audio skips intermittently

[Andrew King]

Ubuntu version: Precise Pangolin (12.04 LTS) - 64bit

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC889 Analog [ALC889 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC889 Digital [ALC889 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
 Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device a102
 Flags: bus master, slow devsel, latency 32, IRQ 16
 Memory at fe024000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
 Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

--
01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RV770 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4850/4870]
 Subsystem: Hightech Information System Ltd. Device aa30
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 45
 Memory at fdefc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
 Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.39-generic 3.2.16
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: andrew 1836 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: andrew 1836 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: andrew 1836 F...m pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'SB'/'HDA ATI SB at 0xfe024000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC889'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0889,1458a102,00100004'
   Controls : 47
   Simple ctrls : 23
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'HDMI'/'HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfdefc000 irq 45'
   Mixer name : 'ATI R6xx HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:1002aa01,00aa0100,00100100'
   Controls : 6
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card1.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [on]
Date: Sat Jun 2 11:25:28 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Symptom_AlsaPlaybackTest: ALSA playback test through plughw:SB successful
Symptom_Card: Built-in Audio - HDA ATI SB
Symptom_Jack: Green Line Out, Rear
Symptom_PulsePlaybackTest: PulseAudio playback test successful
Symptom_Type: Underruns, dropouts, or "crackling" sound
Title: [GA-880GM-USB3, Realtek ALC889, Green Line Out, Rear] Underruns, dropouts or crackling sound
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-05-04 (29 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 03/14/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: Award Software International, Inc.
dmi.bios.version: FC
dmi.board.name: GA-880GM-USB3
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.board.version: x.x
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAwardSoftwareInternational,Inc.:bvrFC:bd03/14/2011:svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnGA-880GM-USB3:pvr:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnGA-880GM-USB3:rvrx.x:cvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: GA-880GM-USB3
dmi.sys.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Michael Lazarev (milaz)]

I believe the very detailed description of the same bug is also posted at http://askubuntu.com/questions/136729/audio-problems-in-different-browsers

00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

I have the same device too, and starting from Ubuntu 12.04 this problem persists not only with browser playback, but with playing any video or audio clip in any player. Curiously, the same also happens in newest Fedora 17.

First I thought that was flash, then proprietary NVidia drivers. By experimentation, I ruled out both. It looks like the bug is in alsa.

[Michael Lazarev (milaz)]

Quick followup: I just looked at
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/572580

Disabling pulseaudio by these commands makes stuttering go away:

touch ~/.pulse-a11y-nostart
echo autospawn = no|tee -a ~/.pulse/client.conf
killall pulseaudio

So, the bug, in my case, must be in pulseaudio.

[Andrew King (8andrewking8)]

I tried turning off PulseAudio timer scheduling following the instructions on:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/PositionReporting
So far audio hasn't skipped since reboot, but the speaker icon in the
drop-down settings in the top-right of the desktop suggests audio is
on mute (it is not muted though).
I'll see how things go and will try your above suggestion if the 'fix'
I've tired already ends up being unsatisfactory in time.
Thanks for the speedy response!
Andy

On 3 June 2012 13:11, Michael Lazarev <email address hidden> wrote:
> Quick followup: I just looked at
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/572580
>
> Disabling pulseaudio by these commands makes stuttering go away:
>
> touch ~/.pulse-a11y-nostart
> echo autospawn = no|tee -a ~/.pulse/client.conf
> killall pulseaudio
>
> So, the bug, in my case, must be in pulseaudio.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1007783
>
> Title:
>  audio skips intermittently
>
> Status in “alsa-driver” package in Ubuntu:
>  Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
>  Ubuntu version: Precise Pangolin (12.04 LTS) - 64bit
>
>
>  **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
>  card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC889 Analog [ALC889 Analog]
>    Subdevices: 0/1
>    Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
>  card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC889 Digital [ALC889 Digital]
>    Subdevices: 1/1
>    Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
>  card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
>    Subdevices: 1/1
>    Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
>
>  00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
>        Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device a102
>        Flags: bus master, slow devsel, latency 32, IRQ 16
>        Memory at fe024000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
>        Capabilities: <access denied>
>        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
>        Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
>
>  --
>  01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RV770 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4850/4870]
>        Subsystem: Hightech Information System Ltd. Device aa30
>        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 45
>        Memory at fdefc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
>        Capabilities: <access denied>
>        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
>        Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
>
>  ProblemType: Bug
>  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
>  Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu1
>  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.39-generic 3.2.16
>  Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
>  NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
>  AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
>  ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
>  Architecture: amd64
>  AudioDevicesInUse:
>   USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
>   /dev/snd/controlC1:  andrew     1836 F.... pulseaudio
>   /dev/snd/controlC0:  andrew     1836 F.... pulseaudio
>   /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p:   andrew     1836 F...m pulseaudio
>  Card0.Amixer.info:
>   Card hw:0 'SB'/'HDA ATI SB at 0xfe024000 irq 16'
>     Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC889'
>     Components : 'HDA:10ec0889,1458a102,00100004'
>     Controls      : 47
>     Simple ctrls  : 23
>  Ca...

[Michael Lazarev (milaz)]

Please note that the quick method I suggested above makes speaker icon look muted. Also, sound settings dialog and keyboard volume keys will become unusable. But in my case, getting rid of stuttering sound outweighs these drawbacks.

In case the drawbacks are not acceptable to you, at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/572580 there is also a way to revert the changes:

rm ~/.pulse-a11y-nostart
rm ~/.pulse/client.conf

Thanks for the link to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/PositionReporting
I didn't know about it.

[Andrew King (8andrewking8)]

I agree, smooth audio outweighs the drawbacks. Thanks for the help Michael!
Andy

On 3 June 2012 17:19, Michael Lazarev <email address hidden> wrote:
> Please note that the quick method I suggested above makes speaker icon
> look muted. Also, sound settings dialog and keyboard volume keys will
> become unusable. But in my case, getting rid of stuttering sound
> outweighs these drawbacks.
>
> In case the drawbacks are not acceptable to you, at
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/572580 there
> is also a way to revert the changes:
>
> rm ~/.pulse-a11y-nostart
> rm ~/.pulse/client.conf
>
> Thanks for the link to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/PositionReporting
> I didn't know about it.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1007783
>
> Title:
>  audio skips intermittently
>
> Status in “alsa-driver” package in Ubuntu:
>  Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
>  Ubuntu version: Precise Pangolin (12.04 LTS) - 64bit
>
>
>  **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
>  card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC889 Analog [ALC889 Analog]
>    Subdevices: 0/1
>    Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
>  card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC889 Digital [ALC889 Digital]
>    Subdevices: 1/1
>    Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
>  card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
>    Subdevices: 1/1
>    Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
>
>  00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
>        Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device a102
>        Flags: bus master, slow devsel, latency 32, IRQ 16
>        Memory at fe024000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
>        Capabilities: <access denied>
>        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
>        Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
>
>  --
>  01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RV770 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4850/4870]
>        Subsystem: Hightech Information System Ltd. Device aa30
>        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 45
>        Memory at fdefc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
>        Capabilities: <access denied>
>        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
>        Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
>
>  ProblemType: Bug
>  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
>  Package: alsa-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu1
>  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.39-generic 3.2.16
>  Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
>  NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
>  AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
>  ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
>  Architecture: amd64
>  AudioDevicesInUse:
>   USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
>   /dev/snd/controlC1:  andrew     1836 F.... pulseaudio
>   /dev/snd/controlC0:  andrew     1836 F.... pulseaudio
>   /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p:   andrew     1836 F...m pulseaudio
>  Card0.Amixer.info:
>   Card hw:0 'SB'/'HDA ATI SB at 0xfe024000 irq 16'
>     Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC889'
>     Components : 'HDA:10ec0889,1458a102,00100004'
>     Controls      : 47
>     Simple ctrls  : 23
>  Card1.Amixer.info:
>   Card hw:1 'HDMI'/'HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfdefc000 irq 45'
>     Mixer name : 'ATI R6xx HDMI'
>     Components : 'HDA:1002aa01,00a...

[[e-mail] (dennygoot)]

I just want to add that this issue is not just in web browsers. I also get it in the MOC (music on console) audio player, and rhythmbox.

I am running Xubuntu 12.04 LTS 64 bit edition.

I have the amd azalia sound card (built into mobo, of coarse, in my laptop)

[Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson)]

This release of Ubuntu is no longer receiving maintenance updates. If this is still an issue on a maintained version of Ubuntu please let us know.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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