[VIA VT1708S] Playback problem "Sound Skipping"

[Virgil Brummond]

I am using the kernel backport from Maverick to Lucid. The summary of this problem is that at seemingly random times the sound skips almost like it does not have sufficient hardware to play it, which also results in totem and flash video skipping. It corrects itself, however does happen again at random times. I took debug information for this report after such an occurrence.

Symptoms:
1.) The sound card pops and crackles during log in, and the log-in noise is delayed.
2.) After login the sound functions normally and seems to have good latency.
3.) At random times the sound skips, and takes video playback with it, however it does sort itself out.

Steps to recreate:
None, I am assuming anyone with this sound card would have this issue. My hardware is a stock Asus k50ij laptop.

Notes:
Fedora 13 has a lot of problems with volume and playback with this chipset, it seems Ubuntu does not. I also plan to do upstream testing on a mainline kernel, though I have not done so yet.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.22.1+dfsg-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-17.23~lucid1-generic 2.6.35.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-17-generic x86_64
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: VT1708S Analog [VT1708S Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/2
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: VT1708S Analog [VT1708S Analog]
   Subdevices: 2/2
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: virgil 1404 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: virgil 1404 F...m pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfe9f4000 irq 45'
   Mixer name : 'VIA VT1708S'
   Components : 'HDA:11060397,10431111,00100000'
   Controls : 20
   Simple ctrls : 13
Date: Fri Aug 20 17:49:06 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SelectedCard: 0 Intel HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Title: [VIA VT1708S] Playback problem
dmi.bios.date: 12/04/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 217
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: K50IJ
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr217:bd12/04/2009:svnASUSTeKComputerInc.:pnK50IJ:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:rnK50IJ:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: K50IJ
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

[Simos Xenitellis  (simosx)]

Thanks for the clean report.
It appears that https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/393523 refers to the same sound card as yours.
Have a read there and try out the part they mention about 'hwdep'.

[Virgil Brummond (uraharakisuke153)]

Could you help me with that a bit I do not quite understand. Also I should mention that this does not affect the alsa-backports package in Lucid, it only happens with the kernel. I also tested and confirmed this issue running Maverick. Though I have not tested 32-bit, only 64-bit for everything.

[Chen Chen (aflyhorse)]

My laptop's sound card can work but it'll still play music loudly with headphone plugged in,
i tried to adjust in alsamixer but whenever i muted anyone in Master, Headphone, PCM or Front, all sound will be muted.

From
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Special:Search?search=VT1708S&go=Go
the support for VIA VT1708S seemed to have been supported since version 1.0.18
but no corresponding module in alsa-base.conf, Why?

Thanks for anyone who can support or give advice.

[Chromos (sf12)]

I got similar problems after updating to maverick. 10.04 worked well. Sound is cracking from time to time and videos are running well a few seconds an then start to stutter. I have VIA VT1708S as well.

[Virgil Brummond (uraharakisuke153)]

If you want to fix stutter problems, open the file /etc/pulse/default.pa, append (without quotes) "tsched=0" to the line "load-module module-udev-detect"

[Chromos (sf12)]

thx this seems to fix my video problem. but still get cracking sounds in pidgin for example

[Virgil Brummond (uraharakisuke153)]

I am unsure why that would happen. Perhaps restart if you haven't. Also open a terminal and run: alsamixer Make sure the mixers are not maxed out. Some systems cause audio distortion if they are.

[Chromos (sf12)]

ok, it was actually a pidgin problem. I changed the audio to alsa. now sound is fine.

[Pedro Rittner (jedimasterpedro)]

I had the exact same problem and it was fixed (as far as I know) using Virgil Brummond's recommendation. I hope this doesn't evolve into a larger audio driver problem.

[RobertZenz (robert-zenz)]

Also had this problem, but the tsched-fix from Virgil Brummond seems to have fixed it. Thanks!

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Does reverting the tsched workaround and using the latest daily build (which contains fixes) of the sound driver help? Note that you may need to append "options snd-hda-intel position_fix=3" to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and reboot. Please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/UpgradingAlsa.

*Note that the position_fix=3 parameter is ONLY valid for the latest daily build of the sound driver.*

[Virgil Brummond (uraharakisuke153)]

I will try to do this today if possible. Thanks!

[Virgil Brummond (uraharakisuke153)]

After doing this it seems to fix the stutter issues, however my log is flooded with this: Oct 20 02:35:17 coffee kernel: [ 854.762616] ALSA hda_codec.c:1226: hda_codec_setup_stream: NID=0x25, stream=0x5, channel=0, format=0x4011

and:
Oct 20 02:34:59 coffee kernel: [ 836.132590] ALSA hda_intel.c:1668: azx_pcm_prepare: bufsize=0xa500, format=0x4015

Might be normal if debugging is enabled or something? Also, the sound server seems to have trouble starting and needs to be killed sometimes.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Debugging is indeed more verbose in the daily builds. In fact,
position_fix=3 is the default for your hardware, so you don't need to
specifically add it (sorry for the confusion). Could you attach a
verbose pulseaudio log from running the new driver build?

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

In fact, it could make sense to try position_fix=1, which turns off via_dmapos_patch in both old and new versions.

[Virgil Brummond (uraharakisuke153)]

This is the log, did not alter any configuration and installed the audio-dev ppa. Ran a few tests using the sound server (started with pulseaudio --log-target=syslog -vvvv). This includes playing music with rhythmbox and using the media keys on my laptop. Pulse died once during this process and had to be started again. The media keys do not work, they seem to be recognized but do not change the volume by any noticeable amount. The buzzing sound on pulse spawn is not there anymore so that was fixed.

Log file attached.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Jacek Gajek (jacek.gajek)]

I encounter this bug on Ubuntu 19.10, both using internal sound card and external Behringer UM2
Fixable by changing
load-module module-udev-detect
to
load-module module-udev-detect tshed=0
in file
 /etc/pulse/default.pa