2 (linux 5.5.17-1) and 5.5.0-1 (5.5.13-1)

pulseaudio -k fixes it for a while, and all i see that's relevant in the logs/dmesg is

    snd_hda_codec_hdmi hdaudioC0D0: HDMI: invalid ELD data byte 0

booting back into 5.4.0-4 (5.4.19-1) and i have no problem.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Sounding more and more like a kernel bug. Especially since comment #13 mentions that it occurs in 5.5 (but not 5.4!?).

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. While running an Ubuntu kernel (not a mainline or third-party kernel) please enter the following command in a terminal window:

apport-collect 1853374

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 19.10 (eoan) reached end-of-life on July 17, 2020.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test. If you then find the bug is still present in the newer Ubuntu version, please add a comment here telling us which new version it is in and change the bug status to Confirmed.