I have now found that /desktop/gnome/sound/enable_esd was true on my system. Odd since there is no esd,

gconftool-2 --type bool --set /desktop/gnome/sound/enable_esd false

has fixed sol.

However, firefox still hangs.

(gdb) where
#0  0xb7fd2410 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1  0xb7fa7c38 in connect () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0
#2  0xb5f7074a in ?? () from /usr/lib/libesd.so.0
#3  0xb5f70e82 in esd_open_sound () from /usr/lib/libesd.so.0
#4  0xb786c314 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#5  0xb7933781 in NS_InvokeByIndex_P () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#6  0xb71872bb in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#7  0xb718d06d in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#8  0xb7c6c176 in js_Invoke () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libmozjs.so
#9  0xb7c5f0ef in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libmozjs.so
#10 0xb7c6c1c5 in js_Invoke () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libmozjs.so
#11 0xb718494c in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#12 0xb71800c5 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#13 0xb7934290 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#14 0xb7923b12 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#15 0xb7923871 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#16 0xb7179370 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#17 0xb7933781 in NS_InvokeByIndex_P () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#18 0xb71872bb in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#19 0xb718d06d in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#20 0xb7c6c176 in js_Invoke () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libmozjs.so
#21 0xb7c5f0ef in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libmozjs.so
#22 0xb7c6c1c5 in js_Invoke () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libmozjs.so
#23 0xb718494c in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#24 0xb71800c5 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#25 0xb7934290 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#26 0xb7923b12 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#27 0xb7923871 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#28 0xb7179370 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#29 0xb7933781 in NS_InvokeByIndex_P () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#30 0xb71872bb in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#31 0xb718d06d in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#32 0xb7c6c176 in js_Invoke () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libmozjs.so
#33 0xb7c5f0ef in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libmozjs.so
#34 0xb7c6c1c5 in js_Invoke () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libmozjs.so
#35 0xb718494c in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#36 0xb71800c5 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#37 0xb7934290 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
-#38 0xb743c64d in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#39 0xb743c9de in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#40 0xb74531d7 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#41 0xb74533a2 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#42 0xb7453c9e in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#43 0xb72bf5b9 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#44 0xb769f2f9 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#45 0xb76a9eac in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#46 0xb76a1897 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#47 0xb76b1ae3 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#48 0xb76b1b8e in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#49 0xb76b2708 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#50 0xb76b2718 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#51 0xb76b3334 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#52 0xb71a8a51 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#53 0xb73ff1c1 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#54 0xb73fc4b5 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#55 0xb7402711 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#56 0xb7927496 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#57 0xb78f6a83 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#58 0xb7877efe in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#59 0xb7707946 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#60 0xb715c688 in XRE_main () from /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/libxul.so
#61 0x08049033 in ?? ()
#62 0xb7d3a450 in __libc_start_main () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6
#63 0x08048cc1 in ?? ()