Sound intermittently works / crackles & fades out

[Chris Rosenhain]

Binary package hint: alsa-base

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=338145a8760d96951284224a4df45d7d2a4d0457

I have had this problem since 6.04, where the sound either just works through the headphones (not sure for how long) or it works through the speakers, and fades/crackles out.

It happens whether or not I'm using the sound card, for example I could have the typical login sound, not use the sound for 20 minutes afterwards, and then there is no sound.

It doesn't take more than about 3 minutes for the sound to fade and crackle out. I really don't know what causes it, but my guess is that it's a sound buffer problem. But once again - really unsure.

I have tried all the options suggested in the ALSA readme for the ALC883, 6stack-dig has given me the best results.

The link at the start should contain the information needed I think, but if you need anything else I'll gladly get it for you.
---
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: hydra 1563 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xd8500000 irq 22'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC883'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0883,00001854,00100002 HDA:11c13026,11c13026,00100700'
   Controls : 34
   Simple ctrls : 21
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
Package: alsa-base 1.0.22.1+dfsg-0ubuntu3
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_AU.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-20.30-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Tags: lucid
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-20-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 02/13/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD
dmi.bios.version: RKYWSF28
dmi.board.name: ROCKY
dmi.board.vendor: LG Electronics
dmi.board.version: Not Applicable
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LG Electronics
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLTD:bvrRKYWSF28:bd02/13/2007:svnLGElectronics:pnP1-KB11A:pvrNotApplicable:rvnLGElectronics:rnROCKY:rvrNotApplicable:cvnLGElectronics:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: P1-KB11A
dmi.product.version: Not Applicable
dmi.sys.vendor: LG Electronics

[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

Hi anyone who is reading.

I have more information - the crackling/fading to nothing does not happen through the headphone socket at all, this only happens to the inbuilt speakers.

[Matteo Settenvini (tchernobog)]

Please paste here the part of "lspci -v" about your multimedia audio controller.
Have you tried following this guide?

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems

[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

Yes I have run through the DebuggingSoundProblems page without any luck.

Here are the results from "sudo lspci -v":

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 005f
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
 Memory at d8500000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
 Capabilities: [60] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
 Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
 Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel <?>
 Capabilities: [130] Root Complex Link <?>
 Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
 Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

I guess there are a few parts to this bug - one is that the device is incorrectly detected (have to manually set it to use 6stack-dig) and the other is the crackling when using the built in speakers on the laptop.

Thanks

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

Hi Chris,

Please, if you are still having issues, test with the latest development release of Ubuntu. ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p alsa-base 296251

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds .

Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text.

Please let us know your results.

    [This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

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[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

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[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

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[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

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[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

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[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

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[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

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[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

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[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

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[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

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[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

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[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

Hi again,

I've upgraded to 10.04 to see if this fixes the problem - it does not.

I have worked around it by adding the following to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf:

options snd-hda-intel model=laptop-eapd enable=1 index=0

I'll submit the "apport-collect -p alsa-base 296251" now as well.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Do you still need the model=laptop-eapd quirk if you use linux-alsa-driver-modules-$(uname -r) from ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev?

[Chris Rosenhain (hydra-internode)]

Hi there,

I installed linux-alsa-driver-modules-2.6.32-20-generic and removed the option line from alsa-base.conf, no sound.

I re-added the options starting with the index, then enable, and finally model. Only after adding the model option did the sound return.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Ok, one final set of question: does jack sensing work as expected for both headphones/internal speakers and internal/external microphone(s)?

[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.

[Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson)]

This issue has sat incomplete for more than 60 days now. I'm going to close it as invalid. Please feel free re-open if this is still an issue for you. Thank you.