Ubuntu
firefox package

Sound problem with firefox

Bug #1403938 reported by Hadmut Danisch on 2014-12-18

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This bug affects 20 people

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firefox (Ubuntu)

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Affecting:	firefox (Ubuntu)
Filed here by:	Hadmut Danisch
When:	2014-12-18
Confirmed:	2015-04-07

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Status	Importance
	Undecided

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	Nobody
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Bug Description

I'm using Ubuntu on more than half a dozen machines. Only on one of these machines I had the problem, that I did not hear sound when playing videos with firefox, although the sound on that machine works (e.g. when watchting the same videos with mplayer from command line.)

Which caused me a lot of headache and debugging time.

I'fe finally found the problem. I need to use pavucontrol or pacmd , then identify the input stream from firefox (a firefox logo and named as CubebUtils , and set the volume from 0 to 100% or do something like

pacmd set-sink-input-volume 1 65535

where 1 is the input number determined with e.g. pacmd list

So it seems as if the sound driver of firefox lacks a proper volume setting, which might not cause any problems with most sound cards, however, my sound card (or it's driver) has a volume of 0.

% lspci | fgrep Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)

regards

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: firefox 34.0+build2-0ubuntu0.14.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-43.72-generic 3.13.11.11
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-43-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl zcommon znvpair
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.5
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0: hadmut 3307 F.... panel-12-mixer
                      hadmut 3316 F.... pulseaudio
/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: hadmut 3316 F...m pulseaudio
BuildID: 20141127111021
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden: 'iw'
Channel: Unavailable
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Thu Dec 18 16:54:17 2014
Extensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IncompatibleExtensions: Unavailable (corrupt or non-existant compatibility.ini or extensions.sqlite)
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-08-06 (133 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 14.04.1 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140722.3)
IpRoute:
default via 192.168.164.1 dev p5p1
169.254.0.0/16 dev p5p1 scope link metric 1000
192.168.164.0/24 dev p5p1 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.164.100
192.168.200.0/24 dev vlan0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.200.1
Locales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Plugins:
Windows Media Player Plug-in - /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/gecko-mediaplayer-wmp.so (gecko-mediaplayer)
RealPlayer 9 - /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/gecko-mediaplayer-rm.so (gecko-mediaplayer)
QuickTime Plug-in 7.6.9 - /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/gecko-mediaplayer-qt.so (gecko-mediaplayer)
DivX Browser Plug-In - /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/gecko-mediaplayer-dvx.so (gecko-mediaplayer)
mplayerplug-in is now gecko-mediaplayer 1.0.8 - /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/gecko-mediaplayer.so (gecko-mediaplayer)
PrefSources: prefs.js
Profiles: Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=34.0/20141127111021 (In use)
RelatedPackageVersions: gecko-mediaplayer 1.0.8-4ubuntu1
RfKill:
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: no
RunningIncompatibleAddons: False
SourcePackage: firefox
Themes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 10/12/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: H61TIW08.111
dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: H61H2-TI2
dmi.board.vendor: Medion
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Medion
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrH61TIW08.111:bd10/12/2012:svnMedion:pnG24:pvr1.0:rvnMedion:rnH61H2-TI2:rvr1.0:cvnMedion:ct3:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: G24
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: Medion

Tags: Edit Tag help

Hadmut Danisch (hadmut) wrote on 2014-12-18:

AlsaInfo.txt Edit (33.4 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
BootDmesg.txt Edit (80.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
CurrentDmesg.txt Edit (1.1 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Dependencies.txt Edit (9.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
IfupdownConfig.txt Edit (1.7 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
IpAddr.txt Edit (1.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
IwConfig.txt Edit (286 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Lspci.txt Edit (10.1 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
PciNetwork.txt Edit (1.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Prefs.txt Edit (2.0 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcEnviron.txt Edit (107 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
PulseList.txt Edit (22.6 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
WifiSyslog.txt Edit (540.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")

Hadmut Danisch (hadmut) wrote on 2014-12-18:

Maybe it is sufficient to change the volume only once. PulseAudio seems to store the volume in
~/.config/pulse/*-stream-volumes.tdb

(at least as long as the file persists, a standard procedure to solve sound trouble is to remove ~/.config/pulse and to restart the daemon)

Hadmut Danisch (hadmut) wrote on 2014-12-18:

No, it's not persistent. Volume must be manually set from 0 to 100% in almost all cases, even within a video when jumping to a different point of time (FF obviously closes and reopens the connection to pulseaudio).

Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote on 2015-04-07:

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

Changed in firefox (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Confirmed

prawns (prawns) wrote on 2015-06-15:

I've got the same problem:
1. sound is distorted
2. this is because in the default Ubuntu (14.04) mixer on the tab "Applications", the application "CubebUtils" that has Firefox icon the sound level slider is set to max value
3. When I decrease the sound value for that particular application, sound becomes not-destorted even if I increase the overall volume way beyond 100% ("Allow louder than 100%" is ticked)
4. Such destortion can be achieved for any app playing sound by manually setting that individual app's volume slider to the right. However:
5. All other apps do remember value that I set. Firefox (CubebUtils) does not. This means every time I play a new track or even jump to another position within the same track, the sound volume of CubebUtils automatically jumps to max.
6. I've noticed that YouTube appears on the "Applications" tab as "Alsa plugin", whereas for example "Sound cloud" or "Free Music Archive" appear as "CubebUtils".

prawns (prawns) wrote on 2015-06-15:

Screenshot from 2015-06-15 21:45:59.png Edit (77.6 KiB, image/png)

7. One more thing: every time I open a new track, yet another (additional) instance of CubebUtils appears on the list (at least off SoundCloud). So as I write this, I've got 6 (six) instances of the CubebUtils on the list, and these are assigned to individual tracks. For example, if I pause currently played track and un-pause (play) another tack, it is the slider of that another track that takes effect (makes sound distorted).

Please see attached file - a screenshot of my sound mixer

prawns (prawns) wrote on 2015-07-27:

bump.

JVD (jason-vas-dias) wrote on 2015-08-24:

The KDE Mixer volume control used to work until a firefox update a few weeks ago .

Then the playback stream shown in KDE Mixer changed to 'CubebUtils' , and the volume is
reset to a fixed 65% for every new stream , meaning I have to open KDE Mixer and adjust
the volume for every new stream . Annoying !

Please restore previous behavior - use the default 'Playback Devices' instead of 'CubebUtils',
and let the current volume setting for 'Playback Devices' be used for new streams instead of
setting the volume to same level for every new stream.

Shelagh (shelagh-manton) wrote on 2016-02-27:

I have the same problems as prawns. Everytime I open up a new video or sound file in firefox cubeutils is at 100% volume which is not good when you have headphones on.

Daan (daanbiesterbos) wrote on 2016-03-23:

#10

Thanks for not fixing this and making me feel like my ears are bleeding. Awesome.

Philip J Reilly (pjpreilly) wrote on 2016-05-10:

#11

Fixed! Just use any other browser. Firefox is on its death bed anyway!

G.M. (sexxxenator) wrote on 2016-05-30:

#12

I have the same problem, but sound is muted... VERYYYYY ANNOYING !!!

Ed (darkhorseidioc) wrote on 2016-06-09:

#13

A workaround for those who are getting their ears blasted:
----------------------------------------------------------

For those who haven't yet lost patience with FireFox, having found out that this CubebUtils thing
has got into Firefox through this thread. Weirdly, I only noticed it in 47.0 and had no issues prior.

On https://people.mozilla.org/~bgirard/doxygen/media/CubebUtils_8cpp.html a setting called "media.volume_scale" has been added, default value 1.0.

1) Type "about:config" into a tab.
2) Click the "I'll be careful" box on the "Here be dragons..." screen.
3) Search for "volume" and -- as of writing -- the only setting you'll find is the relevant one.
4) Reduce the number; see below for some hints.
5) Play music or a video with pavucontrol (PulseAudio Volume Control) to see where the volume level gets to: tweak the number again if needed.

The bugger will still jump up to a set volume level regardless of what you set it to in pavucontrol, but tweaking this setting sets a ceiling of sorts.

By way of illustration: The volume kept jumping to 89% and blowing my eardrums before this tweak with media.volume_scale at 1.0. I set it to 0.1 and it seems stable around 46%; different videos go between 41% and 49% at times. See what numbers your system throws at you.

If this is set to 0, no sound will play. If you don't get any sound at all, check this setting.

MarcD (vonloschz-gmail) wrote on 2016-06-12:

#14

Previous solution has worked for me. Thanks !!!

Description: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
ii firefox 47.0+linuxmint1+rosa amd64 Safe and easy web browser from Mozilla

Jens (i-m-jens-3) wrote on 2016-06-13:

#15

Post #13 worked for me too! (Kubuntu 14.04, FF 47.0)

I had the problem that on every change of video and its playback position cubeutil's volume was reset to 100%. Really annoying! Thank God I've got two monitors: one for FF and the other one for the volume control ...

Interestingly, now that I changed this mentioned setting to 1.4 (I need to increase my volume to 140%) it stays stable!?! Now it won't reset and keeps my selected volume even if it is not 140%.

Very strange, but it works.